The brain was made for survival of the species ...and still operates that

way!

“School” learning is harder than we think✴Biological relevant stimuli is stronger than

curriculum. ✴The brain is designed for survival instincts:

Hunger, safety, breeding, building alliances✴Attention requires that we orient, engage,

and maintain independent neural networks. It is easy when the task is novel or pleasurable…

A Basic Model of Memory

Environment Working Memory

Long-Term Memory

Transfer of learning and during learning

Data Affecting Survival(Reflexive)

WORKING M

EMORYData for New

Learning(Reflective)

Data Generating Emotions

(Reflexive)

What does it feel like to have a memory in long-term memory.

In this task name the ink color in which the words are printed, but ignore the word that the letters spell. Hence for TURKEY, the proper response is "blue." First try this list:

LION BEAR TIGER LION BEAR BEAR TIGER

Now try this list: In this task name the ink color in which the words are printed, but ignore the word that the letters spell

RED GREEN BLUE RED BLUE BLUE

GREEN

Modes of Understanding

Transfer

Transfer• Transfer during learning

• Refers to the effect that that past learning has on the processing and acquisition of new knowledge.

• Transfer of Learning• Refers to the degree to which the new learning is

applied by the learner in the future.• Near Transfer- new learning in very similar and

closely related settings.• Far Transfer- both similar and non similar settings

that share common elements from initial learning.

Solyndra LLC’s workers making solar-power panels in a California factory subsidized by U.S. taxpayers showed “the promise of clean energy isn’t just an article of faith,” President Barack Obama said on a visit to the company in May 2010.

Two months before Obama’s visit, accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP warned that Solyndra, the recipient of $535 million in federal loan guarantees, had financial troubles deep enough to “raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.”

The Obama administration stood by Solyndra through the auditor’s warning, the abandonment of a planned initial public offering and a last-ditch refinancing where taxpayers took a back seat to new investors. That unwavering commitment has come under increasing scrutiny since the company’s travails culminated in its filing for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 6 and a raid on its headquarters by th Federal Bureau of Investigation two days later.

Armies and Fortresses

• A dictator ruled a small country from a fortress. The fortress was situated in the middle of the country and many roads radiated outward from it, like spokes on a wheel. A great general vowed to capture the fortress and free the country of the dictator. The general knew that if his entire army could attack the fortress at once, it could be captured. But a spy reported that the dictator had planted mines on each of the roads. The mines were set so that small bodies of men could pass over them safely, since the dictator needed to be able to move troops and workers about; however, any large force would detonate the mines. Not only would this blow up the road, but the dictator would destroy many villages in retaliation. How could the general attack the fortress?

Ray and Tumors• Suppose you are a doctor faced with a patient who has a

malignant tumor in his stomach. It is impossible to operate on the patient, but unless the tumor is destroyed, the patient will die. There is a kind of ray that can be used to destroy the tumor. If the rays reach the tumor all at once at a sufficiently high intensity, the tumor will be destroyed. Unfortunately at this intensity the healthy tissue that the rays pass through on the way to the tumor will also be destroyed. At lower intensities the rays are harmless to healthy tissue, but they will not affect the tumor either. What type of procedure might be used to destroy the tumor with the rays, and at the same time avoid destroying the healthy tissue?

So visual images are important…

What else is important for

making and storing memories?

Human mind is exquisitely tuned to understand and remember stories•Causality•Conflict•Complication •Character

•Comprehending requires inferences…forcing you to think about meaning.

•Stories have causal structure…one thing leads to another

Power of Stories

On a blank piece of paper, number the

lines 1-30

I will call out 30 words with directions for each

word.Record the task on

each line.

Tasks for individual words...I will let you

know the task•If I turn my head to the left when I say the word you will write (Y) for yes. If I don’t turn it write (N) for no.

•If the word has an A or U in it write (Y) for Yes. If not write (N) for no.

•Rate the word (1-7) for pleasantness; 1 being least pleasant; 7 being very pleasant.

After I read the list we will count to 20 and then write as

many words as you remember.

Count the numbers of words you remembered

from each Column?A B C

HundredRatePlace

EntirelyInto Hold

ThreadFleet

TrainingElse

CoolJump

CountryAbout

WindowMatchMeltOnly

SingleYourself

CornUrge

DiamondWelcomeAirplane

FruitRace

WinterDiseaseCamp

Look at our results. What theory do you have on the outcomes?

To the left A

A or UB

Pleasantness C

HundredRatePlace

EntirelyInto Hold

ThreadFleet

TrainingElse

CoolJump

CountryAbout

WindowMatchMeltOnly

SingleYourself

CornUrge

DiamondWelcomeAirplane

FruitRace

WinterDiseaseCamp

We Feel, Therefore We Learn!Recent studies highlight the importance of relationships…

looking at ability to experience admiration for virtue and skill….and compassion for physical and emotional

pain.

Immordino-Yang and Damasio

We Feel, Therefore We Learn!

Admiration for Virtue

Immordino-Yang and Damasio

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Hypothalamus- monitors homeostasis, thirst, hunger, circadian rhythms, and control of the autonomic nervous

system.Amygdala- Emotions and fear are processed here.

Hippocampus- consolidates memories/learning

Medulla- responsible for maintaining vital body functions, such as breathing and heart rate.

Anterior Cingulate Cortex- regulation of sympathetic activity.

Anterior Insula- regulates how we “feel.”

Implications

In order for emotions about the psychological situations of others to

be induced and experienced, additional time is needed for the

introspective processing of culturally shaped social knowledge.

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…experiences that develop relationships tend to develop deeper

learning...and intrinsic pursuits (aka…motivation)

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The Peace of Wild Things 

When despair for the world grows in meand I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild thingswho do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a timeI rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

  

Metaphors to increase transfer…looking at a commentary on the

human condition.

Allegory: an extended metaphor in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative are equated with meanings that lies outside

the narrative itself.

 Names are often obviously meaningful, and characters are often personifications of abstract qualities

Allegory: an extended metaphor in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative are equated with meanings that lies outside the narrative itself. Names are often obviously

meaningful, and characters are often personifications of abstract qualities

If Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is metaphor for…. What do the objects symbolize?

 The cave The fire The prisoners The voices The shadows The light The shackles