Should teachers know science or neuroscience?

This question is constantly asked at different forums, science blogs and messages about education such as specialized in neuroscience and science. I personally read each one as because is the main theme of my writings. Yes, I think and believe that neuroscience can do a lot for education and my argument is time to put the brain in the classroom, and I do not tire of saying that science education benefits to any country at all levels, especially the economic. Can you interpret my phrases as you like, there is no a recipe.

My problem arises when other writers say: teachers should know neuroscience, and that joins a long list of duties, like teachers should know physics, math, history, chemistry, biology, astronomy, so they would teach it properly to students. Virtually any topic in which someone is expert, teachers must master it, so future generations can have a scientific education.

Of course the huge list of topics that we believe teachers can be experts, are added cleaning bugers, how separate fighters, reading of hieroglyphs, decryption key, taught to read and write, how to respond to questions such as: can I go to the bathroom?, can I deliver my homework tomorrow?, how do you know that I copied this from Wikipedia?, or what will you do to help my child with writing?. 

If teachers should be experts in so many fields, they would deserve to earn a higher salary. Being a teacher would be a good profession, (it doesn't mean is not, but it would be a better profession) and they would have enough money to read specialized magazines and attend all meetings, conference and forums organized by those who claim to know how to teach better and are part expensive conferences to share knowledge. Sharing is just a say by those experts in science, because they do not speak with simple mortals, they only charge a high bill by let you see them a couple of hours, recommending to buy their books, and follow them in social networks. 

If teachers have questions or want to share any idea, they have permission to speak. It doesn’t mean those questions will be answered, those ideas are not relevant. The relevance is decided by the expert, not you.

The question is then whether teachers should know science and how much they can apply it in their classroom, in a society that isn't interested in science.

Let's  split  this question, which is not as easy as it seems. 

The relationship of science to society

Once I read that it can’t be taught something that is socially shared, because teachers work with which society gives them to shape. If socially you aren't literate scientifically, it is not possible to provide the science from the experts, those lucky ones who have taken advantage from their enormous passion for a subject, often supported at home, because everything is much easier if you have other supports, in addition to school.

When people think about scientists the image is a brilliant mind able to respond to everything and understand the complexity of the world, it's partly an image that scientist themselves have created, however, science in numbers looks far from society.

Let me share some data. Between 1996 to 2010 were published 5,322590 Scientific articles in United States, and from those documents 4.972 679 are quotable, does that sound like many articles?, well, what about if we compared them with the population of The United States, 313,967,000 persons means that they are not so many articles, and if you accept that not everyone can read them, and each article sometimes costs between 20 and 40 dollars, maybe we can begin to see some distances.

The countries that follow in the list with more scientific production are China with 1,848,727 articles, but with a population of 1,347,350,000 persons; United Kingdom added 1,633,434 articles, and has a population of 62,262, 000 persons. 

At the other extreme of the data, The Vatican City State published 4 articles in the same period, but it has a population of 800 persons. The island of Saint Helena has a population of 4,255 and 1 published article. Of course the proportion is abysmal among the countries most gifted of scientific support. 

Does it look like The United States is a scientifically literate country?, I don't think so, because one of the topics given more headache is how to make that science can have better results. 

In a study applied in 2009 by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development to students 15 years of age between 65 countries, United States ranked 23th in science and 31st in mathematics. 

It is not the idea of this article to discover the black wire, but I think that the problem is between the distance of science with society. To argue this point, I propose some comparisons: Carl Zimmer is followed by 922 050 persons on Google plus, Hugh Jackman has  2, 878,747 followers, Daniel Tosh has 6.2 million followers on twitter. 

But it seems that people can be a little interested in science, if you can understand it, because if we look at the most popular scientific websites is that visits that are made to them are distributed as follows:

1. How stuff works?,  12,000,000! Clearly , it's good to know, n how everyday things work and if someone explains it and you enjoy this, perhaps it's easy to understand it!.

2 NOAA 10,000,000

3 Discovery Channel 9,400,000. What teacher has not heard: I saw it on Discovery Channel?.

4 NASA 8,900,000

5 Science direct 4,500,000

6 Science Daily 2,400,000

7 Nature 1,800,000

8 Treehuger 1,700,000

9 PopSci.com 1,400,000

10 Science Blogs 1,250,000

11 PhysOrg 1,200,000

12 New Scientist 1,000,000

13 Live 950,000 Science

14 Space 750,000

15 Network Orbit 600,000

It must be considered that these sites are not only reached in The United States, but if the world's population is estimated in 7 billion of persons, readings are reduced to very little, and one more comparison:  Lady Gaga has 27, 815 976 followers on twitter. Does this sound like she has more fans than Nature?.

But if we look again at the list, its possible to observe the level of complexity on scientific topics is inversely proportional to the audience, this means less complexity, more audience.

Why don’t people read nor understand science?

I learned many years ago there are three levels of science, basic science, where are those of highest level, sometimes in laboratories with expensive equipment, often trying to give answers to the most complex things in the universe. Between them and simple mortals, they are those who interpret those complex things and have the ability to explain them with simple words. Sometimes they are scientists, sometimes they have enough passion for some topics, but without their ability to explain in words what scientists write based on molecules or mathematical calculations, it would be difficult to understand much.

Finally there is the applied science, or those who take what the second level and put it in action. Sometimes they are mercenaries and science are expensive, but something to eat.

Many journalists and scientific bloggers are at the second level, sometimes communicate directly with scientists, although they can feel fear of scientists´ comments,  saying  simple mortals are wrong or they do not understand beyond few letters (this was Carl Zimmer's  comment of on twitter).

This is the reason why there are manual to argue with scientists as the written by Jacquelyn Gill, who explains that scientists only talk among themselves and only accepted evidence of writings that have been reviewed by peers, their peers. Even when if at some cases it has been proof that articles can be wrong or even based on false evidence. But it seems there is a tremendous competition between them and sometimes unfair. In some countries it makes sense, when the programs for science and Academy depends on limited budgets, and it is distributed among so many brilliant minds just few coins.

Gill explains that if an idea was written in a blog or in a magazine that does not have some credibility, it is simply disqualified by the experts. In addition, if simple mortals are not capable of understanding their language, means the end of any discussion. 

To this is added, as indicated by the numbers, the greater amount of scientific articles are written in English. So if you are not bilingual it can be difficult to read.

