SHS

Personal
Development
Quarter 1 – Module 13:
Train to Be Smart, Dump Being Dumb
Personal Development: Grade 11/12
Quarter 1 – Module 13: Train to Be Smart, Dump Being Dumb

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ownership over them.

Regional Director: Gilbert T. Sadsad

Assistant Regional Director: Jessie L. Amin

Development Team of the Module

Writer: Fermin P. Curaming
Editors: Frankie T. Turalde, Randy P. Bacares, Gloria E. Fontelar
Reviewers: Sheila C. Bulawan
Illustrator: Engr. John Paul Revilla
Layout Artist: Jogene Alilly C. San Juan
 Introduction
The previous modules helped you understand the different
parts of the brain, its processes, and functions; that further
enabled you to explore ways in improving your brain functions
through mind mapping activities. This module will help you
understand the value of growing one’s intelligence by
developing a personal plan.

Objectives

At the end of the module, you should be able to:

1. Develop a Personal Plan to enhance brain
functions

Vocabulary List
As we begin, you remember:

Neurons – are brain cells that transmit electromagnetic signals from one to
another as a response to stimuli in the environment.
Electromagnetic Signals – are impulses that the neurons produce to send
message from one neuron to another.
Mindset – it is a group of beliefs formed by personal ideas about the realities
of the world
Dumb – A word usually used to label people who are somewhat slow to
learn or adapt to the environment.
Dump – An act of trashing out unnecessary things or ideas
Pre-Test
Fact or Myth
Directions: Read and analyze the statements below. Put a CHECK mark if the
statement is a fact and put a WRONG mark in the box provided if the statement
is a Myth. Write your answers in your journal.
1. Human Intelligence is static, it does not change the moment you are born
2. Brain’s growth has nothing to do with intelligence’s growth
3. Growth Mindset believes in the idea that Human Intelligence can improve
4. Daily Physical Exercise helps in improving one’s intelligence
5. Planning to improve one’s intelligence depends on the person’s
willingness to engage in such activity

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Learning Activities

Activity 1: Rediscovering My own Giftedness

Directions: Relive the moment when you were just a kid, using the chart
below, identify those things that you usually enjoy doing or that you think
you are good at. Remember, you do not need to be experts on these
fields, you just need to recognize that these gifts have been part of you
as a kid, or still even now as an adolescent. You might be surprised that
these innate abilities of yours are gift which you should have nurtured.
Color the parts that suits your identified gifts.

I have the tendency to I usually enjoy

always reflect on my estimating my physical
personal experiences environment,
to understand myself visualizing the world
better with what and different
I feel and want aspects of it in 3D

I am good at discerning
sounds, amazed of its
characteristics including its
pitch, tone, rhythm, and
timbre

I feel
personal
connection with
all the living things
around me, it seems
that I have the capacity
to read nature
https://www.developgoodhabits.com/become-smarter/
What can you say about your giftedness as shown from the chart
above?__________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

Were there new discoveries and/or realizations after doing this activity?
Explain Briefly. ____________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

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Activity 2: Gift Unwrapping

Directions: Using your output for Activity A, it is good to visually see how
you imagine your intelligence wrapped as personal giftedness. Whether
you have one, two, or more areas shaded in Activity A, you need to
illustrate only one (1) image that will best represent your giftedness. Draw
it inside the gift box, as if it is already unwrapped. Go and enjoy unwrapping
your giftedness.

How do you describe your unwrapped gift? Does it truly resemble your
personal giftedness? How? __________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

If you will be given the chance to further improve that gift, how will you
do it? Discuss at least two concrete ways to do
it._______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

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Deepening
My Giftedness as My Intelligence

You might be wondering at this point why the activities you have conducted
are somewhat related to Multiple Intelligences, yes, they are the different
intelligences as mentioned by Howard Gardner. Before we continue talking
about intelligence, let us first have a shift in our mindset about human
intelligence.

Traditionally, we view intelligence as a crown worn only by those students

excelling in mathematics and science, or those who are fluent speakers of the
English language. Through time, we shall realize that there are students who
might not be excelling in these subjects but are excellent leaders, creative
artists, effective listener, and top survivor during camping activities in schools.
If these individuals will not be considered as intelligent, then what do we call
their abilities?

Here comes the concept of Multiple Intelligences of Gardner, however, this

concept is no longer our focus since this has been taught already when you
were still in Grade 7. The focus of this module is for you to further appreciate
that your intelligence (in various forms) can still be grown.

