How the Brain Learns

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How the Brain Learns

• Colleton County School District
• Administrative Meeting July 28, 2005

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How the Brain Learns
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Exterior Parts of the Brain

• Frontal Lobes planning thinking
• Temporal Lobe sound, speech, LTM
• Occipital visual processing
• Parietal lobe orientation, calculations

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Interior Parts of the Brain

• Limbic System generation of emotions
• Thalamus processes sensory stimuli except
  smell
• Hippocampus checks info in working memory to
  stored experiences

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The Brain

• Frontal Lobes Planning and thinking
• Temporal Lobes sound speech some Long term
  memory
• Occipital Lobe visual processing
• Parietal Lobe orientation, calculation, and
  certain types of recognition.

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Cerebrum

• Thinking, memory, speech and muscular movement
  are controlled by areas in the cerebrum.
• Frontal Lobe Monitors
• Higher Order thinking
• Directing Problem Solving
• Regulating excesses of the emotional system

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The Brain

• Limbic System generation of emotions
• Thalamus directs sensory information to other
  parts of the brain. (except smell)
• Hippocampus constantly checks info relayed to
  working memory compares to stored experiences.
  (essential for creating meaning.)
• Amygdala plays an important part in emotions
  especially fear.

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Cerebral Mode
R I G H T M O D E Non V E R B A L
L E F T M O D E V E R B A L
Logical Analytical Fact Based Qualitative
Holistic Intuitive Integrating Synthesizing
Interpersonal Emotional Kinesthetic Feeling Based
Organized Sequential Planned Detailed
Limbic Mode
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Brain Transmissions

• Neurons transmit impulses along an axon and
  across the synapse to the dendrites of the
  neighboring cell

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1,000,000,000,000,000 synapses

• Learning occurs by changing the synapses so that
  the influence of one neuron on another also
  changes.
• The more complex the skills demanded in an
  occupation, the more dendrites were found on the
  neurons creates more sites in which to store
  learnings

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How the Brain Learns

• Connections the brain finds useful become
  permanent those not useful are eliminated as the
  brain selectively strengthens and prunes
  connections based on experience.
• What are the implications for teaching?

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Effective Teaching

• Requires
• Planning
• Essential elements of effective instruction
• Competent teacher
• Constant stream of decisions
• Students actively engaged
• Compatibility to how students learn

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The Brain is a novelty seeker

• The brain has a persistent interest in novelty.
• An environment that contains mostly predictable
  stimuli lowers the brains interest

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Using Novelty in Lessons

• Humor
• Movement get the blood flowing
• Multi-sensory Instruction interesting colorful
  visuals - talk about their learning
• Quiz Games helps students rehearse adds
  repetitions for long term memory
• Music Mr. Morton

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Information Processing Model

• Learning
• Storing
• Remembering
• Are all dynamic and interactive processes

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Information Processing Model

• It limits its scope to the major cerebral
  operations that deal with
• Collecting
• Evaluating
• Storing
• Retrieving information
• The parts that are most useful to educators

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Information Processing Model
Self Concept
Past Experiences
Sight
Hearing
Touch
Working Memory
Sense Meaning
Immed Memory
Long Term storage
Smell
Cognitive Belief System
Taste
Sensory Register out
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Memory

• Short term memory
• All of the early steps of temporary memory that
  lead to stable long term memory
• Immediate Memory holds data for 30 seconds
• Working Memory limited capacity conscious
  activity captures our focus and demands our
  attention occurs in the frontal lobes

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Working Memory

• Capacity varies with age
• Younger 5 2 items
• Between 5 - 14 5 items
• 14 and older 7 items
• The limited capacity explains why we need to
  memorize a song or poem in stages increase
  capacity through chunking.
• How can this relate to learning new vocabulary
  words?

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Working Memory

• Time Limits
• Age dependent
• Pre-adolescents 5 10 minutes
• Adolescents Adults 10 20 minutes
• Fatigue or boredom sets in resulting in a loss of
  focus - unless a change in the way the
  individual is dealing with an item.

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Data Affecting Survival
Priorities for Working Memory
W O R K I N G M E M O R Y
Data Generating Emotions
Data for new learning
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Criteria for Long term Storage

• We cannot recall what we have not stored
• Emotional experiences have a high probability of
  being permanently stored
• Does it make sense? (oh now I see)
• Learner can understand based upon experience
• Does it have meaning? (how will I use it)
• Is the item relevant

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Sense Meaning

• Sense and Meaning are independent of each other
• When new learning is comprehensible (sense) and
  can be connected to past experiences (meaning)
  retention is dramatically improved.

