Post on 30-Oct-2021
Brain Fact or Fiction
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Brain Fact or FictionSeptember 2017
Agenda
6 Areas of Common NeuroConfusion
(Persistence of Neuromyths)
Why misconceptions occur.
What is really going on.
Why it is important to dispel the myths.
How much of our brains do we use?1
One Possible Explanation for the 10% Myth
One Reason It Persists
Another Possible Reason It Persists
PET Scan
Why Dispelling this Neuromyth Is Important
Believing that we only use 10% of our brains means having a very fundamental lack of understanding of what our brains do and how they work.
• Impact of injuries.
• What would you do to help your students improve the % of their brains that they use and how would you know?
• Misconceptions about brain size and relationship to intelligence and cognitive capacity.
People learn better if they are taught using a strategy that appeals to their specific learning style (auditory, visual, kinesthetic).
2
One Possible Reason for This Neuromyth
One Possible Reason for This Neuromyth
One of many,
many
examples!
• Learning is the act of making and strengthening connections between thousand of neurons forming neural networks or maps.
• Memory is the ability to reconstruct or reactivate the previously-made connections.
• Neurons that fire together, wire together!
• Our brains are shaped by our experience and our brains must construct our understanding of the world.
Learning & Memory
What neurons
actually look like in
your brain.
Cerebral cortex
neurons in a
newborn and a
two-year-old.
This is a picture
of learning.
Sight
R
E
C
E
P
T
O
R
S
Sensory
Memory
Information not transferred to next
stage = forgotten!
Hearing
Touch
Taste
Smell
COGNITIVE PROCESSING MODEL
Working
Memory
Long-Term
Memory
Perception Organization
RetrievalAttention
Sight
R
E
C
E
P
T
O
R
S
Sensory
Memory
Hearing
Touch
Taste
Smell Working
Memory
Long-Term
Memory
Perception Organization
RetrievalAttention
Why Dispelling This Neuromyth Is Important
• Teachers don’t transmit knowledge and understanding to students.
• Each student’s brain must construct knowledge and understanding from the experiences they have.
• The experiences that teachers create for their students physically change their brains (the teacher’s and the students’ brains).
• The more modalities used to rehearse, the more paths you have for retrieval.
People are naturally either right-brained and more analytical or left-brained and more creative. Students learn differently depending on whether they are right-brained or left-brained.
3
One Likely Explanation for this Myth
Left Hemisphere Right Hemisphere
Movement in right side of body Movement in left side of body
Production of speech Creativity – new ideas
Comprehension of language Recognition of faces
Reading and writing Recognition of patterns
Analytical thinking Musical ability
Logical reasoning Spatial ability
Math Emotional detection and expression
Tan’s Brain – Broca’s Area
PET Scan
One Likely Reason It Persists
Why Dispelling This Myth is Important
• The two sides of our brain work together.
• Parents’ beliefs about their children limits them.
• Teachers’ beliefs about students affects their performance.
• Students’ beliefs about themselves can limit them.
• Like learning styles, it implies a need to adjust teaching when both analytical skills and creativity can be and need to be developed and nurtured.
Our brains don’t change very much after age …
4
Possible Explanation for The Myths
• Research that shows that IQ, self-control, vocabulary, etc. at 3 are predictive of later success.
• 7 – the age of reason
• 13 – adult bodies
• 21 – arbitrary number = voting age
• 25 – age at which you can rent a car
Neurogenesis (Growth of Neurons)
• During the 9 months of fetal development, neurons grow at the rate of 250,000 per minute.
• At birth the brain has approximately 80 billion neurons and weighs about 1 pound. By one year it has doubled and by age 5 or 6 it is 90% of its adult size and weight
• What causes this tremendous growth in such a short time? (Hint: It’s not more neurons.)
Growth of Connections (Synaptogenesis)
Cerebral cortex neurons in a newborn and a two-year-old.
Synaptogenesis and Pruning
• Between the second month in utero and the age of two, each neuron in the cortex forms an average of 1.8 synapses per second. At this point the brain begins to prune away large numbers of connections.
• Which connections remain, and which are pruned, depends on whether or not they are used.
• Experience literally changes the brain!
