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Cognitive Learning is a term that is often used in the academic arena but more recently it has started to pop up in the business world.
But what does it mean? To most people probably very little. Essentially what 'cognition' means is 'to know', gaining knowledge through thought or perception.
Cognitive learning is about enabling people to learn by using their reason, intuition and perception. This technique is often used to change peoples' behaviour. But people's behaviour is influenced by many factors such as culture, upbringing, education and motivation. Therefore cognitive learning involves understanding how these factors influence behaviour and then using this information to develop learning programmes.
So it is far more subtle than just telling people what you want them to do differently it involves presenting the message in such a way that it allows people to work out the answer themselves. This can be achieved a number of ways

  • Response consequences - should you reward for demonstrating the right behaviour or punish for demonstrating the wrong behaviour? Which approach will achieve the required outcomes? In reality there needs to be a combination of both as people will be motivated by different things.

  • Observation - observation is a very powerful learning tool as it enables us to see whether performing an action is desirable or not without making the mistake ourselves. Also employees will be more likely to demonstrate the right behaviours if they see managers and senior managers doing so.

  • Symbolism - allows us to create mental pictures and act out scenarios so that we can think through the consequences without actually performing it.
Therefore cognitive awareness involves using cognitive learning techniques which are then used to make informed decisions about how to deal with new or similar situations.
This may sound complicated but in reality its how we learn.

Source: H.D Brown.Teaching By Principles ; An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (Second Edition) 

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Superman : An Icon


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Superman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective Comics, Inc. (later DC Comics) in 1938, the character first appeared in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) and subsequently appeared in various radio serials, television programs, films, newspaper strips, and video games. With the success of his adventures, Superman helped to create the superhero genre and establish its primacy within the American comic book. The character's appearance is distinctive and iconic: a blue, red and yellow costume, complete with cape, with a stylized "S" shield on his chest. This shield is now typically used across media to symbolize the character.
The original story of Superman relates that he was born Kal-El on the planet Krypton, before being rocketed to Earth as an infant by his scientist father Jor-El, moments before Krypton's destruction. Discovered and adopted by a Kansas farmer and his wife, the child is raised as Clark Kent and imbued with a strong moral compass. Very early he started to display superhuman abilities, which upon reaching maturity he resolved to use for the benefit of humanity.
While sometimes referred to less than flatteringly as "the big blue Boy Scout" by some of his fellow superheroes, Superman has also been referred to as "The Man of Steel", "The Man of Tomorrow", and "The Last Son of Krypton" over the years. As Clark Kent, Superman lives among humans as a "mild-mannered reporter" for the Metropolis newspaper Daily Planet (Daily Star in the earliest stories). There he works alongside reporter Lois Lane, with whom he is romantically linked. This relationship has been consummated by marriage on numerous occasions across various media, and this union is now firmly established within mainstream comics' continuity.



Cultural impact

Superman has come to be seen as both an American cultural icon and the first comic book superhero. His adventures and popularity have established the character as an inspiring force within the public eye, with the character serving as inspiration for musicians, comedians and writers alike. Kryptonite, Brainiac and Bizarro have become synonymous in popular vernacular with Achilles' heel, extreme intelligence and reversed logic respectively. Similarly, the phrase "I'm not Superman" or alternatively "you're not Superman" is an idiom used to suggest a lack of invincibility.

