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I really liked Strauch's statement that in order to keep our brains sharp in middle age we have to push them out of their comfort zones. I believe she is nodding to Mezirow's theory of transformative learning that begins with a disorienting dilemma when she mentions that jumping off point that gets us to reexamine a belief or value and gets us thinking outside of our usual box.

I can see how important this is at any age, but especially in middle age. As Strauch said, it is easy to become complacent and to keep following a usual pattern. There have been many quotes over the years about how complacency is the death of innovation or progress. I can see how that is possible in one's career or personal life.

I can see how there has been so little research about this age range, but also love that this part of Strauch's talk negates the long held belief that people's skills/beliefs/knowledge is set in stone by middle age and there is no further progress. I feel like I hear that a lot. I've seen it in bosses who don't want to take classes to learn new skills because they feel that they're too old to learn "new tricks". In fact, the opposite is true. While taking a new direction or learning a new skill may be daunting, the middle aged brain is physically more ready to handle it than an other age.

I hope that the findings of these studies will lead to more professional development opportunities in the work place and greater use of online and non-matriculated study as people age. I recently took a course in Sweden, and learned that they already have a very strong professional development culture for the working adult. Professional development workshops sponsored by employers are prevalent and are indicative of Sweden's commitment to education and innovation. As people begin to want more of these learning opportunities, I think a rise in online education could be predicted for the convenience it offers.

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As I spoke about in my discussion post earlier in the week, I'm always interested to hear in the physiological changes that research discovers.  To hear that exercise, even brisk walking a few times per week, stimulated brain growth in the middle-aged brain was really interesting.

Strauch uses the example of the middle-aged woman balancing kids, family, and a career as a brain working at full capacity.  It seems as though our brains become more efficient, which makes sense based given all of the experiences the person has collected by this point in their life.  Like the woman who works in the hospital, her past experience allows her to more efficiently help her patients and essentially "predict the future", as she says.

I think that an important key to adult education is understanding that our brains are still capable of intense learning even at these middle ages. Education must be challenging enough to stimulate continued growth and draw on the past experiences that make the adult learner unique.

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The statement that stood out most to me was that while younger adults learned new skills faster and remembered more of the finer details, adults aged 40-60 get to the gist and essence of things more quickly.

I think this is a big challenge for modern education. A lot of high school and early undergraduate classes can feel like learning for the sake of learning. Particularly in STEM majors, memorization oriented classes are so prevalent and some students just don't get the point or don't understand why the knowledge is important.  Strauch's statements seem to indicate that young adults are great at learning new things but not so great at using their new knowledge. For this reason, I think there should be a greater emphasis on meaning-making and learning how to learn.

This video also reminded me of Perry's and Kegan's theories. It seems that the characteristics of adults in later stages in both of those theories are backed up by Strauch's research. Young adults cannot see the bigger picture and are more concerned with the details while middle aged adults get to the core of new concepts faster.

I think professional development will be seen as the premier modes of education in the future. A degree from a brick and mortar university won't be seen as the defining characteristic of an educated individual. We can probably support adult learners better through communities of practice such as book clubs or other hobbyist clubs. By engaging adults with education throughout the lifespan, we can help adults feel fulfilled at every point in life.

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Many years ago (~15 years, to be more precise), I took a class on cognitive psychology. There was a lot of discussion about how we sometimes solve problems by making analogies to other things. It may be difficult to find a way to solve a specific problem, but when we think about it in the context of something totally different, the solution presents itself. I was thinking about this through the discussion because it made sense.

I think what I mean is that as we get older, we have lots more experiences. We know more things purely on the fact that we've had more time to learn them. We have more ways to analogize and compare new data and new problems. And I don't think this is necessarily a concious effort. I think sometimes, we make conclusions based on experience without necessarily realizing it. I think of the example that Strauch gave about the doctor who knows things as soon as she enters the emergency room. It makes sense, whether she does it conciously or not, that she was be able to do that because she's seen so many examples of things in the past, and a lot of things tend to be similar.

It makes me wonder, though, if there isn't something to be said about specific experiences that can be shared with people learning something new. Would it be useful to learning in a specific field if the learner was exposed to the experiences or narrative sof previous learners or experts? Granted, hearing about somebody else's experience isn't the same as having it yourself, but maybe it's close enough.

