•Brain – Use or Lose It
•Plasticity of the Brain
•Four Factors – Mental Agility
•Study Groups
•Sleep and Memory
•The Nun Studies
•Textbook Marking
•Physical Exercise and
the Brain
•Nutrition and the Brain
•Textbook Reading
•Environment Shapes the
Brain
•Mapping
•G.A.P. Study Strategy
•Test Anxiety
•Imagery and the Nervous
System
•ADHD
•Mental Exercise and the
Brain
•Meditation and Learning
•Stress and Learning
•Mental Action Imagery
•Test-Wiseness
•Cornell Note-Taking
The Principle is “Use It or Lose It”
The human brain’s amazing plasticity
enables it to continually rewire and learnnot just through academic study, but
through experience, thought, action, and
emotion.
We can strengthen our neural pathways
with brain exercise.
A User’s Guide to the Brain – John Ratey M.D.
Use It or Lose It
Brain is a Dynamic Ecosysystem
The various neurons and networks are
engaged in fierce competition for
incoming stimuli.
Networks that succeed in processing new
experiences or behaviors end up as
strong, permanent members of the
neuronal neighborhood.
While unused networks, cut off from the
ebb and flow of information, wither away
and die.
Two Profound Discoveries
1. The brain uses the outside world to shape itself.
2. It goes through crucial periods in which brain
cells must have certain kinds of stimulation to
develop such powers as vision, language, smell,
muscle control, and reasoning.
Experience
Determines How Brain is Put Together
The world outside is the brain’s real food.
The brain gobbles up its external environment in bits
and chunks through its sensory system: vision,
smell, touch, and taste.
Then the digested world is reassembled in the form of
trillions of connections between brain cells that are
constantly growing or dying, or becoming stronger or
weaker.
Experience determines how our brain is put together.
What the Brain can do depends on whether or not it is
used.
Reassembling Trillions of Connection
Studies
Vision: convert brain cells that interpret sounds into
cells that process visual stimuli demonstrated the
interchangeability of brain cells in early development.
Touch: (one finger task) demonstrated that mature
brain cells can perform totally new tasks.
Smell: within seconds of the first time a newborn
smells its mother’s body, indelible networks rapidly
form in the brain.
Sound: without proper stimulation, the connections
that allow brain cells to process sound, and thus
language, become scrambled. Experience or lack of
it, can physically cause change in the brain and
cause mental disorders.
Brain-Based Learning
-Neurons
www.educ.drake.edu/romig/cogito/brain_and_mind.html
Neurons -- carry electrical charges and
make chemical connections to other
neurons
Cell Body -- contains the nucleus
Axons -- long fibers (extending from the
cell body) that transmit messages
Dendrites -- short fibers (surrounding the
cell body) that receive messages
Synapses -- tiny gaps between axons and
dendrites (with chemical bridges) that
transmit messages
Brain-Based Learning
-The Dendrite Song
(sing to “Clementine”)
Use your dendrites,
Use your dendrites,
To connect throughout your brain.
Take in info, analyze it,
Grow some new ones
Unrestrained.
Axons send out
Neurotransmitters
To the dendrites all around
Across the synapse
Jumps the impulse
New ideas can now abound.
Leah B., a graduate student in elementary
education at Long Island Univ. Leah
Stimulation
Is what the brain needs
To make dendrites
stretch and grow.
New connections
Make us smarter
In what we think and
what we know.
Use your dendrites,
Use your dendrites,
To connect throughout
your brain
Take in info, analyze it,
Grow some new ones
Unrestrained.
Development
CORTEX
80% of the human brain – cortex has regions
specialized for particular functions that make us
human:
•associating words with objects
•forming relationships and reflecting on them
Four Factors – Mental Agility
Four factors which seem to determine mental
agility in old age:
1.Education, which appears to increase the number
and strength of connections between brain cells.
2.Strenuous exercise, which improves blood flow to
the brain.
3.Lung function, which makes sure the blood is
adequately oxygenated.
4.The feeling that what you do makes a difference
in your life. (Let’s add sleep!)
Sleep and Memory
•Recent research reveals that "sleeping on it" is
more than just a good idea.
•In fact, neuroscientists now say that sleep is
absolutely critical for key brain functions including
learning, memory and performance.
• Nearly half of the population (47 percent)
mistakenly believe that the brain rests when the body
sleeps. The opposite is true.
