Transcript storytelling and concert

Brain Based Learning
and Teaching
World Languages/Dual Language
Bilingual / ESOL Department
Broward County
Public Schools
Brain Facts
True or False?
True or False?
1. The average adult brain weighs 10 pounds and
uses 40% of the body’s oxygen.
FALSE - The average adult human brain weighs
three pounds and uses 20% of the body’s oxygen.
True or False?
2. Abused children have smaller brains.
TRUE - Abused children have smaller brains. Parts of
the brain of a severely abused and neglected child can
be substantially smaller than that of a healthy child.
True or False?
3. Reading aloud to children helps stimulate brain
development, yet only 10% of infants and toddlers are
routinely read to by parents.
FALSE - Reading Aloud Stimulates Child Development Reading aloud to children helps stimulate brain
development, yet only 50% of infants and toddlers are
routinely read to by parents. (Aren’t we glad it isn’t 10%- wouldn’t it be great if it were 100%?)
True or False?
4. Baby talk decreases vocabulary for infants.
(syntactically imperfect speech or phonetically modify
forms use by small children learning to talk)
FALSE –Baby talk increases vocabulary for infants. A
study showed that when mothers frequently spoke to
their infants, their children learned about 300 more
words by age two than did children whose mothers rarely
spoke to them.
True or False?
5. A child’s ability to learn can increase by 75% or more,
depending on whether he or she grows up in a
stimulating environment.
FALSE - Stimulating Environment Affects Learning. A
child’s ability to learn can increase or decrease by 25 % or
more, depending on whether he or she grows up in a
stimulating environment.
True or False?
6. Both challenge and feedback are required for brain
growth.
TRUE - Research suggests that two things are necessary for
brain growth through enrichment:
The subject must be challenged
and
must receive feedback.
Novelty may be included in the challenge but is not always
necessary– however, timely feedback is necessary for
learning to take place. (Jensen, 2005).
True or False?
7. The brain needs 8 – 12 glasses of water a day for
optimal functioning.
TRUE - The brain needs 8 – 12 glasses of water a day for
optimal functioning. The brain consists of 78% water
and it needs to keep hydrated. Dehydration is a
common problem in school classrooms leading to
lethargy and impaired learning. DRINK MORE WATER!
(Hannaford, 1995)
True or False?
8. The brain is hard wired” – what you were born with is
what you have until you die.
FALSE - The reason we can learn new habits and skills
that are not innate is that the brain is “plastic” throughout
life. Neuroplasticity is a characteristic of the brain that
allows it to be shaped by experience. (Merzenich, et. al.)
True or False?
9. Approximately 20% of the blood flowing from the
heart is pumped to the brain.
TRUE – The brain uses 20% of blood – approximately 20% of the
blood flowing from the heart is pumped to the brain. The brain
needs constant blood flow in order to keep up with the heavy
metabolic demands of the neurons. Brain imaging techniques such
as functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) rely on this
relationship between neural activity and blood flow to produce
images of deduced brain activity.
True or False?
10.Although the brain accounts for only 2% of the whole
body’s mass, it uses 20% of all oxygen we breathe.
TRUE - Although the brain accounts for only 2% of the
whole body’s mass, it uses 20% of all the oxygen we
breathe. A continuous supply of oxygen is necessary for
survival.
True or False?
11. At birth, we have an equal potential to learn any
language.
TRUE - By age 6 months we start honing in on the
phonemes we use most, and exposure to multiple
languages allows the human brain to process and
understand however many a child is exposed to.
True or False
12. People who are functionally bilingual can delay the onset
of dementia over 4 years longer than monolinguals can.
TRUE – People fully bilingual and speaking both
languages every day for most of their lives, can delay
the onset of dementia by up to four years, compared
with those who only know one language. The extra
effort involved in using more than one language,
appeares to boost blood supply to the brain, and
ensures nerve connections remain healthy.
Ellen Bialystok, Fergus I.M. Craik and Morris Freedman, Bilingualism as a protection against the onset of symptoms of
dementia, Neuropsychologia, Volume 45, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 459-464.
True or False?
13. Speech and language problems are caused by learning 2
languages at the same time.
FALSE - If a child has a speech or language problem,
it will show up in both languages. However, these
problems are not caused by learning two
languages.(American Speech-Language-Hearing Association)
A Dartmouth research team has determined that
children exposed to two languages early in life
…"will essentially grow as if there were two
monolinguals housed in one brain, and this will
occur without any of the dreaded 'language
contamination' often attributed to early bilingual
exposure.”
True or False?
14. Those who learn a second language at an early age
rely on the same critical patch of brain tissue when
speaking either tongue.
TRUE - Unlike people who become bilingual after
childhood, those who learn a second language at an early
age rely on the same critical patch of brain tissue when
speaking either tongue, according to a new study. Adult
learners of language apparently recruit nearby groups of
brain cells, suggest neuroscientist Joy Hirsch of Memorial
Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center in New York and her
colleagues.
Before We Get Started
 Caveat - Nothing is an absolute, but we are learning
more and more every day about how the brain
functions and how that translates to behavior including teaching and learning.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
1. Can your brain grow new cells?
1. Does what you eat and drink affect your brain?
1. Do colors influence emotion?
1. Can knowledge of “brain- based” learning
positively influence learning?
1. How are you already using brain based approaches
to learning in your lessons?
How is your brain like(?)
 A cabbage
 A raisin
 A pillowcase
 A grapefruit
 String cheese
 A walnut
What is Brain Based Learning?
 Taking what we know about the brain, about
development and about learning and combining
those factors in intelligent ways to connect and
excite students’ desire to learn.
 Combining emotional, factual and skill knowledge
into a cognitive tool.
