 What
can learning about the brain teach
us about how we learn?
 How
can examining our own dispositions
help us achieve a better understanding
of how we learn?
 How
can we develop strategies to help us
with the process of learning?
1. What do you think you know about your
learning and brain?
2. What questions or puzzles do you have?
3. What does the topic make you want to
explore?
For each metaphor, ask yourself....
 What
are some things that you believe
about the brain that the metaphor
captures?
 What
are some implications about you as
a learner that follow from this metaphor?
 Can
you come up with your own
metaphor for learning and the brain?
 In
what way does your metaphor capture
your thinking about the brain?
 Food, water, nutrition, sleep
and exercise are critical to
learning.
 We
are “holistic” learners the body and mind interact
• We are products of genetics and experience
• The brain works better when facts and skills
are embedded in real experiences
 The
brain’s priority is always survival - at
the expense of higher order thinking
 Stress
level
should be kept to a manageable
 Provide
opportunities to make changes to
your life
 Have
high, but reasonable expectations
 Each
person seeks to make sense out
of what he/she sees or hears
 Capitalize
on this quality!
• Present ideas, experiences that may NOT
follow what one expects:
 Speculate
 Experiment
• Question
• Hypothesize
 Tie
learning to prior knowledge
 Use
thinking routines and reflect on your
own thinking
 Start
from the “big” questions to be
answered.
•The brain develops better in concert with
others
•When learners have to talk to others about
information, they retain the information
longer and more efficiently!
•Make use of small groups,
discussions, teams, pairings, and
question and answer situations
 Retrieval
often depends upon how the
information was stored.
 Relevancy
retrieval
is one key to both storage and
 Connect
to what you know, what you are
interested in
 Provide
examples



When objects and events are registered by several
senses, they can be stored in several interrelated
memory networks.
This type of memory becomes more accessible and
powerful.
Conversation helps us link ideas/thoughts to our
own related memories. Students need time for this
to happen!!
•
•
•
•
Storytelling
Debates
Simulations
Games
- Conversations
- Role playing
- Songs
- Films




Define the “gist” - OVERVIEW
Sequence events
Plot out pictorially the information
Tell the information to others in own
words - TALK
• Peer teaching/tutoring


Amplify by giving examples
Use multiple parts of the brain
(emotional, factual, physical)
• Auditory, Visual, Kinesthetic
• Combine

Use color effectively
• Yellow and orange as attention-getters

Brain is malleable, our experiences help shape
it.

It is like a muscle – the more you exercise it, the
stronger it becomes.


Every time you try hard and learn something
new, your brains form new connections that ,over
time, make you more clever.
Intellectual development is not the natural
unfolding of intelligence, but rather the
formation of new connections brought through
EFFORT & LEARNING!
If you were to write a headline to capture
the core of your learning over the past 6
seminars, what would that headline be?
Reflect upon your own thinking about Learning and
the Brain. How Has Brain Research Influenced Your
Approach to Learning?
Draw a Mind Map.
 What
can learning about the brain teach
us about how we learn?
 How
can examining our own dispositions
help us achieve a better understanding
of how we learn?
 How
can we develop strategies to help us
with the process of learning?





Society for Neuroscience http://www.sfn.org/
Short guides and articles from the New Scientist site about the brain:
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/brain
Thinking Routines & Visible Thinking
http://pzweb.harvard.edu/vt/VisibleThinking_html_files/VisibleThinking1.html
Neuroscience for Kids http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/introb.html
The Brain from Top to Bottom
http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/index_d.html

The DANA Foundation http://www.dana.org

The Triune Brain http://www.psycheducation.org/emotion/triune%20brain.htm

Secret life of the brain: 3D tour http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/3d/index.html

How Memory Works http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0407/02.html