Why Dispelling This Myth is Important
• Implications of developmental stage on parenting and education decisions.
• Understanding that our experiences change our brains – literally. Our brains become what our brains do.
• Sensitive periods, not critical periods.
• Our brains can change throughout life, to a much greater degree than we have thought and than most of us realize.
• “Don’t give up on them.”
Which of these statements about intelligence is true?
5
One Possible Explanation for Confusion
Another Explanation
• G (one thing)
• Gf (Fluid Intelligence) and Gc (Crystallized Intelligence) (two things)
• Ability to reason and problem-solve in novel situations
• Multiple Intelligences (Several things)
• The imagination network and the executive network
• The ability to assemble and integrate multiple mental processes to solve new challenges and to learn from them
Student 8
• Female, 41
• Completed 34 sessions, 151 levels
• Challenged by directionality, timing and rhythm, visual representations
• GAMA IQ Gain
• 6 points
• 45th to 61st percentile
• Stayed in Average Range
GAMA Subtest Pre-Test Range Post-Test Range
Matching Average Superior
Analogies Average Average
Sequences Average Average
Construction Average Average
Student 7
• Female, 19
• Completed 29 sessions, 112 levels
• Challenged by directionality, timing and rhythm, visual working memory
• GAMA IQ Gain
• 21 points
• 9th to 53rd percentile
• Moved from bottom of Low Average to Average
GAMA Subtest Pre-Test Range Post-Test Range
Matching Low Average High Average
Analogies Low Average Average
Sequences Low Average High Average
Construction Average Low Average
Student 2
• Male, 27
• Completed 23 sessions, 166 levels
• No great challenge until reached upper levels
• GAMA IQ
• 12 points
• 68th to 90th percentile
• Moved from Average to High Average range
GAMA Subtest Pre-Test Range Post-Test Range
Matching Average Average
Analogies High Average Superior
Sequences Average Superior
Construction High Average High Average
Why Dispelling This Myth is Important
• The power of a Growth Mindset.
• Not only can intelligence and talents be developed, our belief that they can be has an impact.
• Genetics play a role but our experience is critically important.
• How different would schools be if we put this belief into practice?
Our brains make a recording of everything we experience. When we forget something, it is merely our inability to retrieve the information.
6
One Possible Explanation for this Misconception
Just the facts,
ma’am.
Sight
R
E
C
E
P
T
O
R
S
Sensory
Memory
Hearing
Touch
Taste
Smell Working
Memory
Long-Term
Memory
Perception Organization
RetrievalAttention
• Learning is the act of making and strengthening connections between thousand of neurons forming neural networks or maps.
• Memory is the ability to reconstruct or reactivate the previously-made connections.
• Neurons that fire together, wire together!
• Our brains are shaped by our experience and our brains must construct our understanding of the world.
Learning & Memory
Memory Experiment
• bed
• rest
• awake
• tired
• dream
• wake
• snooze
• blanket
• doze
• slumber
• snore
• nap
• peace
• yawn
• drowsy
Memories Aren’t Always What We Think
• Memories are made and then constantly remade every time we actively recall them.
• There is no such thing as a perfectly accurate memory.
• We can believe we have memories about events we have only heard about.
• We can strengthen memories by building on to them.
• Studying and connecting related topics helps build stronger networks that are easier to reactivate.
Elaborative Rehearsal Strategies
• Reciprocal or peer teaching
• Metaphor and analogy
• Models
• Story-telling
• Problem-based learning
• Visuals and graphics
• Simulations
• Hands-on activities
• Rhythm, rhyme and rap
• Mind maps (Semantic maps)
Why Dispelling This Myth is Important
• We construct knowledge and memories. We constantly remake them every time we actively recall them.
• There are multiple factors that affect whether information is attended to (motivation, interest, novelty).
• Information that is not rehearsed in working memory and actively elaborated is unlikely to be remembered.
• Ending the “well, we went over that in class” mentality.
Questions?
Let’s stay
connected
Betsy Hill
bhill@mybrainware.com
773-250-6467
www.linkedin.com/in/betsyhill
www.MyBrainWare.com
www.facebook.com/BrainWareLearning/