The last blog was basically how a Catholic family, I know, raised their kids and the results. Supposedly 67% of children whose dads attended church regularly will grow up to attend church regularly even if the mother doesn’t. (https://www.facebook.com/dralvedaking/posts/when-a-father-leads-with-faith-generations-followaccording-to-studies-67-of-chil/1290962282385978/ ) This family proves this correct: 1 catholic, 1 protestant, and 1 atheist. In my opinion these are the basics for raising a decent child. The following information may offer hints on how to raise a better child.
The following are secular scientific and fact-based courses on how children learn the world round. If you followed the last blog, chances are you should at least get secularly good or exceptional children. I added the Course “Music and the Brain” because the wife of the catholic family mentioned earlier listened to classical music while pregnant as well as had her children taught the violin with one winning 2nd place at the grandmaster level in the Arizona State fiddle competition, and the other 2 play violin at a local children’s orchestra. The last one is on the spiritual brain and possibly may hold the key on how to get a probability better than 67% of your children being religious, conceivably the most important measure of being a good parent in that it impacts their immortal souls!
A list of the courses outlined are as follows:
– Scientific Secrets: for Raising Kids Who Thrive
– Raising Emotionally and Socially Healthy Kids
– How the World Learns: Comparative Educational Systems
– Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning, 2nd Edition
– The Art of Debate
– Effective research Methods for Any Project
– Music and the Brain
– The Spiritual Brain: Science and Religious Experience
The first course is entitled “Scientific Secrets: for Raising Kids Who Thrive.”
Overview and lecturer’s credentials from the Great Courses Website
Overview
Parenting advice isn’t hard to find. There are thousands of books on the subject, as well as a multitude of websites. Much has also been written on the science of child development. What’s been lacking, however, are sources of reliable advice that bring together the scientific research and its real-world applications. This course bridges the divide. In 24 engaging lectures, an expert in the cognitive development of early childhood presents what scientific research has revealed about the things parents can actively do to promote children’s long-term development right from birth. Professor Vishton delivers a wealth of practical tips to help children reach their full potential intellectually, emotionally, physically, and socially. And he supports it all with findings culled from the latest scientific literature. You’ll touch on topics across all areas of childrearing, from sleep and nutrition to behavior and academics. And you’ll get answers to many of the most common parenting questions:
- Should I sleep-train my baby by letting her “cry it out”?
- Should I let my infant, toddler, or child watch TV-and if so, how much?
- Should I allow my child to play video games?
- Should I pressure my picky eater to finish her vegetables?
- Should I spank my child when he misbehaves?
In addition to learning methods for laying an early foundation in subjects such as math and reading, you’ll gain information for boosting your children’s overall cognitive abilities-and even their IQ scores.
Lecturer
Dr. Peter M. Vishton is Associate Professor of Psychology at The College of William & Mary. He earned his Ph.D. in Psychology and Cognitive Science from Cornell University. Before joining the faculty of William & Mary, he taught at Northwestern University and served as the program director for developmental and learning sciences at the National Science Foundation. A consulting editor for the journal Child Development, Professor Vishton has published articles in many of the top journals in the field of psychology. Among these are Psychological Science, Science, and the Journal of Experimental Psychology. He is also the creator of the DVD What Babies Can Do: An Activity-Based Guide to Infant Development. In addition to teaching, Professor Vishton devotes much of his career to researching the perception and action control of both infants and adults. His studies-funded by prestigious institutions, including the National Institute of Child Health and Development and the National Science Foundation-focus on cognitive, perceptual, and motor development; visually guided action; visual perception; computational vision and motor control; and human-computer interface. Professor Vishton has presented his findings at numerous conferences and invited talks throughout the United States and Europe.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: Self-Control-From Tummy Time to Tae Kwon Do
Lecture 2: Seeing, Hearing Thinking, Learning Infants
Lecture 3: Sleep-Getting Enough “Vitamin S”
Lecture 4: Healthy Eating Habits For Life
Lecture 5: Baby Talk, Sign Language, and Speech
Lecture 6: Shaping Behavior-How Kids and Rats Differ
Disc 2
Lecture 7: Which Style of Parenting Is Best?