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I thought the most poignant statement by Strauch was in how the concept of "middle aged" was fairly new in itself. If we consider the ages to be from 40 to 60, the average lifespan only went to about 40 at most. This places middle age at where many have assumed the prime years of brain functioning in a person's early twenties. Strauch explains how, though some brain functions such as short term memory become very apparently diminished, it may be more due to entering a "default mode" brought about by how we begin to more efficiently use our brains. Whereas our early years of brain development, (pre middle age), rely on our use of one part of our brains, our middle ages see development of using both parts of our brains to solve problems. Biologically, our brains also show progression in how we tend to view the world around us as a generally more positive take on things occurs. Adults in their middle ages actively pursue what they've learned to enjoy. Strauch's take on the brain as more malleable than had been previously thought is one that I fully agree with through even my own reflection

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I enjoyed learning that our assumptions about the middle-aged brain have been mistaken, and there is definite hope for the aging brain. Even "mid-life crises" are not necessarily as common as we thought they were! What I most appreciate about this video is that Strauch talks about specific ways that individuals can keep their brains healthy and even increase brain cells. These include exercising regularly, eating nutritious foods, and engaging in activities that are challenging.

As teachers, our role is not just to be facilitators of learning a certain subject; rather, we can see our overarching responsibility as helping students care for their brains so that they will be lifelong learners. With Strauch's research in mind, the "next frontier" of adult education could include group or individual exercise requirements, nutrition classes, and clubs or social groups. Today, mandatory physical education is only required for high school, and I certainly don't advocate requiring P.E. for adults! However, I do think that in a desire to benefit learners holistically, regardless of their specific subject of study, exercise, nutrition, and stimulating activities such as joining social groups or engaging in extracurricular activities could be strongly encouraged, if not required for adult learners.

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I was surprised by Strauch's research, proving that the old statistics that we used to think were true, are in fact not.  The most astounding figure that I thought was crazy that scientists could get it this wrong was that as we age, we lose 30% of our brain cells.  That plays into the stigma Strauch points out that there is the standard that has been provided in our society that as we age things get "worse".  Our mind and body functioning decreases with age, according to societal norms.  Strauch suggests quite the opposite, that as we age and develop into this new "modern middle age" that our brain functioning increases.  I think another thing that stood out about what Strauch said was that middle age people aren't smarter, but they are using their brains better.  She stated that middle aged brains are continually developing as we get older and that it has been shown that middle age folks are capable of using both halves of the brain as we get older.

I think that this recognition of the continual cognitive development is crucial in supporting adult education.  I agree with Strauch that society has deemed aging as a negative experience and therefore detracts from the educational opportunities offered for adult learners.  We should be embracing learning at any age, but now especially in adult learners because we can see that they are capable of high functioning cognitive brain activity. I think that online learning is a great way to maximize opportunity especially for the new modern middle-aged adults.  We have identified barriers including children, work, or other factors that could detract from the education opportunities provided for adult learners.  I loved what Strauch had to say and think that challenging societal norms along with our brains is what's best for overall development.

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I find it interesting that it's taken this long to find this information about the adult brain. It almost seems as if it was a stigma that with age things get more rusty.  Strauch mentions how we may have thought that the brain would be the sharpest in college or graduate school but that's not the case. This surprised me because I'm currently in graduate school now (fresh from undergrad), and I certainly don't have that thought in my head. I certainly know that I have way more to learn in the "real" world after I graduate. I also have to admit that I haven't thought too much about how the brain as a body part ages. Personally, I hadn't thought that mine was done developing!
I do agree that we are "trained" to believe that with age comes declined. What we see in the media, how we have measured brain competency in the past.

I loved Strauch suggests that in order to continue to keep the brain growing, we must push it outside its comfort zone by learning a new skill or a new language. I relate this to keeping our body healthy. I know that in order to stay healthy once we get older we have to exercise and use our muscles to keep them from "declining." I think we should treat the brain as a muscle and exercise it often! Continue to learn as much as we can.

