Interactive Workshop

byEwing Coleman GreenEDD 8260 CRN 50099

Linking Learning and Leadership to Brain Research

Nova Southeastern UniversityAugust 4, 2013

Welcome!Turn Right

for Whole Brain LearningInteractive Workshop

21st Century Learning

Emphasis on the right hemisphere

The PastPink (2006) suggested:

The 20th centuryPrimarily logic, sequence, and analytical skillsAdvances in science, engineering, and finance (flight, energy generation, capital deployment, globalization)Age of computing, language of codeInformation technologyFocus on product function

Left brain powered

The FuturePink (2006) argued:

The 21st century promises to place a premium onIntuitive and holistic thinking supported by logic and analysisBig picture perspectiveAge of conceptual thinking, language of storyForming creative connectionsCollaborationFocus on product design

Right brain powered

The Future (cont’d)

Black and Gregersen (2008) argued:People develop mental maps based on experience

20th century perspective tended to be self-centric and fixed21st century perspective must be juxtapositional and integrated

Larger context, contrasting, flexible, and empatheticRequires collaborative seeing, moving, finishing

Right brain powered

NeuroscienceAdvances in brain analysis using techniques such as fMRI, PET, and SPECT are pinpointing brain functioning

Executive functioning of the frontal lobes over distributed cognition

Integrated yet distinct functioning of the left and right hemispheres

Neuroscience (cont’d)

Goldberg (2009) reported:Left hemisphere primarily handles

LogicSequenceActivating established routinesAnalysis

Right hemisphere primarily handlesContextSynthesisFormulating creative solutionsEmotional expression

Left vs. Right

Left vs. Right (cont’d)

Right brain engagers

Big picture

Emotional expression

Flexible grouping

Differentiation

Collaborative discussion

Drawing

Right brain engagers (cont’d)

Painting

Mind mapping

Student relevancy

Humor

Games

Creative repetition

Education needs to ‘turn right’

The research, 21st century workforce requirements, and advances in neuroscience all point to the need for greater development and deployment of the right hemisphere

Education has a key role to playTeacher professional development and student learning engagement must focus more on the right brain

Turn Right for Whole Brain Learning

21st Century Educational Superhighway

Workshop Sessions

7 right brain oriented purposeful sessions

45 minute duration with discussionStage: movement and dance — focused on big picture, emotional expression, and flexible groupingSecond floor: music— focused on differentiation and collaborative discussionSide room: art — focused on drawing, painting and mind mapping

Sessions (cont’d)Side rooms and both tiers of lobby: (4)— two sessions each focused on the core subjects (language arts, social studies, math, and science

Cross-disciplinary content using multi-media audiovisualsEmphasis on student-relevancy, humor, games, and creative repetition

Workshop Content

Clockwise foot + 6

Consider these words

Vocabulary builder

Albert Einstein – for fun

What do you see?

More on the sides

Man in the coffee beans

Workshop Content (cont’d)

Man looking in which direction

Spinning girl

Core subject example – Algebra

Clockwise foot + 6

Sitting where you are, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles with it

Now…Keep doing this, and draw the number 6 in the air with your right hand

Well?Did you foot change directions and begin rotating counter clockwise involuntarily?

Reflection Questions

Why did this happen?Which side of our brain controls the right side of our bodies?Which direction does our right hand move in drawing the number 6?What causes this phenomenon? (please respond…)

Consider these words

left brain right brainHow many words do you see?

Are there 4?left brain right brain

4 > left, brain, right, brain

Slightly different question

left brain right brainHow many different words do you see?

Are there 3?3 > left, brain, right

Slightly different question

Left brain right brainWithout rearranging the letters, how many different words do you see?

Are there 7?left brain right brain

7 > left, brain, right, rain, bra, in, rig

Reflection Questions

Why do the answers amongst us differ?

What is the influence of question form?