Lecture 8: The Joy of Reading and the Place of Phonics
Lecture 9: IQ Hazards and Boosting Intelligence
Lecture 10: Enhancing Your Child’s Memory
Lecture 11: Parent as Teacher-Homework and Beyond
Lecture 12: Getting a Jump on Math-Without Math Anxiety
Disc 3
Lecture 13: Advantages of a Second Language
Lecture 14: What TV and Video Can and Can’t Teach
Lecture 15: Values and Pitfalls of Video Games
Lecture 16: Promoting Persistence and Self-Esteem
Lecture 17: Encouraging Cooperation, Sharing, Empathy
Lecture 18: Peer Conflicts and Social Development
Disc 4
Lecture 19: Maria Montessori at Home for Young Children
Lecture 20: Schooling and the Montessori Approach
Lecture 21: Physical Development and Education
Lecture 22: The Adolescent Brain
Lecture 23: Becoming a Parent-Scientist
Lecture 24: The Great Values of an Unhurried Childhood.
The second course is entitled “Raising Emotionally and Socially Healthy Kids” and as for the first course and the rest of the Courses Covered in this and future blogs on the great courses the over view and lecturers credentials are taken from the Great Courses website.
Overview
As a parent, you can’t make friends for your children, nor can you prevent them from ever feeling hurt or upset. But with the right guidance, you can support them in learning how to solve problems, cope with feelings, and build satisfying relationships. Raising Emotionally and Socially Healthy Kids gives you access to the same practical advice and actionable plans that Dr. Kennedy-Moore – an in-demand psychologist and author who serves on the advisory board for Parents magazine – shares with clients in her Princeton, New Jersey, practice. Drawing from the her extensive clinical experience – as well as personal experience as a mother of four – these 12 lectures provide a deeper understanding of your child’s development and ways to address common stumbling blocks with compassion. In the first half, you’ll focus on emotional intelligence and the pivotal role parents can play in helping children understand and cope with their feelings. You’ll discover strategies for managing early-childhood meltdowns; simple techniques to inspire cooperation; constructive ways to deal with back-talk, aggression, and unkind behavior; methods to help children cope with anxiety; and more. In the latter half, you’ll turn to social intelligence and the challenges children face in making friends, plus practical ways you can guide them through the process. Here, you’ll explore how you can support your child in getting along with others; being a good sport; handling conflicts; dealing with bullying; and coping with gossip and cliques. You’ll conclude with a candid discussion of friendship in the digital age, looking at video game playing and the relatively new but troubling phenomena of cyberbullying and “Facebook depression”.
Lecturer
Eileen Kennedy-Moore is an author and clinical psychologist who specializes in parenting and children’s feelings and friendships at her private practice in Princeton, New Jersey (license #35SI00425400). She earned her BA in Psychology from Northwestern University and her MA and PhD in Clinical Psychology from Stony Brook University.
Dr. Kennedy-Moore is the author or coauthor of four books for parents, including Kid Confidence: Help Your Child Make Friends, Build Resilience, and Develop Self-Esteem and What’s My Child Thinking? Practical Child Psychology for Modern Parents with Tanith Carey. She is also the author of a book for mental health professionals, Expressing Emotion: Myths, Realities, and Therapeutic Strategies. Her books for children include the award-winning What About Me? 12 Ways to Get Your Parents’ Attention (without Hitting Your Sister) and Growing Friendships: A Kids’ Guide to Making and Keeping Friends.
