Marjorie Hall Haley, PhD – Fall 2008

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George Mason University

Graduate School of Education EDUC 797: Seminar in Brain-Compatible Teaching and Learning – Research,

Practices, and Realities

Fall 2008: Wednesday 7:30 – 10:00 PM – West Building – Rm 1004

Professor: Dr. Marjorie Hall Haley, A-315 Robinson Hall, Email: mhaley@gmu.edu Phone: 703-993-8710 Center for Language and Culture Office hours: By appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will examine learning styles theories and their impact on today’s classrooms comprised of culturally, linguistically, and cognitively diverse learners. One objective of the course will be to situate current pedagogy and its efficacy at reaching all learners. Interdisciplinary topics will include: literacy, instructional technology, educational leadership, and special needs learners. The changing demographics will continue to have a profound impact on teaching and learning. While some may regard this as a challenge, clearly it can and should be seen as an opportunity. REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS: (1) Sousa, David A. (2006). How the brain learns. 3rd edition. Thousand Oaks: Corwin

Press. (2) Sprenger, Marilee. (2003). Differentiation through learning styles and memory

Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press. (3) Gregory, Gayle H. (2005). Differentiating instruction with style. Thousand Oaks:

Corwin Press. RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOK: (1) Teele, Sue. (2000). Rainbows of intelligence. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press. Dr. Haley’s Websites: Haley website http://cehd.gmu.edu/people/faculty/mhaley/exemplars Haley research http://gse.gmu.edu/research/mirs

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RELEVANT WEBSITES: http://gse.gmu.edu/research/mirs http://gse.gmu.edu/facultystaff/profiles/mhaley/exemplars.htm http://www.brains.org/ http://members.aol.comRss51540/brain2.htm http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic70.ht http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/pages/1814.shtml

http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Sep_05/article03.htm http://www.funderstanding.com/brain_based_learning.cfm www.thebrainstore.com http://www.designshare.comm/Research/BrainBasedLearn98.htm http://www.loloville.com/brain_based_learning.htm http://www.brainconnection.com/ CEHD COURSE EXPECTATIONS: The College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) expects that all students abide by the following: Students are expected to exhibit professional behavior and dispositions. See http://gse.gmu.edu for a listing of these dispositions. Students must follow the guidelines for the University Honor Code. See http://www.gmu.edu/catalog/apolicies/#TOC_H12 for the full honor code. Students must agree to abide by the university policy for Responsible Use of Computing. See http://mail.gmu.edu and click on Responsible Use of Computing at the bottom of the screen. Students with disabilities who seek accommodations in a course must be registered with the GMU Disability Resource Center (DRC) and inform the instructor, in writing, at the beginning of the semester. See www.gmu.edu/student/drc or call 703-993-2474 to access the DRC. Attendance is mandatory, as the discussions that take place in this class are essential to achieving course objectives. Each student is expected to complete all the assigned readings and participate in the discussions. It is expected that each student will be attuned to group dynamics in order to ensure the active participation of all in the class.

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If you must miss a class, you are responsible for notifying me (preferably in advance) and for completing any assignments, readings, etc. before the start of the next class. All assignments must be completed in MS Word. Late assignments will not be accepted without making prior arrangements with me. COURSE DELIVERY: This course is situated around “learning by discovery and learning via conversation.” In addition to classroom attendance and participation, students are expected to complete readings, whole class and small group discussions, group, pair, and individual projects, internet research, analyses of case studies, and reflections on teaching and learning. COURSE REQUIREMENTS: 1. Readings, Attendance and Tasks: Prepare thoroughly for class discussion 20% points 2. Lead an interactive discussion on topic of choice and lead readings’ discussion for class 20% points 3. Final Project 30% points 4. Eight Essential Questions Project 30% points LEARNER OUTCOMES: Students completing EDUC 797 will be able to:

1. Examine brain-based teaching and learning research, practices, and realities 2. Explore multiple intelligences and learning styles theories and their impact on

today’s classrooms 3. Situate current pedagogy and its efficacy on reaching all learners

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS: National Board for Professional Teaching Standards: Standard I: Knowledge of Students – understanding the diverse ways in which students grow and develop; understanding the diverse backgrounds that students bring to the classroom. Standard VI: Advancing Student Learning – using a variety of teaching strategies to help develop students’ proficiency, increase their knowledge, strengthen their understanding, and foster their critical and creative thinking.

