science

LearningRx

LearningRx is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand LearningRx rather than just read about it. In short: LearningRx is a franchise based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The company claims to improve cognitive abilities.

Key takeaways

LearningRx belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect LearningRx to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of LearningRx from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

LearningRx is a franchise based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The company claims to improve cognitive abilities.

Background and history The company was founded by Ken Gibson, who started the first LearningRx in August 2002 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The first franchise had $250,000 in revenue in its initial four months. Other LearningRx franchises were opened in 2003; 27 were started that year. The company says its teaching methods are grounded in founder Ken Gibson and his brother Keith Gibson's experience. As of 2016 the company says its games are "designed by scientists to challenge core cognitive abilities;" prior to that, according to the FTC, it had "deceptively claim[ed] their programs were clinically proven to permanently improve serious health conditions like ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), autism, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, strokes, and concussions".

Legal matters In January 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settled with Lumosity which sold "brain training" programs or other products intended to improve cognitive function. FTC settled with LearningRx for $200,000 for similar reasons. The FTC stated LearningRx made unproven assertions in its marketing materials that clinical trials had demonstrated LearningRx helped increase people's IQ and income and mitigated clients' medical issues. In its lawsuit, the FTC said LearningRx had been "deceptively claim[ing] their programs were clinically proven to permanently improve serious health conditions like ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), autism, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, strokes, and concussions". LearningRx had made these claims on its website, Facebook, Twitter, advertising mail, as well as in advertisements in newspapers and on radio. In 2016, LearningRx settled with the FTC by agreeing not to make the disputed assertions unless they had "competent and reliable scientific evidence" which was defined as randomized controlled trials done by competent scientists. For the judgment's monetary component, LearningRx agreed to pay $200,000 of a $4 million settlement.

Reception The "brain training" field has been controversial in the scientific community; in 2014 a group of 75 scientists put out a statement saying that most claims made by companies in the field were pseudoscience, which was countered several months later by an industry-organized group of scientists who said that there was evidence for their effectiveness. In 2012 Douglas K. Detterman of the Case Western Reserve University said that the program's exercises help improve skills in tests conducted by the institution itself but not improvement on skills in general and that the studies conducted by commercial services that support their claims of benefits are poorly done.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with LearningRx

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what LearningRx claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to LearningRx before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about LearningRx ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of LearningRx

In research: LearningRx appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses LearningRx in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: LearningRx is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Brain training programs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for LearningRx outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study LearningRx in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what LearningRx means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain LearningRx out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is LearningRx in simple terms?

LearningRx is a franchise based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The company claims to improve cognitive abilities.

Why does LearningRx matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study LearningRx?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on LearningRx.