Therefore, let us dump the idea that people are born either intelligent,
average, or dump – and stays the same throughout their lifetime.

The Growing Intelligence

By saying that you can grow your intelligence does not equate the
statement: you can grow your brain. As you already know, Intelligence is not a
physical aspect of the mind, rather it is part of mind’s functions which is not
necessarily dependent upon the size of the Human Brain (though other
researches suggest so but is not the focus of this module’s discussions).

So, the real questions at hand are: can you really make yourself smarter?
What do studies say about this? What are the different ways to do so? Is it
achievable?

In the Learner’s Material for Personal Development, the growth of the brain
functions can be associated to a person’s muscle – it can grow, when you use
it. Hence, the more that we learn, the more that we can maximize the human
brain’s capacity to understand.

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 To explain further, Neurons’ (brain cells) nature must be understood first.
The human brain is composed of billions of neurons. Its basic function is to
transmit electromagnetic signals to the different parts of the body so that the
body would function according to what the Central Processing Unit of the Body
(Brain) would dictate. Learning and challenging the mind further to its greatest
extent can improve the performance of the neurons and that they grow and
they multiply. Later, you will be surprised about your own abilities – there are
things which you do not do normally but can be improved further by just
practicing the mind.

What evidence do we have to prove that this can happen? One section from
your Personal Development Reader will help us understand this concept
further. You can find this on page 50 of your reader, but the same concept is
summarized here for your easy access and reference.

How do We Know the Brain Can Grow Stronger?

Scientists have been studying about animal’s brain and they found
that animals that lived in an environment that is stimulating, having other
animals around and toys to play with, had more connections between the
nerve cells in their brains – and that their brains were bigger, stronger, and
heavier than those animals that lived in isolation. This finding is because of
the reality that those animals that lived in isolation spend their time mostly in
sleeping and eating while those that lived with animals and toys were active
discovering how to get along with other animals and how to use the toys.

Further, the animals that lived with others were “smarter” observed
from their way of solving and learning new things. Surprisingly, this is also
true to old animals, if they will be given the chance to live with others and play
toys.

So, what does this study implies about human intelligence?

Scientists are thinking that maybe, the same process applies to human
beings. And that Human intelligence is malleable, it can be shaped
accordingly, if only it is exposed to appropriate environment and enough
stimulation.

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Growth and Fixed Mindset

There are two major perspectives on Human Intelligence: Fixed Mindset

and Growth Mindset. Read and study the infographic below and answer the
questions that follow.

Source: https://www.myoutdesk.com/blog/the-
growth-and-fixed-mindset-and-hiring-a-virtual-
assistant/

My Take-Aways on Fixed and Growth Mindset

A. In one or two sentences, differentiate fixed and growth mindset.

________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
B. Based on your initial assessment of your own point of view about
intelligence, in which side do you belong? Explain.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

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 C. What are your discoveries about human intelligence? How do you feel
about these discoveries? Expound your answer.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

By embracing the Growth Mindset and believing that intelligence can be

grown, we can now conclude that your intelligence can be developed as well.
A person must not be labeled dumbed when s/he cannot solve equations yet
because solving problems can be learned. If one cannot speak English
language fluently yet, it does not mean that s/he has no longer chance to
improve or learn it. Though we vary in terms of our innate abilities (because
genetic factors may also play) but genes alone do not determine our chance
to develop our brain. The nurture aspect or the factors that surround the
person’s learning experience also plays a significant role.

There are also individuals that belong to the extreme ends of the normal
curve who can be considered geniuses or those who can be considered with
Intellectual disorders, but this does not limit their growth potential in their own
level of capacities. Hence, as a student who belong in the regular class, there
is always a chance for you to better your intelligence. You must stop using
others’ level of intelligence to yours but start building up what you can grow in
terms of your own intelligence. Besides, intelligence has different faces
(considering multiple intelligences). There are things that you are good at that
others are not, and there are things that you need to improve that others excel.

Be aware of your strengths and weaknesses and start to plan out how to
make yourself better every day. You can do it if you will.

Ways to Train the Brain and Get Smarter

At this point, it is already appropriate to talk about the concrete ways on

how to improve intelligence. The basic concept about brain development is that
it grows when it is stimulated by the environment. Stimulation happens when
our senses are activated, and we become aware of the things happening
around us. By processing the information from our world, we question things
and we acquire answers to questions. When questions are answered, this
brings us to further questioning and further chance to improve our learning.
From the concept of Growth Mindset, it suggests that learning does not stop,
and it is a lifetime process, hence, we have a lifetime to improve ours.

