Zeno's Bar & Grill
Monday, June 25, 2007
Teach and Grow Smarter!
Are you a Norwegian male who is the eldest sibling in your family? Well, good news: scientists have discovered you're smart.That's according to Dr. Petter Kristensen and Dr. Tor Bjerkedal, the authors of a recent study on IQ and birth order. There have been several recent articles on the study--most notably in the New York Times last week. The difference in IQ between older and younger siblings is small--only a few points, but this apparently can make the difference between being a B student, versus hanging in with an A average by the skin of your teeth.
Parents, don't despair for the futures of your younger children, however. The effect is, of course, an average--and there are families in which the effect is absent, or even reversed, with the youngest sibling scoring highest on tests.
One interesting take home message that I got from all the press surrounding this study was that we should encourage our youngest kids to teach other children--whether that's an older sibling or a younger friend. One theory argues that the very act of teaching helps children consolidate and reinforce their knowledge--thereby raising the IQ's of those older kids who tend to take on that "teacher" role.
Hey, maybe it works for adults, too. Actually, this reminds me...I've been reading a really 
interesting book about mental function and aging--it's called "Living to 100" and it's a fascinating study of centenarians and what they did to survive beyond age 100 with their mental faculties largely intact. The take home message there: music. I'm seriously thinking of taking up an instrument. Of course, there are other effects, but music was an interesting common thread that seems so accessible. Can't change those pesky genes or go back to a pre-industrial, non-processed food diet too easily, can we?
interesting book about mental function and aging--it's called "Living to 100" and it's a fascinating study of centenarians and what they did to survive beyond age 100 with their mental faculties largely intact. The take home message there: music. I'm seriously thinking of taking up an instrument. Of course, there are other effects, but music was an interesting common thread that seems so accessible. Can't change those pesky genes or go back to a pre-industrial, non-processed food diet too easily, can we?So now all I need to do is learn how to play an instrument and then teach it to someone else. I'll live to 100 with a high IQ to boot!
--Melanie
