Rethinking What We Know About Learning
:
A Crash Course in the Brain and Teaching
Barry Mascari Jane Webber
Counselor Education
Session Description
Faculty are subject experts and often do not have the opportunity to study advances in understanding the brain, yet brain research influences much of what we do.
In the past 10 years, more has been learned about how the brain works, how we learn, and the impact of traumatic events on
learning.
Have these advances in understanding reached college classroom?
This session provides practical strategies to improve classroom learning, engagement, and student confidence, as well as a
Adolescence
There is now incontrovertible evidence that
adolescence is a period of significant changes in
brain structure and function. Although most of this work has appeared just in the past 15 years, there is already strong consensus among developmental
neuroscientists about the nature of this change. And the most important conclusion to emerge from
recent research is that important changes in brain anatomy and activity take place far longer into
development than had been previously thought.
Teens and
…
“I would there were no age
between ten and threeandtwenty,
or that youth would sleep out the
rest; for there is nothing in the
between but getting wenches with
child, wronging the ancientry,
The Winter’s Tale
1623
Late Teen
-
Early Adult
• I don’t know what happened
• I don’t know why I did that
• That’s not like me.
• I thought I knew the material.
• I would never act like that
• It must have been the punch.
Brain Maturity
•
Fully functioning adult brain –mid twenties
•
Female brains fully develop about 2 years
earlier
“The brain isn't fully mature at 16, when we
are allowed to drive, or at 18, when we are
allowed to vote, or at 21, when we are
ABOUT THE BRAIN
…
NEW ADVANCES IN BRAIN RESEARCH
• Cognitive development--the underlying changes
in thinking patterns that affect behavior
• Brain development--the changes in the structure
and function of the brain and their correlation with changes in thinking and behavior
• Influences on development--the role of colleges
and universities, parenting, peers, and other
BRAIN “PARTS”
§ Surviving Brain
§ Old brain brain stem, primitive hindbrain,
instinctual reptilian, oldest surviving part
§
Feeling Brain
§ Mid brain mammalian, limbic system
emotional, stress response
§ Thinking Brain
§ New brain, forebrain, neo-cortex, human,
Emerging Adult Brain
1. Synapse growth-spurt leads to poor
multitasking (males), less emotion regulation
2. Synaptic pruning of “briar patch” reduces gray
matter in prefrontal area, leads to better
decisions, focus, impulse control, transmitting signals more effectively
3. Increased dopaminergic activity in limbic
pathways related to pleasure seeking and risk taking, higher rewards lead to greater risks
EMERGING ADULT BRAIN
• Increased myelination yields more efficient,
white matter, improves neural connections in
prefrontal cortex for planning, complex decision making, comparing risks/rewards, higher EQ (late teens to early adulthood)
• Increased connections between limbic system
and prefrontal cortex leads to emotion
information, self control, emotion regulation (late teens)
• Executive suite: long term planning, prefrontal
Chickering’s 7 Vectors
to Adult Functioning
1. competence
2. management of emotions
3. autonomy
4. establishment of identity
5. interpersonal feelings
6. sense of purpose
Chickering
To this day, student affairs professionals rely heavily on Chickering’s model and similar models, to support their mission of facilitating college student
development through programming and advising.
What student affairs professionals have not known
until recently (but have perhaps suspected) is that the brain’s physical maturation processes make it
extremely difficult, if not impossible, for traditional-age college students to fully achieve these
developmental goals before they graduate. (Rowe, L. P.
Understanding the college student brain.
Traditional Student
Automatic
transmission
Impulsive
Doesn’t “shift,” or
modify planning or
decisions, doesn’t
think about
changing conditions
Older Adult Student
Manual shift
Understands
meaning and
steps behind
decisions
Emerging Adult Brain
•
Sleep deprivation, changes in sleep cycles
•
Interactions between faculty and other
adults
”thinking at higher levels of
cognitive complexity, engaging in
meaningful and respectful dialogue, and
modeling more sophisticated thinking”
•
Optimal cognitive functioning in areas we
know, practice, and like
(natural affinities,
Emerging Adult Brain
(
cont
.)
• Use higher levels of cognitive functioning in
familiar environments; thus, freshmen especially make mistakes with new rules, norms, customs like “fish out of water”
• new higher level cognitions develop slowly—
needs repetition
• ”hot cognition” –poor cognitions in highly
emotional areas
• out of class experiences help make connections,
Memory
Dysfunction at the junction
Short term Memory
•
Short term memory “In one ear and out the
other,” brain’s
desktop
•
20-30 seconds duration up to 20 minutes
•
brain’s “post-it note”
: 7 digits, 6 letters, 5
words
•
Repeat new information to process in short
SHORT TERM MEMORY
Difficulties
Multi-step
directions
large chunks of
material,
Copying from
board or
note-taking
Memory
…
Midway
through
the exam,
Allen
pulls out a
bigger
Working memory
•
How long is your work bench?