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 Below is an infographic that can help you identify ways in improving your
own intelligence. Read and comprehend the process and identify ways that are
appropriate to your situation.

Source: https://blog.mindsetworks.com/entry/how-to-grow-your-intelligence-graphic

My Take-Aways on Improving My Intelligence

Directions: Summarize each step into one sentence or phrase only. Write your answers
below:

STEP 1: ___________________________________________________
STEP 2: ___________________________________________________
STEP 3: ___________________________________________________
STEP 4: ___________________________________________________
STEP 5: ___________________________________________________

Concrete Ways to Improve One’s Intelligence

Below are more concrete ways on how to improve your intelligence. Read
and Comprehend each. Others might be suitable to your setup.

1. Read Books, and Read a Lot

- Reading and literacy can be linked to intelligence. It can enhance
your vocabulary and intellectual functioning. It stimulates your brain
and keeps it healthy, essential to improving your memory. It can
also be associated to having better interpersonal skills and
emotional intelligence.

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2. Use Filtered News Services
- Getting updated and overloading news do not mean higher
intelligence, what is emphasized here are filtered news – those that
are credible and trustworthy. It will give you better perspective on
current events and topics in your field of interest. Do not waste time
in irrelevant information, make sure to pend time learning from
materials which will benefit you in the long run.

3. Hang Out with Smart people

- Connect with people who can inspire you and whose lives are
considered successful. The diversity of ideas and opinions may help
you sharpen your brain. You should start choosing who to spend
most of your time with – it has been said that you are the sum of the
five people you spend the most time with.

4. Aim to do something new everyday

- Doing new things help you become more adaptable to changes, it
will give you new learning that will further help you in exploring the
world and yourself. It can also promote creativity and innovation that
will further help in deepening your character.

5. Play Board games

- Playing board games improve your logical thinking skills. It will also
improve your learning skills. Studies would also suggest that it
decreases your risk to develop age-related cognitive disorders.
Playing chess, together with mathematics instructions do better in
standardized test and grades than those who were only given
mathematics instructions without chess training.

6. Make a list of the things you have done

- This is different from a “to-do” list. This will help you boost your
happiness and confidence (found to be components of intelligence).
Feeling good about yourself and your abilities make you become
more motivated about improving your own intelligence.

7. Learn a New Language

- Learning a new language boosts your cognitive abilities. It can even
improve areas in the brain that are not related to intelligence. By
learning new languages, you are preventing the onset of dementia
for a significant number of years. Further, it hones your memory
capacity.

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8. Explain What you Know to Others
- If you are given the chance to teach a lesson in front of your
classmates, you are also given the chance to fully comprehend the
material, recall it correctly, and apply it directly. This can also
explain why studies have found that first-born children tend to be
more intelligent than their subsequent siblings because they spend
more time teaching the younger ones (if they do so).

9. Practice Mindfulness
- It is the capacity to focus on the current moment. This practice helps
boosts your ability to make smarter decisions. Some studies
suggest that multi-tasking damage the brain – switching attention
quickly from one thing to another have lower density in the are of
the brain that is responsible for empathy, cognitive, and emotional
control.

10. Write Your Notes by Hand

- Research shows that writing by hand retain information longer by
having more time in digesting ideas. Writing by hand helps you
become mindful of what you write considering the meaning behind
the words. By writing down, you can also practice listening,
summarizing information, and listing down of key words, since it is
impossible to write ever thing that the teacher dictates. Hence, the
brain is more engaged and active.

11. Have a Regular Workout

- Exercising boosts intelligence in many ways. It sharpens focus,
improves memory and recall, enhances productivity. It is also
directly related to improving one’s mental health and functioning.
This is because physical activity leads to many biological responses
in your muscles and organs that eventually affects the brain
structure and functions.

12. Allow Yourself to Daydream

- Daydreaming allows you to arrive at deep insights and cultivate your
imagination and creativity. By allowing your brain to relax for a while,
you allow your brain to make connections among the multiple ideas
in it.

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 13. Socialize
- Scientists are starting to see that more social interaction can more
likely make you smarter. But this will only happen when you are
engaged in conversations and trying to understand different point of
views.
14. Draw, Paint, or Color
- Children become more prepared to learn in school when the growth
of their brain is associated to engaging them with arts. It improves
imagination that has a crucial role in developing your brain.