•Sleep allows the brain to go to work, filing and
storing the day's events. "Most people incorrectly
think the brain is resting or recuperating during
sleep.
•Actually, some parts of the brain are more active
when you're asleep," www.bettersleep.org/media_zone/think.html
Sleep and Memory
•Neuroscientists found that sleep allows the brain to
take care of the business of memory consolidation.
•"When you're asleep, the brain is processing
information accumulated when you were awake.
•It's no longer storing new input; it's organizing
information,"
•When a person is sleep-deprived, the brain's ability
to move information from temporary memory to longterm stores is impaired. As a result, the information is
lost or forgotten.
•"Sleep is a time when the brain can rehearse recently
learned material. "If you're sleep-deprived, you'll
remember less of newly presented information."
Sleep and Memory
• Harvard Medical School researchers, led by assistant
professor of psychiatry Robert Stickgold, found that
people who slept after learning and practicing a new task
remembered more about it the next day than people who
stayed up all night after learning the same thing.
• Getting less than 6 hours a night can affect coordination,
reaction time and judgment, they said, posing "a very
serious risk."
• They found that people who drive after being awake for
17 to 19 hours performed worse than those with a blood
alcohol level of .05 percent.
www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/11/22/sleep.memory.ap/ &
www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/09/20/sleep.deprivation/index.html
Textbook Marking refers to anything you do on or near the text once
you have identified something as being important to learn.
Textbook Marking can be
•underlining,
•highlighting,
•coding (like boxing a technical term and it's definition),
•simple labels (like "ex" and "def"),
•summarizing,
•outlining,
•charting.
Marking is vital because it gets you actively involved in selecting
and organizing the information and gets you writing to start the
rehearsal process. www.acad.sunytccc.edu/instruct/grossman/Reading.htm
Highlighting:
Highlighting tells you at some later point that the information was
important. By itself highlighting is next to worthless.
What it doesn't tell you is WHY OR WHAT MAKES that piece of
information was important!
This is a key - it is so much more valuable, both as you are reading
and later, to indicate what made this worth marking.
Don't just highlight it,
write "def" next to it.
Or code it, along with all your other definitions, in green highlighter.
Or box the term and underline the definition with a regular pen.
Or write the term and the definition in the margin.
All of these are more active strategies that identify what made the
piece of information important to learn.
Some other tips and techniques:
Try to read one heading or sub-heading's worth of material before
marking rather than marking sentence-by-sentence. This gives
you a clearer picture of the main points and how the details fit
together.
•Try to develop a consistent coding system.
•Use brackets of various types in the margins (with labels, of
course) rather than highlighting or underlining whole sections of
text. For example: The author defined the term "boycott" and
then gave a one-paragraph illustration of Rosa Parks and riding
the bus... You could put a bracket next to the whole Rosa Parks
paragraph and label it "BOYCOTT EX. - ROSA PARKS"
•Write margin markings in complete points and include numbers
when appropriate. For example: 3 types of memory
•Write markings as questions. For example: What are the 6 steps
in SQ4R?
Brain-Based Learning
Application

Food- Nutrition - Oxygen
We all breathe the same air, but we all don’t have the
same oxygen-carrying capacity to our brains. Physical
activity increases the flow of oxygen to the brain, and nonrepetitive movements such as those often found in dance,
gymnastics, or martial arts have surprising positive effects
on academic performance, especially on spelling ability
and reading comprehension.
http://thunder1.cudenver.edu//OTE/nn/vol9/9_1.htm
Brain-Based Learning
Application

Food- Nutrition - Dehydration
The brain is more than 80% water. In 1995,
neurophysiologist C. Hannaford noted that poor learning
performance can often be traced simply to mild
dehydration. Dehydration is a special problem in areas
like Denver, which are typified by dry air and high altitude.
Learning specialists advocate eight to fifteen glasses of
water daily to optimize learning performance. Soda,
coffee, and common tea are considered as substandard
water substitutes. Although some professors ban eating
and drinking in class, one should rethink such policies,
especially with respect to bottled water.
http://thunder1.cudenver.edu//OTE/nn/vol9/9_1.htm
Brain-Based Learning
Application

Food- Nutrition - Glucose
Glucose is a major nutrient used by the brain, and
glucose is most depleted after a night’s sleep. Thus
“Breakfast of Champions” has special meaning for
academics. Students who skip breakfast to attend a
morning class will not be at their best potential for
learning or participation.
http://thunder1.cudenver.edu//OTE/nn/vol9/9_1.htm
Textbook Reading Tips
Before You Read
• FFind a comfortable place where there are few
distractions. A distraction can be the television,
other people, or even your bed!
