This section is about our modern brains and what we can do to improve learning habits. Lessons and readings will be about patterning, assessing prior knowledge, how emotions help or hurt, visualizing, learning what areas in our brain are engaged when doing a specific task, and understanding how you learn. (There are many ideas for readings on a variety of different levels in the resource section of this unit. I think that the web site Neuroscience for Kids, developed by the University of Washington is particularly beneficial.) Students will see that they can take a more active part in the classroom and learn how to
train their brains
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Millions of years in the making and our modern brains have become one of the most complex things on Earth. Information from our senses is taken in and our brain decides to route it to one of two pathways. The first is the reactive brain which operates by instinct and the other is the active brain where higher order thinking takes place. More than 80% of information is processed in or through the reactive brain. This has ensured our survival, but also has the potential to undermine classroom experiences.
The reactive brain, comprised mainly of the reticulating active and limbic systems, responds without thought. Sensory data received by the reactive brain filters the 2,000 or more bits of data that come into our brains every second, before it is deemed important enough to reach the thinking brain or the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is the area of the brain devoted to complex thought and it is essential that information reaches this area if learning is to occur. There are two levels of filters that information must pass through to get to the prefrontal cortex.
The first filter is the Reticular Activating System (RAS). This part of the brain receives information from the outside world through seeing, hearing, tasting, and touching. As information from muscles, nerves and other organs, arrives, the RAS determines if any is necessary. Nonthreatening information is then passed to the limbic system or emotional core of the brain.
How does this affect learning?
A person who is in pain or hungry will have a difficult time learning. Incoming information about this problem takes precedence and very little, if any other data will be passed to the thinking brain. This is also one of the reasons why sound and intriguing movements are so distracting and breakfast is so important.
The limbic system is the second filter and is comprised of the amygdala and hippocampus. The amygdala routes information based on a persons' emotions. The hippocampus routes information based on related memories.
How does this affect learning?
A person who is in emotional turmoil or is reminded of an emotional experience will also have a difficult time learning. For example, if a student has gotten in to a fight at home or is being bullied, he or she will struggle and retain little new information.
Thus, the reticular activating system and the limbic system can be deterrents to learning. There is one aspect in the reactive brain that can actually help the process of learning. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter and can have a positive effect on learning. Neurons communicate with each other using chemicals and tiny sparks of electricity. They cannot be permanently attached because they need to be able to shift and make new connections as learning progresses. Because of this, there is a tiny gap, called a synapse, in the connection of between neurons. Information can travel down brain cells at a rate of 268 miles per hour. Dopamine is the chemical needed for the electricity to bridge the gap. Increased dopamine levels produce more activity between neurons. Electricity is flowing though the brain in a more efficient manner and what the person is doing becomes a pleasant experience. When a person is doing something enjoyable their brains have an increased amount of this chemical. Dopamine aided our ancestors by reminding them to do satisfying and enjoyable activities that ensured their survival. A learning experience that produces this will be repeatedly used and valued.
How does this affect learning?
When a student feels successful in a task for the first time, their brains are flooded with dopamine and they feel satisfied. The release of this chemical will make the student want to replicate that scenario and teach them how fulfilling learning can be.
Awareness is a powerful tool. Students who are aware of these influences on learning can take steps to triumph over their reactive brain and overcome these filters. In my experience, when they specifically see why skipping breakfast, staying up late, and fighting with their best friend will have an adverse effect on their school day, they are more likely to take steps to change. They learn to be more active participants in life.
The active brain is where the prefrontal cortex is. Actions such as evaluating information, abstract thought, and concentrating on a task, are performed here. This is also where short term and long term memories are stored.
The prefrontal cortex is responsible for:
- Ability to balance short-term rewards with long term goals
- Considering the future
- Focusing attention
- Foreseeing and weighing possible consequences of behavior
- Forming strategies and planning
- Impulse control and delaying gratification
- Inhibiting inappropriate behavior and initiating appropriate behavior
- Making predictions
- Modulation of intense emotions
- Organizing thoughts and problem solving
- Shifting/adjusting behavior when situations change
How does this affect learning?
Our brains have a ferocious need to find patterns and/or link new information to known information. Each new thought grows dendrites and joins brain cells together. The more connections a novel idea has to other memories, the higher the probability that it will be retained.
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I believe that many of the comprehension strategies we use follow this principle. When we preview a book, we prepare students' brains by alerting them to possible incoming patterns. When we ask students to make connections, however tenuous, we are giving new ideas a place to anchor. For example, I may not ever have been to the Sahara Desert but I do know how hot dry sand can get from going to the beach. Reminding the brain of prior connections or patterns gives new ideas a place to reside and more connection increases comprehension. Robert Marzano's research on learning strategies found that identifying similarities and differences was the most affective teaching practice with an average percentile gain of forty-five.
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Comparing two or more topics is yet another way for our brains to more clearly delineate the categories where new data should be filed. Reviewing simply reinforces a pathway that has already been laid down and makes retrieval faster and more efficient. I tell my students that learning and employing patterning strategies is like putting a file cabinet in alphabetical order. I have found, over the years that sharing this explicit information and explaining to students why we use particular strategies, helps them to intrinsically motivate. They are far more willing to do things they don't like doing if they concretely understand its purpose. This is especially important for students, like Joey Pigza, the main character in the novel, who have stressful school experiences. Comprehension strategies are those practices that we have been teaching to promote the close reading of text. These strategies work because we are teaching brains to use more parts of itself. These are things that efficient lovers of reading do automatically and that we can model for our students. It is swimming in words and not just walking on top of them.
Unfortunately, for students the prefrontal cortex is the last area of the brain to mature. To compound this problem, at age 11, children's neuron production accelerates, and the task of pruning unused dendrites begins. This is a major change in the life of a brain and when added to increased hormone levels, and the inherent shift of students wanting approval from their families to that of their friends, it is easy to understand why this is such a hard time for our students. However, with new imaging techniques more scientists and researchers working with teachers, are developing best practices that make class time efficient and enjoyable.