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Sense Meaning

• Students often listen to things that make sense
  but lack meaning.
• If they do not find meaning after the learning
  episode there is little likelihood of long term
  storage
• Teachers often wonder why students forgot the
  lesson (meaning relevance must be clear)
  learn it because its on PACT

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Sense Meaning

• Past experiences always influence new learning.
• Teachers spend about 90 of their planning time
  devising lessons so that students will understand
  the objective (sense) they need to be more
  mindful of helping students establish meaning.
• Integrating the curriculum increases meaning and
  retention
• Teachers must understand the intent of the
  standards

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Probability of being Stored in Memory
M E A N I N G P R E S E N T ?
Moderate To High
Very High
Very Low
Moderate To High
Sense Present ?
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Retention

• Research has shown that
• The greatest loss of newly acquired information
  or a skill occurs within 18 24 hours
• If a learner cannot recall information within 24
  hours there is a high probability that it was
  not permanently stored

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Self Concept

• Continuum very low to very high
• Emotions play an important part in forming a
  persons self concept.
• People will participate in learning activities
  that have yielded success for them and avoid
  those that have produced failure

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Self Concept

• Accepting or Rejecting New Learning
• People will participate in learning activities
  that have yielded success for them.
• They will avoid those that have produced failure.

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Self Concept

• Hierarchy of Data Processing
• When a concept struggles with an emotion, the
  emotion almost always wins!
• It is possible for the rational system (frontal
  lobe) to override emotions but that takes time
  and conscious effort.

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Self Concept

• The learner must believe that participating in
  the learning situation will produce new successes
  rather than repeat past failures.
• A teacher teaches children, not merely content.
  It is vital to create the conditions for success
  educational human relations skills
  (intentionally maximizing success)

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Self Concept

• The self concept is important in controlling the
  feedback loop and determining how the individual
  will respond to almost any new learning
  situation.
• What are the implications for instruction?

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Computer Model - Comparison

• Brain performs more slowly
• It takes time for the nerve impulse to travel
  along the axon
• The brains working memory is limited
• Emotions play an important role in human
  processing and creativity.
• The ideas generated by the brain often come from
  images.
• The brain changes its own properties as a result
  of experience

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Constructivism

• Students are more likely to gain greater
  understanding of and derive greater pleasure from
  learning when allowed to transform the learning
  into creative thoughts and products.
• (learning on a continuum, direct instruction
  provides a foundation, inquiry or constructivism,
  cooperative learning can take the learning to new
  and creative levels)

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How the Brain Learns Why it is Important?

• When do students remember best in a learning
  episode?
• How can I help students understand and remember
  more of what I teach?
• Why is focus so important, and why is it so
  difficult to get?
• How can humor and music help the teaching
  learning process?
• How can I get students to find meaning in what
  they are learning?
• Why is transfer such a powerful principle of
  learning, and how can it destroy a lesson without
  my realizing it?

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How the Brain Learns

• Physical aspects associated with learning
• How the brain processes information
• Memory Retention Learning
• The power of Transfer
• Brain Specialization and Learning
• The Brain and the Arts
• Thinking Skills and Learning

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Instructional Approaches

• Direct Instruction
• Cooperative Learning
• Interdisciplinary Units
• Integrated Thematic Units

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Using Humor to Enhance Learning

• Gets Attention
• Creates a positive Climate
• Increases retention
• Emotions enhance retention
• Positive feelings from laughter increase
  probability of retention
• It is an effective discipline tool
• No teasing or sarcasm

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Increase processing time through motivation

• Generate Interest powerful motivator
• Establish Accountability
• Provide Feedback
• Prompt
• Specific
• Corrective
• Level of Concern

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Increase processing time through motivation

• Level of Concern
• Provide consequences
• Visibility Proximity
• Varying the amount of time allotted to complete a
  task
• Varying the amount of help or support available.

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Creating Meaning in new Learning

• Modeling
• Accurately unambiguously highlight the critical
  attributes
• Teacher presents first to ensure students get it
  correct during this prime time when retention is
  the highest.
• Avoid controversial issues that evoke strong
  emotions that can redirect the learners
  attention
• Emotions can shut out rational thought

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Creating Meaning in new Learning

• Using examples from students experience
• Brings prior knowledge into working memory which
  promotes making sense and attaching meaning.
• It is important that the examples are clearly
  relevant to the new learning should be planned
  in advance.

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Creating Meaning in new Learning

• Creating artificial Meaning
• Mnemonic Devices
• Homes Great Lakes
• Roy G Biv
• Others

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Using Closure to Enhance Sense Meaning

• It is during closure that a student often
  completes the rehearsal process and attaches
  sense and meaning to the new learning.
• Closure is different from Review
• The student does most of the work by mentally
  rehearsing and summarizing the concepts and
  deciding whether they make sense and have meaning.

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Using Closure to Enhance Sense Meaning

• Closure is an investment that can pay off
  dramatically in increased retention of learning.
• Closure is one of the most under used elements of
  effective instruction.

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Using Closure to Enhance Sense Meaning

• Closure can occur at various times
• It can start a lesson think about two causes of
  WWII that we studied yesterday and be prepared to
  discuss them.
• It can occur during a lesson Complete this
  problem on area before we move on to finding the
  volume
• It should also take place at the end to tie the
  entire lesson together