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If the point of postmodernism is to look at social constructs and question why we do what we do as a society, this is a prime example of why we should question. Cultures around the world value their children as the beholders of the future, and their elders as caretakers of past memories and wisdom for the present. In this country, children are to be seen and not heard, generally thought of as a burden. And our elders are told they have no use to society after a certain age, and like children, are treated as a burden rather than a resource. As someone whose family hails from the East, I’ve seen firsthand the dichotomy even between sides of the United States. On the East Coast, once a person turns 60 they are treated like they’re old and decrepit, and their bodies begin to mirror that assumption. Meanwhile, on the West Coast, I have had 70-year old faculty run circles around me, mentally and physically. There is definitely something to be said about healthier lifestyles, diet and exercise, clean air, and positive mindsets. I love that these findings came from someone in New York and that the audience can hear first-hand what many in the West have assumed for a while. While many fear the loss of cognizance with age, this outlook is incredibly positive and worth looking forward to.

Hearing Strauch analyze how the brain learns to get past the details and focus on patterns and connections, stems off of the research around how multi-tasking is actually bad for the brain. By middle age, it’s figured out what’s worth paying attention to, what’s worth knowing, how to ignore the negative because it’s already learned to be cautionary. Rather than be a high-stressed detailed individual, the brain allows for calm and balance, and relishes in “enthusiastic positivity”. (Personally, I can’t wait for this stage.)

Strauch acknowledged that the brain needs to be challenged with the unknown and uncomfortable in order to grow new cells and build better cognizant function. People need to continue learning to thrive. The implications for online learning are fourfold: 1) A person would need to learn how to use new technology itself, which is a challenge and for many can be frightening or intimidating; 2) Technology makes information more accessible to people who might be physically unable to travel a great distance to get to a conventional classroom; 3) Online technology offers access to new information from around the globe all the time, day or night, allowing for schedule flexibility, and 4) The subject matter, types of information, and sources that can be obtained online are limitless.

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I think Stauch had some great things to say. It was very interesting to me to see how the strengths of an aging mind might shift, rather than diminish.

Reflecting on her words, it does seem a bit strange that, just because someone is older, they're told not to work. Of course, if they can no longer function while doing the job, then that would be one thing (and that could be said for any age), but just because you're older doesn't seem like a great excuse. It seems that being forced out of the workplace is doing the middle age mind more harm than good. I think that online courses, even just electives, might be a great way for those in the middle age bracket to keep their brains sharp. These classes might make the middle age mind uncomfortable, challenging it, and keeping cognitive reasoning polished.

As an educator, it might be best to, rather than focusing on memorization and short term memory skills, to really focus on more complex, cognitive skills. Or to even mix up between memorization and complex thinking to give all their students a chance to succeed.

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I was particularly struck by what Dr Strauch said at the end about the terminology and language used to describe adults in mid-life and how negative assumptions of the brain in mid life had dictated when people could or could no longer work.

Both from what she is saying, and what we have read this week, there is no biological reason why most people couldn't stay working in either their present or new field until early late adulthood (65 / 70+). Like all people in changing work environments, people will need education and further training, either online or in person to be able to keep up to date, professionally competent and licensed through out all the working adult life.

It is well known in society that we live in an aging society where the wealth of information and problem solving skills of the adult in mid-life is going to be needed to keep the economy competitive and relevant for years to come. I look forward to seeing these false claims and misconceptions changing over the next few years

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Strauch’s overall message, as I interpreted it, was that while we may have more concerns around short-term memory recollection as our brains age, we become even sharper around complex cognitive thoughts/skills, critical thinking/judgment, and being able to see the “big picture” and connections between our knowledge and experiences. For me this makes sense, as I think we start being more discerning as we get older in the knowledge we seek out, or the experiences we put ourselves in. I think a way to help complement these positive aspects of an aging brain as an educator is to help adult learners focus on what is important to them, and to allow for flexibility in the way they learn. Adults generally have busy schedules that include childcare, a career, personal relationships, potential caring for aging parents, etc. In order to allow the adult brain to be able to focus on the “big picture” and not be hung up on small details, we must allow for flexibility. Online learning is a great way to do this – adult learners can spend the time and energy on learning when they are able to with online learning, rather than during a set time/place that may be convenient to their life one week but not the other.