Teaching Science with Meaning

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Teaching Science with Meaning
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Your students are whole persons Bodies Minds E
motions
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• You will be most successful engaging your
  students in the process of learning if you engage
  them as whole persons
• Bodies
• Minds
• Emotions
• There are many ways of doing this. One, which
  uses the results of modern neuroscience, is
  called Teaching with the Brain in Mind, from
  the book by the same name, by Eric Jensen (Assoc.
  for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1998)

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Generalized Vertebrate Brain
Cerebrum Allows complex behavior. In humans,
is 80 of brain mass. Thalamus Filters
information flow to and from the cerebrum
related hypothalamus sets homeostasis. Optic
lobe Receives images from the eyes. Cerebellum
Coordination of movement. Medulla Controls
autonomic systems (breathing, heart-rate,
digestion, etc.)
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The human brain is relatively more cerebrum, and
less of the other structures (cerebellum,
medulla, etc.) than fish, frog, bird or cat
brains.
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Most learning takes place in the brain. We tend
to think of the cerebral cortex as the site of
learning-- because it is the site where
hearing, reading, memory are accomplished and
processed.
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Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Scan of a
human cerebral cortex
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Important as it is to learning, there is more to
the brain than the cerebral cortex.
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Science is
DISCOVERY
Of Meaning in the World.
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• We all search for meaning in life.
• This meaning comes from
• our families
• our relationships
• our religion or spirituality
• our ethics
• our jobs
• our understanding of how the world works.

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Astrology
Cults
UFOs
ESP
Channeling
After-death experiences
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Astrology
Cults
UFOs
ESP
Channeling
After-death experiences
PSEUDOSCIENCE offers meaning--bogus or not.
SCIENCE offers meaning--but often not to the
whole person.
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To most people
MEANING
Is more important than
TRUTH
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• Your students may recently have gone through
• The divorce of their parents
• Abuse
• An argument with a friend or parent
• Heartbreak
• Job-related stress
• Feeling lonely, lost, bad.

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To your students
MEANING
UFOs
Astrology
Channeling
After-death experiences
Is likely to be more important than
TRUTH
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The human need for meaning in life is not
rational. It is human. One facet of everyday
life which makes good use of this is
ADVERTISING
Advertising appeals to the whole person
Body Mind Emotions
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ADVERTISING
Relies on magical thinking
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• The average student is exposed to 1500 ads each
  day and spends more time watching TV than in
  school.
• The average student is exposed to magical
  thinking much more than to the kind of rational,
  critical thinking important in science.
• This does not make our job, as educators, any
  easier!
• To overcome the natural need for meaning in life
  and the influences of the media, we must teach
  science with the brain in mind!

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TEACHING/LEARNING INVOLVES
You probably already know all this!
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Attention
Attention
Attention!
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Movement The Body!
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MEANING
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Source of images Eric Jensen, Teaching with the
Brain in Mind