But I also learned ´many years ago to be skeptical; I was told that it was a peculiar quality to scientific minds, and which helps to look further than things appear in a first look. There are many examples in the history of science, but what I like the most it’s the apology that the New York Times newspaper, had to give Robert Goddard, who was accused of crazy to say that it was possible to build rockets, manned, powered by fuel, capable of reaching the moon. 

The community ridiculed him, and he had to wait 49 years for an apology. His idea was not only correct, but possible.

Another widespread thought is that the best ideas are written in certain magazines or do certain laboratory or academies. As if thinking were tied to a place, sometimes get me the impression they think only from 8 am to 6 pm and after that anything is futile. But for a simple mortal to write in those magazines or work at those places, need to work 5 times harder than any other and when the most important thing is eating, it is very easy to forget about the science. 

If I learned well, a knowledge or an idea is valid only if it is written by a name or a known magazine?, does perhaps no one else have the right to think?, and what if  such a blogger is a retired professor?, who cares, experts won’t ask more questions, they are busy doing science.

Is it possible to have a society that is literate in science?

The answer is complex, is needed an interested society and numbers indicate that doesn’t happen. But when we asked:  who is the most famous living scientist?, the first name in everyone's mind is Stephen Hawking. 

He has appeared in several popular TV shows (I mean with millions of viewers), for example his appearance on the Simpsons, in the chapter 22 of the tenth season, was watched only in The United States by an audience of 6.8 million viewers. Others know him for his appearance on South Park, and more recently in Big Bang Theory. I know between recognize his name to understand his theories there is considerable distance, but people recognize him, as Michael Phelps, Derek Jeter or Madonna. Only in Facebook  Dr Hawking has 209, 210 subscribers.

In a list released by a writer is said to have other four famous living scientists. We can or not agree with it, I would have on my personal list to David Eagleman, since I am interested in his ideas about the brain or Francis Crick because I am passionate about his work about the mind, and I could not miss Stanilas Dehaene, for his work with learning, but here there are the names of the original list and one of their lectures at TED:

1. James Watson TED http://www.Ted.com/talks/james_watson_on_how_he_discovered_dna.html 382 204 have seen this Video

2. Jane Goodall TED http://www.Ted.com/talks/jane_goodall_at_tedglobal_07.html has 204,047 views

3. Richard Dawkins http://www.Ted.com/talks/richard_dawkins_on_our_queer_universe.html

This video has been viewed 743,076 times

4. James Hansen  http://www.Ted.com/talks/james_hansen_why_i_must_speak_out_about_climate_change.html This video has been viewed 491,350 times.
 

If we want a society educated in science, scientists should answer our foolish questions of their followers, they should be closer to politicians, journalists, comment in forums of ordinary people, remove the suit of arrogant and remember that one day they were normal people and they even ate popcorn while watched a science tv show. Long before Tivo.

Speaking of politicians, a year ago, during the economic crisis in the United States, I was scared reading and watching how political meetings were so long and they couldn’t find a solution to the dilemma. I could not resist and asked my husband and my father-in-law, if there are so many Nobel awards in economy at this country, why not one of them can resolve the situation?. Nobody could answer me.

I decided to write this note thanks to all articles and blogs about what teachers and politicians should know about science, in response to all and from my humble point of view. What should politicians know science?, simple, social life would be easier and economically it would add much in the short, medium and long term. 

What should scientists know about teachers,  politicians and  ordinary people?, beyond that we are objects of constant study, you must start the dialogue, or the distance between everybody  will be getting bigger.

Scientist should understand that politicians know nothing about science,they don't have to, but they allow the budgets to science programs. Is it worth talking to them and explain some of the advantages of science?.

Attempts to popularize science among the young are carried out, for example the idea of Google Science Fair, it brings together young people from all over the world scientists and the proposal of Scientific American reunite to 1000 scientists in 1000 days, that incredibly, has only brought together scientists 1552 so far, sounds very little if is considered the National Academy of science in the United States was founded in 1863 and now has 2,200 members and 400 foreign partners; the National Academy of engineering has 2,200 members more 200 foreign partners and the Institute of medicine has 1, 700 members and 100 foreign partners, and this is only the cream and cream of science in the United States.

But back to the original question:

Should teachers know of neuroscience?

I have said that there is a great distance between duty and wishing. Teachers must know from neuroscience as much as they want to, and apply both as the official educational programs allow them. Because we are always willing to say how to teach better, but we don't know what their programs indicate. Knowledge has to be purchased at an enormous speed, have to meet bureaucratic affairs, attending many children in a classroom, dealing with parents, educational authorities, and survive the traffic. Who are we to tell them how to teach?.

Because we scientists can have a lot of research about a  X neuron, but we have not been able to fully explain how the brain works. There is much information molecular, biochemical, electrical, neuroimaging, neuroanatomical, neural networks, we try to explain processes, but until now, no one raises the hand and says: works and thus learns. That's fascinating science, more studies, more question arise.

But teachers know something and very clear: Children learn when they want, how they want and what they want to, and not as plans and programs the Government and the international agencies indicate, or how neuroscientists are written in their expensive journals.

If scientists want to be heard, we must learn to listen and read each other, what  simple mortals say and think by, being in touch with journalist without making them feel that they do not know a letter, that it is true, they don't know what the expert knows, but they are trying to!. 

I think that if science touches the door of homes and offices of politicians, there will be fewer diseases, less resistance to treatments, greater acceptance of ideas that achieve progress for all, solve problems, yes I know, I'm idealistic.

Original

¿Debes los maestros saber neurociencia o ciencia?