Dr. Kennedy-Moore has published academic articles in the Review of General Psychology and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. She has been quoted in numerous popular magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Parents, Real Simple, Working Mother, Woman’s Day, and the Chicago Tribune. She serves on the advisory board for Parents magazine, and her blog, Growing Friendships at PsychologyToday.com, has more than 4 million views. She has also been a featured guest on Live with Kelly and Ryan, TODAY, Good Day Philadelphia, and many highly rated and nationally syndicated radio shows.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: Developing Your Child’s Emotional Intelligence
Lecture 2: Anxiety-The Way Out is Through
Lecture 3: How Kids Manage Anger-Positive Discipline
Lecture 4: Building Authentic Self-Esteem
Lecture 5: Teaching Kids to Care – The Roots of Empathy
Lecture 6: What makes Kids happy?
Disc 2
Lecture 7: How Children Make Friends
Lecture 8: Playing Well with Others
Lecture 9: Making Up and Breaking up with Friends
Lecture 10: Belonging, Status, Popularity and Rejection
Lecture 11: Teasing and Bullying
Lecture 12: Growing up in the Digital Age
The next Course is an audio course entitled “How the World Learns: Comparative Educational Systems” on Compact Disc (CD), unlike the rest of the lectures in this particular blog which are on DVD. Once again the overview and lecturers credentials are from the Great Courses Website.
Overview
Seeing what education looks like in other countries and contexts – how the model America innovated has been adapted and implemented elsewhere – helps us understand how other systems create success. In each of these 24 thought-provoking lectures, you’ll engage in a detailed comparison of teaching methods and student achievement in both primary and secondary schools, from the focus on STEM instruction and the intent of morals education to the role of preschool and the importance of creativity. You’ll discover why Finland and South Korea consistently rank as the two best educational systems despite having diametrically opposed approaches, and consider the unique cultural challenges facing schools from America to South Africa. As you embark on this educational odyssey around the world, you’ll examine schools as close as Tulsa, Oklahoma and as far-flung as Ghana, Japan, and Myanmar. You may be surprised to learn that for all their differences, approaches to teaching don’t vary as widely as one might expect.
With Professor Wiseman’s guidance, you’ll use internationally comparative data to identify strengths and weaknesses and to see how this information is used – and sometimes misused – to enact policies that shape what happens in classrooms. Along the way, you’ll contemplate a number of important questions about the goals of education and the ways teachers may help students reach them. Are teachers responsible for academic content only, or are they also caregivers and counselors? Which is more important: gaining knowledge or learning new skills? Is standardized testing the best way to measure what a person knows or is capable of? Is the point of school to prepare kids for college or for a job?
These lectures go beyond the rhetoric of crisis and prescriptions for quick fixes to reveal the fullest picture possible of the practices that produce results (or don’t), the external factors over which schools have little control, and the potential for success.
Lecturer
Professor Alexander W. Wiseman is an Associate Professor of Comparative and International Education at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in both Comparative and International Education and Educational Theory and Policy from The Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Wiseman has more than 19 years of professional experience, working worldwide with government education departments, university-based teacher education programs, and community-based professional development programs for teachers. He also has been a classroom teacher in both the United States and East Asia, and he currently serves as a frequent strategic planning and development consultant for ministries of education and national education organizations worldwide. He is a co-chair of the Committee on International Accreditation for the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. Professor Wiseman is the author of many research-to-practice articles and books. Recent articles have appeared in Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education; Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education; American Behavioral Scientist; Computers & Education; and Research in Comparative and International Education. In addition, Professor Wiseman serves as the series editor for the International Perspectives on Education and Society volume series and as the chief editor of the Annual Review of Comparative and International Education volume. He also is the senior editor of the peer-reviewed journal FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: The Global Challenge to Educate
Lecture 2: Sputnik Launches the Science-Math Race
Disc 2
Lecture 3: Education is Life
Lecture 4: Evidence-Based Policy in Education
Disc 3
Lecture 5: What Should We Compare about Education?
Lecture 6: The World Learns from Horace Mann
Disc 4
Lecture 7: When Culture Invades the Classroom
Lecture 8: Germany and Japan’s Shattered Expectations
Disc 5
Lecture 9: Borrowing Foreign School Cultures
Lecture 10: The Value in Linking School to Jobs
Disc 6
Lecture 11: Why Blame the Teacher?
