The neuroscience of juggling | Efrat Furst & Mickey Choma | TEDxWeizmannInstitute

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.
Efrat and Mickey collaborated and are teaching a joint course for middle-school students in the Rama school for gifted and talented children in Ramat Hasharon, Israel. In this course they study together with their students the processes of learning how to juggle. They use simple visualization tools to follow the improvement in performance. This process of self-investigation by the students, using visualization tools, enabled novel and exciting insights about learning, teaching, motivation and success.

Mickey Choma: As a professional dancer,
at the age of 33

I tried for the first time
to juggle with four balls,

for three weeks I dedicated
one hour a day for practice.

But despite all of my effort,

I just couldn't keep the balls in the air
for more than eight seconds.

I really believed
that this was the best I could do.

I was frustrated.

I decided that I just didn't have
that ability; I gave up.

Two years later, I was asked
to choreograph juggling numbers.

During the 3 months of this production,

I decided once again
to try to practice with four balls.

This time, to my surprise,

I succeeded in keeping the balls
in the air for more than two minutes.

I felt great!

I realized that the change was
due to persistence of practice.

It was one of those Eureka
moments for me.

I truly understood
that capability is dynamic

and can be changed
through persistence and practice.

This experience had
a great influence on my life.

It actually changed my profession.

From that moment on, I regarded juggling
as a tool for developing learning skills

and I use it today as a juggling teacher

helping my students to achieve
similar insights about themselves.

Dr. Efrat Furst: Wouldn't it
be wonderful to know how to practice

in order to achieve the best results
in the shortest time possible?

It would save us
a lot of frustration and time.

Well, we don't know the answer yet,
but we are on the right track.

The change in ability
that Mickey just talked about

is actually a change within the brain.

Immediately after learning,
connections are formed between neurons,

creating new neuronal networks.

This is true for all types of learning:

for learning how to juggle
with four balls,

but also learning history or mathematics.

Our ability to retrieve
the information and use it

is dependent on the strength
of these connections.

But how does it happen biologically?

What is the relation between our behavior
and the neurons inside our brain?

This is what neuroscience is about,
and it is truly fascinating.

This is why I studied it for 10 years.

But after completing my PhD
in Cognitive Neuroscience,

I decided to move
from research to practice;

I decided to become a teacher.

This wasn't easy,
but it was very interesting.

Gradually, I discovered

that my point of view
as a cognitive neuroscientist

on learning processes was unique,
and potentially very useful.

It surprised me that the two fields,
neuroscience and education,

were not really related.

And so, I have found
my role as a communicator,

bridging between these two fields.

I teach the basics of neuroscience
to students and teachers,

and how this knowledge is relevant
to what they do teaching and learning.

This is the emerging field
of neuroeducation.

MC: We met less than two years ago,

at the Rama school
for gifted and talented children

in Ramat Hasharon.

I taught a juggling course;
Efrat taught another on brain science.

When we met, we started talking

about the relation between
juggling and the brain.

I asked Efrat if she could tell me
something from neuroscience

that would be useful
for juggling training,

and she told me something that changed
my perspective about learning.

EF: Everyone knows that we need
to rehearse in order to remember,

or train in order to master a skill.

But according to the "Spacing Effect",
a scientifically established principle,

it is also important
to devote time for breaks.

You may be asking yourself:

if I have a limited time,
won't I use it all for learning?

Why spend time on doing nothing?"

So here comes the explanation:

when we are learning or training,
the neurons inside our brain are active.

Immediately afterwards,
begins a process of forming connections,

stabilizing the memory.

This stabilization is essential
for later retrieval.

But if we activate
the same neuronal network again

by a second immediate rehearsal,

we actually interfere with
the stabilization of the previous one.

Interestingly, Kelly and Whatson
published in 2013

a report about the application
of spacing effect in the classroom.

They designed biology lessons

composed of three very intensive
learning sessions,

up to 20 minutes each,

with 2-10 minute breaks in between.

This model proved to be
very, very effective.

MC: When we discussed
the potential benefit for juggling,

we decided we had to try it.

With the support of Odelia Kohn-Oppenheim,

the Principal of the Rama School
for Gifted Children,

we started a unique collaboration,

a joint juggling and brain science course
for middle-school students.

EF: We decided to let our students
investigate their own juggling training

in order to reveal effects
like the spacing effect

or any other effects.

In order to do that,

we had to consider how to measure
motoric skill improvement.

MC: To get an idea,
let's try an exercise together.

Hold your right hand in the air,
and now let's draw a square.

Simple. Go down,
to the right, up, and close.

