an inquiry into the brain, learning 1 and teaching practice€¦ · an inquiry into the brain,...

1

Dr. Robert K. Greenleaf

www.greenleaflearning.com

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An Inquiry into the Brain, Learning

and Teaching Practice: Review, Strategies & Applications

for Consideration

South Dakota Head Start

Rapid City

November 6, 2013

Brain & Learning Institutes

Frankfurt, Lausanne, North Carolina, Vancouver, New Mexico, Tennessee,

Beirut, Ontario, Vancouver & Madrid.

Upcoming: Prague.

Tentative: Geneva, Hong Kong

© 2013

http://www.greenleaflearning.com/

Perspectives on Learning, Teaching and the Brain

G. Christian Jernstedt ~ Dartmouth College, 2004

“The biological limits to our potential are relatively minimal

compared to the cultural and environmental limits.

There are sound and weak techniques of learning and

teaching, more than bright and dull minds.

We can now consider our own philosophy of teaching,

our own goals for what will happen for our students,

the methods we use and would like to use to help our

students learn, and the outcomes we typically achieve.”

Agenda

Impacting What Happens in the Learner’s Mind

1. Overview w/some neuro--myths

2. Interactive Component—YOUR Mind

3. Engage in Mini-Application(s)

4. Dual Coding / Bi-modal

Central Focus:

The “Minds On” IntersectionDichotomies

Learner vs. Student

Long-term memory vs. Short-term memory

Processing to memory vs. Attending to Task



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Cellular Level

• Each “fires” 2x second…. or more

• 100 Billion Neurons

• 10,000 dendrites per neuron—

connections to other cells

• Each as complicated as a major city [David Eagleman, 2008]

+/-8 “steps” along the way to creating

and strengthening memory… (next slide)

Neural spikes in a Leech brain

Levels of Activation & Areas of the Brain “Within 0.7 seconds, areas across the brain are involved.” G. Yonus, Potomac Institute, 2009

L/R work

independently?

Not unless you

work in 0.7

second

intervals.

Gender superiority &

brain research ???Caution: Many so-called

“experts” writing in the

gender area are “taking

license” by extrapolating

educational or instructional

applications beyond the

actual scope of the neuro-

research findings.

For a complete, credible review, please see

Dr. Lise Eliot’s 2009 book: “Pink Brain, Blue

Brain, How Minor Differences Grow into

Troublesome Gaps”.

Overarching Educational Benefit to date

from the Neuroscience Literature:

ALL teaching / learning practices

must be geared to engage learners

toward active processing,

long-term memory, recall, and ultimately, transfer.



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Developing Responsible, Long-term BehaviorsMemory Formation Path

seesmelltastehear

touch

Input Via Senses

“Desktop” ProcessingShort-Term, Working, or

Continuous Memory Processing Level

“The Barn”Long-Term

Memory

“Blue cars”



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Path

to

Mem

ory

Problem =1

2

3

Most inputs depart quickly.

Desktop


9 Most Effective Strategies for Achievement

a la Marzano et. al. 2001 (updated 2011)

PERCENTILE NUMBER

CATEGORY GAIN Of STUDIES

Identifying Similarities and Differences 45% 31

Summarizing and Note Taking 34% 21

Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition 29% 21

Homework and Practice 28% 134

Nonlinguistic Representation 27% 246

Cooperative Learning 27% 122

Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback 23% 63

Generating and Testing Hypotheses 23% 63

Questions, Cues, and Advance Organizers 22% 1,251



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"CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION THAT WORKS"


Strategy #2

The Creation & Development of Meaning

Meaning = Personal meaning, purpose,

context… to the learner



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3 Questions:

!!! Pay CAREFUL attention

to how YOUR brain processes these !!!

Q #1: Penny

Q #2: Pledge

Q #3: Phone



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Please write something down

about participation vs. active

processing for memory.(who’s doing the work?)

Journaling vs. ……..



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Intermittent PauseReflective Learning System


Two “Minds-On” lenses for exploring

Long-Term Memory, Recall & Transfer

as it applies to our practice.

