Five Brain Tools





Background of the Article
This article is an updated version of a short article originally developed by David Moursund in 2000 for use in a freshman or sophomore Computers in Education course for preservice teachers. The 2000 article was one of a set of short articles designed to broaden the scope of such a course. Traditionally, such courses focussed mainly of gaining increased skills in using some computer applications such as word processor, spreadsheet, data base, email, and a Web browser.

The International Society for Technology in Education's 1998 National Educational Technology Standards for Students indicated that such skills could and should be learned by the time a student finishes the fifth grade.

Notice that the ideas in this short article are independent of any particular hardware or software. They are a piece of the foundations of the field of computers in education.

The Article
Humans have developed a number of (physical) body tools and brain tools that extend their capabilities. This document briefly examines five brain tools that have greatly extended the capabilities of the human brain. These tools are:

1. Mathematics: mathematics literacy, beginning at least 70,000 years ago. Quoting from the Wikipedia article, History of Mathematics:


 * Long before the earliest written records, there are drawings that do indicate a knowledge of mathematics and of measurement of time based on the stars. For example, paleontologists have discovered ochre rocks in a cave in South Africa adorned with scratched geometric patterns dating back to c. 70,000 BC. Also prehistoric artifacts discovered in Africa and France, dated between 35,000 BC and 20,000 BC, indicate early attempts to quantify time.

2. Writing: reading and writing literacy, beginning about 3,100 BC when the first general purpose written language was developed by the Sumerians. Greatly aided by Gutenberg's development of movable metal type in Europe about 1450 AD. Note, however, that movable type was invented much earlier than this. Quoting from History of Chinese Invention:


 * During the Ch'ing-li period (1041-1048) the printing technique was further advanced through the invention of movable type. Block printing was a costly and time-consuming process, for each carved block could only be used for a specific page of a particular book. An alchemist named Pi Sheng appears to have conceived of movable type. Each piece of movable type had on it one Chinese character which was carved in relief on a small block of an amalgam of clay and glue. The portion that formed the character was as thin as the edge of a small coin. After the block had been hardened by fire, the type became durable.

3. Science: science literacy, beginning about 1,500 BC.

4. Computers: computer literacy, beginning about 1950 AD. "Mass production" of general purpose electronic computers in the United States  began in 1950 Quoting from a Wikipedia article about the UNIVAC I:


 * The UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer I) was the first commercial computer made in the United States. It was designed principally by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the inventors of the ENIAC. Design work was begun by their company, Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, and was completed after the company had been acquired by Remington Rand. (In the years before successor models of the UNIVAC I appeared, the machine was simply known as "the UNIVAC".)

5. Internet, including the Web. . Internet use has spread rapidly, and it is now a common component of K-12 schooling. Quoting from Histories of the Internet:
 * In 1973, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiated a research program to investigate techniques and technologies for interlinking packet networks of various kinds. The objective was to develop communication protocols which would allow networked computers to communicate transparently across multiple, linked packet networks. This was called the Internetting project and the system of networks which emerged from the research was known as the "Internet." The system of protocols which was developed over the course of this research effort became known as the TCP/IP Protocol Suite, after the two initial protocols developed: Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP).

All five of these tools share much in common. They are an aid to communication, and they are an aid to representing and solving problems. A person who knows how to make effective use of these tools is empowered—the person can do many things that cannot be done without the use of these brain tools.

You have a high level of reading and writing literacy, gained through many years of formal schooling and many thousands of hours of practice. You know how reading and writing supplement the memory capacity of the human brain. You know how books can be used to store information, distribute it around the world, and preserve the information for future generations. You know that reading and writing are an aid to processing information. For example, you know the value of "revise, revise, revise" when writing a long and complex paper.

You also know that reading and writing literacy has greatly changed the societies of our world. Gutenberg's movable-type printing press was used to print copies of the Bible and of thousands of other books. This, in turn facilitated and encouraged large numbers of people to learn to read. It led to the Reformation—the development of the Protestant churches.

Mathematics is a language and a body of knowledge that is a powerful aid to representing and solving "math problems." For example, consider counting and simple arithmetic. Your informal and formal education have helped you learn to count, and to do the four basic arithmetic operations. Very few people can do multi-digit multiplication or division in their heads. Instead, we learn "paper and pencil" algorithms. Through formal schooling, we extend our knowledge of simple arithmetic to working with decimals and fractions, then to algebra and geometry. Mathematicians have been extending this field of knowledge for more than 5,000 years. Mathematics is an indispensable tool of science and engineering, and an everyday tool of all of us. (And, of course you know that calculators and computers are now an important aid to the brain tool we call mathematics.)

Formal science is based on scientific method in which people develop and carefully test their hypotheses. Science includes very careful descriptions and classification. Thus, for example, we describe and classify plants and insects. As science, the use of scientific method, and the accumulation of scientific knowledge grew, science was split into many different fields, such as astronomy, biology, chemistry, and physics. Progress in science, technology, and medicine has certainly changed our world.

Notice that the last two brain tools on the list—computers and the Internet—are relatively new developments. The computer is a tool specifically designed for the storage and processing of information. The Internet is specifically designed for the storage and communication of information. Both build on the previous brain tools in the list. Both greatly extend the capabilities of the human brain. Computational Thinking is a powerful unifying idea of solving problems using both human and computer capabilities.

Perhaps you find the Internet particularly exciting. Through the Internet you can communicate with people throughout the world. The Web is like a global library, and it is relatively easy to learn to develop Web documents (publish on the Web). You are living at a time in with the Internet is rapidly changing the societies of our world.

To Think About

 * Consider the inhabitants of a city-state at the time that reading and writing had just been invented. Which people or groups of people tended to gain the most benefit from the invention of reading and writing? Which tended to gain little benefit, or even negative benefit? In each case, explain why you feel your classification of groups or people is correct.
 * Repeat (1) for each of the other four brain tools discussed in this document. Look for patterns of who is empowered and who is disempowered by the development of these brain tools.

Author
The initial version of this article was written by Dave Moursund. The basic ideas in this article come from Robert K. Logan's book, The Sixth Language.