One, two, three, four. Very good.

Now, let's draw a triangle
with your left hand.

Let's draw one, to your left, and close.

One, two, three. Very simple, yes?

But now we are going
to do it simultaneously.

I will count slowly to 12

and you should reach the starting points
with your both hands.

Let's try it.

And one, and two, and three,

and four, and five

and six, and seven, and eight. OK, OK, OK.

I noticed a bit of frustration.

Let's try it again.

I'll give you two tips.

Try to reflect my movements
and think about the exception.

The diagonal with your left hand.
All the other sides are the same.

Let's try it.

With me, and one, and two,

and three, and four,

and five, and six, and seven,
and eight, and nine,

and ten, eleven, twelve! Great job.

(Applause)

Thank you.

EF: So, what can we measure here?

We actually thought about it for a while,
considering several options

before coming up with a simple,
effective, and elegant solution.

Or so we think.

Here, is our student Daniella

performing the same exercise
for the first time

with small LED lights on her fingers.

You're looking at a picture taken
with a very long shutter speed

of 13 seconds, in this case.

So you can see the path
drawn by both of her hands

in different colors.

This is a very useful tool
to visualize the skill improvement.

This is Daniella again
doing the same thing

after ten additional repetitions.

We use the same method with juggling.

MC: For example,
juggling with three balls.

Try to follow my hands. OK

This is me doing the same thing

with LED lights in my hands
and blue luminous balls.

Notice the stable pattern of the hands.

And this is our student Daniel
(Laughter)

at the beginning of his training,

and you can see the lack of pattern

and you can even see
he was constantly moving

and reaching for the ball that fell.

And this picture was taken
after only one hour of training

and after Daniel saw the first picture.

This picture is
after six weeks of training.

The improvement
in his technique is obvious.

EF: This is our student Dvash,
also training juggling with three balls.

And you can see
her improvement over the weeks.

She also documented
her practice by writing down

the number of successful catches
she managed to do every time,

and you can see this data
on the chart here.

You can see her gradual,
but very nice improvement,

in both measures.

Our students now have
the research methods.

They can even extract
quantitative data from the pictures

in order to compare
different practice methods.

We even have some initial
but very promising results from juggling

regarding the spacing effect that support
the advantage of the 10-minute breaks.

But taking one step back, this process
of investigation by our students

provided us with some
unexpected insights, education-wise.

MC: Juggling is obviously fun,
but this is just the outer layer.

Many times, students must face
their insecurity and frustration.

One of our students came to me

during the first lesson
last year and said:

"Mickey, I will never succeed,
I can't even juggle one ball."

After some persuasion,
he was willing to try with two balls.

He improved a lot in just one lesson.

But, the same thing
happened again with three balls.

And again, he made enormous progress
juggling with three balls.

And he couldn't deny it

because the numbers
were in front of his eyes.

At the end of the semester,
the great change in him was clear.

And it wasn't just about juggling.

As he put it in his own words,

"Now I feel that I can face
any challenge."

Isn't it a good reason to wake up
in the morning and go to work?

Our collaboration was
an enlightening experience for me,

different from what I've seen
so far in my classes.

It was clear that when the students
take the role of the investigator,

dedicated to documenting
their own progress,

they are more committed
to the learning process

and motivated to persist.

When they see the change
with their own eyes,

in the colorful pathways
and in the numbers,

they simply cannot ignore it.

Seeing is believing, and believing
changed the way they learn,

making it much more
significant and efficient.

The scientific investigation
and the visualization tools

set in motion a positive feedback loop:

motivation encourages persistence,

and persistence over time
leads to success

that eventually promotes
confidence in their own ability.

This confidence motivates them
to persist, not just in the juggling.

EF: This was an insightful experience,

and it was just the beginning
of the process.

I truly believe in engaging students
in neuroscience-based research,

that can be applied
in all fields of learning.

After this initial process
of self investigation,

students understand
their own learning processes.

They get curious
and motivated to ask questions

and answer them through research.

For example,

what is the optimal interval
between two learning repetitions?

These answers, the answers they get
from the research are relevant

and can be applied immediately.

For example, for developing
learning strategies

that will eventually
improve their achievements.

At the end of the day they understand,
they really understand how to learn,

and they gain confidence
in their own abilities.

MC: Our collaboration brought us
further than we ever imagined.

We took our two individual colors

and combined them
into a new inspiring blend.

We are constantly learning
about the learning process,

getting excited every week
about new ideas and directions.

EF: Let your students
investigate themselves.

They find meaning,
and they gain confidence.

EF & MC: Thank you.

(Applause)