learning

When Innovation & Best Practice Collide

/ Dave Eberwein / Leave a comment

The Rubik’s Cube — who didn’t have one when it was all the rage back in the 1980s?  What an innovation — certainly one of most unique puzzles or toys I had as a youth!

rubiks cube 2As the story goes, Hungarian sculptor and professor Ernő Rubik invented the device to teach his students about the mechanics behind 3D movable parts.  He soon discovered that he had a pretty cool toy on his hands and with that impetus, the Rubik’s Cube made it’s international debut at some European toy fairs in early 1980.  With sales at over 350 million units to date it is widely assumed to be the world’s top selling puzzle game … ever!

If toy stores had not decided to take a chance on this innovative new toy we never would have had been enamored with its unique challenge.

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My Good Luck Shoes

/ Dave Eberwein / Leave a comment

University Exams — even saying the words brings back anxiety — that pit in my stomach that feels like I might not keep my breakfast down.  It was one of the few times in my life where I found my nervousness getting the better of me.  I remember the anxiety, the lack of interest in eating, the inability to concentrate when I really needed to bear down and study.

puma shoes

Kinda looked like these –  but mine had more tape

On the actual exam day, I wore my favourite pair of Puma runners — to EVERY exam for good luck.  Those shoes lasted through 2 undergraduate degrees, dozens of mid-term and final exams … and lots and lots of tape holding them together.

I’m sure I’m not alone in my memory of those times studying when I just couldn’t get stuff  to stick inside my head — no matter how many times I read that #$%& paragraph.  Of course, it really didn’t help that I was tired and impatient.

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Brain Research – How It’s Revolutionizing Learning

/ Dave Eberwein / 4 Comments

I’m a Bit of a Science Geek

My children might argue that it’s more than a “bit”.  I really love how science consistently works to validate ideas and increase our understanding of the world.  And I love how it actually creates more questions than it answers — Science is a never-ending series of inquiries that delve deeper and deeper into areas of discovery.

Here’s a sprinkling of my passion for Science:

  • My first degree was in Zoology;
  • I was a Chemistry, Science and Math teacher;
  • I enjoy reading all kinds of science articles and watching YouTube clips from people like Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson;
  • The study of brain biology and how it relates to learning fascinates me;

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