Our lesson plan is based on the fundamentals of human learning.  We first examined the basics and then formulated our strategy.  Here is an outline of our research and planning:

types of brains
reptilian, mammalian and the thinking brain
 
2 main brain parts
left and right hemispheres
 
These 2 main parts work together,
whole brain activity
 
8 intelligences
linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, kinesthetic (physical), musical, inter-personal, intra-personal, and naturalist 'intelligences'
 
4 main kinds of brain waves
deep sleep
light sleep/trance
relaxed and alert
active and alert
 
5 kinds of memory
working, implicit, remote, episodic, and semantic
 
Learning envrionment
location, temperature, use of colors
 
state setting 
mood/atmosphere (may be done through learning environment)
 
Mnemonics
creative memory techniques
 
Over-stimulation
the brain assimilates 80% of what is thrown at it
 
Theory of multiple intelligences
linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, kinesthetic (physical), musical, inter-personal, intra-personal, and naturalist 'intelligences'
 
Use of Chunking
students learn more at the beginning and end of a session, so shorter sessions retain more
 
Objective setting
student must understand clearly what they will learn and how before session begins
 
The stronger the stimulation, the deeper the impression
repeated, intensive experience perceived through all senses will remain longer
 
Basic learning:
imitation - repetition of an observed process
 
Learning process (starting with the lowest order of cognition):
1. Knowledge, memory of things previously learned
2. Comprehension, understanding of ideas
3. Application, the use of knowledge
4. Analysis, the examination and division of information to understand motives or causes
5. Synthesis, the compilation of information in a new way
6. Evaluation, making judgements about information (validity, quality)
 
Learning methods:
Informal learning - learning from day-to-day situations
Formal learning - teacher-student
Non-formal learning - organized learning outside the formal system (groups, orgranisations)
 
Others:
Learning by example
Learning by teaching
Learning by worked examples
 
Experiential learning can happen through:
concrete experience
observation and reflection
abstract conceptualization
active experiementation
 
Savants (are oversensitive to information)
- have a lack of activity in the part of the brain that links the left and right halves
- this part allows humans to forget unneeded information (therefore savants are confused by the overwhelming information they absorb)
- mega-savants don't have this problem
- experiments using magnets can effectively 'turn off' parts of your brain, such as the part that filters information.  After, the magnetic waves disrupt the electical signals within the brain and temporarily give the subject savant-like capabilities (transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS)

If you're still following us...after we thoroughly researched this topic, we began to look at things that could be simulated with computers.  Since the human brain is extremely powerful (there are billions of neurons with trillions of connections), we started with the foundation of learning.  We believed that the foundation would best be established with vocabulary, association strength, and language. We believed if we could accomplish some depth of language, then at least we could communicate through basic conversation.

In order to establish language, we started with learning words and associations. Then we established basic chat by using pre-programmed responses. These responses are somewhat rhetorical, therefore whatever response is evoked will be recorded for later processing.  We figure that by taking words and associations, we can find patterns in the recorded sentences from contributors like you.  

An example learning process would be:
learning the word dog
learning the word bark
learning that the association between dog and bark are strong
learning a sentence from chatting that contained dog and bark
using the sentence through experimentation and chatting
analyzing the response to the use of the sentence
learning context for using the sentence through positive feedback

Of course there are many directions, experiments, and methods to use for teaching Rose.  These are just a few and there are many more to come (spatial intelligence for example).

If you have some recommendations or insight, please share it with us.

Information that is deemed unimportant will be discarded immediately or in the "dream cycle".