Brain-Based Learning

Research-Based Strategies

To IGNITE Student Learning

Judy Willis, M.D.

Presented by Stephen Gilbreth

Memory, Learning, and Test Taking Skills

Brain Plasticity and Pruning

Multiple Stimulations Educators- Memory

enhancers Learning promotes

learning Memory Circuits Graphic Organizers Syn-naps

Brain Plasticity

Dendrites increase in size and number in response to learned skills, experience and information

Dendrites grow as branches from frequently activated neurons

Most of the neurons where information is stored are present at birth

Dendrites sprout from the arms (axons) or cell body of the neuron

Brain Plasticity cont.

The growth of new dendrites is stimulated by proteins called neurotrophins

Once formed, brain plasticity allows it to reshape, reorganize

Violin players developing complex skills with their left hand have larger somatosensory regions in the area of the parietal lobe associated with the left hand

Pruning

A decrease in the connections of dendrites result in a pruning

The elimination of connections cause the brain to prune inactive cells

Much like pruning an errant shoot from a hedge

Active cells require blood to bring nourishment and clear away waste

Pruning cont.

Inactive cells don’t send messages to the circulatory system to send blood

Brain cells receive circulation not from blood as in the rest of the body, but rather a colorless, filtered form of blood called cerebral spinal fluid

Pruning cont.

The reduced blood flow means calcium ions accumulate around cells and are not washed away

The build up of calcium ions triggers the secretion of the enzyme calpain, which causes the cell to self-destruct

Multiple Stimulations

The more ways information is presented, the more dendrites pathways of access will be created

Offering information visually will set up connections with the occipital lobes (posterior lobes of the brain that process optical input)

Multiple Stimulations cont.

Students who hear information will hook up a dendritic circuit with the temporal lobe (on the side of the brain, processes auditory input)

The more regions of the brain that store data about a subject the more interconnections

The brain can cross- reference data

Educators - Memory Enhancers

Memory: Rote, working (short-term), patterning and connections to relational, and ultimately long-term

Rote: memorize most commonly used

Working (short-term) keep for 20 minutes

Recognizing patterns and connections- moves to long-term

Learning promotes learning

Engaging in the process of learning actually increases one’s capacity to learn

Each time students participate in an activity, a certain number of neurons are activated - Repetition, Follow-up….

Learning Promotes Learning cont.

Follow-up or repetition causes the same neurons to respond

The more times an activity is repeated, more dendrites sprout to connect new memories to old

The brain becomes more efficient at recalling memories

If memories come from different parts of the brain, recall is further enhanced, understanding is deeper

Brain Mapping techniques

Scientist can track which parts of the brain become active when a person processes information

fMRI, functional magnetic resonance imaging

fMRIs allow scientists to view the brain over time.

A picture is shown to a subject, scientists can watch activity from area of the hippocampus, images show how well a visual experience was encoded

Memory circuits

Some strategies suggested by neuroimaging are ones that have students personalize information thereby activating the part of the brain that help form memories

Other strategies have students connect using as many senses as possible

Visualize an electron orbiting the nucleus of an atom, mimic the buzz of electricity as it buzzes by, feel the negative charge by rubbing a balloon on ones arm

Memory Circuits… Surprise

Brains are structured to remember novel events

The ability to sense a cause and predict the effect (object falls from roof, move to avoid injury)

Surprises bring a students brain to attention

Demonstrations that get attention…or as easy as playing a song as they enter the room, or greeting them in costume

Memory Circuits… Surprise cont.

Enthusiasms in teacher’s voice as a new concept is introduced

The goal is for students to actively discover, interpret, analyze, & process

Think-Pair-Share

Dend-Writes… novel approach to note-taking- sketch in notebook. What did I hear, see, smell? What did I learn? What surprised me? This reminded me of?