Lecture 12: Gender Pipeline Lifts Equality Dream
Disc 7
Lecture 13: Gulf Schools: The Non-National Advantage
Lecture 14: Who is Accountable for Education?
Disc 8
Lecture 15: How Parents Shape Student Outcomes
Lecture 16: Reading, Writing, and Religion
Disc 9
Lecture 17: International Test Scores: All and Nothing
Lecture 18: Turning a Bood Teacher Into a Great One
Disc 10
Lecture 19: The Foundations of Civil Society
Lecture 20: From National Student to Global Citizen
Disc 11
Lecture 21: The Problem with Teaching’s Best Practices
Lecture 22: A School Inside Your Phone?
Disc 12
Lecture 23: The Rich-and-Poor Learning Cycle
Lecture 24: How to Fix Education: Heart, Head, Hands
The next 2 courses are general courses for teenage and college students, the first of which is entitled “Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning, 2nd Edition” and which the overview and lecturer’s credentials are once more taken from the Great Courses Website for both courses.
Overview
What is effective reasoning? And how can it be done persuasively? These questions have been asked for thousands of years, yet some of the best thinking on reasoning and argumentation is recent and represents a break from the past. These 24 engaging lectures teach you how to reason, how to persuade others that what you think is right, and how to judge and answer the arguments of others – and how they will judge yours. Professor Zarefsky makes argumentation accessible and familiar by breaking it into five easy-to-understand components: The tools of formal logic, while essential and even definitive for mathematics and programming computers, are inadequate to decide most controversial issues. This course shows more useful approaches. Arguments can be divided into three parts: a claim, evidence, and an inference linking the evidence to the claim. All arguments fall into a handful of distinctive categories, and the same issues are at stake each time one of these distinctive patterns occurs. Three kinds of evidence can be advanced to prove an argument that something is true: objective data, social consensus, and personal credibility. There are six kinds of inference that link evidence to a claim: example, cause, sign, analogy, narrative, and form. How to use and challenge each is explained. Along the way, you’ll look at numerous actual controversies with a perspective that allows you to see the structure of all disputes. In this way, argument becomes an exchange, not just a flurry of words
Lecturer
Dr. David Zarefsky is the Owen L. Coon Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University, where he has taught for over 30 years. He earned his B.S., master’s degree, and Ph.D. from Northwestern University. From 1988 through 2000, he served as the Dean of the School of Speech.
A nationally recognized authority on rhetoric and forensics, he is a past president of the National Communication Association (NCA) and recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award in 1994 and the Distinguished Service Award in 2001. On no fewer than 13 occasions, his outstanding lecturing skills have been recognized by the inclusion of his name on Northwestern’s Associated Student Government Honor Roll for Teaching.
Dr. Zarefsky has authored five books, edited three more, and published over 50 scholarly articles and reviews. He received the 1986 National Communication Association’s Winans-Wichelns Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric and Public Address for his book President Johnson’s War on Poverty: Rhetoric and History and the same award again in 1991 for Lincoln, Douglas, and Slavery: In the Crucible of Public Debate.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: Introduction to Argumentation and Rhetoric
Lecture 2: Underlying Assumptions of Argumentation
Lecture 3: Formal and Informal Argumentation
Lecture 4: History of Argumentation Studies
Lecture 5: Argument Analysis and Diagramming
Lecture 6: Complex Structures of Argument
Disc 2
Lecture 7: Case Construction-Requirements and Options
Lecture 8: Stasis-The heart of the Controversy
Lecture 9: Attack and Defense I
Lecture 10: attack and Defense II
Lecture 11: Language and Style in Argument
Lecture 12: Evaluating Evidence
Disc 3
Lecture 13: Reasoning from Parts to Whole
Lecture 14: Reasoning with Comparisons
Lecture 15: Establishing Correlations
Lecture 16: Moving from Cause to Effect
Lecture 17: Commonplaces and Arguments from Form
Lecture 18: Hybrid Patterns of Inference
Disc 4
Lecture 19: Validity and Fallacies I
Lecture 20: Validity and Fallacies II
Lecture 21: Arguments between Friends
Lecture 22: Arguments among Experts
Lecture 23: Public Argument and Democratic Life
Lecture 24: The Ends of Argumentation
The next course is entitled “The Art of Debate,” and is about exactly what the title implies, showing how debate is actually an art and methods needed to excel at it!
