the brain on procrastination (and how to respond)
DESCRIPTION
Alternative Academic Title: Learner Procrastination: Why They Do It (and How to Respond) Parental Driving Question: What the F*** Can I Do about Student Procrastination? Topic Overview Find out what is happening in your students’ brains when they procrastinate. Learn the common factors which cause students to procrastinate on projects. Discover the best practices for projects to engage students’ brains and help them own their learning outcomes. The session will be a intersection of neuroscience’s latest evidence-based research with PBL best practices Three Big Ideas you will learn: The importance of and methods for: 1. Helping students break projects into achievable subgoals 2. Growing a project’s neural footprint until it reaches critical mass 3. Creating ownership, urgency and accountability Education and PBL World Relevance By understanding how the brain works, we can better set students up for success. There are specific steps you can take which make it easier for students to engage with projects.TRANSCRIPT
The Brain on Procrastination (and what you can do about it)
Learner Procrastination: Why They Do It
(and How to Respond)
DQ: What the F*** can I do about Student Procrastination?
Dion Lim, CEO, PacerRabbit [email protected]
(but the habit starts in elementary)
of college students engage in frequent academic procrastination 95%
(but the habit starts young)
6 weeks
REASON #1
Because time is too abstract to their brains, they feel no urgency.
REASON #2
Because the project’s limited unpredictability, novelty, value and/or pleasure results in low dopamine levels and therefore, low interest.
REASON #3
Because it’s got a small neural footprint (it’s harder for the hippocampus to access it)
Your Project
Sports Sex
Brains are wired for present
bias result of
Hyberbolic discounting by fronto-parietal network
REASON #4
Because hyperbolic discounting by the fronto-parietal network values present certainty over delayed gratification.
REASON #5
Because the amygdala goes into fight mode due to overloading and just reacts to the most imminent item.
Reason #6
Because the amygdala goes into flight mode when it feels overwhelmed and doesn’t know where to start.
Reason #7
Because fear and anxiety overarouse the brain with norepinephrine and lock out frontal lobe.
There is hope!
Intervention #1
Make time concrete and visual to enable the brain to place tasks and urgency into context.
START FINISH
You are here Today
Intervention #2
Set deadlines to raise urgency, dopamine and
norepinephrine.
Intervention #3
Keep the project top of mind in multiple, original ways to
make it easier for the hippocampus to access it
Intervention #4
Build a big neural footprint by connecting the project with existing concepts & interest areas
Intervention #5
Use humor and surprise Catch the attention of the
anterior cingulate cortex by triggering a prediction error and dopamine
Intervention # 6
Raise dopamine through novelty
iPhone 10
Intervention #7
Use rewards. Expecting a positive event generates dopamine (food, positive social interactions, money)
Intervention #8
Remove fear and anxiety through a culture of effort, revision and redemption.
Intervention #9
Teach them how to break any task into
small enough steps to create ownership and
sidestep the amygdala.
Intervention #10 Baby Bear balance their arousal