The theme of education and knowledge is not new in the society. It is significant and relevant to better realization of nation’s ability to think and analyze things better and faster. Man’s mind is a complex of difficult processes which maintain people’s activities throughout life. The reason is that human beings ought to invoke common sense every now and then. The mechanisms of better making out are to be implemented and widely used in the educational establishments. This is a biggest treasure for a man not to be silly. Thus, it is important to be put into the picture about mind processes and habits which should be uncovered for further use.
An ancient idea of mind power developing by a number of methods and treatments was of huge interest among the outstanding philosophers, namely, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. It stated that if the mind was trained in a right way, it “would turn toward virtue.”(Encyclopedia 15160) In accordance with Costa and Callick “intelligence is not simply linked to test scores and academic ability, but recognition is given to the role of non-academic, social-emotional factors in explaining intelligence.( Costa and Callick 4) This idea embodied a fast and effective acceptance of several techniques in educational process. What is the power of mind actually? What approaches should be made to reach the reality and realization of such means providing students with facilitated educational process in terms of urgent needs in brains within the era of high technologies?
The philosophy of mind creates a wide picture of the development of a man’s reasoning and outlook on the nature and main aspects of mind.
Plato and Aristotle, from whom the philosophy of mind inherits much of its ontology and many of its questions, constructed it at the service of normative epistemology and normative political theory. Plato’s analysis of the structure of the mind was designed to establish the possibility of a self-corrective rationality, in principle empowered to form and direct desires and passions. It was in the interest of such an epistemology that Plato attempted to distinguish rational knowledge from mystical insight and technical activity.( Amélie Oksenberg Rorty 1-2)
The sensory perception is a tool that helps people realize the diversity of the environment, events, things and world on the whole. With accumulating the information from all resources there is a current need in saving data in your mind. It is better to say that one should place the information in short-term memory and then replace it by means of definite techniques in possibly huge “deposits” of long-term memory. The process undergoes several stages. Among them are: getting, realizing and saving data. First one is acceptable and actually does not need special outlook, but the second and the third stages are to be mentioned and emphasized in terms of the closer working out the methods of better acquirement. “Habits of Mind such as Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations, Gathering Data through all Senses and Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision implicitly include the concept of sensory perception and memory.” (Costa and Kallick 6)
Making emphasis on the main factors of mind process one cannot but mention the cognition and its processes through an outlook construction and sophistication of information in non-linear model. It is known, that when analyzing the thoughts there is a vague picture of what a man wants to say or express. It is felt when words do not come easy and stay difficult to compile into the sentences.
In “Habit of Mind” the authors divided all types of habits into sixteen. Among the core models of mind habits is one called Metacognition. This model obtains the unity of same processes in their interrelation and interconnection, namely, ‘thinking about thinking’ or ‘knowledge about knowledge’. The main factors of this have resulted into two: “self-monitoring and self-regulation. Self-monitoring is the broad process of keeping track of our remembering and understanding. Self-regulation includes the central processes of planning, directing and evaluating cognitive behavior.” (Costa and Kallick 7)
Working in various areas people by insensible degrees use different habits while thinking over acquiring and saving and recalling information. It is individual for every human being. The following ones are the most significant about the issue: “Managing Impulsivity, Striving for Accuracy, Metacognition, Responding with Wonderment and Awe, Questioning and Posing Problems, Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations, and Thinking Interdependently.” (Costa and Kallick 8) This is obvious when looking at the “cognitive styles” in the book of Costa and Kallick.
While making something up people do not mind to destruct it. Constructive methods of reasoning about the problem help building definite models of its solutions. That is why constructivism figures within mind habits as a tool for “active participation in learning.” (Costa and Kallick 9) A man should quest in the world of knowledge looking for chain connection between meanings and concepts of words. It provokes a learner’s intention to make out and find out the solution to the problem.
The way people behave determines the way of a survey which is felt through the principles of “self-talk” and “self-regulation”. To make sense of the problem escalated one ought to observe skills and habits in the process of concerning somebody’s view. This standpoint takes into account a social aspect of a habit-like nature of mind.
“The Habits of Mind, Persisting, Managing Impulsivity, Listening with Understanding and Empathy, Finding Humor and Responding with Wonderment and Awe, incorporate recognition of the significance of emotions within the learning process.” (Costa and Kallick 10) That is to say, that it is not necessarily what a man says; the emotional presentation with hints, gestures and mimes is a truthfully acknowledged reality.
Another point is the structure of brain in terms of its physiologic congestion. According to the question of expanding the intellective power William Holmes notes:
Today we can even peer inside the human brain to some degree, primarily by functional MRI, which allows researchers to observe those areas of the brain that become more active while performing such ordinary activities as reading or solving simple problems. The most detailed view of all comes from electrodes placed in the brain to measure the activity of individual neurons. (William Holmes, 2007)
The emotional factors and other signals from outside are able to impact not only the memory and its processes but also the structure and shape of the brain. In other words, non-material reality influences materially. This issue is still full of enigma that is why this area of science still needs more researches in parallel.
Thus, summarizing the above-mentioned ideas on the theme, one should admit the figurative and graphic logic of mind habits. Their interrelation is expressed through invisible processes of thinking, perceiving, memorizing and citing data. The investigative results of a better learning during the educational process are generally accessible worldwide. All in all, people are to follow four standpoints concerning the nature of brain and mind: 1) Understanding the mind; 2) Understanding consciousness; 3) Developing existing human potential; 4) Exploring beyond existing limits. (William Holmes, 2007)
References
Costa, A. & Kallick, B. (Eds.) (2000). Habits of Mind. A Developmental Series. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Oksenberg Rorty, A., Mind in Action: Essays in the Philosophy of Mind, Beacon Press, 1988.
Lindsay, M., Good Habits of Mind, Commonweal, Vol. 134, 2007.
Holmes W. Expanding the Human Mind: The Future of the Brain Neurobiology, Electronics, and Other Tools May Give Us Mental Powers That Are Truly Mind-Boggling, Magazine article by; The Futurist, Vol. 41, 2007.
The Columbia Encyclopedia, ‘Education’, Sixth Edition, 2007.
Campbell, J, Theorising Habits of Mind as a Framework for Learning, Central Queensland University, 2002.