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- 1. Brain Based Learningand Teaching
- 2. Before We GetUnderway • Caveat - Nothing is an absolute, but we are learning more and more every day about how the brain functions and how that translates to behavior - including teaching and learning. • WHAT DO YOU THINK? – Can your brain grow new cells? – Does what you eat and drink affect your brain? – Do colors influence emotion? – Can knowledge of “brain- based” learning positively influence learning? – How are you already using brain based approaches to learning in your lessons?
- 3. Why Are YouHere? • What do you want to gain from this seminar? • Why? • What do you already know about brain based learning?
- 4. OBJECTIVES • You mayread and review some of the notes on research of brain-based learning and teaching. • You will see a definition of the term “brain based learning.” • You will discuss practical implications of brain based learning. • You will have some physiological information on the brain.
- 5. What is BrainBased Learning? • Focus of Education Student centered instead of Teacher centered How learners feels is very important to their learning process
- 6. What is BrainBased Learning? When Learning takes place? If a learner is enthusiastic & doesn’t feel stressed
- 7. What is BrainBased Learning? • Taking what we know about the brain, about development and about learning and combining those factors in intelligent ways to connect and excite students’ desire to learn. • Combining emotional, factual and skill knowledge into a cognitive tool.
- 8. How is yourbrain like(?) • A cabbage • A raisin • A pillowcase • A grapefruit • String cheese • A walnut
- 9. Our Brains • Arelike a “jungle”- nothing “runs” the jungle • All parts of the brain participate with each other, while each has its own function • There is natural pruning or neural pruning that occurs when parts are not used (this may be why sounds not heard or used atrophy over time) • “LEARNING IS A DELICATE, BUT IS A POWERFUL DIALOGUE BETWEEN GENETICS AND THE ENVIRONMENT…” Robert Sylwester, A Celebration of Neurons
- 10. Brain’s Complexity • Cellularlevel - three pints of liquid, three pounds of mass, tens of billions of nerve cells (or neurons), ten times more numerous glial cells that support, insulate and nourish the neurons • Brain cells - 30 thousand neurons (300,000 glial cells) fit into the space of a pinhead.
- 11. Parts of theBrain • Brainstem (survival ) • Cerebellum ( autonomic nervous system) • Limbic system (emotion) • Cortex ( reason/logic) Brainstem Cerebellum Cortex
- 12. How the BrainDetermines What’s Important • Emotion and attention are the PRINCIPAL processes of the brain – Primary emotions - innate responses • Assemble life-saving behaviors quickly – Secondary emotions - also innate reactions • Enjoyment, pleasure • Students need to talk about their emotions – Games, cooperative learning, field trips, interactive projects, use of humor • Limit emotional stress
- 13. The Twelve Principlesof Brain Based Teaching/Learning • What are they? • What do they mean? • What are the implications of this information to working with/teaching/ understanding ourselves and others?
- 14. Twelve Basic Principles Relatedto Learning 1. Brain is a parallel processor 2. Learning engages the entire physiology 3. Learning is developmental 4. Each brain is unique 5. Every brain perceives and creates parts and wholes simultaneously 6. Learning always involves conscious and unconscious processes
- 15. 7. The searchfor meaning is innate 8. Emotions are critical to learning 9. Learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat 10. The search for meaning occurs through patterning 11. We can organize memory in different ways 12. The brain is a social brain
- 16. The Brain isa Parallel Processor • Both hemispheres work together • Many functions occur simultaneously • Edelman(1994) found when more neurons in the brain were firing(working) at the same time, learning, meaning, and retention were greater for the learner. 1
- 17. Learning Engages the EntirePhysiology • Food, water, and nutrition are critical components of thinking. • We are “holistic” learners - the body and mind interact – the peptides in the blood are chains of amino acids that become the primary source of information transfer. 2
- 18. Learning is Developmental •Depending upon the topic some students can think abstractly, while others have a limited background and are still thinking on a concrete level. • Building the necessary neural connections by exposure, repetition, and practice is important to the student. 3
- 19. Each Brain isUnique • We are products of genetics and experience • The brain works better when facts and skills are embedded in real experiences 4
- 20. Each Brain Perceivesand Creates Parts and Wholes Simultaneously • Some think more easily inductively while others find deductive thinking more comfortable - use both • Shank (1990) Telling stories is one of the most influential techniques because you give the information, ground the meaning in structure, provide for emotion, and make the content meaningful. Our brain loves storytelling. 5
- 21. Learning Involves Consciousand Unconscious Processes • The brain and body learn physically, mentally, and affectively • Body language as well as actual language communicate 6 • How you treat students and how you permit them to treat each other makes a difference in their learning and desire to learn. • How the physical environment is organized makes a difference.
- 22. The Search forMeaning Is Innate(from birth) • Each person seeks(search) to make sense out of what he/she sees or hears • Capitalize(To take benefit) on this quality! – Present ideas, experiences that may NOT follow what one expects: • Speculate • Question • Experiment • Hypothesize 7
- 23. Emotions Are Criticalto Learning 90% of the communication is carried out by peptides (which are strings of amino acids that travel the blood stream and permit information transfer. Peptides are the glue that connect the body and the brain. Learning is affected by emotions. Positive emotions such as love, excitement & joy enhances the ability to process information &also enhances learning 8
- 24. Learning is Enhancedby Challenge and Inhibited by Threat • Stress should be kept to a manageable level • Have high, but reasonable expectations 9
- 25. The Search forMeaning Comes Through Patterning • Tie learning to prior knowledge • Use Know - Want to know - Learned cycle • Bain (What the Best College Teachers Do) suggests working from “big” questions to be answered. 10
- 26. Brain Organizes MemoryIn Different Ways • Retrieval often depends upon how the information was stored. • Relevancy is one key to both storage and retrieval • Connect to what students know, what they are interested in • Provide and get examples • Student talk!!! – Of varying types 11
- 27. Memory • Short-term memory –TO HELP: • Combine or “chunk” • Recognition • Long-term memory – Declarative - Factual – Episodic - Events or experiences – Semantic - Words – Procedural - Step by step
- 28. Memory • When objectsand events are registered by several senses, they can be stored in several interrelated memory networks. • This type of memory becomes more accessible and powerful. • Conversation helps us link ideas/thoughts to our own related memories. Students need time for this to happen!! – Storytelling - Conversations – Debates - Role playing – Simulations - Songs – Games - Films
- 29. Techniques to HelpMemory • Define the “gist” - OVERVIEW • Sequence events • Plot out pictorially the information • Tell the information to others in own words - TALK – Peer teaching/tutoring • Use color effectively – Yellow and orange as attention-getters
- 30. The Brain isa Social Brain 12 • The brain develops better in concert with others When students have to talk to others about information, they retain the information longer and more efficiently! Make use of small groups, discussions, teams, pairings, and question and answer situations.
- 31. How Might Brain-Based ResearchInfluence Your Teaching? • What changes might you make? • What are you already doing that fits the research? • What would you like to know more about?
Editor's Notes
- #9 A cabbage - weight, stem A raisin -convolutions (membrane) A pillowcase - size - unfolded A grapefruit - skin, thickness of cortex; high % of water String cheese - corpus colosum - bundle of axons, fibers A walnut - two sides, skull covering; lobes