From John Hastings
In all New Scientist articles on consciousness I have read, I cannot recall any mention of its role in learning and teaching. As a lecturer, I had to put conscious thought into preparation of my teaching plans and I had to be conscious in order to deliver a lecture. Equally, the students had to pay conscious attention, notwithstanding the joke that defines a lecture as “a process of transferring information from the notes of the lecturer to the notes of the student without it passing through the brains of either”.
Those who downplay consciousness or regard it as a by-product need to demonstrate how teaching and learning could take place without it.
Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, UK
