Using Brain Research in the Design of Adolescent Classroom

Instruction• The Organ: Parts to Whole

• Key Principles of Mindful Instruction

• Characteristics of Brain-Compatible Classrooms

• Motivation, Learning, and Memory

• States

How comfortable are you with using brain research to design and

facilitate your classroom instruction?

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The Brain: Parts to Whole

• Lobes

• Function

Frontal Lobes

Function:

• Motor functions

• Higher order functions

• Planning

• Reasoning

• Judgment

• Impulse control

• Memory

Making Meaning:• Optimism• Pattern-making• Contextual• Problem-solving• Reasoning

Parietal Lobes

Function:

• Cognition

• Information processing

• Pain and touch sensation

• Spatial orientation

• Speech

• Visual perception

Making meaning:

• Sensory

• Insights

• Inspiration and

“ah-ha’s”

Temporal Lobes

Function:

• Emotional responses

• Hearing

• Memory

• Speech

Making Meaning:

• Relevance

• Links new information to the past, language, hearing, and speech

Occipital Lobes

Function:

• Controls vision

• Perceives color

Making Meaning:

• Vision

• Pattern-discovery

• Spatial relations

Cerebellum (“little brain”)Function:

• Regulation and

coordination of

movement, posture,

and balance.

Making Meaning:

• controls motion

• novelty

Brain Stem

Function:• Responsible for basic vital life functions

such as breathing,

heartbeat, and blood pressure

Making Meaning in the Areas of the Brain

• All areas of the brain share the responsibility for “felt” meaning, satisfaction, and pleasure.

• The brain experiences its most dramatic and important changes and developments during the first few years of life, the period of adolescence is a close second.

Key Principles of Mindful Instruction

What does this have to do with my job What does this have to do with my job and my students?and my students?

The brain is highly adaptable.

• The human brain possesses many more potential connections than there are stars in the universe. Stimulating connections in the brain promotes retention of new information for future applications.

• Classroom implications: Students need to be given multiple avenues in which to make connections to information if they are to truly learn.

The brain is a natural pattern-seeker.

• The human brain seeks to create meaning for itself. No one can create meaning for someone else and our meaning cannot be imposed on others. Personal meaning is essential.

• Classroom Implications: Students need to be given the opportunity to make their own patterns of meaning with new information. Each student’s meaning is unique.

The brain is social.

• The human brain is wired to be social.

• Classroom Implications: Students need opportunities to be social during the learning process. Social interaction increases the chances of comprehension and retention of new information.

The search for meaning and connections is innate.

• The human brain must have multiple opportunities to interaction with material.

• Classroom Implications: If the teacher does all the interacting with the material then the teacher’s-not the student’s- brain will grow and make connections.

It takes both the left brain and the right brain to integrate

learning.• In order for the brain to get the “big

picture” it needs both the global and the analytical view. The brain processes both the parts and wholes simultaneously.

• Classroom Implications: Students need to know “where they’re going” and “how they’re going to get there” in order to fully understand the trip.

States of being mediate learning.

• Emotions are biological functions of the nervous system and strongly influence attention and memory.

• Classroom Implications: Students’ emotions are real and important to their learning. Their emotions need to be acknowledged and respected.

Implicit influences drive explicit learning.

• Unconscious learning is survival-driven. We all know what it means to get “the look” but no one had to teach us the meaning.

• Classroom Implications: Students are constantly learning. Their primary instinct is to learn how to meet their basic needs, all other learning is naturally secondary.

Environment changes the brain.

• What students do as they interact with the classroom environment and information determines the physical structure of the brain.

• Classroom Implications: The student’s classroom environment plays a large role in the learning process, and their brain is constantly changing due to new and different connections.

Each brain is unique.

• Every student possesses different learning styles and prior knowledge.

• Classroom Implications: Students need to be exposed to a variety of strategies to engage and involve them in order to increase potential connections between previous knowledge and new knowledge.

Memory is malleable.

• New information, when associated with the five senses, is retained for a longer period of time.

• Classroom Implications: When students are exposed to sensory experiences they are provided with more stimulus input, thus increasing the likelihood that material will move into long-term memory.

Complex learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat.• When the brain encounters perceived threats in

the environment it’s capacities are minimized. Conversely, challenges and some degree of pressure enhance the brain’s potential. Threat is the number one block to learning (Jensen, 2000).

• Classroom Implications: Each student must have a healthy balance between threats and challenges to feel safe-each student’s balance will be unique.

• Safety = motivation = increased achievement

Classic De-motivators to Avoid in Your Classroom

• Failure of basic needs met• Situations in which students feel stupid or

embarrassed• Infrequent or vague feedback = insufficient

evidence of progress and success• Sarcasm, put-downs, and criticism• Exclusion from decisions regarding roles and

standards• Insufficient examples and models• Insincere listening, recognition and praise

Classic De-motivators to Avoid in Your Classroom (cont.)

• Content and tasks that are perceived to be irrelevant, repetitive, not challenging, or beneath the learner’s ability

• Teaching practices that are mismatched or ineffective to the learners’ style and intelligence needs

• Reward systems and bribes• Feelings of exclusion by other students• Feelings of hopelessness by students

(source: Rogers, Ludington, and Graham. Motivation and Learning, 1999)

What We Know• Lobes of the brain and their functions

• The brains of our students are changing rapidly

• Key principles of mindful instruction and their classroom implications

• Safety is essential

Given all this information Given all this information whatwhat

does a brain-compatible does a brain-compatible classroom look like?classroom look like?

