Daydreaming …

Focused work. We like to see our students focused on their work and we give them long blocks of time to do so. It is hard, however, for anyone to stay on task for two hours straight. You have to allow for a certain amount of mind wandering and daydreaming. What a lot of neurologic research is uncovering is that zoning-out is an essential part of putting the pieces together and helps with learning.

When we are no longer even aware that our minds are wandering, we may be able to think most deeply about the big picture. – Zimmer (2010)

Daydreaming by Edward Harrison May (1876) (from Wikimedia Commons).

While we sleep the brain assembles information into coherent patterns, helping us learn and process emotions. Carl Zimmer has an article in Discover Magazine on how unfocused daydreaming accomplishes the same thing.

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