If you agree that our brains are designed for learning, then as educators it is incumbent upon us to be looking for ways to maximize the learning process for each of our students, as well as for ourselves. Some of what follows is simply common sense, but I’ve learned that all of it has a scientific basis in our brains.

1. Review and 2. Reflection are two means for thinking about what is being learned. Review can be done in the moments after a question is posed, a comment is made, a passage is read, an activity is done, or directions are given, providing ample time to think about what has taken place, process the information and respond accordingly. Review is also what should be done periodically over the course of the year, so that students have the opportunity to revisit, relearn, clarify and consolidate their learning to memory. Marilee Sprenger, based upon research by Jeb Schenck, notes that “spacing reviews throughout the learning and increasing the time between them gradually allows long-term networks to be strengthened… the timing between repeated reviews can significantly affect how much information is retained.

Reflection encompasses not only a response to actual material but also thinking about how one learns. It is 3. Metacognition, and with each iteration you learn more about yourself as a learner. We empower our students and ourselves when we take the time for reflection, because the more we understand about how we each learn, the better we can become at learning. According to Sprenger, “Metacognition involves two phases. The first is knowledge about cognition or thinking about our thinking. The second is monitoring and regulating cognitive processes.

For me, blogging has been a continual process of review and reflection. In the course of over 170 posts to date, I continually revisit topics, make connections, and write about my own course of learning. As teachers, ideally we should be reviewing and reflecting on lessons, course materials, and interactions with students, both as a means of improving them as well as learning from what worked or did not work.

4. Sleep is another way to consolidate learning, which is one reason getting a full night of uninterrupted sleep is important. Of course, doing so also helps us the next day to have more energy and patience, which then helps us with our attention control. In fact, couple sufficient sleep with waking up to a healthy breakfast, and you are prepared to tackle the day.

Proper 5. Nutrition keeps our systems functioning closer to their peak by stabilizing various levels of hormones and chemicals. All of this holds equally true for students as well as teachers!

We all have our own life stories, and being exposed to something new tends to stick better if we have something else to associate it with or if it is sufficiently unusual that it stands out on its own. Taking advantage of student 6. Prior Knowledge probably requires minimal effort on the part of the teacher, but yields big returns by engaging student interest as students consider new information as it pertains to them and their experiences. This, in turn, can 7. Engage Emotions, which is the largest hook into learning. We all tend to remember things that get our blood boiling for better or for worse. The parts of the brain engaged in emotions include the small yet mighty amygdala, the hippocampus and the hypothalamus.

“The amygdala deals with our emotions, helps process our memories, and gets totally absorbed in managing our response to fear and stress. Combined, these are biggies, so the hippocampus and hypothalamus chime in with some assistance. The hippocampus handles factual information, while the hypothalamus monitors how your body is doing internally and directs the pituitary gland to release hormones on the basis of functions such as body temperature, appetite, and sexual functioning.

8. Novelty is another big hook. As information presentation blends between teachers or stays the same by one teacher, it becomes difficult to see patterns and students may tune out the “sameness”. But change it up a bit, introduce something radically different or in a radically different manner, and all of a sudden it is like a quick-pick-me-up in the middle of a lesson, a “brain snack”. Students refocus their attention, and it can even enliven your presentation and wake you up! One way to incorporate novelty is to add some 9. Movement to reenergize the body and brain cells. Movement can shake the sillies out or wake up sluggish bodies and brains; it can be an antidote to the time of day or the climate. Movement is also a close relative of 10. Exercise, and it has been shown that exercise is especially helpful in keeping our adult brains healthy, so remember to participate in that movement with your students (and they will probably consider your participation a bit novel!).

Novelty and movement can also effectively be used to assist kids with sharpening control of their executive function, which is managed by the frontal lobes in the neocortex. Executive function is how we control our attention, create plans, and carry out those plans. Too often in school, kids are required to “sit still” and “quiet down”, yet these are the very basics of being a kid! Consider harnessing that natural kid energy to help students manage their own functioning. Indeed, in a Newsweek article, Wray Herbert notes that an executive function curriculum has emerged to help students manage “effortful control and cognitive focus but also working memory and mental flexibility” the ability to adjust to change, to think outside the box.

Laurie Bartels writes the Neurons Firing blog to create for herself the “the graduate course” I’d love to take if it existed as a program”. She is the K-8 Computer Coordinator and Technology Training Coordinator at Rye Country Day School in Rye, New York. She is also the organizer of Digital Wave annual summer professional development, and a frequent attendee of Learning & The Brain conferences. This post was originally published in July 2008, and is republished here now to help readers incorporate these brain tips into  New Year Resolutions. For more ideas, you can check out The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Brains — Time for Brain Fitness Resolutions?