• GGather your pencils, hi-liters, reading glasses,
snacks, and any other necessary materials before
you open your book. Otherwise, you will have to
interrupt your studying to retrieve these things.
• QQuickly skim the pages you plan to read in
order to get an idea of what you'll be learning
about. If it is a large assignment, locate logical
places in the text to take breaks.
www.lsc.cis.pitt.edu/services/studyskills/workshops/texttips.html
Textbook Reading Tips
While You Read
•RRead small portions of the text, and then try to
summarize what you've read in your own words.
•TMake notes or highlight only after you read the
entire paragraph or section. Otherwise, you might
waste time recording every little detail while
completely missing the main idea.
•TMake breaks periodically. Non-stop studying is
tiring, and exhaustion makes learning much more
difficult. Spread very large assignments out over
several days.
www.lsc.cis.pitt.edu/services/studyskills/workshops/texttips.html
Textbook Reading Tips
After You Read
•PPeriodically review your notes to keep the material
fresh.
•UUse other resources to understand topics which
weren't clear from the text. Examples of such
resources: other textbooks, your notes, the professor,
other students, etc.
•MMake up questions to test yourself on the material.
www.lsc.cis.pitt.edu/services/studyskills/workshops/texttips.html
Learning
Neuron Competition to Make Connections
•Neurons are constantly competing to make
connections.
•An accurate map of the brain would be different for
each of us, and would shift over time.
•Changes in environmental input continually move
the boundaries.
•Connections which receive input frequently will
expand and take up more area than those that
receive input less frequently.
A User’s Guide to the Brain – John Ratey M.D.
Learning
Changing Pattern of Thinking
Changing your pattern of thinking also changes the
brain’s structure.
Example: Obsessive-compulsive patients who
changed their problematic behavior by repeatedly
not giving in to an urge, and deliberately engaging
in other activity instead, showed a decrease in
brain activity associated with the original,
troublesome impulse.
A User’s Guide to the Brain – John Ratey M.D.
Learning
Neuron Competition to Make Connections
Neurons get stuck in a rut of abnormal patterns of
activity, becoming under active or overactive or just
nonperforming.
A person who forcibly changes his behavior can
break the deadlock by requiring neurons to change
connections to enact the new behavior.
Important: Changing the brain’s firing patterns
through repeated thought and action is also what is
responsible for the initiation of shelf-choice,
freedom, will, and discipline.
A User’s Guide to the Brain – John Ratey M.D.
Mapping
http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/8.5d.html
G.A.P. (Gather, Arrange, and Present)
G.A.P. (Gather, Arrange, and Present) strategy is a tool that can
benefit developmental reading instruction.
G.A.P. teaches students to gather up all the ideas being presented
from their textbook, the supplementary material, the lecture, and
even other sources they collect in order to understand.
Next, we teach students to arrange those ideas into main ideas,
details, and examples by adding them to their knowledge map
created from the textbook.
Then, we teach students to confirm that they understand by
presenting those ideas to others to confirm what is known.
Adding information to existing knowledge maps and convincing
themselves that they know by presenting that information to
others guides students through the thinking process of converting
simple information into complex knowledge.
www.ci.swt.edu/courses/CI5318/Caverly98.htm
Brain-Based Learning -Reorganizes
Itself Good and Bad Ways
When someone can’t understand language, or can’t read
or do math, or has some behavioral problem, people tend
to think it is caused by a defect in the brain.
“It’s not a brain defect or limitation at all. These kind of
problems really represent a different learning pathway
that the brain has taken.
Learning disabilities are usually learned.
Akin to the discovery that germs cause disease.
Kotulak, Ronald, Inside the Brain, 1997
What can you do to control test anxiety?
•Be well prepared for the test.
•Include as much self-testing in your review as possible.
•Maintain a healthy lifestyle -- tough to do when you have to
study for exams: get enough sleep, good nutrition, exercise,
some personal "down" time, and a reasonable amount of
social interaction.
•As you anticipate the exam, think positively, i.e., "I can do OK
on this exam." "I have studied and I do know my stuff."
•Do some serious "thought stopping" if you find that you are
mentally comparing yourself to your peers or thinking about
what your parents, partner, children, or other significant
others may say about your performance on this exam.