Overview
If you’re like many people, you might associate debate with either a college club or a TV political “debate” that features two or more candidates talking over each other. But if these are your only associations with debating, you’re missing out on an exhilarating intellectual pursuit that can help you in all aspects of your daily life. The ability to debate – to present persuasive arguments, pierce the logic of others, and turn the tables against withering cross-examinations – is one of the truest tests of one’s intellectual capacity.
The Art of Debate offers you the ultimate how-to guide for anyone interested in learning this powerful skill. Taught by Professor Jarrod Atchison of Wake Forest University, these 24 stimulating lectures will help you develop your command of logic, construct clear and concise arguments, recognize the fallacies in others’ reasoning, and sharpen your strategic thinking skills. While Professor Atchison provides you with an abundance of insight into the formal elements of debate, this focus of this course is on applied debating – developing skills that you can apply to the real world to help you think through complex issues and arrive at better decisions.
Whether you are trying to make a tough business decision or lead a lively discussion at the dinner table, this course will provide insight not only into how to win arguments, but how to present ideas more generally. The Art of Debate offers a dynamic introduction to one of life’s most fascinating skills.
Lecturer
Dr. Jarrod Atchison is an Associate Professor of Communication at Wake Forest University, where he teaches such courses as Argumentation Theory and Debate and Advocacy. He is also the Director of Debate for the Wake Forest University Debate Team, which dates back to 1835 and has won multiple national championships. Dr. Atchison received his Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Georgia, where he served as an assistant debate coach. As an undergraduate at Wake Forest University, Dr. Atchison was a Presidential Scholar in debate who was ranked the third overall individual speaker at the 2001 National Debate Tournament.
Dr. Atchison has published extensively on the study of argumentation and rhetoric and is the author of a forthcoming book on the rhetorical leadership of Jefferson Davis. He researches 19th-century American public address, with an emphasis on the American Civil War. Additionally, Dr. Atchison researches public argument, including the best practices for intercollegiate debate. Dr. Atchison has been nominated twice for the Reid-Doyle Prize for Excellence in Teaching at Wake Forest University and was honored with the George Ziegmueller Award by the National Debate Tournament Board of Trustees in 2015. In the summer, Dr. Atchison works with high school students on the art of debate and was consistently voted the top-ranked lecturer at the University of Michigan summer debate workshop.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: The Hidden Value of Debate
Lecture 2: When and How to Use Debate
Lecture 3: The Proposition: Choosing What to Debate
Lecture 4: The Structure of Argument
Lecture 5: Using Evidence in Debate
Lecture 6: Fallacies in Your Opponent’s Research
Disc 2
Lecture 7: Fallacies in Your Opponent’s Arguments
Lecture 8: Elements of a Good Case
Lecture 9: Arguing for the Affirmative
Lecture 10: Building Affirmative Cases
Lecture 11: Arguing for the Negative
Lecture 12: Building Negative Cases
Disc 3
Lecture 13: The Crucible of Cross-Examination
Lecture 14: Asking and Answering Leading Questions
Lecture 15: Open-Ended Questions: Setting Traps
Lecture 16: Essentials of a Persuasive Rebuttal
Lecture 17: Dealing with the Unexpected in Debate
Lecture 18: “Even If” Arguments: The Essential Weapon
Disc 4
Lecture 19: Debate Jujitsu: Flipping the Warrant
Lecture 20: The Power of Concessions
Lecture 21: Conditional Argumentation
Lecture 22: Line-by-Line Refutation
Lecture 23: Judging Debates: The Art of the Decision
Lecture 24: Winning the Cocktail Party
The next course is entitled “Effective research Methods for any Project,” which can be of value to both students and business people.
