1. How the Brain Learns It don’t mean a thing if you… can’t remember
it don’t make sense
don’t focus
or don’t care

3. How the Brain Learns Practice Experimentation Watching/Listening
Connecting
Reflecting
Social construction
Meaning making

4. Exterior Parts of the Brain
Frontal Lobes – planning & thinking
Temporal Lobe – sound, speech, LTM
Occipital – visual processing
Parietal lobe – orientation, calculations

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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.

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

9. Brain Transmissions
Neurons transmit impulses along an axon and across the synapse to the dendrites of the neighboring cell

10. 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

11. 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?

12. Effective Teaching Requires: Planning
Essential elements of effective instruction
Competent teacher
Constant stream of decisions
Students actively engaged
Compatibility to how students learn

13. The Brain is a novelty seeker
The brain has a persistent interest in novelty.
An environment that contains mostly predictable stimuli lowers the brain’s interest

14. 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 – helps motivate and helps memory

15. Information Processing Model
Learning
Storing
Remembering
Are all dynamic and interactive processes

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. Working Memory Capacity – varies with age
5 years or younger – 2 items + or - 1
Between items + or - 2
14 and older 7 items + or - 2
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?

20. 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.

21. Data Affecting Survival
Priorities for Working Memory W O R K I N G M E Y
Data Affecting Survival
Data Generating Emotions
Data for new learning

22. 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

23. 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.

24. 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) ie. Learn it because its on the test

25. 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

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

27. 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

28. Self Concept Continuum – very low to very high
Emotions play an important part in forming a person’s self concept.
People will participate in learning activities that have yielded success for them and avoid those that have produced failure

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. 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)

32. 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?

33. Computer Model - Comparison
Brain performs more slowly
It takes time for the nerve impulse to travel along the axon
The brain’s 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

34. 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)

35. 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?

36. 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

37. Instructional Approaches
Direct Instruction
Cooperative Learning
Interdisciplinary Units
Integrated Thematic Units

38. 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

39. Increase processing time through motivation
Generate Interest – powerful motivator
Establish Accountability
Provide Feedback
Prompt
Specific
Corrective
Level of Concern

40. 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.

41. 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 learner’s attention
Emotions can shut out rational thought

42. 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.

43. Creating Meaning in New Learning
Creating artificial Meaning
Mnemonic Devices
Homes – Great Lakes
Roy G Biv – red, green , blue
FACE
Man Very Early Made Jump Suits Using New Plastics

44. 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.

45. 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.

46. 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…