1. CHALLENGE YOURSELF WITH NEW LEARNING

Aaron Nelson stated that our memory starts to decline between ages twenty-five and thirty, or to phrase it a bit more positively, Sam Wang says our memory peaks around age thirty. On the other end of the age spectrum, according to Ken Kosik, there is unequivocal evidence that education protects against Alzheimer’s. Both Nelson and Kosik mentioned the theory of cognitive reserve, which translates roughly to the more we learn, the more connections we create, and therefore the greater the neuronal buffer we have to draw upon as we age.

Elkhonon Goldberg, at last April’s conference, stated that “as one ages, the domain of the novel shrinks, and the domain of what is known grows”. He cautioned the audience to beware of being on mental autopilot. Thus, the goal is not to simply get better at doing more of the same. The type of learning that makes a difference consists specifically of new, novel challenges. The result of such engagement is that we benefit as learners, which in turn benefits our students as we both serve as role models for lifelong learning, and are probably more creative and interesting in our roles as teachers. The more we stimulate our brains, the stronger our thinking~remembering muscle becomes.

2. NEUROPLASTICITY & NEUROGENESIS ARE HALLMARKS OF OUR BRAINS

As has been discussed before in my review of Norman Doidge’s book, our brain can and does alter itself as new learning occurs. Ken Kosik noted that adult education, engaging in new and challenging learning experiences as an adult, encourages brain plasticity. And if you haven’t already changed your mind on the theory of generating new brain cells, it is time to take note that, as Nelson said, there is neurogenesis! Our brains do generate new brain cells even as adults. Or as Wang stated, the brain is a physical organ that changes throughout life.

These cues together present a strong rationale for a multidisciplinary professional development model. Traditionally, most schools support, encourage, and some even require that faculty continue their learning and training within their fields of expertise. I have long been convinced. and these cues provide additional support, that the best type of professional development encourages teachers to engage and challenge themselves in areas outside their subject area expertise.

3. CHECK FOR MIS-LEARNING ON AN ONGOING BASIS

Sam Wang gave an entertaining and fascinating talk entitled Brain Lies: How to Overcome Your Students’ False Beliefs And Your Own. Perhaps you are familiar with A Private Universe, a documentary produced in the late 1980s about how students develop science misconceptions. I couldn’t help but think of that video as Wang explained the anatomy of a false belief:

• - a mixture of T/F statements, such as rumors
• - has an emotional appeal
• - repetition of the false statement

And here is the clincher, apparently trying to remedy the false belief by pairing it with a disclaimer often serves to make the falsehood stronger.

Each of us witnesses an event or participates in a learning experience in our own manner. We can be exposed to the same experience, but we each process it differently. What this tells me is we need to check and double check that our students understanding is accurate, and we need to do this on an ongoing basis spread out over time. This permits the correcting of misinformation before it gets solidified, while reactivating the neural network used in the formation of the memory, as Nelson explained when discussing behaviors to aid with learning and memory.

4. MORE VISUALS, LESS TEXT

One of Sam Wang’s tips for fighting false beliefs is to use visual evidence that trumps the falsehood because our brains process 40 to 60 percent visually. As students progress through school, teaching tends to incorporate more text and more notes, fewer picture books, less drawing and fewer visuals. Draw your own conclusions from that!

5. MOVE IT! MOVE IT! MOVE IT!

John Ratey said it in his talk. Aaron Nelson said it in his. And John Medina wrote it in his book. Want to stave off childhood obesity? Want to keep an aging body fit? Want to nourish a brain of any age? Want to fend off a variety of diseases? Get up and move!

Exercise can lift a mood, stimulate thinking, refresh the body and the mind, promote sound sleep, enhance memory, and help moderate weight, to name a few of its benefits. Both Ratey and Medina note that aerobic exercise stimulates BDNF (Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor), a protein that impacts neurogenesis. Ratey says that thinking is the internalization of movement. Indeed, exercise promotes brain plasticity and can help lessen the risk of developing dementia. Given what we know about the multilayered benefits of exercise, it is beyond me why more schools and businesses have yet to adapt a movement mentality.

CUE UP

These reminders are straight forward. They are not difficult to act upon. They sound like common sense. It is really just a matter of choice. Although, given the number of books that have been written about choice and how we make decisions, perhaps choosing is not as simple as one might think!

Laurie Bartels wrote this article for SharpBrains. She also writes the Neurons Firing blog to create for herself the “the graduate course I’d love to take if it existed as a program”. Laurie is the K-8 Computer Coordinator and Technology Training Coordinator at Rye Country Day School in Rye, New York. She is also the organizer of Digital Wave annual summer professional development, and a frequent attendee of Learning & the Brain conferences.