Alma Dzib Goodin

If you would like to read more of my ideas you can visit: http://www.almadzib.com/

References:

Berezow AB (2012) Why psychology isn’t a science. Available at: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-blowback-pscyhology-science-20120713,0,1641705.story

Berger, E. (2009)  The top five most famous living scientist http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2009/10/the-top-five-most-famous-living-scientists/

Carey, J. (2012) The neuroscience of teaching and learning: David Eagleman. Available at: http://indianajen.com/2012/02/03/the-neuroscience-of-teaching-and-learning-david-eagleman/

Carey, B. (2011) Fraud case seen as a red flag for psychology research. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/health/research/noted-dutch-psychologist-stapel-accused-of-research-fraud.html%20%20%20

Cassadewall, A. Fang, FC. (2012) Winners Takes all. Scientific American. 307 (2) 13

Dzib Goodin, A. (2011) Cuando la ciencia sale de los centro científicos y se vuelve popular. Availale at:http://neurocognicionyaprendizaje.blogspot.com/2011/08/cuando-la-ciencia-sale-de-los-centros.html

e Biz/MBA (2012) The top 15 most popular science website: July 2012. Available at:http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/science-websites

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Gill, J. (2012) How to argue with a scientist: A guide. Available at:

http://karenmahon.com/2012/07/24/405/ 

Google Science Fair (2012) Available at: http://www.google.com/intl/en/events/sciencefair/index.html

Kluger, J. (2011) Why Scienctist are smarter than politicians. Time Science. Available at: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2095264,00.html

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Omarklin. (2012) La legendaria disculpa del NY Times (49 años) después de burlarse de un científico. Available at: http://culturaesceptica.com/2012/07/14/la-legendaria-disculpa-del-ny-times-49-anos-despues-de-burlarse-de-un-cientifico

Primack, P.  (2012) Science Denied. Available at:http://www.tufts.edu/alumni/magazine/summer2012/features/science-denied.html

SCImago (2007) SJR — SCImago Journal & Country Rank. Retrieved July 24, 2012, Available at: http://www.scimagojr.com/

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Scientific American 1000 scientist in 1000 days. Available at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/1000scientists/

Tokuhama-Espinosa, T. (2011) What mind, brain and education (MBE) can do for teaching?. New Horizon for learning. Johns Hopkins University School Education. Available at: http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/Journals/Winter2011/Tokuhama2

Autism spectrum disorders: a detection of abilities and not dis-abilities.

I found once a quote which is supposed was written by Volkman and Cohen and it says: “If all individuals diagnosed with autism could be together in a room, the most striking fact would not be their similarity, but how different they are between them". And I would like to  add: and if at the same room we can  join all therapists and people who do not live with children with autism  every day, them it would be very easy to see what children cannot do, but only a few would be able to admire their skills.

I learned the word autism more than 20 years ago during my work in a children's hospital in Mexico. Those days, the diagnosis was confused with psychosis and not many persons spoke so publicly about the topic. The only therapeutic proposed was medications that maintain quiet to children and if at home behavior and socialization did not work, then the only one answer was a hospital. There were some behavioral therapies that were used with a few children, but the therapeutic goal was to keep them quiet.

Nobody spoke too much, at least in Mexico,  of other developmental disorders such as syndrome fragile X, Rett syndrome, the Prade Willi syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, tuberous sclerosis, Williams syndrome, Angelman's syndrome or Asperger's syndrome, and if anything was said something of the autism spectrum disorders, the only one word was autism.

In contrast, Autism Speaks is currently an international voice that gives help to autism children and families and their numbers reported that 1 in every 88 children has autism diagnosis at the United States. 

Certainly there is extensive information now. On the internet when someone types the word autism appear at least 9 860 000 results. But there is still something on the entire set of signs and symptoms that children have and that every parent knows so well. Something that every site, campaigned and paper, sometimes forget: we started to talk about autism and we forget the children and the people behind it. 

As experts we can’t hide our perplexity, because the autistic spectrum has a variety of features, even though they have tried to group into versions of the DSM and ICD, there is always a child that presents all the symptoms and none of the above.

At a conference held in the CISAME in 2010, once all the experts talked with passion about what each of us we have studied about the disorder, a girl of 8 years raised her hand. I think we all ignore it for a few moments, and it was not we did not see her, but there were more hands trying to ask those things we wanted to share, so she raised her hand higher, to the point that we all thought that she would jump on the person near to her to get our attention. We finally gave her the word and with reverence asked us: "why do you speak about autism?" before autism I am a girl when will you speak about children with a diagnosis of autism? ".

She was my motor and I started to write about what it’s possible, all the things any child can with or without  developmental disorders, the reason why so many  experts have sometimes spent a lifetime saying loud and strong things beyond the word autism, and even beyond all behaviors that have caused distress to the parents, or the moment when they receive the diagnosis, much more than the long list of No that parents and children here every day: they cannot talk, you cannot write, they cannot go to school, they  cannot dance, they  cannot go to College, they cannot make anybody smile, do not, do not not. 

Don’t they breathe?, perhaps don´t  they grow?, let’s go slowly.

Looking for evidence

More than 50 years ago was suspected that autism is linked to a specific gene. At least 17 candidate genes linked to the disorder to varying degrees and in different ways have been reported so far, he points to others who may have incomplete information or translocate. That's why there is more research with families who have more than one child with a diagnosis of autism, but so far, there is not a single research that points to a single gene.

Even those development disorders such as the fragile X or Rett syndrome, where there are a limited number of genes responsible for all the symptoms, can show variations in the development of the children and there were found mutations or genetic drafts that do not tie in all cases. That’s one reason why unique children can be found, children who have more skills than ICD show in its pages.

On the other hand, mirror neurons have been mentioned as responsible for the difficulties in socialization and empathy, however, some children "learn" to socialize depending on environmental conditions.

Vaccines were during some years claimed as responsible of autism, but it has already proven that they are not guilty of triggering, and even better all the story was an invention.

A new group of evidence show than the virus HHV-6 can be part of some cases, but there is only few articles about it.

And I can continue mentioning factors, from environmental, family, social, and even cultural, but no matter how much time you can take to try to explain the causes of autism spectrum disorders, the truth is that the great needremains to help children and their families to have a more happy life.

And following my passion about the brain and trying to find answers where the disorder originates, I began to look for answers, trying to see what everyone sees, that no one looks. 

All studies point out about all the neuro degenerative aspects and brain differences, particularly in the white matter, which are the nerve fibers, myelinated responsible for the transmission of information from one cell to another. Differences in the amount of gray matter that is the neural bodies and dendrites devoid of myelin have also noted. With this in mind, there is no doubt autism is a neural problem.

I’ll stop for a second to say that for many years researches know that the brain is plastic, moldable, flexible and it adapts to environmental emergencies. This feature is probably given by evolutionary aspects, what you have may change with the passage of the years. And although many generations are required to see a general shift to level species, if it is possible to see brain differences from various learning tools. 

In the case of normal development, even the brain does not know what kind of environment must adapt, the plasticity allows to babies to develop those skills that will be used in the environment. Those actions can make him or her feel happier, those that will be reinforced, to speak, walk, and smile. This usually this reminds me an old question: Is an artist born or made?. 

The answer that I like most is that perhaps all of us concert pianists, but we never had the opportunity to beat a piano.

