Transcriber: Denise RQ Reviewer: Alexander Kertser
Mickey Choma: As a professional dancer, at the age of 33
I tried for the first time to juggle with four balls,
for three weeks I dedicated one hour a day for practice.
But despite all of my effort,
I just couldn't keep the balls in the air for more than eight seconds.
I really believed that this was the best I could do.
I was frustrated.
I decided that I just didn't have that ability; I gave up.
Two years later, I was asked to choreograph juggling numbers.
During the 3 months of this production,
I decided once again to try to practice with four balls.
This time, to my surprise,
I succeeded in keeping the balls in the air for more than two minutes.
I felt great!
I realized that the change was due to persistence of practice.
It was one of those Eureka moments for me.
I truly understood that capability is dynamic
and can be changed through persistence and practice.
This experience had a great influence on my life.
It actually changed my profession.
From that moment on, I regarded juggling as a tool for developing learning skills
and I use it today as a juggling teacher
helping my students to achieve similar insights about themselves.
Dr. Efrat Furst: Wouldn't it be wonderful to know how to practice
in order to achieve the best results in the shortest time possible?
It would save us a lot of frustration and time.
Well, we don't know the answer yet, but we are on the right track.
The change in ability that Mickey just talked about
is actually a change within the brain.
Immediately after learning, connections are formed between neurons,
creating new neuronal networks.
This is true for all types of learning:
for learning how to juggle with four balls,
but also learning history or mathematics.
Our ability to retrieve the information and use it
is dependent on the strength of these connections.
But how does it happen biologically?
What is the relation between our behavior and the neurons inside our brain?
This is what neuroscience is about, and it is truly fascinating.
This is why I studied it for 10 years.
But after completing my PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience,
I decided to move from research to practice;
I decided to become a teacher.
This wasn't easy, but it was very interesting.
Gradually, I discovered
that my point of view as a cognitive neuroscientist
on learning processes was unique, and potentially very useful.
It surprised me that the two fields, neuroscience and education,
were not really related.
And so, I have found my role as a communicator,
bridging between these two fields.
I teach the basics of neuroscience to students and teachers,
and how this knowledge is relevant to what they do teaching and learning.
This is the emerging field of neuroeducation.
MC: We met less than two years ago,
at the Rama school for gifted and talented children
in Ramat Hasharon.
I taught a juggling course; Efrat taught another on brain science.
When we met, we started talking
about the relation between juggling and the brain.
I asked Efrat if she could tell me something from neuroscience
that would be useful for juggling training,
and she told me something that changed my perspective about learning.
EF: Everyone knows that we need to rehearse in order to remember,
or train in order to master a skill.
But according to the "Spacing Effect", a scientifically established principle,
it is also important to devote time for breaks.
You may be asking yourself:
if I have a limited time, won't I use it all for learning?
Why spend time on doing nothing?"
So here comes the explanation:
when we are learning or training, the neurons inside our brain are active.
Immediately afterwards, begins a process of forming connections,
stabilizing the memory.
This stabilization is essential for later retrieval.
But if we activate the same neuronal network again
by a second immediate rehearsal,
we actually interfere with the stabilization of the previous one.
Interestingly, Kelly and Whatson published in 2013
a report about the application of spacing effect in the classroom.
They designed biology lessons
composed of three very intensive learning sessions,
up to 20 minutes each,
with 2-10 minute breaks in between.
This model proved to be very, very effective.
MC: When we discussed the potential benefit for juggling,
we decided we had to try it.
With the support of Odelia Kohn-Oppenheim,
the Principal of the Rama School for Gifted Children,
we started a unique collaboration,
a joint juggling and brain science course for middle-school students.
EF: We decided to let our students investigate their own juggling training
in order to reveal effects like the spacing effect
or any other effects.
In order to do that,
we had to consider how to measure motoric skill improvement.
MC: To get an idea, let's try an exercise together.
Hold your right hand in the air, and now let's draw a square.
Simple. Go down, to the right, up, and close.
One, two, three, four. Very good.
Now, let's draw a triangle with your left hand.
Let's draw one, to your left, and close.
One, two, three. Very simple, yes?
But now we are going to do it simultaneously.