Memory Circuits… Making connections A high school Chemistry

teacher, at the beginning of class, slowly released hydrogen sulfide from a hidden container he opened before class…

As a discussion about the diffusion of gases through other gases ensued, two or three pathways of memories are being created. Connection made.

Memory Circuits… Actively Participate It’s not a teachers

role to turn a classroom into a video arcade… motivation by external rewards don’t get the big bang

Student participation in an activity

Active engagement, discovery, connect learned information with known information

Memory Circuits… How it happens

Any new information learned must enter the brain through one or more of the senses (hearing, seeing or visualizing, touching, tasting, smelling, or emotionally feeling)

First information is: decoded by the sense-specific receptor or the body. It travels through nerves in skin or body to spinal cord up through the reticular activating system, then it’s carried to the limbic system, it then enters the hippocampus…

How it happens cont.

After entering the hippocampus, messages are sent to the prefrontal lobe storage areas where they are connected to the new information to build relational memories

The brain can then make the connection between the new information and stored memories and then forms a new integrated memory to be stored in the frontal lobe

When the hippocampus is damaged, new memories can’t be formed

Graphic Organizers - G.O.

G.O. help students see relationships and pattern new information for memory storage

G.O. enable students to see patterns, access previously stored related memories and expand upon existing memory circuits

G.O. coincide with the brain’s style of patterning

Material is presented in ways that stimulate students’ brains to create meaningful and relevant connections to previously stored memories

Syn-Naps

Every brain needs periodic rest, neurotransmitters can be replenished and executive function can process new material

“Naps” prevent overloading of the circuits and interference with maximal memory storage and also positive emotional states

Rebuilding Strategies

After complex information is covered… 15 minutes of teaching followed by standing up to stretch, get a drink, just a couple minutes and the brain is ready to go again

Neurotransmitters are depleted…

After a quick break information moves from short-term memory to relational memory.

Rebuilding Strategies cont…

Information does not move to long-term memory until time and practice follow

After rest, it is time to use a student centered cementing strategy…

Example: Draw a Venn

Diagram Generate mental

images… look, feel, taste, sound

Create metaphors and analogies

Repetition and Consolidation

Learning to play piano, the initial learning stage activates a great deal of the brain’s motor control region… hand/eye coordination

In professional musicians, only a tiny portion of the motor control region is used…

Conclusion… practice makes the neural network more efficient, a freeing up of brain energy to be used elsewhere

Strategies to consolidate learned materials into Long-Term Memory Introduce

information when students are engaged with focused attention

Include practice of accurate and precise observation

Use multisensory avenues of exposure to the information that results in multiple connections and relational memory links to existing memory circuits to increase recall and memory storage

Strategies cont…

Create student-centered, personal motivation for learning

Use skilled and practiced observation techniques (repetition and personal connections)

Have students use the information to answer personally relevant, critical thinking questions or make and support judgments using new knowledge

Strategies cont…

Pose practical, real-world problems for students to solve using the new knowledge. Problem or Inquiry based learning methods

Ask students how they might use the information outside of school, how might it be important for future career. How is it important perhaps to their parents’ jobs?

Brain-Based Learning

Definition: This learning theory is based on the structure and function of the brain. As long as the brain is not prohibited from fulfilling its normal processes, learning will occur.

Core Principles of Brain-Based Learning

The brain is a parallel processor, capable of performing many tasks at once

Learning engages the whole physiologyThe search for meaning is innateThe search for meaning comes through

patterning

Core Principles cont…

The brain processes whole and parts simultaneously

Learning involves both focused attention and peripheral perceptions

Learning involves both conscious and unconscious processes

Two types of memory: spatial, rote

Core Principles cont…

Understanding comes best when facts are embedded in natural spatial memory

Learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat

Each brain is unique

Research-Based teaching methodology - strategies

Small Group, Cooperative learning,

Explicit Instruction

Problem Based Learning/Inquiry Based Learning

Developing a Portfolio

Writing, Reading, Vocabulary across curriculum