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COURSE SCHEDULE: Class # 1: Introduction to course: Diversities in Learners Research, Practices, and Realities Orientation and discussion on brain-based teaching and learning. 2007 NECTFL Video, The Many Views of Diversity: Understanding Multiple Realities Review syllabus. Sign up for readings’ discussion leaders. Class # 2: Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences Readings for this class found at……. http://gse.gmu.edu/facultystaff/profiles/mhaley/exemplars.htm Haley, M.H. (2004, January). Learner-centered instruction and the theory of multiple intelligences with second language learners. Teachers College Record, Vol. 106,

No. 1, pp. 163-180. Haley, M.H. (2001/July,August).Understanding learner-centered instruction from the

perspective of multiple intelligences. Foreign Language Annals, 34(4), pp. 355-367.

Haley, M.H. (2006). Teachers as reflective practitioners using MI-based instruction. Task # 1 To be completed in class! – Divide a piece of paper into two columns. Think about where you work and on the left side make a list of specific curricula, assessment or programs that have been implemented, e.g., new textbook series, a technology program, assessment practices, a professional development initiative, etc. On the right side, generate as many questions and/or comments as you can about the accommodation of multiple learning styles and/or intelligences. Class # 3: The Brain: Development, Information Processes, Learning Readings for This Class: Sousa – Chapters 1 & 2. Answer questions on pp. 33, 36, 56 Task # 2 To be completed prior to class! – From the list generated for Task # 1, identify a program, curriculum, or assessment that interests you. Now imagine that you are responsible for ensuring multiple paths to teaching or learning for all constituents. Speak with those who utilize (or other relevant stakeholders) these items and determine what they might want to know about making modifications to reaching a wider array of learners.

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Class # 4: The Brain: Development, Information Processes, Learning Readings for This Class: Sprenger – Chapter 1 Gregory – Chapter 1 Task # 3 – To be completed by the next class! You are to write a 1-2 (double space) page rationale on the selection of your topic for your final project. Reflect on why this topic is relevant and in what way it will support the existing corpus of literature and/or your own current educational circumstance. Class # 5: Memory, Transfer, Learning Styles Readings for This Class Sousa – Chapters 3 & 4 Complete p. 134 and answer questions on pp. 161-162 Class # 6: Memory, Transfer, Learning Styles Readings for This Class Sprenger Chapter 3 Gregory Chapter 2 Class # 7: Brain Specialization & Learning Readings for This Class Sousa - Chapters 5 & 6 Answer questions on pp. 198-199 & complete p. 242 Class # 8: Brain Specialization & Learning Readings for This Class Sprenger - Chapter 2 Gregory - Chapter 4 Class # 9: Putting It All Together Readings for This Class Sousa – Chapters 8 Sprenger – Chapter 7

Marjorie Hall Haley, PhD – Fall 2008

Class # 10 Thinking Skills and Styles Eight Essential Questions Project Due! Readings for This Class Sousa -- Chapter 7 Gregory -- Chapter 4 Class # 11 Intelligences: IQ or Many? Readings for This Class Gregory – Chapter 3 Articles provided by professor and/or electronic reserve Class # 12 Making the Right Choices for Your Classroom Readings for This Class Gregory - Chapter 5 Articles provided by professor and/or electronic reserve Class # 13 Differentiating Design: Remembering by Doing Readings for This Class Sprenger – Chapter 6 Articles provided by professor and/or electronic reserve Class # 14 Class visits INOVA Hospital to observe a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) that measures the haemodynamic response related to neural activity in the brain or spinal cord of humans.

Class # 15: Last Class Brain-based Teaching and Learning Presentation of Final Projects

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GUIDELINES

Interactive Discussion on Readings

1. Each student will sign up to lead the in-class discussion on one set of

readings listed in the course syllabus. You must further research the topic and locate no fewer than 2 articles, book chapters, or monographs, etc. on the topic. These must be distributed to the class and professor no later than one week prior to your presentation. This may be done in hard copy, electronic link, or placed on e-reserve through the GMU libraries. For your presentation you are encouraged to use visual aids, such PowerPoint, video, slides, or photos. Be sure to prepare a handout as a reference or guide. Make one copy for each member of the class and professor. You will lead the discussion by preparing an interactive activity to illustrate some of the concepts.