•Before you go to bed on the night before the exam, make
sure to collect together anything that you will need for the
exam -- pen, pencil, ruler, eraser, calculator, etc. Double check
the time of the exam and the location.
•Get to the exam in plenty of time. www.sdc.uwo.ca/learning/mcanx.html
•Set the alarm clock and then get a good night's sleep before
the exam!
•Don't talk to friends about the exam material just before going
into the exam.
•Sit in a location in the exam room where you will be distracted
as little as possible.
•As the papers are distributed, calm yourself down by closing
your eyes and taking some slow deep breaths.
•Make sure to read carefully any instructions on the top page
of the exam.
•As you work on the exam, focus only on the exam, not on
what other students are doing.
•If you feel very anxious or even panicky in the test, take a few
minutes time out and calm yourself down. Stretch your arms
and legs and then relax them again. Do this a couple of times.
Take a few slow deep breaths. Do some positive internal selftalk; say to yourself, "I will be OK, I can do this." Then take
your time and get back into the questions.
What can you do to control test anxiety?
If the exam is more difficult than you anticipated, try to focus
and just do your best at that point. It might be enough to get
you through, even with a reasonable grade!
•When the exam is over, treat yourself. If you do not have any
other commitments, maybe you can go to see a movie with a
friend. If you have other exams to study for, you may have to
postpone a larger treat, but maybe a half hour for a coffee
with a friend or a quick swim in the pool will be the pick up
that you need.
www.sdc.uwo.ca/learning/mcanx.html
Introduction - Test Anxiety
Test anxiety is complex, but the remedy is
fairly straight forward if you study using good
study skills. The following lessons will tell you
about anxiety, its symptoms, some things to
know about learning that can help, what is
usually going on mentally, how imagery can
trigger anxiety, the relationship between
muscle tension and relaxation, and an exercise
that is very effective in reducing test anxiety.
NOTE: Just because you forget on a test does
not mean that you necessarily have test
anxiety. The most forgetting occurs within the
first 24 hours of learning - 50%, and the
average student forgets 80% within 2 weeks.
You may merely need better memory study
skills.
Test Anxiety
Anxiety is fear of the unknown.
I turn the corner and come face to face with a
tiger. I start to shake - That's fear.
I studied for my test and know the information. I
walk in to take the test and my stomach gets
butterflies - That's anxiety. Anxiety has a "what
if" quality about it. "What if" I don't pass the
test? It is experienced from a past or future
reference point with future consequences that
may not even exist.
Test Anxiety
State and Context Dependency
Hang in there; all of this will come together in the
Progressive Muscle Relaxation and Imagery Exercise.
Context dependency states that where you learn
information, you recall it better there. If you are at the
kitchen table by the refrig when studying, then you
will recall the information better there than anywhere.
In the imaging exercise we will do later, we will take
advantage of this information.
Test anxiety
Past, Present and Future
If you have studied and know your information, but
find yourself getting anxiety gitters just at the thought
of taking a test, it may be that the test itself has
nothing to do with triggering your anxiety. What is
happening is that you are going to the past and
making the past your present, thus affecting your
thouhgts about the future. Let's move to the next page
and find out what is happening to cause this.
Imagery and the Nervous System
Listen carefully - The nervous system can't tell the
difference between imagery and reality.
If you sit in a chair close your eyes and practice
shooting free throws with a basketball in your
mind's eye, studies show that you will improve just
as much as you would if you had actually practiced
shooting free throws.
Remember Context Dependency in an earlier lesson
- you recall information better where you learned it.
Ideally, you would study in the classroom where
you are going to take the test. But the world isn't
ideal, so we go for the next best thing.
Imagery and the Nervous System – cont.
We study and learn our information,
Then relax our muscles
Next we review by sitting in a chair with our eyes
closed and image the classroom where we are
going to take the test in as much detail as possible.
Then, we mentally go over the information while
imaging the classroom.
It works just like studying in the classroom. The
imaging exercise we do following the Progressive
Muscle Relaxation Exercise. This pairs relaxation
with the information and with the test taking
situation.
Muscle Tension and Relaxation
Here is a simple, but powerful piece of information.
There is a one-to-one correspondence between
muscle tension and anxiety. To the extent you have
muscle tension, to that extent you are anxious. If
you can relax your muscles, you will reduce anxiety.