For example, it’s known that even though children are able to recognize foreign languages, they will lose this ability to give priority to the native language, finally it is that is going to provide an effective socialization. This is clear that neurons survive depending on usage. 

It seems that nature has very clear use of resources and their exploitation, by what is not the luxury of having neurons which does not use, and will maximize those that serve as tools in response to the environment.

The brain with developmental disorders

Under this principle of plasticity, the idea is that the neurodegenerative process apparently happens even before the first symptoms, but to the passage of the cerebral arrangement, imprisons areas that are losing connections and that imprisonment, and eventually becomes little used. However, there are other areas that manage to survive and become efficient, much to its way.

If every child had deficiencies such as are indicated by the diagnosis books, it would be easy to diagnose the disorders, however, it seems to me that it is not. Even for experts, it is easy to confuse the symptoms. For example, in a study conducted in the Autism clinic of CISAME, in Mexico city, it was found that 27% of cases should not be diagnosed as part of the autistic spectrum, because the clinical histories revealed perinatal problems as causes of the symptoms and signs of children.

That’s why I prefer to invite parents to analyze: what children can do?. The main symptom is focused on the shortcomings of communication, but even in children who do not speak show means of expression. This is the case of Carly Feischmann, who had never said a word, until by chance, his parents and therapists discovered that she was able to write on a laptop and that opened the door to communication.

But, what else can your child do?, if you search you will find that your child can do things, not like the others, perhaps  he or she does things with a special nuance, perhaps so sophisticated as the protagonist of the series, Touch, or much to his or her own way. Even maybe she or she smiles with that expression of a few friends, but for you, without place to doubt is a smile.

On the basis of brain plasticity, don't give up, your child's brain will adapt to circumstances, perhaps slower and not as high, and rightly so as other children. But if support you, there is no doubt that surprise.

Perhaps the rule is not to see him with pity, that feeling of disability is destructive, it makes us think that you can't, you don't know, that not this and not the other. Try, do it twice, three, four. How the Olympic athletes get so amazing victories?, they do the same movement over and over again until they can  make it perfect. It’s worth the attempt.

Finally, would like to recall that no brain is equal to another, that all we learn, feel and see the world in different ways, that's why I do not understand, and I would admit my ignorance, I don't understand the why focuses attention on what children cannot be achieved, as if genetics or disorder destination, if there are many evidence of brain plasticity and achievements perhaps small for humanity, but who become great strides of each child with any developmental disorder. Despite the difficult thing is sometimes deal with their tantrums.

I think that scientist, parents, and society must work in the understanding of disorders, not to ask for money, not for gain notoriety or be at the front of the photo, but to give a chance for adaptation to children, who one day will grow and become adult.

The big mistake is to ask that society adapts to them, asks to parent to stop their lives to one side for the sake of their children. One day the parents won’t be around to look after that child, so the goal is adaptation and not the adequacy.

Skills

Without falling into the trap that all children are like the books, I can say that several researches find math skills, music, the visual Arts, as the most reported, but, have tried to give your child a computer or a tablet computer?, maybe help you at the garden?, maybe the macrame is a choice... those who have in addition a little or a lot of obsession compulsion can be excellent for quality control. 

I would say, don’t think in them as the persons who can do nothing, find that they can do, and you will find the talent. The goal is to find what they can do. Even the blind deaf child can feel and smell and that can be enough to discover the world.

And for those who have brothers, enforces the same. My goal in education is that children can find their talent as young as possible so they can be happy children and successful adults. Perhaps a skill as an adult is to find the gift of each one of these children. Achieve communication, by any way is worth. I'm sure you'll be amazed of what you can  find. 

Being a child with autism is not a diagnosis, it is a tag of life, but most importantly, YOU have a life to decide what to do with it. They just need someone who provides one hand to achieve this.

Alma Dzib Goodin

If you would like to know more about my writing you can visit my web site:
http://www.almadzib.com

References:

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Rodríguez, F. (2009) Aspectos explicativos de comorbilidad en los TGD, el síndrome de Asperger y el TDAH: Estado de la cuestión.Revista chilena de neuropsicología.  4 (1) 12-19.

Ruggieri, V., y Arberas, C. (2007) Trastornos generalizados del desarrollo: Aspectos clínicos y genéticos.  Medicina. 67 (1) 569-585.

Wolff, JJ., Gu, H., Gerig, G., Elison, JT., Styner, M., Gouttard, S., Botteron, KN., Dager, S., Dawson, G., Estes, AM., Evans, AC., Hazlett, HC., Kostopoulos, P., MCKinstry, RC., Paterson, SJ.,  Schultz, RT., Zwaigenbaum, L., and Piven, J. (2012)  Differences in White matter fiber tract development present from 6 to 24 months in infants with autism. American Journal of Psychiatry :.10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.11091447

Learning how we learn

I began to research about learning several years ago, thinking that I might explain from the neurocognitive point of view the mechanism of learning.

I am not going to deny it, finding a model universally applicable ran through my mind, at least during the first months of exploration, finally this is the goal that I learned at college, create universal models validated and standardized; but eventually, the research has led me for other directions, and I’m at a point that has allowed me to re develop my concept of learning.

 I have talked about this at multiple forums, and this blog was specially created to analyze different aspects of learning. When processes are separated, it seems easy to explain how they relate to learning, but as explained Sebastian Seung (2010) and McGilchrist (2011), the complexity of the brain is such  that it works as an whole integrated and adapts to the circumstances of the day by day. 

Some months ago, in two different spaces, my idea about learning staggers drastically. First of all, I had always thought that learning allowed adaptation to the environment. When a person learns the cultural needs, that person adapts to his or her own proceed and becomes part of that environment. 

This idea was an essential part of my proposal about the learning and it  came observing babies, they under different environments, manage to coordinate abilities that allow them to function and find the way to learning more complex things beyond those genetically programmed. The brains of infants sometimes have even go against itself, pushing neural networks that have been inactive either by a syndrome or some perinatal factor that has affected them. 

In some cases, it’s possible to note delays in development that fits with a little help, while sometimes the environment is unfavorable and disorders don’t let grow more than few skills. 

Of course, there are many theorists who supported my idea of the adaptation to the environment as a reflection of learning, and personally looked for examples that would enable me to explain the process.

The example that I like the most came from junior students at any educational level. The first days they are trying to discover all the features of the new site and need some weeks more to adapt their language to the cultural background that have decided to undertake and they take even more time to feel part of the environment. 