Overview
We rely on effective research in many areas of life. But what makes research effective? Any good research rests upon, above all else, method. And the best research methods are accessible and easy to utilize once you master them.
In the 24 dynamic lectures of Effective Research Methods for Any Project, Professor Amanda M. Rosen of Webster University, introduces you to the remarkable procedures and techniques that make research such a powerful tool. This brilliantly conceived course gives you a deep, detailed, and practical guide to proper research methods—methods that are broadly applicable to all kinds of research. As groundwork for your own research, you’ll investigate research ethics, the role of reviewing the scholarly literature, how to choose a topic and a research question, how to choose the best research design, and how to measure your data.
You’ll move from the most important categories of research design and methodology from “The Classic Experiment” where you grasp the fundamentals behind the hallmark of research through the various methodologies including “Applied Research” where you learn how experts seek collaborative solutions to real world problems, and even learn best practices to share your findings in the most impactful way possible, from the formal research report to less formal approaches.
Gain real skills you can apply every day and in every project with this practical and transformative approach to knowledge creation.
Lecturer
Amanda M. Rosen is an Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations and a fellow in the Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies at Webster University, where she regularly teaches research methods at both undergraduate and graduate levels. She holds a BA in Political and Economic Studies of Europe from Duke University as well as an MA and a PhD in Political Science from The Ohio State University. Dr. Rosen’s research specialization is the scholarship of teaching and learning, with particular focus on games and simulations, experiential learning, human rights education, and transparent teaching. She also works on climate change policy making, issues of human security, and international human rights of marriage and the family. Dr. Rosen’s work can be found in the Journal of Political Science Education; PS: Political Science & Politics; International Studies Perspectives; and Politics & Policy. She is also a cofounder of the Active Learning in Political Science blog. Dr. Rosen has been recognized with numerous teaching awards, including the International Studies Association’s Deborah Gerner Innovative Teaching Award, the William T. Kemper Award for Teaching Excellence, and the CQ Press Award for Teaching Innovation. She has led numerous workshops on teaching and pedagogy at conferences and universities and serves as the vice president and program chair for the International Studies Association’s International Education section.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: Why Research Methods Matter
Lecture 2: Characteristics of Good Research
Lecture 3: Doing Research Ethically
Lecture 4: From Topic of Interest to Research Question
Lecture 5: What’s Already Known? The Literature Review
Lecture 6: Generating Hypotheses and Theories
Disc 2
Lecture 7: Selecting a Research Design
Lecture 8: Measuring Concepts and Phenomena
Lecture 9: Choosing Populations, Samples, and Cases
Lecture 10: The Classic Experiment
Lecture 11: The Value of Quasi Experiments
Lecture 12: Designing and Conducting a Survey
Disc 3
Lecture 13: Understanding Election Polls
Lecture 14: Research by Case Study
Lecture 15: Interpretivism and Field Research
Lecture 16: Applied, Evaluative, and Action Research
Lecture 17: gathering and Preparing Data
Lecture 18: Using Statistics to Interpret Data
Disc 4
Lecture 19: Statistical Inferences from Data
Lecture 20: assessing Correlation and Causation
Lecture 21: From Bivariate to Multivariate Analysis
Lecture 22: Foundations of Qualitative Analysis
Lecture 23: Qualitative Analysis Variations
Lecture 24: The Art of Presenting Your Findings
The Second to the last course to be outlined is called “Music and the Brain,” and we once again take the overview and lecturers credentials from the Great Courses Website.
Overview
Music is an integral part of humanity. Every culture has music, from the largest society to the smallest tribe. Its marvelous range of melodies, themes, and rhythms taps into something universal. Babies are soothed by it. Young adults dance for hours to it. Older adults can relive their youth with the vivid memories it evokes. Music is part of our most important rituals, and it has been the medium of some of our greatest works of art.