Since language is a dual hemispheric endeavor how does individual hemispheric functioning reveal itself here? (please respond…)

Vocabulary builder

Heuristic—Enabling a person to discover or learn something for themselves

i.e., a hands-on or interactive heuristic approach to learning

New Oxford American Dictionary, MacBook Pro

This builds a person’s sense of self-efficacy Bandura (1977, 1997)

Albert Einstein

“Imagination is more important than knowledge”

What do you see?

A goblet, two opposing faces,

or both?

Now…try thisMove your eyes back and forth from the black facial images, left to right, right to left, and so on back and forth a few times…

Do you feel it?Do you feel your occipital lobe working to make sense of the image and fix one representation?

You are exercising your brain and seriously engaging your corpus collosum!

More on the sides…

This one is toughCan you find the man in the coffee beans?

Here he is…

Perhaps…The man in the coffee beans overloads our brain and locks our right brain in an endless loop

There are excessive possibilities given the coloration, varying bean shapes, and combinations of clusters

Success is found here by engaging more of the left brain

One more visual…Is the man looking at you or to his right?

Spinning Girl

Clockwise or Counter

Clockwise?Spinning girl URLhttp://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/left-brain-right-brain-and-the-spinning-girl/

One more time…Spinning girl URL

http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/left-brain-right-brain-and-the-spinning-girl/

Hint: Look down at the reflection in the floor for a while and your brain may reverse the rotation from clockwise to counter clockwise

These exercises serve to…

provide evidence of the gradiental, highly distributed nature of our brains operating in a massively parallel and interconnected way (Goldberg, 2009, p. 59)

help you feel and practice loaded right hemispheric functioning

Core Subject Example-- Algebra

How to make learning quadratics fun!Let’s play with gravity!Basic mathematics model:What the heck does that mean and how do you use it in real life??

Team Ball Toss

Making the connection

Making the connection (cont’d)

Making the connection (cont’d)

ConclusionTurn right for whole brain learning!

Maximizes cognitionPrepares students for 21st century demands

ReferencesBandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY: W. H. Freeman and Company.

Black, J. S., & Gregersen, H. B. (2008). It starts with one: Changing individuals changes organizations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Wharton School Publishing.

Goldberg, E. (2009). The new executive brain: Frontal lobes in a complex world. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Pink, D. H. (2006). A whole new mind: Why right-brainers will rule the future. New York, NY: Penguin.

Image URLsSlide 2. Brain. Retrieved from http://sr.photos3.fotosearch.com/

bthumb/CSP/CSP990/k9965377.jpg

Slide 9. Left vs. Right 1. Retrieved from http://www.lefthandersday. com/images/brainorg.jpg

Slide 10. Left vs. Right 2. Retrieved from http://assets1.bigthink.com/system/idea_thumbnails/45642/headline/rightbrain.jpg?1344535021

Slide 14. School bus. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/imgres? q=school+bus+highway

Slide 14. Right turn blinker. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/ imgres?q=school+bus+right+blinker

Image URLs (cont’d)

Slide 19. Right foot. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/39119440@N07/4786030309/

Slide 20. Right hand. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigjewell/895540530/

Slide 20. Number 6. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/23503239@N03/6635785231/

Slide 31. Einstein. Retrieved from https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSmJD5QswC4mfaX9uqX3ZYx6M41_473

NO2M0TDXFNrlfYljqHmhg

Slides 32, 33, and 34. Goblet or faces. Retrieved from https://encrypted- tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSxlTikSe3rdErsVGzEgBSO_Au_5n5D2XPMQ0TkFh36_v6h6carA

Image URLs (cont’d)

Slide 36. More on the sides. Retrieved from http:/www.illumine.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/left-brain-right-brain-mind.jpg

Slides 37 and 38. Man in the coffee beans. Retrieved from http://www.theness.com/images/blogimages/beans.jpg

Slide 40. Man looking at you or to his right. Retrieved from https:// encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRVq3y244TqVIPgDf5dV5R_6wCjnngP2eIvc4YYU2K2ugOIMGjqRw

Slides 41 and 42. Spinning girl. Retrieved from http://theness.com/ neurologicablog/index.php/left-brain-right-brain-and-the-spinning- girl/

Slide 46. Author’s material