If you can train your muscles to relax deeply on
command, then you will have taken a giant step
toward being able to reduce anxiety. That is the
function of the Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Exercise to come.
Muscle Tension and Relaxation –cont.
One way of reducing anxiety is through progressive
muscle relaxation.
What is it and how does it work? The process of
progressive muscle relaxation is simply that of
isolating one muscle group, creating tension for 8 -10
seconds, and then letting the muscle relax and the
tension go. For example: take your right hand, tighten
it into a fist, and notice what happens. You can feel the
muscle tension increase in you hand and up your
forearm. The longer you hold it, the more tense it
becomes. You become aware that it doesn’t feel good.
In fact, it begins to hurt. This is an example of
exaggerated muscle tension. If such tension exists
around the neck you get a neck ache, and if it is in the
forehead you get a headache. Continue to hold the
tension and now, all at once, relax and let go.
PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION EXERCISE
While sitting quietly and comfortably: Bend your right
hand back at the wrist and briefly hold the tension. Now
relax.
Now do the same thing with the left hand. Hold the tension
and now relax. This time tighten both hands into fists and
hold the tension. Feel it spread up the arms towards the
elbows. Now relax.
Now bend both arms at the elbows and raise your hands
up towards your shoulders. Tighten up the muscles in the
biceps. Hold it. Now relax.
These three exercises have used the major muscles in the
arms and started them relaxing. If you don’t move them
around, they will continue to relax becoming more and
more relaxed, and you can forget about them
Next, turn our attention to your face. For your forehead raise
your eyebrows up a far as you can and hold the tension. Now
relax.
For your eyes close them and then squeeze the eyelids tightly
together. Now relax and open you eyes.
For your jaw you just bite down and clamp your teeth together.
Feel the tension along the jaw. Now relax. These three
exercises have started the face relaxing.
For your neck just bend your head forward as if trying to touch
your chin to your chest. Feel the tension along the back of the
neck and now relax.
For your shoulders just raise them up as high as you can and
notice the tension. Now let them drop all at once and relax.
For your chest you do two things at once. You take a deep
breath and hold it while at the same time trying to touch your
shoulder blades together by pulling your arms back. Hold it.
Now relax.
Progressive Relaxation cont.
For your stomach you just pull in as if trying to touch your
backbone with stomach. Now relax.
For your back you arch out and away from the chair and you
can feel tension along the spine. Now relax.
With your feet flat on the floor, press down and feel the
tension spread up the back of the legs. Now relax.
For the right thigh raise your leg up on front of you and fell
the tension build. Now relax.
Now do the same thing with the left leg and relax.
Finally, for your feet bend your toes up as if pointing towards
the ceiling and feel the tension around the feet and ankles.
Once again, relax
Go to the next page for the imagery exercise.
The imagery exercise is to be done immediately following the
muscle exercise.
IMAGERY EXERCISE
Remain sitting comfortably with your eyes closed Imagine you
are sitting in the classroom where you are going to take a test.
Look to the front of the room; notice the chalkboard, the walls,
the color, the instructor's desk or anything that is in the front
of the room.
Then do the same for each side of the room.
Next, notice who is sitting around you.
Now observe the instructor enter the room and begin passing
out the test papers.
When you get your paper, go over it by recalling everything
you studied. Keep your eyes closed and keep the image of the
room in your mind's eye while you go over the information.
That's it and it works.
Brain-Based Learning
-New Concept of Brain
The brain has the ability
•T* to rewire itself,
•G* grow new parts from damaged cells,
•A* and even make new cells.
This is called plasticity.
Kotulak, Ronald, Inside the Brain, 1997
Learning
Neuron Competition to Make Connections
The competition to gain more representation in the
brain explains why babies born with cataracts that
cloud their vision must have them removed by six
months or never gain sight.
The brain must learn to see
•making connections
•stimulating them with inputs from the retina.
If pathways aren’t stimulated, they are eliminated as
not useful.
Learning
Remodeling Our Brain
•We always have the ability to remodel our brains.
•To change the wiring in one skill, you must
engage in some activity that is unfamiliar, novel to
you but related to that skill.
•Because simply repeating the same activity only
maintains already established connections.
•Try puzzles to strengthen connections involved
with spatial skills.
•Writing to boost the language area.
•Debating to help your reasoning networks.
Learning
Challenge Our Brain
Activities that challenge your brain actually expand
the number and strength of neural connections
devoted to the skill.