Related articles:

- Cognitive Training: Interview with Elkhonon Goldberg

- Art Kramer on Why We Need Walking Book Clubs

- Build Your Cognitive Reserve: Interview with  Yaakov Stern

Part of what makes Doidge’s writing so accessible is he tells stories, and his stories just happen to incorporate brain science. As a result, his book is easy to digest. The neuroscience behind Doidge’s book involves neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to rewire itself. This means that the brain is our intelligence  is not something fixed in concrete but rather a changing, learning entity. On the face of it, this concept should not sound unusual, for it is what happens to individuals all the time as we go about the learning process, from infancy onwards.

What separates the stories in this book from daily learning is that the brains in question have been damaged in some form or other. Each tale is inspirational in that the individuals are able to overcome substantial, life-altering events, such as severe illness and stroke, in part thanks to the research of visionary scientists and doctors who developed methods and tools to facilitate neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity
The catchy phrase behind neuroplasticity is “neurons that fire together wire together”. The idea is that when two events (neurons firing) occur in the brain at the same time, the events (neurons) become associated with one another, and the neuronal connections (wiring) become stronger.

For many years, it was thought that each area of the brain had its own responsibilities; in other words, certain functions were localized or hardwired to certain brain areas. If something is hardwired then it is fixed and not capable of change.

However, while certain areas of the brain do tend to be responsible for specific functions, since the brain is plastic, areas overlap and even can co-opt one another’s functions. Initial maps drawn of our mental system turn out to be not as static as originally thought. If one pathway gets blocked, the brain is very good at finding alternative pathways.

As with any pathway, the more a particular path is used, the more ingrained it becomes, and pathways near one another become associated with each other. If a path is underutilized, over time it will be co-opted by other pathways that are branching out and need more space.

Hence, plasticity can be summed up in a few succinct statements all from chapter three  Redesigning the brain:

- Neurons that fire together wire together.

- Neurons that wire apart fire apart. This is also stated as Neurons out of sync fail to link.

- Use it or lose it.

The Scientists
Doidge includes stories of the neuroscientists, among them Paul Bach-y-Rita, who pioneered the idea of “polysensory”. Polysensory refers to the sensory areas of the brain, which rather than only processing information from just the senses that normally report to those areas, are actually able to process information from any of the senses.

Michael Merzenich, a developer of the cochlear implant and founder of Posit Science, is another of the scientists noted by Doidge. Merzenich says that “You cannot have plasticity in isolation — an absolute impossibility. (and Doidge continues) His experiments have shown that if one brain system changes, those systems connected to it change as well.

Following on his heels is Edward Taub, who established constraint induced therapy, an alternative therapy for individuals felled by stroke. Taub’s research supported Merzenich’s findings that “when a brain map is not used, the brain can reorganize itself so that another mental function takes over that processing space.

Alvaro Pascual-Leone’s experiments began with looking at what happens in the minds of those who read Braille, and transitioned to looking at how “our thoughts can change the material structure of our brains. His goal was “to test whether mental practice and imagination in fact lead to physical changes. This is, indeed, what happens when athletes use visualization to help prepare for sports trials.

In the last quarter of Doidge”s book, which is equally interesting for the clarification of theories, he discusses the work of Eric Kandel, Sigmund Freud, Santiago Ramy Cajal, Jordan Grafman, and several other scientists who are exploring neuroplasticity.

My Take-Aways
I see plasticity and metacognition as closely entwined. This combination of knowing that intelligence is not fixed and thus you can change it, and knowing how you learn, is immensely positive and powerful, and has huge implications for students of any age. I translate this to students who struggle with learning issues, and aging adults who fear their brains will fade. I also think it is important for teachers to understand the concept of brain plasticity, as a means for no longer pigeon holing students.

Of course, we take away from an authors writing what we want or need to learn. As a provider of professional development to faculty, the final lesson I take from Doidge’s book is the power of multifaceted professional development to foster neuroplasticity in adults, and therefore enhance their creativity. I take the message that most of us have the ability to break out of habits and to learn something new, and each time we do this, it strengthens our ability to do it the next time!

Further Information

For more about Norman Doidge:

• - interview on The Brain Science Podcast and Blog with Ginger Campbell

For more about some of the neuroscientists mentioned by Doidge:

• - Edward Taub’s Revolutionary Approach to Stroke Rehabilitation  interview on the Brain Science Podcast
• - Mixed Feelings  Wired Science’s video article on Paul Bach y Rita’s research
• - Scientific American Frontiers: Changing Your Mind
• The Sight of Touch story of Alvaro Pascual-Leone’s experiments

For more on brain plasticity and learning:

• - Brain Plasticity: How learning changes your brain
• - Neuroscience Interview Series: interviews with over 15 brain scientists on how to direct the property of neuroplasticity.