Yet even though music is intimately woven into the fabric of our lives, that fact itself remains puzzling, provoking questions such as: How and why did musical behavior originate? What gives mere tones such a powerful effect on our emotions? Are we born with our sense of music, or do we acquire it?
In the last 20 years, researchers have come closer to solving these riddles thanks to cognitive neuroscience, which integrates the study of human mental processes with the study of the brain. This exciting field has not only helped us address age-old questions about music; it also allows us to ask new ones, like: Do the brains of musicians differ from non-musicians? Can musical training promote cognitive development? Is there a deep connection between music and language?
Join neuroscientist and professor of psychology Dr. Aniruddh Patel to probe one of the mind’s most profound mysteries. Covering the latest research findings – from the origins of music’s emotional powers to the deficits involved in amusia, or the inability to hear music – these 18 enthralling lectures will make you think about music and your brain in a new way.
Designed for music lovers and brain enthusiasts at all levels, Music and the Brain is truly interdisciplinary and assumes no prior background in neuroscience or music theory. Here is your unrivaled explanation of this marvelous gift.
Lecturer
Dr. Aniruddh D. Patel is a Professor of Psychology at Tufts University. He received his Ph.D. in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University, where he studied with Edward O. Wilson and Evan Balaban. His research focuses on the cognitive neuroscience of music. Prior to arriving at Tufts, Professor Patel was the Esther J. Burnham Senior Fellow at The Neurosciences Institute, a scientific research organization founded by the late Nobel laureate Gerald M. Edelman. Professor Patel is the author of Music, Language, and the Brain, which won a Deems Taylor Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 2008. In 2009, he received the Music Has Power Award from the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function in New York City. Between 2009 and 2011, Professor Patel served as President of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition. He is an active speaker, having given many popular talks as well as scientific lectures. A major contributor to his field, his research has been reported in such publications as The New York Times, New Scientist, and Discover magazine and on National Public Radio. He has appeared in science documentaries, including The Music Instinct, which aired on PBS.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: Music: Culture, Biology, or Both
Lecture 2: Seeking and Evolutionary Theory of Music
Lecture 3: Testing Theories of Music’s Origins
Lecture 4: Music, Language and Emotional Expression
Lecture 5: Brain Sources of Music’s Emotional power
Lecture 6: Musical Building Blocks Pich and Timbre
Disc 2
Lecture 7: Consonance, Dissonance, and Musical Scales
Lecture 8: Arousing Expectations: Melody and Harmony
Lecture 9: The Complexities of Musical Rhythm
Lecture 10: Perceiving and Moving to a Rhythmic Beat
Lecture 11: Nature, Nurture and Musical Brains
Lecture 12: Cognitive Benefits of Musical Training
Disc 3
Lecture 13: The Development of Human Music Cognition
Lecture 14: Disorders of Music Cognition
Lecture 15: Neurological Effects of Hearing Music
Lecture 16: Neurological Effects of Making Music
Lecture 17: Are We the Only Musical Species?
Lecture 18: Music: A Neuroscientific Perspective
The Final course outlined in this blog is entitled “The Spiritual Brain: Science and Religious Experience.”
Overview and lecturer’s credentials from the Great Courses Website
The religious impulse is so powerfully pervasive that neuroscience has posed a provocative question: Are our brains wired to worship? In Dr. Newberg’s 24 riveting lectures, you’ll explore the new and exciting field of neurotheology, a discipline aimed at understanding the connections between our brains and different kinds of religious phenomena. Using an academic, experimental approach into what he calls “objective measures of spirituality,” Dr. Newberg attempts to explain what others have previously only guessed at: the neuroscientific basis for why religion and spirituality have played such a prominent role in human life. These lectures are grounded in the context of the brain’s neurophysiological structure and religious development from infancy through late adulthood. You’ll discover how the brain and spirituality appear to develop in parallel throughout a person’s life span; how the various parts of the brain work to create and sustain different beliefs about the world; the ways in which religious beliefs and practices have measurable, biological effects on individuals; and why the increasing neuroscientific data help us to better understand how spirituality may be inextricably intertwined with ongoing brain development. Why does religion play such a huge role in human experience? Peer directly into the seat of all human thought and action as you experience a leading researcher delve into the relationship between brain function and spirituality.