When first established, these routines require the
formation of new and different synapses and
connections to neural assemblies.
Once mastered they are pushed down to the
subcortical areas and become hard-wired.
Neurons initially recruited for the learning process
are freed to go to other assignments.
This is the fundamental nature of learning in the
brain.
Why Form A Study Group?
Group study has long been a successful function in the
college environment. Students coming together, sharing
ideas, and preparing is a delightful part of the college
environment. Group study is a helpful way to re-enforce
the personal first time study and expand the range of
learning.
1. Group study can build confidence in each
student's ability and the group's ability to
prepare for the most demanding tests.
2. Group study helps each individual to see the
differing perspectives of their fellow students.
3. Group study creates an opportunity for each
student to expand the material the teacher has
given.
www.byu.edu/ccc/learning/groupstr.shtm
How To Form A Study Group
Study group sessions can divert into a social
discussion that leads the group away from the
academic purpose. To improve the possibility of
success students can follow some simple steps
as they form their groups.
1. Establish a shared purpose. In the very first
meeting a statement of purpose should be
formed and goals of the group should be
defined. These could be as simple as meeting
every week as a specific time or as complex as
designing a possible test to review with the
teacher.
www.byu.edu/ccc/learning/groupstr.shtm
How to Form a Study Group?
2. Clarify roles and practices. A chairperson should
be selected in the first meeting. The role of each
student should be defined. For example, the
group may want to determine how prepared each
student should be before each meeting. The
group may want to be serious enough to
establish a rule that eliminates a student for lack
of participation. The more specific the roles and
expectations, the more successful the group will
be.
3. Plan a schedule of events. The chairperson and
the group should take time to plan the material
(chapters, lectures, books, articles, notes) to be
covered in each future meeting.
www.byu.edu/ccc/learning/groupstr.shtm
How to Form a Study Group?
4. Conduct effective meetings. The chairperson
should be expected to set a meeting agenda
and keep it. There should be an outline to
follow that will keep the group on track and
effective. The chairperson will set the tone for
the meetings by setting expectations for each
member in the upcoming agenda. The
chairperson could set the expectation by
assignment or by volunteers.
www.byu.edu/ccc/learning/groupstr.shtm
What Do You Do Before The Study Group Meets?
1. Finalize your lecture notes by completing the
unfinished sections and placing them in the
desired format. Be sure to highlight the items
that seem most important and make a summary
which includes the most salient points.
2. Complete your required reading. It is preferred
that you take notes as you read. At a minimum,
class reading should be completed and the
important passages highlighted or marked in
the margins.
www.byu.edu/ccc/learning/groupstr.shtm
What Do You Do Before The Study Group Meets?
3. Write three to five knowledge questions that you
perceive the instructor may ask on exams. It is
important to get a feel for the type of
examination the teacher will use.
4. Draft three to five comprehension or application
questions from the notes and reading material.
These questions should be created to help you
understand more difficult concepts the teacher
may use in the future tests. Comprehension
questions are those that ask the student to
rephrase a topic into the students words.
Application questions are those which ask the
student to solve a problem or demonstrate an
ability. These questions are usually problems to
solve through short reply or short essay.
What Do You Do Before The Study Group Meets?
5. Compose several creative essay questions
which the most demanding instructors would
ask on exams. It is helpful to write these
questions which cause you to analysis a
concept, synthesize several concepts, or
evaluate a concept by making a personal
judgement. Write these more difficult questions
even if you perceive that the teacher will not
test on these levels. Doing so will help you get
into deep learning habits, and it will also help
you learn principles that your memory will
retain longer.
www.byu.edu/ccc/learning/groupstr.shtm
What Do You Do In Group Meetings?
Group study should be a systematic review
of the material that each individual student
has already covered in his or her first time
study sessions.
www.byu.edu/ccc/learning/groupstr.shtm
What Do You Do In Group Meetings?
•
Review lecture note summaries.
Each student should have condensed lecture notes
into what they thought was most important. A
review of this material will give members of the
group a chance to share their different
perspectives of what was important from the
lectures.
Sharing is the important function here, it will build
confidence and bring the group closer together as
they see themselves share success on the exams.
Many times students will wait until just before tests to
do these reviews. Generally, students who waits to
do the reviews end up re-learning most of the
material and when the test comes are less
prepared.
www.byu.edu/ccc/learning/groupstr.shtm
What Do You Do In Group Meetings?