2. It is expected that students will have read the articles and grappled with

the concepts before each presentation. Your handout may include additional resources (“must reads”) or a summary of the most salient features.

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Marjorie Hall Haley, PhD – Fall 2008

EDUC 797 – Brain-based Teaching and Learning – Research, Practices and Realities

Dr. Marjorie Hall Haley

Interactive Discussion on Readings

Scoring Rubric

20 Points Total

Met the Standard

Did Not Meet the Standard

Exceeded the Standard

Comments and/or Points

Lead in-class discussion

Locate no fewer than 2 articles, book chapters, or monographs

Use visual aids such as PowerPoint, video, slides, or photos

Prepare a handout as a reference or guide

Prepare an interactive activity to illustrate some of the concepts

Total Number of Points

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Marjorie Hall Haley, PhD – Fall 2008

Eight Essential Questions Project – Due 29 October 2008

BRAIN-COMPATIBLE TEACHING & LEARNING (30 points)

(This project is an adapted version from http://members.tripod/com/~ozpk/higher)

In recent years, since the development of new imaging techniques in medicine and research in cognitive psychology, we have a substantial basis for learning theory. Brain research-based learning theory gives support to inquiry-based learning, alternative assessment, creative and critical thinking, education reform and habits of mind. Our understanding of the brain gives positive hope for all students, substantiates broad as well as specific aims, and gives reasons to forge connections between and among prior and new learnings. Much of what goes on in schools not only fails to be brain-compatible, but is actually brain antagonistic. The brain functions best with adequate time, the absence of threat, immediate feedback, dynamic interaction, with global contexts as well as delineation of parts, and in a state of relaxed alertness.

This course will guide your inquiry through eight essential questions, having you consider

• brain compatibility, • including all students, • teaching for understanding, • using questioning and graphic organizers, • inquiry and essential questions, • teaching for creativity, • using Web Quests, and • using integrated curriculum.

You are to answer four (4) of the eight questions listed below. Provided for you are recommended sites and resources. However, you should not restrict or confine your inquiry to only these. Feel free to reach beyond this corpus of literature for your research.

Your findings, i.e., answers to your questions, can be presented in any one of the following formats: (1) PowerPoint presentation (submitted on CD/DVD/flash drive along with hard copy); (2) an article that will be considered for publication; or (3) a paper in which each question is answered in no fewer than 2 pages (double spaced), using APA style formatting, including an introduction and summary or conclusion. Alternative formats will also be considered.

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Essential Question 1: Based on links within the following sites, what are the characteristics of "brain-compatible" teaching and learning, and what general guidelines to you see for your own teaching?

1. The Brain -- Read and consider each of the sections on: • Intelligence is a function of experience • Emotions are the gatekeeper to learning. • Humans in all cultures use multiple intelligences to solve problems and to create products. • The brain's search for meaning is a search for patterns. • Learning is the acquisition of useful mental programs. • One's personality has an impact on learning.

2. Mind/Brain Learning Principles -- 12 deep, rich insights 3. Theory of Sequentially Timed Learning -- Teaching our children how to

efficiently operate their own brains 4. Brain Research -- Great links and articles from the Early Childhood

Educator's and Family Web Corner 5. The Brain -- Both an overview and links to tools 6. What Is a Thinking Curriculum? -- "Thinking curricula, based on 'new'

ways of thinking about learning, treat both content and processes differently. Content includes concepts, principles, generalizations, problems, facts, definitions, etc. Process includes learning strategies and skills, creative and critical thinking, thinking about thinking (metacognition), social skills, and so on. In the next section, we describe some characteristics of a thinking curriculum."

7. Understanding Why Education Must Change -- "The real truth is that at this moment very few people know what schooling should look like in the communications era. In addition, the process of moving from one model of schooling to another that is as yet unknown is causing both chaos and confusion as well as immense opportunity and new possibilities."

8. Whole Brain Teaching -- "Whole-brain teaching is an instructional approach derived from neurolinguistic descriptions of the functions of the brain's left and right hemispheres."