– Laurie Bartels writes the Neurons Firing blog to create for herself the “the graduate course I’d love to take if it existed as a program”. She is the K-8 Computer Coordinator and Technology Training Coordinator at Rye Country Day School in Rye, New York. She is also the organizer of Digital Wave annual summer professional development, and a frequent attendee of Learning & The Brain conferences.

This is a book for both teachers and parents (because parents are also teachers!) Written with the earnestness of first-person experience and reflection, and a lifetime of expertise in biology, Zull makes a well-rounded case for his ideas. He offers those ideas for your perusal, providing much supporting evidence, but he doesn’t try to ram them into your psyche. Rather, he practices what he preaches by engaging you with stories, informing you with fact, and encouraging your thinking by the way he posits his ideas.

I have read a number of books that translate current brain research into practice while providing practical suggestions for teachers to implement. This is the first book I have read that provides a biological, and clearly rational, overview of learning and the brain. Zull provokes you into thinking about his ideas, about your own teaching practice, and ultimately, what it means to learn.

Zull doesn’t lecture here; rather, he discusses his ideas so you can follow their progression. The impetus for his ideas stem from David Kolb’s 1984 book, Experiential Learning. Kolb’s model contains four portions:

• - engaging in a concrete experience
• - following it with reflective observation
• - developing an abstract conceptualization based upon the reflection
• - actively experimenting based upon the abstract

Kolb’s model, like Zull’s, is a cycle, and therefore it is possible to jump in at any point in the process. Zull takes Kolb’s model and provides the biology.

Zull’s conclusion is that:

Teaching is the art of changing the brain.

Zull spends the bulk of the 250 pages exploring the biology and practice behind “creating conditions that lead to change in a learner’s brain.” He provides a list of ten strategies (page 129), based upon the biology of the brain, which can help in making those changes. These strategies apply to parents who are trying to parent, as well as to our own learning process, for ideally we are all life-long learners.

1. Watch for inherent networks (natural talents) and encourage their practice.
2. Repeat, repeat, repeat!
3. Arrange for “firing together.” Associated things should happen together.
4. Focus on sensory input that is “errorless.”
5. Don’t stress mistakes. Don’t reinforce neuronal networks that aren’t useful.
6. Try to understand existing networks and build on them. Nothing is new.
7. Misconnected networks are most often just incomplete. Try to add to them.
8. Be careful about resurrecting old networks; error dies hard.
9. Construct metaphors and insist that your students build their own metaphors.
10. Use analogies and similes, too.

From my own teaching experience, I know these strategies are well worth utilizing. However, implementing them may not always be so easy due to constraints of typical class schedules (insufficient time) or class sizes (too many students), or ingrained habits (for example, viewing mistakes through a negative lens). However, I believe these strategies can aid students in learning about how they learn and engaging in metacognition. In the final analysis, if students understand how they learn, they can take responsibility for their own learning, thus changing their brains through their own efforts.

This is a book that can be read comfortably, and you will progress through the four stages of the learning cycle as you take in the words and ideas (gathering data), reflect on how they can impact yours and your student’s teaching and learning process (reflection), consider how you might alter something about what you do (create an hypotheses), and try out that idea (active testing). Of course, trying out your idea will lead to a new experience, which you will take in and reflect on, perhaps causing you to make a change … And the cycle continues.

For more about James Zull:

- James Zull in his own words – New Horizons for Learning article: What is “The Art of Changing the Brain?”, May 2003
– SharpBrains interview with James Zull: An ape can do this. Can we not?, October 2006

For more about David Kolb:

- Kolb’s faculty page at Case Western

Laurie Bartels writes the Neurons Firing blog to create for herself the “the graduate course I’d love to take if it existed as a program”. She is the K-8 Computer Coordinator and Technology Training Coordinator at Rye Country Day School in Rye, New York. She is also the organizer of Digital Wave annual summer professional development, and a frequent attendee of Learning & The Brain conferences.

]]> http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/10/06/teaching-is-the-art-of-changing-the-brain/feed/ 10 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/09/05/reorganizing-school-schedules-start-times-light-scheduling/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=reorganizing-school-schedules-start-times-light-scheduling http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/09/05/reorganizing-school-schedules-start-times-light-scheduling/#comments Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:05:33 +0000 Laurie Bartels http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/09/05/reorganizing-school-schedules-start-times-light-scheduling/ With summer drawing to a close and schools starting up for a new season, what better time to take a look at how schools utilize research about the brain in determining the timing of the flow of school. Not only current brain research, but common sense, tells me the following areas need tweaking.
• - School start times and sleep
• - Exposure to natural light
• - Scheduling of classes

SCHOOL START TIMES AND SLEEP
Left to your own devices, what time would you go to sleep each evening and what time would you wake up? As adults, it is likely that external responsibilities determine your wake time, and the maturity of age guides your sleep time. More often than not, thanks to a sound night’s sleep, you wake mentally refreshed and prepared to face the day. Teenagers are simply out of luck in this realm.

