This short video explores how the brain works, how our culture and life situations form our assumptions, beliefs and biases, how one system in our brain called the Lizard brain is responsible for survival instincts based 'fight or flight' decisions and the other called Neocortex is responsible for more deliberate thinking and how at times the lizard brain can misinterpret incoming sensory information and jump to wrong conclusions. Learning to think starts by understanding how…

Education can be thought of as having a structure similar to the double-helix structure of the DNA. The first strand is formal education and Timeless Lifeskills form the second strand. This short video explains the building blocks of Timeless Lifeskills. Life skills that are essential for success and well-being in the 21st century, and beyond!

Today, if you wanted to learn computer programming what options would you consider? Would you join a private institution offering this course, or find a part-time course being offered by a prestigious university, or go online to self-study?If you go with the third option you would be spoilt for choice. As a beginner you could go to Khan Academy and take their introductory course on Computer Science, where you would learn JavaScript hands-on using their…

From time immemorial great ways of learning have been – experience, sharing stories of these experiences, introspection, playing, tinkering, observing, experimenting and trial and error. This is why human species has also been described as Homo fabers – those who love to create and Homo ludens – those who love to play.Imparting learning as disciplined, formal education is a fairly modern invention, only a few centuries old. While it may be efficient, it is often…

This is a 5-minute animated overview of my new book, 'Only the Curious Shall Thrive - Strategies for Lifelong Learners to Formulate Insightful Questions'.The book explains why ability to formulate good questions is especially important in the 21st century and details questioning strategies that can be deployed to achieve learning goals like deeper understanding, mastery, creativity and wisdom.Kindle (USA) edition is available here:http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007YH6JHUPaperback (USA) edition is available here: http://amzn.to/MAz7vLThe book is also available in these formats…

What is it that makes games so addictive? Does game-design theory have any lessons for making learning activities more engaging? Can games be used as tools for learning skills, competencies and dispositions, especially those that are more relevant in the 21st century, like creative thinking, problem solving, decision making and empathetic collaboration? I have created a three-part presentation on how games, specifically electronic games, can be used to enrich the learning experience, be it memorization, knowledge…

What is it that makes games so addictive? Does game-design theory have any lessons for making learning activities more engaging? Can games be used as tools for learning skills, competencies and dispositions, especially those that are more relevant in the 21st century, like creative thinking, problem solving, decision making and empathetic collaboration? I have created a three-part presentation on how games, specifically electronic games, can be used to enrich the learning experience, be it memorization, knowledge…

What is it that makes games so addictive? Does game-design theory have any lessons for making learning activities more engaging? Can games be used as tools for learning skills, competencies and dispositions, especially those that are more relevant in the 21st century, like creative thinking, problem solving, decision making and empathetic collaboration? I have created a three-part presentation on how games, specifically electronic games, can be used to enrich the learning experience, be it memorization, knowledge…

What dispositions does a Next Generation Educated Person need for success in the 21st century? This video gives an overview of my Timeless Lifeskills learning module titled 'Next Generation Educated Person' available here - http://timelesslifeskills.co.uk/changing-context/4

Learn how to put your money to work for you and become financially independent.

An overview of what contemplative neuroscience and ancient Indian scriptures say about meditation.

What ancient wisdom and modern science say about happiness and well-being.

New website of Timeless Lifeskills launched, with lots of content under Creative Commons license that you can reuse or repurpose... http://www.timelesslifeskills.co.uk

Why putting your kids in a good school is not good enough - a 21st Century Learning Readiness CheckEnlightened Parenthood

What can we learn from the art of storytelling to enhance the learning experience?Learning (to the power of) Storytelling

What role should a 'learning leader' play in web-based learning environment?Learning Leadership in Web-Based Education

What is a Learning Theory?How do humans construct meaning and what motivates us to learn is what learning theories postulate. As our understanding of ourselves changes, be it because of advances in neural science, psychology, sociology, or changes in the environment like availability of abundant information or threat to our very survival, our view of ‘why’ and ‘how’ of learning also changes, leading to new learning theories being postulated.Why is it important to understand Learning…

The following graphic sums-up how knowledge of cognitive processing theory can help us gain deeper understanding. The graphic is based on learning framework suggested by Howard Gardner.A topic or discipline should be introduced from multiple perspectives, with different analogies and diverse representations because learners have different types of intelligences (Gardner's Multiple Intelligences theory). Assessment too should be based on different types of performance opportunities to facilitate different intelligences. Following are some thoughts based on cognitive…

My thoughts on 'Thought Leadership’, especially in the context of education. Leadership is about influencing others and in the case of Thought Leadership in Education, I believe, it is about influencing others with your ideas of constitutes good education. This thinking has direct bearing on me because I am keen on influencing others about how the information technology revolution has placed us in the midst of a paradigm shift, just like advent of language, writing…