9. Surprising Truths: The Implications of Brain Research -- Intentionally provocative statements, each with a brief description of how this implication can be drawn from the research

10. Review: Magic Trees of the Mind: How to Nurture Your Child's Intelligence, Creativity, and Healthy Emotions from Birth Through Adolescence

11. Project Based Learning Handbook -- "This Handbook supports teachers as they conceive, plan, and conduct Project Based Learning units."

12. Project Based Learning: Resources -- Examples from different subject areas

13. Guided Meditation -- The absence of threat and a state of relaxed alertness are characteristics of both brain-compatible learning and yoga/meditation. Is there a role for this method for reducing stress and producing relaxed alertness?

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Essential Question 2: Based on links within the following sites, what is the case for pursuing "brain-compatible" teaching for higher order thinking for all students?

1. Special Education Inclusion -- The profiles, reviews of legal requirements, and suggestions on this page give important emphases, including the focus needed on higher level thinking skills.

2. What Does Research Say About Reading? -- A comprehensive, concise review reflecting the movement from traditional views of reading based on behaviorism to visions of reading and readers based on cognitive psychology.

3. Dyslexia, The Gift -- From a multiple intelligences angle we can see the strengths of the dyslexic student.

4. HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) -- The most dramatically successful national intervention for Title I and LD students in grades 4-8. Used in over 3,000 schools.

5. 21st-Century Skills -- What does it mean to be "literate and educated" in today's knowledge-based Digital Age?

6. Open Response Questioning Strategies -- All students face the challenge of writing answers to open-ended questions on standardized tests. This site has links to help students improve their ability to do this.

7. Constructed Response Items -- A collection of constructed response items is to assist local educators in the classroom assessment of students in ways that are consistent with emerging reforms. Students must use critical and creative (higher order) thinking in these test items, a new "state of the art" aspect of current testing.

8. Writing Constructed Response Items 9. Assess Every Student's Thinking Skills -- "It's important to assess all

students' thinking skills, regardless of age, achievement level, disability, or English language proficiency."

10. Bloom's Taxonomy of Thinking Skills -- A useful chart for developing operational definitions of higher order thinking

11. Assessing Higher Order Skills -- Variety of texts detailing ways to assess students’ thinking

12. Student Self-Assessment: Making Standards Come Alive -- Practical suggestions

13. Creating Rubrics Through Negotiable Contracting and Assessment

Essential Question 3: Based on links within the following sites, how might you increase your students' understanding? of what they learn?

1. Teaching for Understanding -- Questions to ask yourself and your students

2. Teaching for Understanding: Educating Students for Performance -- "To teach for performance is to believe in the capacity of students to create, to

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construct knowledge and to assign meaning to what they have learned and experienced."

3. David Perkins on Teaching for Understanding -- An important, deeply insightful paper

4. Having Understanding, Versus Knowing Correct Explanations -- "...misunderstanding, or lack of understanding, is the norm for most student learning, and that the only reason it does not show up more frequently is that situations do not arise that would allow it to be demonstrated."

5. Teaching for Meaningful Understanding -- "To make sense of ideas, students need to put those ideas together in their own minds and in their own ways."

Essential Question 4: Based on links within the following sites, how might you stimulate brain-compatible learning through questioning and graphic aids?

1. Changing the Questions -- A versatile site with links to a various aspects of questioning. Very Useful!

2. Questioning -- Examples from Science, but applicable in all subjects 3. Filling the Tool Box: Classroom Strategies to Engender Student

Questioning -- Rich and versatile site. 4. The Questioning Menu -- Richly valuable sites and links from the

University of New Orleans 5. Questioning techniques for gifted students 6. Effective Questioning 7. Socratic Seminars Northwest -- Socratic Seminars are a highly motivating

form of intellectual and scholarly discourse conducted in K-12 classrooms. 8. Socratic Questioning Techniques 9. The Invisible School -- Check out "The Dialogue Game"

http://www.paideia.org/">The Paedia School 10. Scaffolds and Organizers 11. Graphic Organizers 12. K-W-L-H Technique 13. Anticipation/Reaction Guide 14. Consider, too, the importance of WAIT TIME. Most teachers ask questions

at an extremely rapid rate, and average only one second of wait time after each question and after each student answer.

When teachers increase wait time by 5 seconds, the following results occur:

1) Longer student answers; 2) More appropriate answers; 3) More frequent student responses; 4) More answers on the analysis and synthesis levels;

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5) More questions and responses from slow learners; and 6) More confidence by students in their answers.

