It is very important that parents, grandparents, and teachers teach discipline, thinking skills, and motivation, plus help children get good grades in school. Today, we will continue on this very important critical motivation, learning skills, and educational journey.
Inside our brains, we have 86 billion incredible tiny intricate brain cells called neurons. Attached to the neurons are dendrites and axons. These are extensions of the neurons that go to different body parts and distribute the electromagnetic brain signals that go to every cell in the body. An example of this may be when your toe touches something very hot, Instantly, signals go to your brain and instant action occurs in your brain to move your toe.
Neuron activity and stimulation also create learning. In most children, thinking, memory, and learning skills will inspire the child to be an achiever. The greater the learning and thinking skills when they are young, the more opportunities the child will have for the rest of their life. There are also many other great rewards. Increased learning skills, memory, and thinking skills install pride, and self-esteem, create a curious mind; and enable children to be able to solve more and more complex problems. Most of all, continuous learning, memory, and thinking skills increase intelligence and exercise the brain. It also creates new neurons, and glial cells, plus increases new neural pathways that increase the capacity of the brain to learn more.
What is learning? It is defined as acquiring knowledge or behavioral responses. Memory results in storing information and knowledge in your brain. The objective for parents and teachers is to find pathways, challenging ideas, and tricks to help children learn more to acquire greater memory and thinking skills. Memory is a record of learning stored in the neurons of your brain. Memory is divided into two areas, short-term and long-term memory. A child retains more memory if they are challenged with curiosity. Neurons can learn and store information in memory. They also can be traumatized, causing them to retract their dendrites and axons if a person has negative emotions, or is fearful, worried, depressed, or anxious. Doing enjoyable things or learning enjoyable subjects releases dopamine. Dopamine motivates a child to learn more and work harder. Don’t worry, daydreaming and mind wandering are essential for learning. A happy, healthy brain that daydreams once in a while is essential for obtaining new information. It stimulates the creativity circuits in your frontal lobes.
To continue on our learning skills journey, we progress to number fourteen.
FOURTEEN. A great learning tool is to use acronyms to remember ideas, codes, or rules. I have devised two great learning acronyms That are great for children (and adults) from eight years to 60 years to help them learn ideas and store them in long-term memory. First is the Acronym, L .E. A. R. N. L. LEARN THE EIGHT RULES of Cognitive thinking. I mentioned these eight rules of cognitive thinking in number six of these twenty reasons. It is; to teach children to ask questions in their minds. Believe it or not, six words begin the questions that 90 percent of great scientists ask in their minds to achieve the world’s greatest ideas, inventions, and concepts. I mentioned these concepts and the eight rules in number six in this series The rules, two through six are the words used in these questions. They are WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, AND HOW. The seventh rule is to use the TOFE acronym when fixing, preparing, inventing, or innovating a project, idea, or job. There are ten (TEN OPTIONS FOR EVERYTHING) ways to do anything if they can be envisioned in the mind. They are the substitutes you may need to do the job. E. Eat a bio-electric diet and exercise to keep your brain healthy and prepared to learn. It has been proven that a healthy brain will not only help a child to learn, but keep their neurons, axons, and dendrites ready to accept information and store it in memory.
This is also the 8th rule of my EIGHT RULES OF COGNITIVE THINKING. This bioelectric diet is listed in my new book to be published, “New Discoveries in Bioelectric Nutrition and Brain Health.” A. Learn by using ASSOCIATED words, numbers, or names to remember people’s names, addresses, house numbers, etc. It has been proven that ASSOCIATED words, numbers, names, etc. are used by great scholars and innovators to remember great quantities of information. R. Learn by REPETITION. This is also a great way to learn. It has been proven that to say in your mind something (the same thing) at least 6 times, it will remain in the child’s short-term memory. REPEATING it over 26 times in your mind will keep that information in long-term memory. N. Learn by NUMBERS. Learning to do math in your brain, finish crossword puzzles, solve rubric cubes, learn mathematical equations, etc. All of these will increase short and long-term memory and retention.
FIFTEEN. Several supplements enhance brain health, memory, and retention. Children need these vitamins, minerals, and supplements to help them in their learning journey. Some great supplements are Vitamin B6, B12, Folate, Vitamin C, D3, zinc, magnesium, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated oils, L-theanine, L-arginine, Ginkgo Biloba, and astaxanthin. It will be wise to look up the dosages for your children and make sure that they have some great brain supplements.