“Minds-On” Lens 1: S/he who does the work, learns.

#1: Who is doing the work of learning in your classroom?

“Minds-On” Lens 2: The formation of long-term memory requires

more than participation. It requires active processing.

#2: What must the learner actually “do” in order to

complete the task assigned?

Process of interactions needs to move from adult activated/directed

to student activated/directed



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Student Generated LearningCognitive Structures

[Context Availability & Classification]

Quick “Pairs” exercise to follow

Get out a paper/pencil.



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Source: Brain Based Teaching,”

www.GreenleafLearning.com


Student Generated Learning

EXAMPLE

sparrow mouse fish eagle rat cat

hornet kangaroo deer elephant

snail shark opossum dog human

turtle rabbit whale ant snake

salamander worm mosquito fly

bear leopard koala alligator spider

bat robin eel mole lobster horse



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Student Generated Learning

Same activity for younger students

mouse fish rat cat

frog deer

elephant snail dog sheep

ant snake bug

fly bear bat



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Activity for very young students

Classification is a basic, fundamental,

cognitive structure.

Patterning, grouping, organizing,

debating, critical thinking, and so

forth… all require varied levels of

classification-related elements.

Context Availability & Classification

Possible Task



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Habitat Travel Outer layer Skeleton Diet-etc.

Your

Choice

Most

Similar

Most

Different


Age 4-5 Letter Configuration Micro-feedback formative task

Instruction: “Put a BLUE circle around the three slanted lines.”

“Put a RED circle around the three curved lines.”



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C

C

C


Age 4-5 Letter Configuration Data



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54%

62%

92%

85%

8%

60%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Curve Straight Cross Circle Slant Combined Sub-Total

Perc

ent of

Cla

ss C

orr

ect


Age 4-5 Letter Configuration Micro-feedback formative task

Instruction: “Put all the letters with a slanted line into the circle.”



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A W P T Y

B V L Z S

D E G H K


What do the orange shapes

have in common?



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Put the orange shapes into one group.

Put the green shapes into a different group. How are

these groups the same? Different?



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Put the shapes with straight lines into one group.

Put the shapes with curved lines into a different group.

How are these groups the same? Different?



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Classification is a Cognitive Structure

Required Across All Curriculum

(kayak)

Take 2” ~

• Reflect on or discuss with colleagues how classification is critical in

processing information for meaning, for application and for transfer.

What does it mean to identify criteria to determine membership in

a set or group? (or to develop criteria to be used to evaluate

something)

• How is providing criteria different from asking children to come up

with their own ways of ordering or classifying content?Adapted from Dr. Betty Garner,

“Getting to Got It,” ASCD, 2007

• How does re-classification fuel “Minds-On” thinking and creativity?

Welcome to Geometry!



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“Parallels” x 2

Power of 2: Second wait time

Student generated

Processing prompts

Nature, Geography, not, fine arts….


Story Reconstruction with “Overlays”

Classics & Fairy Tale Exercise

PAY ATTENTION TO HOW YOU

“RESPOND” (disposition)…

TO EACH INSTRUCTION…



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Story Reconstruction: Classics & Fairy Tales

Five Minute Exercise

1. Form groups of 4-5

2. (10 sec.) Who will volunteer?

3. (15 sec.) Select a story/tale

4. (5”) Re-write the essence of the story/tale

5. OVERLAYS ~ as you re-write….

Group(s) 1: no word twice

Group(s) 2: 3 adjectives

Group(s) 3: no verbs

Group(s) 4: 2-3 word sentences only

5. Take liberties… be playful with your new

version of this story/tale.

6. Begin!Dr. Robert K. Greenleaf


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Context Availability

…having a “place” to hold new ideas and

information while pattern & meaning are

being explored and developed...

…provides greater retention (processing for

meaning) during the “construction” of

networks—as well as for transfer to other

domains of learning.



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Please feel free to email if you have questions!

Books available at

the book sales table.


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