Essential Question 5: Based on links within the following sites, how might you emphasize essential questions and inquiry processes to stimulate brain-compatible learning?

1. Framing Essential Questions -- "For decades students have been sent to the library to 'find out about' some topic. This tradition has led to information gathering but little analysis or thought...Essential questions set students and staff free from this tedious and wasteful ritual. Research becomes motivating and meaningful."

2. Generating Essential Questions -- "Teachers and students who generate essential questions about the content to be learned, provide an important framework for their learning activities."

3. Planning Backwards from Essential Questions -- Extremely helpful site in understanding the value of Essential Questions

4. Asking the Essential Questions: Curriculum Development -- "organize courses not around 'answers' but around questions and problems to which 'content' represents answers." Such "essential questions," as they are known, are an important ingredient of curriculum reform

5. Asking the Essential Question -- Teaching students to write essential questions to guide research projects; "Essential questions are questions that require you to make a decision or plan a course of action. They are sometimes difficult to develop and your teacher might have to help you. After you get experience writing essential questions, you will become a more competent researcher."

6. Inquiry in the Everyday World of Schools -- What does inquiry look like in the classroom? What are the results?

7. Classroom Activities -- Activities that teachers have implemented in their classrooms to promote inquiry and problem solving

8. Guidance for Teachers -- How to implement inquiry and problem solving activities with students

9. The Power of Questioning -- Exploring the role of questioning to advance inquiry skills in a second-grade classroom

10. Connect: Inquiry Learning -- Six case studies of classroom inquiry 11. Student Learning Groups that Really Work -- Ways teachers can enhance

the effectiveness of group work in their classrooms 12. Peer Learning, Student Work Groups, Small Group Discussions and

Learning Partnerships -- "Ample evidence has been found that peer learning is very effective for a wide variety of goals, course content, differences in student levels and personalities. Students who teach or explain to other students, have a better understanding of the material possibly due to the preparation and active participation involved. Since everyone is a peer, the relationships are more equal and thus, students

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may be more inclined to ask questions, reveal misconceptions, and admit confusion."

13. I Wonder -- Inquiry-based learning and teaching

Teaching inquiry and questioning skills are means of student empowerment, which the following two sites explore.

14. Strategies for Empowering Students -- "The activities are divided into primary, intermediate, and upper-grade levels, each with appropriate developmental strategies. The purpose of each activity is to address the holistic approach to teaching. The focus concentrates on blending the affective, and cognitive domains in an integrative and cohesive manner."

15. Empowering Students: Essential Schools' Missing Link -- "Students are too often the forgotten heart of school reform-its whole purpose and its major resource. how can their power be nurtured and tapped as schools work toward more active learning, more personal and decent school climates, and higher standards and expectations?"

EXAMPLES of TOPICS for ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

Topics that Generate Understanding

In his 1992 book Smart Schools: From training memories to Educating Minds, David Perkins suggests reorganizing the curriculum around "generative topics" that provoke what he calls "understanding performances" which not only demonstrate a student's understanding but also advance it by encompassing new situations. With his Harvard University colleagues Howard Gardner and Vito Perrone, he devised several standards for such topics: they should be central to a subject matter or curriculum; they should be accessible and inviting to teachers and students, not "sparse or arcane" and they should be rich, encouraging extrapolation and connection making. The three researchers came up with the following "good bets" as examples.

Natural Sciences

• Evolution focusing on the mechanism of natural selection in biology and on its wide applicability to other settings like pop music, fashion, the evolution of ideas.

• The origin and fate of the universe focusing qualitatively on cosmic questions as in Stephen Hawkings' A Brief History of Time.

• The periodic table focusing on the dismaying number of elements identified by early investigators and the challenge of making order out of chaos.

• The question what is real in science, pointing up how scientists are forever inventing entities(quarks, atoms, black holes) that we can never

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straightforwardly see but as evidence accumulates, come to think of as real.

Social Studies

• Nationalism and internationalism focusing on the causal role of nationalistic sentiment; often cultivation by leaders for their own purposes as in Hitler's Germany, in world history and in the prevailing foreign policy attitudes in America today.

• Revolution and evolution asking whether cataclysmic revolutions are necessary or evolutionary mechanisms will serve.