But in other circumstances it’s also possible to see the adaptation, in patients who suffer from some sort of accident or illness which forces them to re learn how to manage their own body, facing the adversity. The adaptation to the environment seemed the logical response to the learning and understanding of the environment.

But I had to remove my own head from psychology when I discovered that other species carried out the process. Anyone who has a garden and takes care of it has noticed two plagues: slugs and snails that are terrestrial mollusks and the weeds that grow as soon as someone pulls them by mechanical means. Both species, not as well developed as the mammalian brain, adapt to survive, as well as viruses that mutate to avoid the effect of antiviral drugs, the same way that coacervates gave rise to life on the Earth. There are many examples in nature, but in a discussion another example caught my attention.

Prions and its capacity of adaptation to the environment

A prion is a pathogenic protein which has altered its structure, although it has been shown they have an active role in normal neural development, because it occurs in oxireduction and the signal transduction, cell adhesion, processes as well as the regulation and distribution of acetylcholine receptors (Zou, Zheng, Gray, Gambetti and Chen, 2004).

However, as pathogen protein is capable of caused diseases that occur both in humans and animals, and create a family of rare disorders and neurodegenerative diseases that are distinguished by long incubation periods, but once the symptoms are progressive and fatal.

Diseases caused by prions include disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob and its variant, Gerstmann-Straussker - fatal familial insomnia, fatal syndrome, family spongiform encephalopathy and Kuru (Zou, an Capellari, Parchi, Sy, Gambetti, Chen and 2003).

While at animals are associated with mad cow disease, lumbar itching and feline spongiform encephalopathy.

A prion is basically a glycoprotein of 27-30 kD has the same primary structure as a normal protein, but presents a structural not genetic modification due to a post-production process. 

Due to a wrong fold what should be a Prpc which has a propeller and 4 regions of globular, protein structure becomes a PrpSc has a structure sheet which is a flat protein, that allows you to create irreversible neurological damage in whom is carried, due to its ability to adapt to survive in the environment (Li, Browning, Mahal, Oelschlegel and Weissmann, 2010; Castellani, Colucci, Xie, Zou, Li, Parchi Capellari, Pastore, Rahbar, Chen and Gambetti, 2004).

It is thus that the adaptation to the environment is not a mechanism created from a flexible brain that learns, but an evolutionary inheritance created so the species can develop and survived.

At a conference someone asked me if he should delete the adaptation to the environment of the equation of the learning process, but I think that if well learning not creates the process, if you benefit from the same. 

Because students who come from different contexts are capable of creating various skills and learning benefits can be based on socialization and at the same time, those differences help to explain individual differences as variables to consider in any investigation on learning.

There is another aspect which explains the ability of adaptation, and it’s the fact we are not talking only about a brain adapting on an individual basis, but at the species level. I find very interesting all debates that claim that technology modifies the brain of children with a  constant flow of information, saying that this prevents children from responding to everything that happens in the environment. But the cerebral flexibility plays an important role in responding to those influences. So there is no danger of diseases of fashion such as attention-deficit or autism syndrome disorders. 

On the other hand, adaptive capacity allows recognizing that children with developmental disorders will seek their own development and goals, adults around only need to understand those children won’t develop skills at the same rate as any other brain.

Different environments, genetic dice, different learning rules

My argument that every brain is different, although it complies with the same structures and functions is not new. Caffeine that someone has consumed today will affect differently than the chocolate that someone else had at breakfast. The brain works with infinite strategies, predicts, makes decisions, draws, dreams, creates the future and seeks to understand the past.

In addition to differences, as I explained earlier, it is flexible. In the field of Metacognition for some years researchers talked about flexible thought and educators began to work on skills attempting to develop it from the educational perspective. But there are authors like Ionescu (2011) who explains that cognitive flexibility is a cognitive system property and not a skill. It makes sense if the goal is to adapt at a specie level.

The best example I can think of is something that is going to sound very badly, but if someone has travelled in a highway, then there will be noticed butterflies, mammals, and insects that literally crash against the windshield and leave their ideas on it. A few days ago I asked my husband why there was a not mechanism that allow animals and insects to avoid crossing the road, since many animals die every day and they have not a small chance against a car that moves at high speed. My husband and I thought that learning and adaptation had no reason and it was just a personal issue to keep my brain busy.

We started playing with ideas which made us laugh, one was that the best: those creatures that in another life were killed that way, smashed against a car, had learned to not cross the road, and which not, therefore not avoided it. The conclusion was that more intelligent people already had previous experiences, while the less gifted begin to look at the world.

We did laugh so much with the idea. Intelligence has always been part of the equation, but do intelligent people really avoid dangerous situations?. 

Psychologists have spent lot of time measuring intelligence and subdividing it, and telling people what they can do and what not, they focus more on what people cannot do. But there are always examples of people who play against any forecast and show how much capable they are to do extraordinary things, when the environment is conducive (Dzib Goodin, 2011).

The intelligence

It’s a concept sought in the brain so badly that researchers have made sure that it´s in different areas depending on the ability to seek. It has been seen in brains of persons who have extraordinary abilities, but if the question is if a baby can develop this or that intelligence, the answer is: that will depends on the environment in which this baby will grow. A newborn baby can be an extraordinary dancer if someday has the opportunity to try.

There are people that find a special talent and start to develop it from very young, and their brains specialize so much. In the brain everything not dealing with it is discarded, this is explained by Weber (2012), the brain as well as other natural forms adheres to the idea of energy conservation (Costandi, 2012). 

For that reason, along with the intelligence, motivation is developed to create those abilities, which erroneously we believe everyone should have at the same level and all the same, but brain refuses to be exactly than another, like clones, each must develop their talent. Those who are more fortunate will find it from very young, and it will take to the perfection point. Others never will find it. Fortunately the range of possibilities is wide, and there will be always some area to achieve a highlight. We also know that only some functions have critical periods.

The role of motivation of course goes hand in hand with the memory. Deep in the hippocampus, it seems that the mechanism is part of many higher functions, which still cannot be clarified at all, because it embodies citoarchitecture aspects, cellular bases and the way in which those networks neural encode memories and the way in which recovering it (Mennes, Kelly, Colcombe, Castellanos and Milham, 2012).