Video Parody of Superman


                              Superman Illustration by Alex Ross



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Steps

  1. Take classes to learn something you've always wanted to understand. Learn to play bridge, study Spanish or take a photoshop seminar. 
  2. Do games and puzzles such as crossword puzzles, Sudoku and Scrabble.
  3. Read often, with a lot of different types of books. Take a magazine and dedicate specific time to it. Read the newspaper. Set your computer homepage to bring up news items of particular interest to you. Read them each time you open the computer.
  4. Remember and repeat groups of words. Memorize your grocery list.
  5. Play computer brain games, such as Brain Age for Nintendo DS.
  6. Test and monitor your memory and attention with special computer games.
  7. Write or edit a wikiHow article every now and then.
  8. Meditate often. Take calm, deep breaths. Your brain (and entire body) needs lots of fresh air.
  9. Eat foods containing omega fatty acids (known to boost intellectual stamina) such as flax and hemp seeds, and fish.
  10. Perform math functions regularly.
  11. Learn new words from a word a day calendar or dictionary.
  12. Use your left hand if you are right handed, and reverse, to exercise the opposite side of the brain.
  13. Mess around with a twisty puzzle.
  14. Learn to read and play music (classical music is known to have the best effects.)
  15. Use the Mozart Effect - classical music increases brain activity more positively than other kinds of music. Two pieces of Mozart's music; Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major (K. 448) and Piano Concerto No. 23 (K. 488), were found to have this effect.
  16. Draw or paint.
  17. Consider the different possibilities of how something could've gone, and explore these consequences. This improves creativity.
  18. When trying to learn something or review for a quiz, listen to your favorite song on repeat. This is an association technique where your brain connects what you learned to what you heard.
  19. Try commuting with varied routes, to prevent the brain from becoming monotonous.
  20. Avoid watching TV for hours; solve puzzles while watching TV to increase multitasking.
  21. Learn to play new games to increase mind body co-ordination.
  22. Never avoid breakfast, it's essential for your brain to function efficiently.
  23. Imagine the fourth dimension of an object. (We can see three sides at a time, 3 dimensions, so imagine seeing four sides of an object such as a cube.)

Tips

  • Remember to exercise your body - a healthier mind results from a healthy body. Get plenty of physical exercise.
  • There are plenty of programs out there that will help with your memory. "Brain Age" or "Big Brain Academy" for the Nintendo DS are recommended and fun. These games were specifically made for improving your memory.
  • Try doing a few things regularly, like memorizing something each day, or using a Rubik's cube for 15 minutes a day.

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Eating is one the most important events in everyone’s life. We enjoy eating - it’s part of who we are and part of our culture; in fact, eating is the hottest universal topic of all times. We depend on eating: the foods we eat are the sole source of our energy and nutrition. We know so much about eating: we are born with the desire to eat and grown up with rich traditions of eating. But we also know so little about eating - about how the foods we eat everyday affect our health. We are more confused than ever about the link between diet and health: margarine is healthier than butter or not; a little alcohol will keep heart attacks at bay but cause breast cancer; dietary vitamin antioxidants can prevent lung cancer or can not. Eating is a paradox and a mystery that our ancestors tried and modern scientists are trying to solve.

Based on experiences and traditions, our ancestors have used foods and plant materials to treat various kinds of illness. Manuscripts discovered from a tomb (dated 168 B.C.) in China described prescriptions for 52 ailments with herbs, grains, legumes, vegetables, animal parts, and minerals. Ancient Sumerians recorded the use of 250 medicinal plants on tablets five thousand years ago. Today, plant and food remedies are still the major medicinal source for 80% of the world’s population.
The pharmacological roles of everyday foods have long been neglected by modern medicine due to lack of proven scientific validity. The main focus of modern medicine has been on pharmaceuticals. With the invention of modern chemotherapy by Paul Erhlich in the early twentieth century and sulfa drugs and antibiotics in the 1930’s and 1940’s, it seemed as if chemical medicines would take care of all our ills. However, while there continues to be great strides made in the understanding and use of pharmaceuticals, there is also widespread dissatisfaction with both them and the system of medicine that utilizes them. This dissatisfaction is centered around the feeling that they are too disease-oriented, and perhaps too limited by their precision to cope effectively with the subtle factors and interrelationships that compromise human health and disease. The precise and pure nature of modern biomedical pharmaceuticals also tends to increase their side effects. In addition, with the victory over many common infectious diseases, more people are concerned with chronic degenerative processes and with prevention of disease. The increasing concerns have started a new movement in medical research. More and more mainstream scientists are reaching back to the truth of ancient food folk medicines and dietary practices for clues to remedies and antidotes to our modern diseases.
Research on pharmacological effects of foods is fast-paced and the results are exciting. The mystery of what foods can do for or to us has started to unveil. In order to effectively use foods for our health benefits, the following issues need to be considered:
  • Keep up with the most recent scientific findings and make use of them for our health benefits
  • Try to use variety of whole foods as much as possible instead of isolated dietary supplements for your health problems - they are safer, cheaper, and usually more effective since they can provide multiple and balanced disease fighting capabilities
  • Choice of foods is important: since healing power of a food is depending on the content of pharmacologically active constituents that differ among foods, and certain foods may need to be avoided due to their disease encouraging activities
  • How do you prepare and eat your foods can affect their pharmacological effects
  • Concerns about multiple health conditions: foods that benefit one health condition may be harmful to others
  • Overall nutritional values of foods
Healthy Recipes That Taste Good




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