• Origins of government asking where, when and why different forms of government have emerged.

• The question what is real in history, pointing up how events can look very different to different participants and interpretations.

Mathematics

• Zero, focusing on the problems of practical arithmetic that this great invention resolved.

• Proof, focusing on different ways of establishing something as true and their advantages and disadvantages.

• Probability and prediction, highlighting the ubiquitous need for simple probabilistic reasoning in every day life the question what is real in mathematics, emphasizing that mathematics is an invention and that many mathematical things initially were not considered real,(for instance, negative numbers, zero, and even the number one).

Literature

• Allegory and fable, juxtaposing classic and modern examples and asking whether the form has changed or remains essentially the same.

• Biography and autobiography contrasting how these forms reveal and conceal the true person form and the liberation from form examining what authors have apparently gained from sometimes embracing and sometimes rejecting certain forms(the dramatic unities, the sonnet)

• the question what is real in literature exploring the many senses of realism and how we can learn about real life from fiction. From David Perkins, Smart Schools: From Training Memories to Educating Minds(New York; Free Press, 1992)

What Defines a Good Thinker?

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At the heart of good thinking, David Perkins suggests in his 1992 book Smart Schools, is the "thinking disposition" an inclination to learn that encompasses the abilities or "know-how" we want children to acquire. Good teachers model, cultivate, point out, and reward these dispositions, he says, in everything from classroom discussions to assessment activities. Perkins and his colleagues Eileen Jay and Shari Tishman offer the following model of the thinking dispositions.

1. The disposition to be broad and adventurous 2. The disposition toward sustained intellectual curiosity 3. The disposition to clarify and seek understanding 4. The disposition to be playful and strategic 5. The disposition to be intellectually careful 6. The disposition to seek and evaluate reasons 7. The disposition to be meta-cognitive(to think about thinking and

learning)

Essential Question 6: Based on links within the following sites, how might you stimulate brain-compatible learning through enhancing curriculum and classroom environment features that encourage creativity?

1. What Is Creativity? -- Creativity is the paradoxical integration of doing and being...and more.

2. The Top 10 Keys To Developing Personal Creativity -- "Creativity can be developed, sharpened, amplified, because it is a factor of nurture as well as nature."

3. Creative Thinking Links -- Quite an assortment from bemorecreative.com 4. 10 Steps for Boosting Creativity -- Interesting page with "an attitude" 5. Mind Tools: Creativity -- "a wide range of techniques you can use to come

up with creative and imaginative solutions to the challenges you face. The section starts by showing you how to use three systematic approaches to creativity. It then discusses some important lateral-thinking based approaches, which can be used to come up with startling and original solutions to problems. Finally it explains how to use two powerful and important problem-solving processes."

6. Project Renaissance, Creative Problem Solving Techniques -- Versatile, fascinating site

7. The Enchanted Mind Site Map -- A site map listing of lots of tools and concepts. Fertile!

8. Creativity and Flow Psychology -- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced me-high chick-sent-me-high) says we can facilitate the conditions for this quality of optimal functioning, and that it may be found in a wide range of careers and activities."

9. The Science of Creativity -- DaVinci and others show us how we can think like a genius every day.

10. The Creativity Web -- Resources for Creativity and Innovation

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11. Creativity, Innovation and Problem Solving -- Some Guidelines with Linked Historical Examples

12. The Inventive Thinking Project -- A twelve activity outreach program of The United States Patent and Trademark Office, appropriate for all student populations.

13. Creative Problem Solving -- Using divergent and convergent thinking to develop creative solutions to problems

14. Fostering Creativity-A Balancing Act -- "An environment that encourages creativity is one that includes opportunities for children to explore and discover, and offers a broad base of experiences followed by opportunities for imitation."

15. 20 Ways to Foster Creativity in Your Students -- Making the classroom a place that encourages the diverse thinking needed for inquiry and problem solving

Essential Question 7: Based on links within the following sites, how might you use Web Quests and the internet to stimulate brain-compatible learning? A web quest is an inquiry based activity that is usually completed by a group or class. Each individual has a role that is assigned to them, as they explore dimensions of an Essential Question or problem, through as many quality web sites as they can find.

1. Why Web Quests -- "... even if the Web bore no educational value, we as teachers would need to come to terms with it to understand our students' world and frame of reference. The good news is that the Web is not just helpful to education, but, used effectively, it can revolutionize student learning."

