Transcript Wilson Language Training 10th Annual Conference Providence

Oregon Branch IDA
Salem, Oregon
“Cerebrodiversity In The Classroom-Lessons From Neuroscience”
Part 1 - Slides 1-32
Gordon F. Sherman, Ph.D.
Newgrange School & Education Center
Princeton, N.J.
www.thenewgrange.org
February 24, 2007
Themes
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Cerebrodiversity (from conception)
Plasticity (bce ecb)
It’s all about interactions
Brain knowledge enables better
teaching
• 1 = 10
• Students have a new kind of
brain/mind
An Additional Focus
“Just as the printing press…changed how
knowledge works, we have hypothesized that
these new digital media will have the same
effect. It’s critical that we understand (digital
media’s) benefits and its unintended
consequences. There are implications for both
of those for schools.”
--Connie Yowell, MacArthur
Foundation,
Education Week,
11-06
“If the human brain were so simple that
we could understand it,
we would be so simple that we couldn't.”
--Emerson M. Pugh
“The human brain is estimated to have
about a hundred billion nerve cells, two
million miles of axons, and a million
billion synapses, making it the most
complex structure, natural or artificial,
on earth.”
--Green et al.
You use more
than 10%
The Optimal Brain
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•
•
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Does not exist
Even that which scores 2400
Specific environment match
Unique combination of
strengths/weaknesses
Expect Brain Differences
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Variance is fundamental
General patterns exist
All levels of structure-function
Molecules, cells,
neurochemistry, synapses,
networks, memories,
reward systems
• Cerebrodiversity
How Are Variation and
Uniqueness Produced?
Brain Development
• Genes set limits and directions
• Brain shaped by encounters with
external world (plasticity)
• Environment fine tunes the interactions
of neurons/circuits/systems (CD)
• Incorporates early environmental
interaction
• Power of parents, teachers, schools
Neuroplasticity
• Fetus has twice the number of
neurons
• Lose 100 billion neurons
• Connect or die
• This is a good thing!
Environment Shapes
Circuits
• Environmental sculptor
• Developmental dance
• Brain directs activities and
activities shape the brain
• Feedback loop
• Plasticity
• Lifelong
Magical Mystery
• Illusion of unity/continuity
(vision)
• Warm, moist, dark, quiet, electric
• No executive center or
grandmother cell (BC)
Cerebrodiversity:
An Emerging Model?
• Collective neural heterogeneity
• Unique way our brains function
• Genetically-guided early brain
development and subsequent
interactions with environment
• Learning differences/dyslexia
• Adaptive advantage/evolutionary asset
• Beyond the disability paradigm
• Timely/appropriate intervention
Profiles of Cerebrodiversity
Multiple Intelligences
• LogicalMathematical
• Linguistic
• Spatial
• Bodily-Kinesthetic
• Musical
• Interpersonal
• Intrapersonal
• Naturalist
• Existential?
Why Is Cerebrodiversity
Important?
• Diversity is basis of evolution
through natural selection
• Ensures processing flexibility
• Maximizes learning
opportunities
• Adapt to changing
environments
Evolution
• < 1% of species are still in
existence
• Humans have only been around
for a brief period
• Not all existing behaviors or
structures adaptive (belly
button/ear lobes)
Natural Selection
• Primary mechanism of evolution
• Operates on diverse (+/-) hereditary traits
• Struggle among organisms for
reproductive success (physical, behavior))
• Leads to local adaptation (not
advancement
or progress)
• Improves fitness of populations
• Diversity is key!
Cerebrodiversity Results in
Learning Differences
• This is a good thing!
• Must be clever to maximize
results
How Can Cerebrodiversity
Result
in Learning Disabilities?
• It’s all about interactions!
Environments Interact with
Learning Differences
• The environment can translate
learning differences into severe
learning disabilities
• Process
• Demands (itedwwydhinad) and
educational structure
• Poorly designed instructional
environments punish cerebrodiversity
Producing Cerebrodiversity
• Change the developmental
trajectory of the brain
• Affect connectivity
• Increase specialization
• Dyslexia as an example
An Example of
Cerebrodiversity
W. Pringle Morgan,
M.D.
James Hinshelwood, M.D.
(1859-1919)
Samuel Torrey Orton, M.D.
(1879-1948)
Norman Geschwind, M.D.
(1926-1984)
One Cause:
The Environment Changed
Elevator/Taxi Definition
of Dyslexia
• Brain-based
• Difference in processing
information
• Affects ability to learn to read,
write, and spell
If Dyslexia is an Example of
Cerebrodiversity, then…
the Brain Should be Different!
Brain Methods
• Classic histology
• Neuroimaging
Postmortem