Melatonin is responsible for our body rhythms, also known as circadian rhythms. These sleep/wake cycles are directly influenced by our exposure to light. As darkness sets in, melatonin is released, promoting the urge to go to sleep. Teenagers usually release melatonin at later times in the evening so they tend to fall asleep later and wake up later.

Notice, there is no “early” in that last sentence, and the result is that teenage circadian rhythms are often out of synch with school start times. The National Sleep Foundation has found that school start times should be altered to accommodate teenagers, with the anticipation that better quality sleep will promote healthful patterns, resulting in more beneficial learning environments.

EXPOSURE TO NATURAL LIGHT
Light and dark do more than impact our circadian rhythms. Light also influences our moods. SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) results from insufficient exposure to sunlight in the fall and winter months. Research has shown that natural light has a consistent and predictable positive effect on student performance.

When my seventeen year old was in middle school, he astutely noted that during the best hours of winter daylight, students were kept indoors. While it may not be practical to retro fit school buildings so that natural light permeates every classroom, when coupled with the benefits of exercise, the benefits of every student having outdoor recess would go a long way toward alleviating SAD and waking up neurons.

SCHEDULING OF CLASSES
Okay, so they are out of bed and in school, though they may be yawning through the morning. Now they have to follow the schedule of classes. Research has shown that in middle schools the best type of class schedule is one that incorporates longer segments of time. How many schools do you know of that tend to schedule classes that last longer than 45 minutes?

Not only could the daily class schedule have flexible chunks of time, but the yearly school schedule could also be designed to better accommodate the diversity of student learners. The Center for Public Education takes an in-depth look at What research says about reorganizing school schedules in this 2006 posting.

If you know of examples or have experiences that support or refute these suggestions, please share them! And please note that my perspective is based on teaching middle and high school students for the past ten years, and also having taught at schools that had flexible scheduling blocks.

For additional information related to these topics:

• - The Operation of the Flexible All-Year School Plan
• - School: The Story of American Public Education

Laurie Bartels writes the Neurons Firing blog to create for herself the “the graduate course I’d love to take if it existed as a program”. She is the K-8 Computer Coordinator and Technology Training Coordinator at Rye Country Day School in Rye, New York. She is also the organizer of Digital Wave annual summer professional development, and a frequent attendee of Learning & The Brain conferences.

]]> http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/09/05/reorganizing-school-schedules-start-times-light-scheduling/feed/ 4 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/08/26/resources-for-brain-health-across-the-lifespan/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=resources-for-brain-health-across-the-lifespan http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/08/26/resources-for-brain-health-across-the-lifespan/#comments Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:22:41 +0000 Laurie Bartels http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/08/26/resources-for-brain-health-across-the-lifespan/ As promised in my previous post on Neurogenesis and Brain Plasticity in Adult Brains, I will now list some interviews, video, articles, and books that go hand-in-hand with these fascinating topics we are discussing. Please comment below if you have favorite additional resources!

NEUROGENESIS

MIT news – Picower researcher finds neuron growth in adult brain

Society for Neuroscience brain brief – Adult Neurogenesis

BRAIN PLASTICITY

Neuroscience for Kids – Brain Plasticity: What Is It?

Society for Neuroscience brain brief – Brain Plasticity, Language Processing and Reading

Brain Science Podcast – Ginger Campbell interview with Norman Doidge, MD, discussing Neuroplasticity, and his book The Brain That Changes Itself

CBD Radio – Interview with Norman Doidge

Carol Dweck discussing “growth” versus “fixed” mindsets

Wired Science – Mixed Feelings – how the human brain can change

THE ADULT BRAIN

Brain Science Podcase – Ginger Campbell discussion of Elkonon Goldberg’s book The Wisdom Paradox

Oregon Health & Science University – Brain Awareness – The Adult Brain

PBS – The Secret Life of the Brain – The Adult Brain

McGill University has an interesting timeline that traces the discovery of neuronal growth in adult brains. This is part of The Brain from Top to Bottom, “An interative Web site on the human brain and behavior”

EXERCISE

Brain Science Podcast – Ginger Campbell interview with John Ratey, discussing Exercise and the Brain and his book Spark

Johy Ratey speaking at Authors@Google

CREATIVITY • INNOVATION • CHANGE

Creatively Speaking – Sir Ken Robinson on The Power of the Imaginative Mind

Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talk – Do schools kill creativity?

