Transcript File

Learner-Centered Teaching
Book By: Terry Doyle
Educating for Life Long Learners
• Cramming won’t cut it in today’s world and
YOUR future
1. How to learn on YOUR OWN
2. How to learn with and from others
3. How to find and use resources
4. How to determine what is important to know
and what is not
5. How to share ideas with others face to face and
in a virtual environment
Bachelors is like a “learners permit” it is just the
beginning of their learning journey
Michigan State University, Career Services Network: Twelve
Competencies Essential for Success that Employers Seek in
College Graduates
1. Working in a diverse environment
2. Managing time and priorities
3. Acquiring knowledge Lifelong Learner
4. Thinking Critically
5. Communicating Effectively
6. Solving Problems
7. Contributing to a team
8. Navigating across boundaries
9. Performing with Integrity
10. Developing Professional Competencies
11. Balancing work and life
12. Embracing change
Forget about all that left brain/ right
brain stuff:
How to Grow Your
Brain
Mindsets
(Dweck, 2006):
belief a person has about their intelligence and
abilities.
Growth
Fixed
• Learners see intelligence as
malleable and changeable and
that a person never knows how
smart they might become
• You get smarter your whole
life
• They see failure as a result of
lack of effort or strategy and it
is something to learn from
• Learners saw their intelligence
as fixed at birth
• These learners see people as as
being born either smart
average or below average and
that is just the way it is
• Believe they either shouldn’t
need to work hard to do well
OR putting in the effort won’t
make a difference in the
outcome.
What does the
SCIENCE/RESEARCH say??
• “It is the one who does the work who does the
learning” (Doyle, 2008).
• A brain in motion is a brain better able to learn
(Medina, 2000)
• Attention is almost magical in its ability to physically
alter the brain and enlarge functional circuits
(Merzenich and colleagues, UCSF, 2011)
▫ Brain can’t multitask when it comes to learning
• The Brain needs to be ready for learning: hydration,
diet, exercise, and sleep.
• The brain searches for patterns
• Understanding memory formation and recall
Learning is…
• Change in the neuron-patterns of the brain
(Goldberg, 2009).
Basic Finding from Neuroscience Research about
Learning:
“It is the one who does the work
who does the learning”
(Doyle, 2008)
Exercise is the single most important
thing a person can do to improve their
learning (John Ratey, 2008)
• Natural Selection developed a human brain to solve
problems of survival in outdoor, unstable environments
while in almost constant motion.
• A growing body of evidence suggests we think and learn
better when we walk or do another form of exercise
(Rhodes, 2013)
• “It was the neurochemicals serotonin, dopamine, and
norepinephrine and the protein brain-derived
neurotrophic factor (BDNF) that my brain released
during my running that helped to improve my focus
and learning” (Ratey, 2008)
Attention is almost magical in its ability to physically alter
the brain and enlarge functional circuits (Merzenich and
colleagues, UCSF, 2011)
• When we attend to
something we are readying
various cognitive process we
may need for learning
The Brain can’t multitask when it comes to
learning
• When trying to do two things
at once, the brain
temporarily shuts down one
task while trying to do the
other (Dux, Ivanoff, Asplund,
& Marois, 2006)
• We multitask but it is not
possible when it comes to
activities that require the
brains attention (Foerde,
Knowlton, & Poldrack, 2006)
The Brain needs to be READY for
learning:
•Hydration
•Diet (Glucose)
•Exercise
•Sleep
Hydration
• Even mild levels of dehydration can impact
school performance (Norman, 2012)
• Neurons store water in tiny balloon-like
structures called vacuoles Water is essential
for optimal brain health and function (Normal,
2012)
• Dehydration can impair short-term memory
function and the recall of long-term memory
(Gowin, 2010)
Easy Solutions
1. Understand you lose 2 pounds of water while
you sleep so you need to hydrate when you
wake up.
2. Water is best—drink when thirsty.
3. Soda, Iced tea, coffee, or other drinks like
Gatorade are 2nd best
Diet
• Neurons are living cells
with a metabolism, and
they need glucose in
order to function
(Levitin, 2014)
• Glucose is the fuel of the
brain just like gasoline is
the fuel of your car
(Levitin, 2014)
Exercise
• When we exercise, new brain cells are born in the
hippocampus—the brain’s gateway to new memories
(Postal, 2014)
• Exercise has a direct impact on the brain. That’s
because exercise works directly on brain tissue,
improving—
1. The connections between nerve cells
2. creating new synapses
3. growing new neurons and blood vessels
4. improving cell energy efficiency
(Gordon, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions)
Sleep
• Adults need between 7-9 hours of sleep per night
and teenagers need at least 9 hours of sleep a night
• MEMORIES ARE MADE DURING SLEEP: Most
sleep researchers now agree that sleep plays an
important role in the formation of long term
memories (Stickgold, 2005)
• During sleep electrical impulses help to shift
memories from the brain’s hippocampus—which
has limited storage space—to the nearly limitless
prefrontal cortex
▫ This frees up the hippocampus to take in fresh data
(new learning) the next day (Walker, 2010)
Brain searches for PaTtErNs:
• The brain’s goal is to find established patterns of
learning with which to connect new learning (Ratey,
2001)
4915802979
Brain searches for PaTtErNs:
(491) 580-2979
 Everything (in Science) Connects
Memory Formation and Recall
• Cramming short-term advantage of study
practice shows that cramming can improve exam
scores
• However, if the goal is long-term retention of
course material, cramming appears to be an
irrational behavior
Three Rules of Memory
1. Repetition over time
2. Elaboration of Material
3. Wanting to remember
Why students forget:
• 1. Blocking—information stored but can’t be
accessed (Schacter, 2001)
• 2. Misattribution—attributing a memory to the
wrong situation (Zola, 2002)
• 3. Transience—memory lost over time (Schacter,
2001) (65% of lecture is lost in the first hour)
Study and Learning Habits
• Spaced Learning
▫ Brain scans have suggested that connections
between neurons increases if stimulus is repeated
several times with intervals of inactivity Cornell
Notes