Along with the intelligence and motivation it’s important to considerate  the role of reasoning ability and decision-making and how is necessary to direct actions and learning in order to maximize the rewards, when there is no success in something, it reformulates the action and the plan of action, from what is in the store of long or medium-term memory analyze the possibilities and the probability of success, however explain Collins and Koechlin (2012) the human executive function has a monitoring capacity limited to three or four strategies of behaviors. This limitation is offset by the binary structure of executive control in ambiguous and unknown situations promotes the exploration and creation of new strategies of behaviors. The results support a model of human frontal function that integrates skills of reasoning, learning and creative in the service of the behavior of decision-making in order to achieve the adaptation.

Elements of learning

There are some other elements that interact in learning as senso perception, because without entry of environmental stimuli the cognitive system offsets are greater. Such is the case of deaf blind people, who are able to learn but under specific sensory contexts. 

The role of memory is undeniable as well to store, retrieve information, and interact with other superior processes, such as language or thought.

Motivation is an aspect that cannot be overlooked, because it promotes skills or blocking activities under the socially constructed idea that there are good people for some activities and others who should not try them.

Like other authors, it is clear that they must not be side adaptive processes and the role of evolution (Nolfi and Parisi, 1996), cerebral flexibility, the role of culture and mind.

This latter element still not know well how to put in the puzzle, I am not referring to the idea of mind boxed in the brain, as all neuroscientist I thought that he was there, but I'm still building the idea of something much more flexible, with own energy, that certainly keeps the hand when it comes to teaching with ideas such as: keep in mind,or he made a mental map with a concept more related with the memory more than an energy capable to expand. The child mind is much more than a receptacle of ideas that adults are trying to impose, and brilliant minds are more than a collection of extraordinary capabilities. At times, the mental interface fails to make contact and it takes a while to be able to communicate through language. So the mind is a theme which I will later work, but that is part of the equation, without doubt.

 

The element that has caused more noise in the cultural sphere is of course, the topic of education. While learning is an evolutionary quality given way per se to the species, education is a human invention, institutionalized, which believed to have the power to make everyone think, do and say the same, that it has forgotten its central object of the everyday work, which is thestudent and has focused on the contents, assuming all student should know that. I’m using the word Know, and not understand. Sometimes I think I must say: what every student must remember or have in mind. Not necessarily to analyze and make it significant. 

I am saying as clear as I can: YES, I think that education should include the brain, because ultimately it is who shapes with its pounding of ideas that serve only to respond an exorbitant amount of validated and standardized tests.

The difference between an A and an F is a slap on the back of a student with A or the confirmation of little intelligence and the judgment that will never Excel in life for a student with a F. There is no bigger lie. Several studies show that brighter students are not necessarily successful adults and no doubt we can laugh when examples of great minds have emerged from people who do not conclude the school either, or they never felt comfortable in the school environment. They broke the mold, they were themselves (Dzib Goodin, 2012).

In the space of the black list of colors I have been exploring the various elements to be considered in learning to educational level, if anyone is interested in that aspect.

I hope one day I can conclude my proposal of learning, and hopefully you continue visiting this space.

Alma Dzib Goodin

If you would like to know more about my writing you can visit my web site:
http://www.almadzib.com

References:

Castellani, RJ., Colucci, M., Xie, Z., Zou, W., Li, C., Parchi, P., Capellari, S., Pastore, M., Rahbar, MH., Chen, SG., Gambetti, P. (2004) Sensitivity of 14-3-3 Protein Test Varies in Subtypes of Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Neurology. 63(3) 436-42.

Collins, A., Koechlin, E. (2012) Reasoning, learning, and creativity: Frontal lobe function and human decision –making. Plos Biology. 10(3): e1001293. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001293

Costandi, M. (2012) Probing the workings of the human cells.  The Dana Foundation.Available at: http://dana.org/news/features/detail.aspx?id=36390

Dzib Goodin, A. (2011) The search for talent: The holy grail. Available at: http://talkingaboutneurocognitionandlearning.blogspot.com/2011/12/search-for-talent-holy-grail.html

Dzib Goodin, A. (2012) Black list of colors. Available at: http://education50.com/blog/black-list-of-colors

Dzib Goodin, A. (2012) Creativity, when a+b is equal to innovation. Available at: http://talkingaboutneurocognitionandlearning.blogspot.com/2012/02/creativity-when-b-is-equal-to.html

Ionescu, T. (2011) Exploring the nature of cognitive flexibility. New Ideas in Psychology. 30 (2) 190-200.

Kong, Q., Goldfarb, L., Gabizon, R., Montagna, P., Lugaresi, E., Piccardo, P., Petersen, RB., Parchi, P., Chen, SG., Capellari, S., Ghetti, B. (2004) Inherited Prion Diseases. In Prion Biology and Diseases. Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory Press. 

Li, J., Browning, S., Mahal, SP., Oelschlegel, AM., Weissmannm, C. (2010) Darwinian evolution of prions in cell culture. Science. 327 (5967) 869-872.

McGilchrist, I. (2011) The divided brain. RSA Animated. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFs9WO2B8uI

Mennes, M., Kelly, C., Colcombe, S., Castellanos, FX., y Milham, MP. (2012) The extrinsic and intrinsic functional architectures of the human brain are not equivalent. Cerebral Cortex. Available at: http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/01/31/cercor.bhs010.full.pdf+html

Nolfi, S., y Parisi, D. (1996) Learning to adapt to changing enviroments in evolving neural networks. Adaptative Behavior. 5 (1)  75-88.

Seung, S. (2010) Sebastian Seung: I am connectome. TED Talks. Available at : http://www.ted.com/talks/sebastian_seung.html

Weber, M. (2012) Microglia eliminate unnecessary synapses during brain development. Available at: http://neurosciencenews.com/microglia-synapse-c3-protein-brain-development-neurology/

Zou, W., Capellari, S., Parchi, P., Sy, MS., Gambetti, P., Chen, SG. (2003) Identification of Novel Proteinase K-resistant C-terminal Fragments of PrP in Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 278(42) 40429-40436. 

Zou, W., Zheng, J., Gray, DM., Gambetti, P., Chen, SG. (2004) Antibody to DNA Detects Scrapie but not Normal Prion Protein. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 101(5) 1380-1385.

Teaching competencies: An incompetence understanding learning

I know the title sounds strong, and more in my case as an author convinced that learning is always possible, so I want to make clear that I don’t have any problem with the model of competences, actually I believe is very good, because it focuses the student as axis of learning in the middle of a rich and stimulating environment, developing skills and competencies for the future. However, the model was crashed directly against the wall when the Spanish and Mexican educational system decided to use it.