15. Travel as Often as You can

- When you expose yourself to unfamiliar environments, you produce
more neurons in anticipation of new experiences. This will also
prepare the brain to develop ways in dealing with this new
environment. By travelling, you are forced to think in new ways and
embrace diverse cultural practices.
Source: https://www.developgoodhabits.com/become-smarter/

Wrap-up
Answer the following Questions:

A. What important concepts have you learned from this module?

Enumerate at least three (in bullet form).

B. What have you discovered about yourself in relation to the module? How
do you feel about these discoveries? Explain your answers in a
maximum of three sentences only.

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Application BRAINgo-WinO

You are already familiar with ways on how to improve your intelligence.
Now, you are ready to make your own plan on how to improve yours. The same
with physical boost, this requires time and effort, but it is not impossible. You
set high goals for yourself, but you begin small. Below is a game you are
familiar with - Bingo, its difference to the real game is that you can dictate
whether you win it or not. In this activity, you will be given the chance to choose
your manner of winning (pattern) and luck is not the only chance for you to win
– it includes your willingness to win.

Directions: Choose among the patterns below. Choose the pattern which
you think will give you more chances of winning. This
depends upon your pacing. Whether you wanted to start from
4 small ways or if you are ready doing 9 full swing. After
identifying your winning pattern, use the blank BRAIN Card
below to write down specific ways in improving your own
intelligence. You may choose among the list suggested
above or you may add up your own personal ways. After
writing down ways, color the boxes of your winning pattern.

D E
A B C

Source: https://myfreebingocards.com/numbers/1-75

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 B R A I N

Road to Becoming Smarter

Identifying Ways to Improve Your Intelligence is not enough; you need to
plot it out so that goals are specifically set with timeframe and logical pattern of
arrangement.
Directions: Provided below is a sample road map. You customize your road
map depending on the number of ways you have chosen above.
Plot the different ways as to what comes first and what comes
last. Also, provide specific details and timeframe when would
you like to achieve all of these.

e.g. STEP 1: Read at least one

book in each month

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 Post-Test

Myth Busters:

Directions: Below is a list of 10 statements pertaining to the lesson we discussed.

Bust every myth you see by crossing it out from the group.

By Socializing and joining in conversations, you are improving your personal

perspectives

Writing by Hand Improves Memory and Processing of Information

Human Intelligence is purely influenced by one’s genetics

Assignment

#ICanGrowMyIntelligence

Directions: Write a statement (as if an FB post) that will generalize

your learning in this module. At the end of the statement, write your
name below and use the hashtag provided. You can also post this
statement directly to your facebook or twitter wall to promote
Growth Mindset.

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 Key to Correction

Pre-Test: Fact or Myth

Directions: Read and analyze the statements below. Put a CHECK mark if the
statement is a fact and put a WRONG mark in the box provided if the statement
is a Myth. Write your answers in your journal.
1. Human Intelligence is static, it does not change the moment you are born
2. Brain’s growth has nothing to do with intelligence’s growth
3. Growth Mindset believes in the idea that Human Intelligence can improve
4. Daily Physical Exercise helps in improving one’s intelligence
5. Planning to improve one’s intelligence depends on the person’s
willingness to engage in such activity

Post-Test: Myth Busters

By Socializing and joining in conversations, you are improving your personal

perspectives

Writing by Hand Improves Memory and Processing of Information

Human Intelligence is purely influenced by one’s genetics

*** Note: Answers may vary in all other activities except the Pre-Test and Post-Test

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References
Department of Education. 2018. Personal Development Reader.

2020. How to Become Smarter: 18 Habits to Improve Your Intelligence. June 8.

https://www.developgoodhabits.com/become-smarter/.

Mindset Editor. 2015. How To Grow Your Intelligence Graphic. February 22.
https://blog.mindsetworks.com/entry/how-to-grow-your-intelligence-graphic.

National Assocition of Independent Schools. 2008. You Can Grow Your Intelligence.
https://www.nais.org/magazine/independent-school/winter-2008/you-can-grow-your-
intelligence/.

Popova, Maria. 2019. Fixed vs. Growth: The Two Basic Mindsets that Shape Our Lives.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/29/carol-dweck-mindset/.

Vital, Mark. 2014. 9 Types Of Intelligence - Infographic. March 7. https://blog.adioma.com/9-

types-of-intelligence-infographic/.

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