2. Think Quest -- Team produced web quests in every subject area. A superb site!

3. WebQuest Training Materials -- Outstanding collection of articles and exemplary Web Quests to get started or kick your Quests up a notch

4. WebQuest Resources -- Over 20 articles and exemplary sites 5. Web Quests -- How To plus examples and variants 6. Matrix of Examples of Web Quests -- Cross lists age group and subject

matter to give numerous examples of Web Quests. 7. Web Quests -- "Dynamic lesson plans using an inquiry approach designed

by teachers to help students use the Internet to solve imaginative problems..." Training materials and examples.

8. Edutopia: Project-Based Learning -- Rationale and examples for the larger context of engaged, project-based learning. Web Quests are a main sub-category of this. An extremely rich and varied site.

9. Collaborative Projects -- Over 100 ready-made projects

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10. The Web Quests Page -- "The instructions take you step by step through the construction of a WebQuest. There are great links to other WebQuest sites as well." From Brown Middle School in Newton, Mass.

11. Web Quests -- Over 1200 Examples in all subjects, all levels 12. Tech Trekers Web Quests -- "WebQuests are among the most fascinating

applications on the Internet for K-12 educators. Student centered and inquiry based, a WebQuest challenges students to explore the web for information and it is an excellent way to integrate the Internet into the classroom. Traditionally WebQuests have an introduction, a process, a task, a list of resources, a conclusion, and an evaluation." Numerous, high quality examples--all subjects, all levels

13. Literary Webquests -- "A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation."

14. Manteno School District's WebQuests -- Over 100 organized by age level from this Illinois K-12 school system.

15. Integrating Technology into Planning and Curriculum -- 170 Ideas and Resources for Teachers..."Finding the best way to integrate technology for students will take time, exploration, and experimentation on the part of teachers. Enjoy the adventure."

16. Critical Issue: Using Technology to Enhance Engaged Learning for At-Risk Students -- "An increasing number of educators are calling for high standards and challenging learning activities for at-risk students. New technologies can provide meaningful learning experiences for all children, especially those at risk of educational failure. Schools that capitalize on the relationship between technology and education reform will help students to develop higher order skills and to function effectively in the world beyond the classroom."

17. Teacher Web.com -- The easiest and most widely used site for producing teacher/course web pages. Enhances communication with parents and students.

18. Teacher WebQuest -- A free and easy way to create Web Quests using templates this site provides.

19. Integrating the Internet -- Stories and examples of how teachers use the Internet to enhance learning.

20. E-Pals Classroom Exchange -- "ePALS has 68,230 classroom profiles bringing people in 191 countries together as cross-cultural learning partners and friends."

21. Index for Integrating the Internet -- Basics and use of partners and small groups

22. Computers in the Classroom -- Numerous sites helping teachers intelligently use technology

23. Assessing Web Quests -- Very pragmatic rubric useful for educating as well as evaluating students on their web quests

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24. Rubrics for Web Lessons -- 25. An Educator's Guide to Evaluating The Use of Technology in Schools and

Classrooms -- "The goal of this handbook is to provide educators a resource with which to jump into the evaluation process, learning as they go."

26. Empowering Student Learning with Web Publishing -- Great guidelines and cautions for having students publish pages on the web.

Essential Question 8: Based on links within the following sites, how might you use integrated curriculum to foster students making connections among their learning?

1. Integrated Curriculum -- "...the brain may resist learning fragmented facts that are presented in isolation. Learning is believed to occur faster and more thoroughly when it is presented in meaningful contexts, with an experiential component." Check out the chart, too!

2. Susan Kovalik's Integrated Thematic Instruction -- "Dedicated to growing responsible, caring citizens using the best we know about the biology of learning, effective teaching strategies, and meaningful curriculum development."

3. Toward an Integrated Curriculum -- "...at the intersection of concerns from early adolescents and from the larger world, we can begin to imagine powerful themes that connect the two and thus offer a promising possibility for organizing an integrative curriculum." Note the "Ten Views for Integrating Curriculum."