How the Brain Determines what’s Important?
 Emotion and attention is the PRINCIPAL processes of the brain
 Primary emotions - innate responses
Assemble life-saving behaviors quickly
 Secondary emotions - also innate reactions
Enjoyment, pleasure
 Students need to talk about their emotions
Games, cooperative learning, field trips, interactive projects,
use of humor
 Limit emotional stress
The Twelve Principles of Brain Based Teaching/Learning
 What are they?
 What do they mean?
 What are the implications of this
information to working
with/teaching/ understanding
ourselves and others?
Learning Engages the Entire Physiology
 Food, water, and nutrition are critical components of
thinking.
 We are “holistic” learners - the body and mind interact
 The peptides in the blood are chains of amino acids that
become the primary source of information transfer.
Learning is Developmental
 Depending upon the topic some
students can think abstractly, while
others have a limited background and
are still thinking on a concrete level.
 Building the necessary neural
connections by exposure, repetition,
and practice is important to the
student.
Each Brain is Unique
 We are products of genetics and experience
 The brain works better when facts and skills are
embedded in real experiences
Each Brain Perceives
and
Creates Parts and Wholes Simultaneously
 Some think more easily inductively while others find
deductive thinking more comfortable - use both
 Shank (1990) Telling stories is one of the most
influential techniques because you give the
information, ground the meaning in structure,
provide for emotion, and make the content
meaningful. Our brain loves storytelling.
 How might you make use of this?
Learning Involves Conscious and Unconscious Processes
 The brain and body learn physically, mentally, and
affectively
 Body language as well as actual language
communicate (Use TPR)
 How you treat students and how you permit
them to treat each other makes a difference
in their learning and desire to learn.
 How the physical environment is organized
makes a difference.
The Search for Meaning Is Innate
Address Different Styles
 Each person seeks to make sense out of what he/she sees
or hears
 Capitalize on this quality!
 Present ideas, experiences that may NOT follow what one
expects:
 Speculate
• Question
 Experiment
• Hypothesize
Emotions Are Critical to Learning
 A common form of communication within our brain is the
electrical-chemical-electrical process between neurons.
 Emotions trigger the chemicals active in the axon-synapse-dendrite
reaction. This permits or inhibits communication between the
cells.
 90% of the communication is carried out by peptides (which are
strings of amino acids that travel the blood stream and permit
information transfer. Peptides are the glue that connect the body
and the brain.
 Learning is affected by emotions.
Learning is Enhanced by Challenge
and
Inhibited by Threat
 The brain’s priority is always survival - at the expense
of higher order thinking
 Stress should be kept to a manageable level
 Provide opportunities to “grow” and to make changes
 Have high, but reasonable expectations
The Search for Meaning Comes Through Patterning
 Tie learning to prior knowledge
 Use KWL - Know - Want to know - Learned cycle
 Brain (What the Best College Teachers Do) suggests working
from “big” questions to be answered.
Brain Organizes Memory In Different Ways
 Retrieval often depends upon how the information was
stored.
 Relevancy is one key to both storage and retrieval
 Connect to what students know, what they are interested in
 Provide and get examples
 Student talk!!!
 Of varying types
Memory
Short-term memory
 Combine or “chunk”
 Recognition
Long-term memory
 Declarative - Factual
 Episodic - Events or experiences
 Semantic - Words
 Procedural - Step by step
Memory
 When objects and events are registered by several
senses, they can be stored in several interrelated
memory networks.
 This type of memory becomes more accessible and
powerful.
 Conversation helps us link ideas/thoughts to our own
related memories. Students need time for this to
happen!!

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
Storytelling
Debates
Simulations
Games
- Conversations
- Role playing
- Songs
- Films
Techniques to Help Memory
 Define the “gist” – OVERVIEW
 Sequence events
 Plot out pictorially the information
 Tell the information to others in own words – TALK
Peer teaching/tutoring
 Amplify by giving examples
 Use multiple parts of the brain (emotional, factual,
physical)
Auditory, Visual, Kinesthetic, Talk
Combine
 Use color effectively:
Yellow and orange as attention-getters
The Brain develops Better in Concert with Others
When students have to talk to others about information, they
retain the information longer and more efficiently!
Examples: Skits or Readers Theaters, Role playing
The Brain is Social
Make use of small groups, discussions, teams, pairings, and
question and answer situations.
How Might Brain-Based Research Influence Your Teaching?
 What changes might you make?
 What are you already doing that fits the research?
 What would you like to know more about?
RESOURCES
http://feaweb.org/brain-based-learning-strategies
http://www.shapingyouth.org/?p=2071
http://teachingwiththebraininmind.com
http://www.internettime.com/2009/12/use-your-brain/
http://www.endocytosis.org/ImaginingTheBrain/NeuroArt2007/gallery.html
http://www.cksinfo.com/electronics/computers/pcs/page2.html
http://www.thethikingbusiness.co.uk/brain_tour.html
http://info.intesolv.com/free-trial/
http://techgoggles.in/index.php/adobe-launched-web-conferencing-app-for-ios-andandroid/
http://www.talkingpage.org/artic011.html
http://delta7.com/the-meaning-of-meaning/
http://robertafaulhaber.typepad.com/blog/2010/10/collective-intelligence-somescientific-evidence.html
http://www.dana.org/news/ceebum/detail.aspx?id+3026
http://www.northernhighlands.org/712410710134232943/blank/browse.asp?A=383&BMDRN
=2000&BCOB=0&C=56455
http://anguishedrepose.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/the-human-brain-has-more-switchesthan-all-computers-on-earth/
http://www.eruptingmind.com/emotional-brain-decision-making/
THE END
HAVE A GREAT Seasons of Learning Training!