The concept competition began to be part of the educational vocabulary in 1974 after an attempt of objective assessment of learning. The proposal of the model comes from the idea that it was possible to design, development and curricular evaluation to include the learn to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be, as part of the resolution of problems, all those key concepts included in a text of the UNESCO and which would be the basis of the education of late 20th century.

Other background of the competence approach is found in the Bologna Declaration, signed by the European Ministers of education and the Tuning project developed in Europe (Cazares Andrade, 2008).

Both projects has as objective reforming education, the Tuning project is the answer given by a group of universities to the challenge imposed by the Bologna Declaration (Declaration of Bologna, 1999 and Tuning: Europe). Both seek to raise the specific generic and disciplinary competences. 

Both models have previous experience at European countries, such as the projects of thematic networks of Socrates and Erasmus and the pilot of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System projects as background (Tuning Europe).

The idea of competencies is not focusing exclusively on developing knowledge and skills, rather the idea is achieved that the student is capable of understanding a problem and take action to solve it on the basis of the body of knowledge as part of a developed cognitive goal processes.

In this sense  a competition can be seen from different perspectives, for example "the usual and prudent use of information, communication, knowledge, technical skills which may include clinical reasoning, emotions, values and reflection in everyday practice for the benefit of the individual and his community" (cited in García, Loredo, Luna and  Rueda, 2008).

Another usual definition is afforded the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development that defines competition such as: the ability to respond to the demands or carry out tasks successfully and consistent with the cognitive and non-cognitive dimensions (cited in the Muñoz Araya, 2011).

Although it should be noted that some authors focus competition in the domain of a practice, as Bruner explains: what people learn is competition (cognitive) not the specific action of doing something (cited in García, Loredo, Luna and Rueda, 2008).

Also the model seeks to develop different skills in order to resolve multiple situations that may occur in the academic or professional field.

At the Higher Education did not appear any problem with this model where the student not only was able to reproduce information, but to develop the ability to make use of it and benefit in a social way. The model for a few European centers is installed in Spain and hence reaches Mexico. The meaningful learning theory, finally seemed applicable.

The romance began to lose its charm when the model of competences did not propose new forms of assessment related with the old traditional model and as  explain Díaz,  Flores and Osorio García (2011) and neither the political proposal changed the teaching model and the combination produced an educational disaster.

The competence model is based on the student and their general ability to develop skills, but the old model was focused on the content, this reason gave to the curricular design a leading role in the development of materials, adding ornaments to the contents, for example raising objectives of thematic units or open transversal contents to help to the student to interact with the contents. There are no books focuses on the skills of the student.

In Mexico the model was an imposition to all education levels, from kindergarten to higher education, this produced a redesign of contents, programs, new books are designed, or at least that it was said, the change was enormous because the goal was achieve coherence among all academic levels, refocus the mission of higher education, and connect to the labor world. All steps have been taken, but the cost, at least in Mexico and Spain, has been the highest rate of unemployment among graduates, as well as the biggest number of students leaving the educational options.

One of the biggest problems was the role of the teacher, because this was not analyzed (Ion and Cano, 2011; Diaz Flores and Osorio Garcia, 2011) and the copy of the Spanish model without a socio-cultural analysis background (Ruíz López, 2011).

Curricular changes were discussed from a political level without a serious review of the needs of learners, some programs of higher education only changed the names, and all changes went through consultations of opinion, falling into a political issue. So the same teachers were making up new practices with no idea how to do it. Do not need much analysis to see the error of Spain and how has been followed by Mexico so closely.

The mistakes about how to handle competences are so obvious specially with High School education text books, all of them  are littered with concepts, with information that does not help to solve problems, and assessments made at the old fashion, with multiple choices because that way teachers can evaluate more quickly. 

In higher education, Mexico is still teaching the old theories, with teachers who insist in making feel the student that does not know anything and imposing his opinion first and foremost. The student?, continues being  the body that does not think nor is able to solve problems, only serves to create them if one  day has the audacity to ask something outside script of the professor.

Within this context, it seems the model by competencies has no future, but examples such as Brazil and the India have shown that there are successful stories and analysis, those countries have been capable to create elite educational systems, and China and Japan are following the same steps.

The Tuning project continues working slow but steady, analyzing and working hard in Europe, Latin America, and the United States. Increasingly more stories focused on understanding the learning focused on the student and the environment, daily efforts seek to achieve successful students that can find employment to give a future to their families, their community and help their country going forward. From this log, the bet is in the neurocognition, I do believe we can create a flexible thinking and solving problems skills.

I just wrote an article where I analyzed the skills and attitudes that are academically desirable and which companies are looking for. The differences are not only clear but alarming. While Academy is the centered of knowledge does not allow creativity, the resolution of problems, flexible thinking, high capacity of adaptation, originality or the sense of humor, companies desperate for these skills and attitudes that enable the development of job skills.

Education at all levels must be reformulated; again no doubt, perhaps a flexible curriculum can be the answer, where students can find capabilities and talents as an option, rather than the generic knowledge-centered model. Meanwhile, the brightest minds on the planet seek answers, not in the academies, but in open discussion forums, where business men have so much to say and teach.

I still believe that the competence model is a good option, perhaps not the only, or the best, but certainly only need a different environment. Maybe with different policies and a precise goal: the student and his or her talent.

I personally, worked with it during 17 years, and it was so nice to see surprised students with their own capacity to solve problems. 

Alma Dzib Goodin

If you would like to know more about my writing you can visit my web site:
http://www.almadzib.com

Original

Ambos modelos tienen como antecedentes experiencias previas de los países europeos, como los proyectos de redes temáticas de Sócrates y Erasmus y de los proyectos Piloto del European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System.

Referencias:

Andrade Cázares RA. (2008) El enfoque por competencias en educación. Ide@s CONCYTEG. 3 (38) 53-64.

Araya Muñoz, MI. (2011) Competencias en educación: Ideas para el diseño curricular desde la deliberación  práctica y crítica, basada en el desarrollo humano y la transformación social. Revista Electrónica Educare. XV (1) 42-58.

Declaración de Bolonia (1999) Disponible en red: http://eees.umh.es/contenidos/Documentos/DeclaracionBolonia.pdf

Diaz Flores, M., y Osorio García, E. (2011) Nuevo modelo educativo ¿mismos docentes?. Tiempo de Educar. 12 (23) 29-46.