Arnold Wasserman interview on SMARTBoard Lessons/PD to Go Episode 131 – Design & Innovation (interview begins about 1/2 into the podcast)

Laurie Bartels writes the Neurons Firing blog to create for herself the “the graduate course I’d love to take if it existed as a program”. She is the K-8 Computer Coordinator and Technology Training Coordinator at Rye Country Day School in Rye, New York. She is also the organizer of Digital Wave annual summer professional development, and a frequent attendee of Learning & The Brain conferences.

]]> http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/08/26/resources-for-brain-health-across-the-lifespan/feed/ 0 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/08/07/neurogenesis-and-brain-plasticity-in-adult-brains/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=neurogenesis-and-brain-plasticity-in-adult-brains http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/08/07/neurogenesis-and-brain-plasticity-in-adult-brains/#comments Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:17:50 +0000 Laurie Bartels http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/08/07/neurogenesis-and-brain-plasticity-in-adult-brains/ Back in July, I wrote a post entitled 10 Brain Tips To Teach and Learn. Those tips apply to students of any age, including adults, for ideally adults are still learners. Why is adult learning relevant in a brain-focused blog, you may wonder:

The short of it

As we age, our brain:

still forms new brain cells
can change its structure & function
finds positive stress can be beneficial; negative stress can be detrimental
can thrive on novel challenges
needs to be exercised, just like our bodies

The long of it

Adults may have a tendency to get set in their ways have been doing it this way for a long time and it works, so why change? Turns out, though, that change can be a way to keep aging brains healthy. At the April Learning & the Brain conference, the theme of which was neuroplasticity, I attended several sessions on adult learning. Here’s what the experts are saying.

CHANGE and EXERCISE

According to Kathleen Taylor & Annalee Lamoreaux, understanding that we have the ability to change our mental models, also known as epistemological change (a change in the way of knowing), will let us open the door to transformative learning (being willing to change and having an understanding of how to change). You can download the slides from their presentation here.

Learning something new outside our areas of expertise:

keeps us fresh, which can add a spark to our teaching
reminds us what it is like to be a student, which can help us empathize with our students
exercises our mental muscles

Couple mental exercise with physical exercise, and you can improve general cognition and boost your creativity. Learn more about this from John Ratey’s book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, which makes a compelling case that exercise is beneficial for cognitive health.

NEUROGENESIS

Our brains may be aging, but they are also continuing to develop. Neurogenesis is the process of forming new brain cells, and unlike what was previously thought, this process continues throughout life, as noted in this Society for Neuroscience brain brief on Adult Neurogenesis.

PLASTICITY

Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to rewire itself. It empowers us to:

fix damaged areas of our brains (as evidenced by the work of Edward Taub, Michael Merzenich, and Paul Bach-y-Rita, all mentioned in Doidge’s book, referenced below)
continue to learn well into old age
alter our behavior and performance over time

Norman Doidge writes extensively about plasticity in The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, and notes that “brain plasticity occurs in response to the environment, the task at hand, and our thoughts and imaginings. Indeed, “in some cases, the faster you can imagine something, the faster you can do it.

STRESS and EXERCISE

In his session on stress and neuroplasticity in learning, Bruce McEwen concurred with Doidge, noting that “structural plasticity in the adult brain is modulated by experience. He went on to discuss the impact of stressful experiences on neuronal activity, delineating three types of stress:

1. positive, which consists of positive challenges

2. tolerable, which consists of adverse life events coupled with good social and emotional support

3. toxic, which consists of a sustained stress agent and a lack of social and emotional support Exercise, in addition to aiding cognition, can be beneficial in helping the brain and the body manage stress.

CHALLENGE and NOVELTY

Elkhonon Goldberg, neuroscientist and co-founder of SharpBrains, discussing Brain Plasticity and Cognitive Fitness, pointed out that “as we age, our expert knowledge remains strong, and our capacity for solving problems within our areas of expertise can often exceed that of those who are younger.  He further employed us to “turn neuroplasticity to your advantage by:

welcoming novel challenges

beware of being on mental autopilot

remain cognitively active

Goldberg elaborates on these points in his latest book, The Wisdom Paradox: How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows Older.

Taken in sum, all of these ideas have me imagining professional development programs where teachers are encouraged to explore avenues outside of their expert areas. (More on that in a future post!) The combination of being a mentally and physically active lifelong learner isn’t just good modeling for younger brains; its also beneficial for us!

(Next post will consist of additional resources on these topics.)

Laurie Bartels writes the Neurons Firing blog to create for herself the “the graduate course I’d love to take if it existed as a program”. She is the K-8 Computer Coordinator and Technology Training Coordinator at Rye Country Day School in Rye, New York. She is also the organizer of Digital Wave annual summer professional development, and a frequent attendee of Learning & The Brain conferences.

You will find more related information on how to improve concentration and memory by checking out these resources:

- Neuroscience Interview Series: interviews with over 15 brain scientists and experts.