Lecturer
Dr. Andrew Newberg is the Director of Research at the Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He is also a Professor in the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Radiology at Thomas Jefferson University, and he teaches undergraduate courses at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Newberg received his medical degree in 1993 from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia, and he completed a fellowship in Nuclear Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Nuclear Medicine. Dr. Newberg has actively pursued neuroimaging research projects, including studies of aging and dementia, epilepsy, and other neurological and psychiatric disorders. He has been particularly involved in the study of religious and spiritual experiences and the relationship among the brain, religion, and health. Dr. Newberg’s research has included analyzing brain scans of people in prayer, meditation, rituals, and various trance states. His research also has included understanding the physiological correlates of acupuncture therapy, massage, and other types of alternative therapies. Dr. Newberg has taught medical students, undergraduate and graduate students, and medical residents about stress management, spirituality and health, and the neurophysiology of religious experience. In 2010, he was named Teacher of the Year for the University of Pennsylvania’s Biological Basis of Behavior Program. Dr. Newberg has published numerous articles and chapters on brain function, brain imaging, and the study of religious and spiritual experiences. He is the author of Principles of Neurotheology, a culmination of ideas based on his research over the past 10 years. He is a coauthor of the best-selling books How God Changes Your Brain and Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief. His most recent book, Words Can Change Your Brain, was published in June 2012. Dr. Newberg is also a coauthor of Born to Believe: God, Science, and the Origin of Ordinary and Extraordinary Beliefs and The Mystical Mind: Probing the Biology of Religious Experience, both of which explore the relationship between neuroscience and spiritual experience. The latter book received the 2000 award for Outstanding Books in Theology and the Natural Sciences presented by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. Dr. Newberg has presented his work at scientific and religious meetings around the world and has appeared on Good Morning America, Nightline, CNN, and ABC’s World News Tonight. His research also has appeared in Newsweek; TIME; The New York Times; Los Angeles Times; Scientific American; O, The Oprah Magazine; and Reader’s Digest.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: A New Perspective on Ancient Questions
Lecture 2: Why Do We Have a Spiritual Brain?
Lecture 3: Brain function and Religion
Lecture 4: How Dores Science Study Religion?
Lecture 5: Believers and Atheists
Lecture 6: Spiritual Development
Disc 2
Lecture 7: The Myth making Brain
Lecture 8: The Brain and Religious Rituals
Lecture 9: The Biology of Spiritual Practices
Lecture 10: Religion and Health
Lecture 11: Religion and Mental Health
Lecture 12: Religion and Brain Dysfunction
Disc 3
Lecture 13: Transmitters to God
Lecture 14: Stimulated States and Religious Experiences
Lecture 15: Near-Death Experiences and the Brain
Lecture 16: The Believing Brain
Lecture 17: The Brains Influence on Religious Ideas
Lecture 18: Revelation, Salvation and the Brain
Disc 4
Lecture 19: The Brain’s Influence on Religious Behavior
Lecture 20: How the Brain Changes God
Lecture 21: How God Changes the Brain
Lecture 22: Why God Won’t Go Away
Lecture 23: The Mystical Mind
Lecture 24: Reality and Beyond
This concludes this blog. The last two courses, though they may seem odd to include in a recap of courses regarding children reflects the fact that children must be well rounded individuals, with goals in life (in this case to be pleasing to God and save their souls) in order not to end up lost in our complex world. The family discussed in a recent past blog, that fostered decent children, had a mother that listened to classical music during pregnancy and, I think, credits this, with the fact that they were able to learn to play music as well as their apparent intelligence.