Characteristics of a Brain-Compatible Classroom

• High support• Low threat• Positive expectations• Multi-path input and storage• Consistent pre-exposure• Managed stress levels• Moderate to high challenges• Novelty and predictability• Sufficient time for processing• Complex, frequent feedback

If these If these characteristics characteristics

are present in the are present in the classroom classroom

student student motivation will motivation will

increase.increase.

Quick Tips to Increase Motivation and Learning

• Light: natural light is best and promotes more positive emotional states

• Time: planned breaks and pauses allow for processing, reflection time reinforces connections

• Colors: blue is the easiest color for the eye to see, avoid using fire colors (red, orange, yellow) except for highlighting-they tend to raise anxiety and are hard to read at a distance, color code

• 10 -2 Rule: have students stand or do cross-laterals for 2 minutes every 10 minutes, increases blood flow (by 40%), alertness, energy, and motivation

Quick Tips to Increase Motivation and Learning (cont.)

• Mark: what is correct on a student’s paper and not what is incorrect, positive reinforcement

• Display: learners’ work, put eye level and below• Positions: change seating with units, move

chairs away from each other for assessments-eyes need to wander

• Feedback: increase it• Outline: give students the steps necessary for

success and the definition of success for each task

Quick Tips to Increase Motivation and Learning (cont.)

• Stand: at least every 20-30 minutes-preferably every 10 – 20, increases blood flow to the brain

• Celebrate: have students share their accomplishment for the day/period, what they learned, figured out, did well

• Respect: remove threats, acknowledgement of emotions, ownership, choice

• Relevance: real-life examples, opportunities to make connections

• Involvement: the person doing the interaction with the material is the person learning(sources include Jensen, Rogers, and Sousa)

Connections Between Learning & Memory

• Information Processing Model

Pathways to Memory

Explicit

Semantic Episodic

Implicit

Memory

Procedural Reflexive

Explicit

Semantic Episodic

Words Pictures Facts Locations CircumstancesAutobiographical

• weakest retrieval center•Short-term memory lasts

5- 20 seconds untilvanishing

•Processing or rehearsal isrequired for long-term

memory

• contaminated quickly•Sensitive to aromas•The “where” triggers

The “what”

Pathways to Memory Right there, clear

and obvious, you can touch it

An occurrence

, experience

Meaning related to symbols (words,

pics)

Implicit

Procedural Reflective

Body Motor Skills Involuntary Emotional Conditional

•Kinesthetic modality•Part of survival

•Does not require conscious thought

•Deals with body and motorskills

•Activated by adrenaline(“Yikes” = pos. and/or neg.)

and/or cortisol(“Uh-Oh” = neg.)

Pathways to Memory Not stated but

understood, Automatic

responses associated

with “states”

Automatic responses associated with basic

needs

StimulusExplicit Implicit

Semantic:words, symbols,videos, books,

computers, facts, and

figures

Types of Memory

Episodic:locations, events, personal

circumstances

Reflexive:Automatic,

non-consciouslearning,“just do it”

Procedural:physical skills,manipulatives

hands-onlearning

Flashbulb:A moment frozen

in time due to emotions and

the context of life experiences.

Sensory Conditioning:Memory triggered bysensory cues, such

as flash cards or repetition.

Emotional:Intense emotions

connected to individual trauma

or pleasure.

Memory and Strategies

Long-term memory

Role play

Mind mapping

Rehearsal

Mnemonic devices

Videos

Posters w/ key

points

sequencing

Role play

Hands-on learning

Drama/skits

Bodily/kinesthetic

Step 1, Step 2

JournalingThink-pair-shareLearn, review, and

test in same locationChange seating with each new unit

Flash cardsSensory memoryDecodingRhyme/rhythmRepetition PracticeAntonymsMatchingProcedural

Semantic

Reflexive

Episodic

StatesHave you ever:

• done something just because you felt like it?

• done something a little crazy and later admitted that you didn’t know what came over you?

• reminded yourself to “put on a good face” for a meeting?

What are states?• States are the combination of the external and internal

processes and influences that make all our decisions based on our emotional, cognitive, and physical interactions.

• States influence our motivation.• We can pay attention to only one single state at a

time. This doesn’t mean that we can’t experience more than one at a time but that the brain only acknowledges one at a time.

• Each state requires a trigger and set of activators (hormonal activity, physiological activity, and/or neurotransmitter activity).

• You cannot easily activate the behaviors of one state (thoughts, feelings, actions) if you are in another.

What does this have to do with students and learning?

• If you want to change the behaviors of students you must first change their state.

• New states create new attractors for memory, emotions, information, and behaviors.

• Green, Yellow, Red

“There is no such thing as an unmotivated

student. There are, however, students in unmotivated states.” ~Eric Jensen

Types of States

““HUH?”HUH?” “YIKES”“YIKES”

““UH-OH”UH-OH” “MOVIN-ON”“MOVIN-ON”

““I GOT IT”I GOT IT” “PEACE & QUIET”“PEACE & QUIET”

““YAHOO!” YAHOO!” “AH-HH”“AH-HH”

Putting it all together . . . The physical makeup of the brain affects

learning and retention.When the principles of mindful instruction are in

place students are more successful.A brain-compatible classroom is one that

recognizes the physical and emotional needs of the brain in relationship to learning.

The bottom line:The bottom line:The more information we have on the changes that the brain goes through during adolescence the more equipped we are to design truly affective instruction.

Resources

• http://members.tripod.com/~ozpk/brain.html

• Secrets of the Teenage Brain: Research-Based Strategies for Reaching & Teaching Today's Adolescents, Sheryl G. Feinstein

• Brain-based Learning: The New Science of Teaching and Training, Eric P. Jensen

• How the Brain Learns, David A. Sousa