4. Integrated Curriculum in the Middle School -- ERIC Abstracts 5. Selected ERIC Abstracts on Integrated Curriculum 6. Integrated Curriculum in Early Childhood Education 7. Assessing Young Children's Progress Appropriately -- Links and rationale

for Integrated Curriculum 8. Plano ISD Integrated Curriculum Information and Resources -- "...a

cooperative, developmental endeavor to integrate curriculum and technology in a student-centered classroom, where the students are actively involved in the educational process."

9. Middle School Bibliography: Compiled for the Integrated Curriculum Research Circle -- from Australia, along with Links for Articles

10. Middle School Pupils and Community Service -- "The school curriculum should not be separated from life in society."

11. Developing an Applied and Integrated Curriculum -- "The foundation of all efforts to improve high school students' transition to postsecondary education and/or careers is an applied and integrated curriculum that connects academic and vocational learning."

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Marjorie Hall Haley, PhD – Fall 2008

12. Interdisciplinary Curriculum -- "...projects that cut across traditional subject divisions and introduce concepts in an integrated fashion. These are grouped by approximate grade level..."

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Marjorie Hall Haley, PhD – Fall 2008

Final Project – Due Last Class

Build A Project

(A) What are some of the most critical aspects of brain-based teaching and learning that apply to today’s educational setting? Integrate these elements into a project.

(B) Sample topics might include:

• Creating culturally responsive schools • Closing the achievement gap • Understanding racial disparity in school discipline practices • Differentiation of instruction as a means for reaching all learners

The final project will be a synthesis on a chosen topic that may be considered a precursor to your dissertation research or review of literature. You should review and critique no fewer than four studies that highlight this area of the field. You should also include your ideas about the future directions of research on the topic.

Annotated Bibliography: Submit a list of the articles you’ve found in journals or book chapters on the chosen topic with a one-paragraph justification of why you chose the articles. Your final project may take the form of:

1. An article being prepared for publication 2. An action research study 3. The beginning of a literature review for the dissertation 4. A presentation prepared for a state, regional, or national conference 5. A critical analysis of a particular topic with a dialogic perspective 6. Case study 7. Other options

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Marjorie Hall Haley, PhD – Fall 2008

EDUC 797 – Brain-based Teaching and Learning – Research, Practices and Realities

Dr. Marjorie Hall Haley

Final Project

Scoring Rubric 30 Points

Total Met the

Standard Did Not Meet the Standard

Exceeded the Standard

Comments and/or Points

Identified a critical aspect of brain-based teaching and learning

Rationale for topic is clearly articulated

Critiqued and/or reviewed no fewer than 4 studies that highlight this area

Submitted a list of no fewer than 4 articles or book chapters with a paragraph explaining why these are useful (may use the articles above)

Project is well written and easy to follow

Total Number of Points

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Marjorie Hall Haley, PhD – Fall 2008

EDUC 797 – Brain-based Teaching and Learning

Video – Instructional Strategies for the Differentiated Classroom

1. Robert Sternberg’s theory posits that there are three additional

intelligences: a. b. c. 2. When teachers create intelligence-preference planning, what

are some of the basic steps? What questions should be considered?

3. In an intelligence-preference classroom, how/in what way(s) does the teacher re-cast her/his role?

4. There are three ways to determine intelligence-preference: a. b. c. 5. Why are closure activities important?

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Marjorie Hall Haley, PhD – Fall 2008

EDUC 797 – Brain-based Teaching and Learning

Video – Inquiry-Based Learning, “Learning Styles”

1. What are the modalities of learning?

2. Describe the impact of Learning By Doing.

3. How and why does inquiry-based learning “fit” so well with Differentiated Instruction?

4. In your opinion, why is learning about learning styles so important?

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Marjorie Hall Haley, PhD – Fall 2008

STUDENT BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Please Print clearly!

Name:____________________________________________ E-mail address:____________________________________ Home phone:_________________ Work phone:________________ Home address:____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ GMU Program:_______________ Academic Advisor_________________ Year admitted:________________ Expected completion year___________ Currently teaching?__________ If yes, where, what, and for how long? __________________________________________________________ Language(s) you speak/read/write________________________________ Level(s) of proficiency_________________________________________ Travel experience?_________ Where?____________________________ For how long?__________________________ Career goals:_________________________________________________ What you hope to gain from this class:___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Favorite leisure/pastime activities:__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Marjorie Hall Haley, PhD – Fall 2008

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