- Collection of brain teasers and games: attention, memory, problem-solving, visual, and more.
- Brain Training Games and “Games”: a 10-Question Checklist on how to evaluate programs that make brain-related claims.

]]> http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/08/07/neurogenesis-and-brain-plasticity-in-adult-brains/feed/ 6 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/07/20/learning-the-brain-resources-for-educators/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=learning-the-brain-resources-for-educators http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/07/20/learning-the-brain-resources-for-educators/#comments Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:20:03 +0000 Laurie Bartels http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/07/20/learning-the-brain-resources-for-educators/ As promised in my previous post (10 Brain Training Tips To Teach and Learn), here are some of the resources that inform my understanding of the brain: books, conferences, and websites.

BOOKS

There are a multitude of books about the brain. For educators, the best of these are books that demystify the language of neuroscience while providing information applicable to the teaching/learning process.

Among the more prolific or well-known authors of this type include Jeb Schenck, Robert Sylwester, Barbara Givens, Robert Marzano, Marilee Sprenger, and Eric Jensen.

I have found books by Sprenger and Jensen to be immensely helpful. Both write about the brain in understandable terms, provide practical suggestions, discuss sensible ideas, and include innumerable references to supportive research. Three of my most referenced books by these two are:

• Sprenger  How To Teach So Students Remember
• Sprenger  Learning & Memory: The Brain in Action
• Jensen  Teaching with the Brain in Mind, Revised 2nd Edition

CONFERENCES

A highly stimulating and informative experience is the 3-day Learning & the Brain conference, which takes place three times a year. In the fall and spring it is held in Cambridge, MA, and in the winter it takes place in California. Each conference has an overarching theme, which is then broken down into six strands. In the past these strands have focused on pre-K through college; the April 2008 conference ushered in addition of an adult brain strand.

The L&B conference runs the gamut from renowned neuroscientists sharing their research to practitioners translating that research into practical application. There are pre– and post-conference workshops, and plenty of opportunity to meet and talk with all presenters, as well as conference attendees. I have attended three times in four years, anticipate attending both Cambridge conferences this coming school year, and hope one day to attend the California conference just for the fun of it!

WEBSITES

Websites provide information in a variety of modalities. Many of these sites can be used with students, who enjoy learning about their brains, and hence, about themselves.

Sleep

• Neuroscience for Kids Sleep
• National Sleep Foundation
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke  Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep
• The Franklin Institute:
• The Human Brain Sleep and Stress

Nutrition

• The Franklin Institute: The Human Brain Diet & Menu
• National Public Radio (npr) A Better Breakfast Can Boost a Child’s Brainpower
• WebMD Brain Food Quiz: How Much Do You Know?

Movement and Exercise

• npr Exercise Helps Students in the Classroom
• The Franklin Institute: The Human Brain Exercise
• Brain Science Podcast #33: Exercise and the Brain interview with John Ratey, author of Spark: the Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

Emotions

The Secret Life of the Brain: The Adult Brain video of Emotions in the brain
Neuroscience for Kids  Autonomic Nervous System
LeDoux Lab, New York University Emotion, Memory, and the Brain
OshKosh Area School District: Learning is Heavily Influenced by Brain Chemistry

I hope you find these resources useful. The next article in the series will cover some Helpful Facts Teachers Should Know About Their Own Brains…so stay tuned.

Laurie Bartels writes the Neurons Firing blog to create for herself the “the graduate course I’d love to take if it existed as a program”. She is the K-8 Computer Coordinator and Technology Training Coordinator at Rye Country Day School in Rye, New York. She is also the organizer of Digital Wave annual summer professional development, and a frequent attendee of Learning & The Brain conferences.

]]> http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/07/20/learning-the-brain-resources-for-educators/feed/ 6 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/07/03/10-brain-training-tips-to-teach-and-learn/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10-brain-training-tips-to-teach-and-learn http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/07/03/10-brain-training-tips-to-teach-and-learn/#comments Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:53:43 +0000 Laurie Bartels http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/07/03/10-brain-training-tips-to-teach-and-learn/ My natural rhythms are in cycle with the school calendar. January 1st takes a back seat to my new year, which gets ushered in with the month of September when there is crispness in the air that gradually shakes off the slower, more relaxed pace of summer.Conveniently, my career in teaching meshes with my natural cyclical year. And as this year draws to a close, I am re-energized by the pace of summer, knowing that anything may pop in to my mind as I engage in activities not directly related to school. But before that happens, I’d like to reflect on this past year, in particular as it was my first year of blogging about the brain.

My interest in the brain stems from wanting to better understand both how to make school more palatable for students, and professional development more meaningful for faculty. To that end, I began my Neurons Firing blog in April, 2007, have been doing a lot of reading, and been attending workshops and conferences, including Learning & the Brain.

