First Blog

  How to recognize intuition in others – even ourselves. People with great intuition seem to see a solution without an apparent train of thought. It may appear effortless, but usually, the understanding has much previous preparation. Intuition is one of about eight problem-solving techniques we use in all phases of life. Great advances depend on them. Great parents have intuition, often without knowing it. That excellent mechanic or craftsman we wished we hired has it. They know because they see deep patterns beyond treatises on procedure. The intuitive teacher knows from the slightest facial expression or words if the student is having trouble. Your intuition is best about subjects you know best. In geometry, they may see how the parts fit together; in literature, they may write just the right expression or turn of phrase. In personal relations, they may know just what to do without excitement or apparent revelation. In diplomacy, they may have an instinctive understanding of w

In learning a new topic, or designing a curriculum, decisions must be made.  How much time is available for the learning tasks?  What is the scope of what is to be learned?  That is, the content and curriculum.  But just as important is to learn according to a balance between understanding, procedure, and skills .  These can be divided by time and effort devoted to each. As shown in Figure 1 all three are shown as equally balanced. Figure 1 Each of these is important almost in a competitive way.  Avoid any one or two of them and essentially nothing of value can be learned.  As a math professor, I often hear the lament, “I understand the material; I just can’t solve the problems.”  Imagine if your doctor says something similar, “I understand you have an intestinal problem, I just don’t know how to treat it.”  Or the airline pilot who says, “I have my pilots license, I’ve just never flown this kind of plane.”  In each of these the learning was not balanced as it should be.   How s

June 12, 2012 One claim made by many pundits these days is that the United State has too many regulations,   that regulations are stifling to the economy, that regulations are so arcane they are difficult to penetrate.    True or not, let’s look at the situation.   It is a fact that regulations are necessary for the proper administration of government.   A population of 250 million is too large to handle by local and arbitrary means.   Regulations can serve to stave of legal actions of almost every variety.   Second, with too many regulations there are a number of unanticipated consequences.    A couple of definitions: Policy: A consistent guide to be followed under a given set of circumstances. Procedure: A procedure is a sequence of steps for completing a given activity. Regulation:   Statements to explain the technical, operational, and legal details necessary to implement laws. Law: A   system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to gove