I will count slowly to 12
and you should reach the starting points with your both hands.
Let's try it.
And one, and two, and three,
and four, and five
and six, and seven, and eight. OK, OK, OK.
I noticed a bit of frustration.
Let's try it again.
I'll give you two tips.
Try to reflect my movements and think about the exception.
The diagonal with your left hand. All the other sides are the same.
Let's try it.
With me, and one, and two,
and three, and four,
and five, and six, and seven, and eight, and nine,
and ten, eleven, twelve! Great job.
(Applause)
Thank you.
EF: So, what can we measure here?
We actually thought about it for a while, considering several options
before coming up with a simple, effective, and elegant solution.
Or so we think.
Here, is our student Daniella
performing the same exercise for the first time
with small LED lights on her fingers.
You're looking at a picture taken with a very long shutter speed
of 13 seconds, in this case.
So you can see the path drawn by both of her hands
in different colors.
This is a very useful tool to visualize the skill improvement.
This is Daniella again doing the same thing
after ten additional repetitions.
We use the same method with juggling.
MC: For example, juggling with three balls.
Try to follow my hands. OK
This is me doing the same thing
with LED lights in my hands and blue luminous balls.
Notice the stable pattern of the hands.
And this is our student Daniel (Laughter)
at the beginning of his training,
and you can see the lack of pattern
and you can even see he was constantly moving
and reaching for the ball that fell.
And this picture was taken after only one hour of training
and after Daniel saw the first picture.
This picture is after six weeks of training.
The improvement in his technique is obvious.
EF: This is our student Dvash, also training juggling with three balls.
And you can see her improvement over the weeks.
She also documented her practice by writing down
the number of successful catches she managed to do every time,
and you can see this data on the chart here.
You can see her gradual, but very nice improvement,
in both measures.
Our students now have the research methods.
They can even extract quantitative data from the pictures
in order to compare different practice methods.
We even have some initial but very promising results from juggling
regarding the spacing effect that support the advantage of the 10-minute breaks.
But taking one step back, this process of investigation by our students
provided us with some unexpected insights, education-wise.
MC: Juggling is obviously fun, but this is just the outer layer.
Many times, students must face their insecurity and frustration.
One of our students came to me
during the first lesson last year and said:
"Mickey, I will never succeed, I can't even juggle one ball."
After some persuasion, he was willing to try with two balls.
He improved a lot in just one lesson.
But, the same thing happened again with three balls.
And again, he made enormous progress juggling with three balls.
And he couldn't deny it
because the numbers were in front of his eyes.
At the end of the semester, the great change in him was clear.
And it wasn't just about juggling.
As he put it in his own words,
"Now I feel that I can face any challenge."
Isn't it a good reason to wake up in the morning and go to work?
Our collaboration was an enlightening experience for me,
different from what I've seen so far in my classes.
It was clear that when the students take the role of the investigator,
dedicated to documenting their own progress,
they are more committed to the learning process
and motivated to persist.
When they see the change with their own eyes,
in the colorful pathways and in the numbers,
they simply cannot ignore it.
Seeing is believing, and believing changed the way they learn,
making it much more significant and efficient.
The scientific investigation and the visualization tools
set in motion a positive feedback loop:
motivation encourages persistence,
and persistence over time leads to success
that eventually promotes confidence in their own ability.
This confidence motivates them to persist, not just in the juggling.
EF: This was an insightful experience,
and it was just the beginning of the process.
I truly believe in engaging students in neuroscience-based research,
that can be applied in all fields of learning.
After this initial process of self investigation,
students understand their own learning processes.
They get curious and motivated to ask questions
and answer them through research.
For example,
what is the optimal interval between two learning repetitions?
These answers, the answers they get from the research are relevant
and can be applied immediately.
For example, for developing learning strategies
that will eventually improve their achievements.
At the end of the day they understand, they really understand how to learn,
and they gain confidence in their own abilities.
MC: Our collaboration brought us further than we ever imagined.
We took our two individual colors
and combined them into a new inspiring blend.
We are constantly learning about the learning process,
getting excited every week about new ideas and directions.
EF: Let your students investigate themselves.
They find meaning, and they gain confidence.
EF & MC: Thank you.
(Applause)