SIXTEEN. Only one-half of the cells in a person’s brain are neurons. A Purdue neuroscientist, Andrew Koob, Ph.D., researching children’s brains, found that there is a separate parallel network located next to the neurons in the brain. They are called “glial” cells. He found that glial cells were involved in almost 50 percent of Einstien’s brain. A large number of glial cells were not prevalent in most people’s brains. He then found that these “glial cells” were in the part of the brain called the “association cortex.” Researchers are finding that teaching languages and music when a child is very young plus teaching other thinking skills like math and reading etc., increases these glial cells and enables the child to learn more short and long-term memory than when they grow older. It is very important for parents and teachers to know and be aware of these findings. Teaching children when very young will be a step toward creating parallel connections in the brain that will be a great learning enhancement.
SEVENTEEN. There are several great learning courses for children that are offered on the computer. Some of these courses are HOMER, ABC Mouse, GoNoodle, MoMath, Roblox, Minecraft, Sawyer, K12 learning, etc. Parents and teachers will benefit from these courses and should review and use them in the children’s learning. They are a great help in teaching learning skills, memory, and retention.
EIGHTEEN. Teaching young children memory skills, mental acuity, and thinking skills will help increase their work ethic, responsibility, motivation, and ability to learn as they get older.
NINETEEN. For many young children, teaching them thinking skills will help increase the bond between parents, teachers, and other children. I am sure that most children will appreciate what the parents and teachers are trying to accomplish.
TWENTY. With today’s artificial intelligence and new technology, there is more and more demand from manufacturers and businesses for more skilled workers. Robots, new EVs, computers, new medical advances, and phone demand will mean more skilled thinking is needed for many people in the workplace. Statistics show that employers and employees of today need to be prepared to learn more skilled occupations. Young people looking for work need to be ready with a sharp mind and education in the fields that pay with the best jobs. Children of today have a great opportunity to find a great occupation and position in these technologies, science, medical, and manufacturing areas. Teaching mental acuity and thinking skills is the path to learning more about artificial intelligence and superior learning.
October 3, 2022
~ the Author ~
Merle E. Loudon, B.S., D.D.S. graduated from the University Of Washington School Of Dentistry in 1957. After two years of service in the Air Force, he started a private practice in East Wenatchee, Washington. For the past 45 years his practice has included Orthodontics and TM Dysfunction treatment specializing in temporomandibular pain treatment, headache, head and neck pain control, functional jaw orthopedics, and straight wire orthodontics. Associated with mercury elimination, oral surgery, crowns and bridges is TMJ treatment, diet control, parasite elimination, intestinal cleansing and healing (wellness).
Merle E. Loudon, B.S., D.D.S. has taught advanced courses for dentists on TM Dysfunction treatment, orthodontics and related pain control for more than 30 years. In 1972 he was the first dentist in Washington to use straight wire orthodontics and the first dentist to correct vertical deficiencies in children by placing vertical dimension-primary molar buildups and/or vertical (erupting) appliances. Merle E. Loudon, B.S., D.D.S. was involved with the first group of dentists to recognize lateral tongue splinting in young infants and integrate functional and fixed techniques to correct vertical dimension deficiencies and condylar placement. He is the originator of vertical dimension-primary molar build ups, which help to correct deep bites and Otitus media in children. He invented the Loudon-Chateau Anterior Repositioning Appliance, the functional muscle malocclusion concept, the twelve commandments of occlusion and the vertical overbite domino rule. Merle E. Loudon, B.S., D.D.S. has written numerous articles in several American and foreign dental journals and has lectured in over 50 cities and 7 foreign countries on functional jaw orthopedics, fixed wire orthodontics, Otitus media treatment and TM Dysfunction treatment. He has been instrumental in setting up criteria for teaching in the International Association For Orthodontics, including the certified instructor program.
Dr. Loudon is a member of The American Dental Association, Diplomat and Senior Instructor in the International Association for Orthodontics, and is a Diplomat of the American Academy of Pain Management. He also is a member of the American Orthodontic Society.