•
How organized is your work bench to
temporarily hold or manipulate
information?
•
e.g. Reduce fractions, alphabetize 3 names,
multiple choice answers, choose the best
response
•
Musicians have longer working memory
Long Term Memory
•
RAM,
brain’s file cabinets
•
Lifelong, indefinite storage
warehouse
•
Reconsolidation
—recall information
effectively and strengthen memories
(or add incorrect information e.g.
A barrel contains only apples & oranges.
There are twice as many apples as
Modifying TMI
• Intensive weeklong or
weekend courses
• Small group case work
• Engage emotions
• Partner quick quiz
• Use theory to solve a current
problem (info application )
• Role play (all senses)
IMPROVING
•
Strengthen neural
pathways to find
right information
•
Improve with
spaced repetition
over several days
•
Memorize new
SES
“Most-low SES kids’ brains have
adapted to survive their
circumstances, not to get A’s in
school. Their brains lack the
attention, sequencing, and
ACE
-
Neglect and Abuse
Adverse Event Women %(N=93670
Men % (n=7970)
Emotional Neglect 16.7 12.4
Physical Neglect 9.7 10.7
Emotional Abuse 13.1 7.6
Physical Abuse 27 30
Findings
Negative Outcome
Adjusted Odds Ratio at ACE 1
Adjusted Odds Ratio at ACE 4
Panic 1.3 2.5
Depression 1.5 3.6
Anxiety 1.2 2.4
Hallucinations 1.1 2.7
Sleep Disturbance 1.2 2.1
Severe Obesity 1.3 1.9
An Adjusted Odds Ratio is the risk of the
Findings
Negative Outcome
Adjusted Odds Ratio at ACE 1
Adjusted Odds Ratio at ACE 4
Smoking 1.1 1.8
Alcoholism 2.0 7.2
Illicit drug use 1.6 4.5
Injected drug use 2.3 11.1
Early intercourse (before 15) 2.1 6.6
Promiscuity (> 30 partners) 1.3 3.6
ACE
• How childhood trauma affects health across a
lifetime
• http://www.ted.com/talks/nadine_burke_harri
Emotional dysregulation
•
Imagine if students knew they
were emotionally
dysregulating?
•
I don’t do well on tests…
•
Perceived threatening situation
Smoke Alarm
:
Amygdala
•
Signals danger & provides early
warning
•
Sometimes produces a false
positive
•
Misreads situations as
Sympathetic Dominance
• Compromised Cognitive and Motor Functioning
• Reactive
• Repeating Same Mistakes
• Coercive or Hesitant Leader
Parasympathetic Dominance
• Maximal Cognitive & Motor Functioning
• Intentional
• Creative Problem Solving
• Breathing is the single most effective somatic and emotion
regulation tool
•
Exhalation is more important than
inhalation
•
Vagus nerve –activated
• Somatic Experiencing – Aware of & manage stress in body
• Discharge energy in body from trauma
• Parasympathetic Nervous System returns
On Playing a Poor Hand Well
•
Research shows that one
person or one significant
event can make a
different in a young
Helping student to enjoy learning
•
Praise effort, not ability
•
Tell them hard work pays off
•
Treat failure as a natural part of learning
•
Don’t take study skills for granted
•
Catching up is the long term goal
•
Show students that you have confidence in
REFERENCES
PBS Frontline program, “Inside the Teenage Brain,” that aired in January 2002 and can be accessed at
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sho ws/teenbrain
New York Academy of Sciences symposium,
“Adolescent Brain Development: Vulnerabilities and Opportunities.” The proceedings of the
symposium, which was held in New York City September 18-20, 2003, are available at
Balsley, Triune Brain Overview, YouTube
Bonfiglio, The Brain & Mental Skills, You Tube Damon, W. (2008). The path to purpose: How to help
young people find their calling. NY: Free Press
Fernyhough, C. (2013). Pieces of light. London: Profile Books. Casey, B.J., Jones, R., & Somerville, L. (2011). Braking and accelerating of the adolescent brain,” Journal of Research on
Adolescence 21, 21–33.
Dahl, R. (2004). Adolescent brain development: A period of vulnerabilities and opportunities. Annals of the New York
Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with poverty in mind.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Katz, (1997). On playing a poor hand well.
Millman, D. The Peaceful Warrior (film & book).
Steinberg, L. (2011). Should the science of adolescent brain development inform public policy? Issues in
Science and Technology Online, 28(3). Issues in Science
and Technology, 28(3). Retrieved from
http://issues.org/28-3/steinberg/
Willingham, D. (2009). Why don’t students like school?