If you agree that our brains are designed for learning, then as educators it is incumbent upon us to be looking for ways to maximize the learning process for each of our students, as well as for ourselves. Some of what follows is simply common sense, but I’ve learned that all of it has a scientific basis in our brains.

1. Review and 2. Reflection are two means for thinking about what is being learned. Review can be done in the moments after a question is posed, a comment is made, a passage is read, an activity is done, or directions are given, providing ample time to think about what has taken place, process the information and respond accordingly. Review is also what should be done periodically over the course of the year, so that students have the opportunity to revisit, relearn, clarify and consolidate their learning to memory. Marilee Sprenger, based upon research by Jeb Schenck, notes that “spacing reviews throughout the learning and increasing the time between them gradually allows long-term networks to be strengthened… the timing between repeated reviews can significantly affect how much information is retained.

Reflection encompasses not only a response to actual material but also thinking about how one learns. It is 3. Metacognition, and with each iteration you learn more about yourself as a learner. We empower our students and ourselves when we take the time for reflection, because the more we understand about how we each learn, the better we can become at learning. According to Sprenger, “Metacognition involves two phases. The first is knowledge about cognition or thinking about our thinking. The second is monitoring and regulating cognitive processes.

For me, blogging has been a continual process of review and reflection. In the course of over 170 posts to date, I continually revisit topics, make connections, and write about my own course of learning. As teachers, ideally we should be reviewing and reflecting on lessons, course materials, and interactions with students, both as a means of improving them as well as learning from what worked or did not work.

4. Sleep is another way to consolidate learning, which is one reason getting a full night of uninterrupted sleep is important. Of course, doing so also helps us the next day to have more energy and patience, which then helps us with our attention control. In fact, couple sufficient sleep with waking up to a healthy breakfast, and you are prepared to tackle the day.

Proper 5. Nutrition keeps our systems functioning closer to their peak by stabilizing various levels of hormones and chemicals. All of this holds equally true for students as well as teachers!

We all have our own life stories, and being exposed to something new tends to stick better if we have something else to associate it with or if it is sufficiently unusual that it stands out on its own. Taking advantage of student 6. Prior Knowledge probably requires minimal effort on the part of the teacher, but yields big returns by engaging student interest as students consider new information as it pertains to them and their experiences. This, in turn, can 7. Engage Emotions, which is the largest hook into learning. We all tend to remember things that get our blood boiling for better or for worse. The parts of the brain engaged in emotions include the small yet mighty amygdala, the hippocampus and the hypothalamus.

“The amygdala deals with our emotions, helps process our memories, and gets totally absorbed in managing our response to fear and stress. Combined, these are biggies, so the hippocampus and hypothalamus chime in with some assistance. The hippocampus handles factual information, while the hypothalamus monitors how your body is doing internally and directs the pituitary gland to release hormones on the basis of functions such as body temperature, appetite, and sexual functioning.

8. Novelty is another big hook. As information presentation blends between teachers or stays the same by one teacher, it becomes difficult to see patterns and students may tune out the “sameness”. But change it up a bit, introduce something radically different or in a radically different manner, and all of a sudden it is like a quick-pick-me-up in the middle of a lesson, a “brain snack”. Students refocus their attention, and it can even enliven your presentation and wake you up! One way to incorporate novelty is to add some 9. Movement to reenergize the body and brain cells. Movement can shake the sillies out or wake up sluggish bodies and brains; it can be an antidote to the time of day or the climate. Movement is also a close relative of 10. Exercise, and it has been shown that exercise is especially helpful in keeping our adult brains healthy, so remember to participate in that movement with your students (and they will probably consider your participation a bit novel!).

Novelty and movement can also effectively be used to assist kids with sharpening control of their executive function, which is managed by the frontal lobes in the neocortex. Executive function is how we control our attention, create plans, and carry out those plans. Too often in school, kids are required to “sit still” and “quiet down”, yet these are the very basics of being a kid! Consider harnessing that natural kid energy to help students manage their own functioning. Indeed, in a recent Newsweek article, Wray Herbert notes that an executive function curriculum has emerged to help students manage “effortful control and cognitive focus but also working memory and mental flexibility” the ability to adjust to change, to think outside the box. My next post will share some of the many resources I have found to be particularly useful, including the Learning & the Brain conference, which is a “must attend” if you can swing it!

Laurie Bartels writes the Neurons Firing blog to create for herself the “the graduate course” I’d love to take if it existed as a program”. She is the K-8 Computer Coordinator and Technology Training Coordinator at Rye Country Day School in Rye, New York. She is also the organizer of Digital Wave annual summer professional development, and a frequent attendee of Learning & The Brain conferences.

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