Dzib Goodin, A. (2011) Aprender a aprender: la visión neurocognitiva. Disponible en red: http://neurocognicionyaprendizaje.blogspot.com/2011/10/aprender-aprender-la-vision.html

Dzib Goodin, A. (2012) The learning process: Much more than just going to school. Education 5-0. Disponible en red: http://education50.com/issue/mar-apr-2012/article/the-learning-process-much-more-than-just-going-to-school1

Dzib Goodin, A. (2012) What is the secret behind sucessful students?. Evolllution. Disponible en red: http://www.evolllution.com/curriculum_planning/what-is-the-secret-behind-successful-students/

García, B., Loredo, J., Luna, E., y Rueda, M. (2008) Modelo de evaluación de competencias docentes para la educación media y superior. Revista Iberoamericana de Evaluación Educativa. 1 (3) 97- 108.

Ion, G., y Cano, E. (2011) El proceso de implementación de la evaluación por competencia en la Educación Superior. Un Estudio sobre el rol de los cargos académicos. Revista de Investigación en Educación. 9 (1) 246-258.

López Ruíz, JI. (2011) Un giro copernicano en la enseñanza universitaria. Revista de Educación. 356. 279-301.

Tuning Europa. Espacio Latinoamericano y Caribeño de Educación Superior. Disponible en red: http://www.oui-iohe.org/campus/eles/proyecto-tuning/tuning-europa/

Chicago: the place of accents

The city of Chicago, in the State of Illinois, is one of the paradises for researchers of language. It is a city with a large migratory flow which allows listening to multiple accents, languages living together and communicating every day.

Chicago is the largest city in the State and the third most populated in the United States. You can hear many languages but you can also hear many accents as these bilingual people speak English.

You will find many people from around the world that speak the English language well, but always with accent of their native language.  Their accent is the result of different variables that influence the degree of their accent when a second language is spoken. For example, the age when the second language is learned, time of stay in the country where they used the second language, gender, formal instruction, motivation, skills for learning the language and quality and quantity of the native language (Thorsten, MacKay & Flege, 2001).

The latest 2010 census shows that the linguistic variety is due in part to the diversity of nationalities of the residents of the city, which are 2,695,598 people, and mean 1,045,560 families. Chicago is also one of the most densely populated cities in the country. The racial makeup of the city is the following: 45.0% white (whites non-Hispanic of 31.7%); 32.9% African-American, 13.4% from some other race, 5.5% Asian (1.6% Chinese, Indian 1.1%, 1.1% Filipino, 0.4% Korean, Pakistani 0.3%, Vietnamese of 0.3%, 0.2% Japanese, Thai of 0.1%); 2.7% from two or more races, 0.5% Native American. 

Hispanics or Latinos make up the third largest race in Chicago at 28.9%.  This group of Chicagonans came from several Latin America countries: 21.4% Mexican, Puerto Rican 3.8%, 0.7% Guatemala, 0.6% Ecuadorian 0.3% Cuban, Colombian 0.3%, 0.2% Honduran, Salvadoran 0.2%, 0.2% Peruvian. 

Eastern Europeans and people from Africa also make up a minor percentage of the people living in Chicago as well. Lastly, those traveling to Chicago for vacation or family should also be considered. 

It is natural that with such a large number of foreign languages, people will mix and match that own language with English, creating interesting mistakes with the English language.

It’s always a fun exercise is to listen to the speakers and try to determine where they come from. When speaking with academics, it’s much easier to guess where the speaker is from. For example, a Spanish speaker can determine the difference not only from one country to another but the regional differences in his native country.

Learning a language in its oral form means to learn the sounds, words and grammatical rules of this as well as particular prosody(Peña-Garay, 2005). This component is also related to the specific region where it is native.

More nearby is the geographical location least different is the intonation, but as away geographically, the prosodic difference becomes more noticeable, along with many other linguistic schemes. It is very easy to distinguish between a Mexican accent and a Spanish one, but it is not so easy even for the Hispanic speakers, distinguish between a Honduran and a Guatemalan speaker.

 

That’s why some researchers seek the identification of the prosodic characteristic features of regions from, for instance intonation structure or parameters of duration and intensity (Ramirez Verdugo, 2005). 

These features are interspersed with learning another language. But the prosody is that allows linguistic clues sometimes save the limitation of the vocabulary within a conversation. Maybe not understanding all the words but intonation does know whether someone is asking something or is denoting a complaint. 

Although the prosody is perceived through the language, this is added a visual component in the form of facial expressions, which denote the communication is socially relevant (Jaywant & Pell, 2012). It is that interaction face to face, persons can  understand the meaning of a sentence even when not understood the verbal message, facial expression will help to decipher the message and ultimately allows the required question: Sorry, what did you say?.

Why is learning the words of a second language not enough? Because the words of the second language is only a component of communication. It is necessary to add the prosody as well as the intonation which gives the emotional content of each phrase. Some might say this is not as important between speakers of the same language (however, it is) but it is vital between bilingual speakers. The prosody and intonation is what allows someone to understand if the person is asking them a question or giving them an order. When the body language is added to the conversation, the words become secondary and understanding is achieved through the prosody and facial expressions.

Mimicking the prosody during the verbal production adds another component to language (Crystal, 2012), although sometimes this is more difficult than learning the words. There are theories that explain a pre-internal articulation, rather than the pronunciation of the word. This means we heard internally every sound before producing the word (Huettig and Hartsuiker, 2010). Even so, the intersections of the native language will always be a constraint. There will be sounds that a bilingual cannot imitate fully, even if during the mental review, the sounds are the right ones.

That's why Chicago is my favorite city to enjoy the accents, and the cultural linguistic combination, where the Spanglish is common and same person speaks a phrase with a full Spanish and the following sentence it said in English and then mixes it, or is common to listen to parusglish, where the Russian and the English get together. There is nothing more melodious than listening to Hindu’s speaking with their multiple variations or attempt to recognize the difference between the Asian languages. 

Nobody cares about your accent when you’re craving a pizza or taco or hamburger, it's the cultural experience that matters the most.

Alma Dzib Goodin

If you would like to know more about my writing you can visit my web site:
http://www.almadzib.com

References:

Crystal, D. (2012) On quotatives (he goes). Available at: http://david-crystal.blogspot.com/2012/03/on-quotatives-he-goes.html

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