2. Review concepts that have been gleaned from
reading material.
The highlighted concepts from the reading material
can be compared.
This process will enable each student to see if they
are identifying the same or different concepts in
their reading.
This process can be enhance by writing out a
summary of the important points in the text
before the group meeting.
If the concepts are written they are easy to compare
as a group and are more easily remembered at
test time.
www.byu.edu/ccc/learning/groupstr.shtm
What Do You Do In Group Meetings?
3. Answer the questions you prepared in your
first-time study.
Sharing the questions that each students felt the
teacher would ask is extremely effective.
For example, if each student in a study group of
seven people brought 15 questions collected
during a week of lectures, there would be 105
probable questions to survey.
Yes, many will overlap, but those are the
questions that will most likely appear.
The many other questions will broaden the
perspective of the group by displaying
differing points of view.
www.byu.edu/ccc/learning/groupstr.shtm
What Do You Do In Group Meetings?
4. Review essay questions by outlining possible
answers.
For example, take an essay question that the group
feels certain will appear on the exam and have
each student create an outline, perhaps several
outlines.
This process will help develop writing skills by
allowing each student in the group to see the
various approaches that can be taken in essay
answers
www.byu.edu/ccc/learning/groupstr.shtm
Learning
Challenge Our Brain – Nun Example
David Snowdon –
School Sisters of Notre Dame, Mankota Hill, Minn.
Scientist had shown that the physical destruction
wrought by Alzheimer’s didn’t inevitably lead to
mental deterioration.
Theory: some folks might have an extra reserve of
mental capacity that kept them functioning despite
loss of brain tissue.
Sisters with less education had smaller brains at
death.
Time, The Nun Study, May 14, 2001
Learning
Challenge Our Brain – Nun Example
Study: Analyze the autobiographies for evidence of extra
brain capacity.
Language usage- “idea density” indicator of education level,
vocabulary and general knowledge.
•GGrammatical complexity was an indicator of how well
memory is functioning.
•SSisters who showed signs of Alzheimer’s had consistently
authored essays low in both idea density and grammatical
complexity 60 years earlier.
Time, The Nun Study, May 14, 2001
Learning
Challenge Our Brain – Nun Example
Idea density is a powerful predictor of Alzheimer’s disease.
•Snowdon can predict with 85% to 90% accuracy from
writings 60 years earlier.
•Snowdon maintains that the axions and dendrites that
usually shrink with age branch out and make new
connections if there is enough intellectual stimulation,
providing a bigger backup system if pathways fail.
Learning
Challenge Our Brain – Nun Example
Sister Bernadette, who had shown no outward signs of
Alzheimer’s and whose youthful autobiography was rich
with ideas and grammatical complexity, turned out at death
to be riddled with the plaques and tangles of Alzheimer’s
Neurons that Fire together
Wire together.
Input to the brain shapes the way we
experience the next input.
We are constantly priming our
perceptions, matching the world to what
we expect to sense and thus making it
what we perceive it to be.
A User’s Guide to the Brain – John Ratey M.D.
Learning
What Happens During New
Experiences?
First, we must reject the idea that our brains are
static storage depots of information.
Rather, the nerves are constantly making new
connections that will serve us better in the things
we do frequently.
The brain can be shaped by experiences.
The brain’s nerve cells self-reorganize when they
have been trained enough by repeated contact with
a particular stimuli.
A User’s Guide to the Brain – John Ratey M.D.
Learning- Ability to Adjust Perception
What Happens During New
Experiences?
•The act of perception is a lot more than capturing an
incoming stimulus.
•It requires a form of expectation, of knowing what is
about to confront us and preparing for it.
•We automatically and unconsciously fit our
sensations into categories that we have learned,
often distorting them in the process.
A User’s Guide to the Brain – John Ratey M.D.
Learning- Ability to Adjust Perception
What Happens During New
Experiences?
The brain needs to predict, in order to fill in the gaps
between fragments of images we see, is also the very
reason we are prone to visual illusions.
A User’s Guide to the Brain – John Ratey M.D.
Physical Exercise and the Brain
•Increase the amount of blood that gets to the brain.
•Augments the number and density of blood vessels
in the areas that need them most: motor cortex and
cerebellum.
•Short sessions of vigorous aerobic exercise,
usually in a program that lasts for several weeks,
seem to be the most helpful for mild to clinical
depression.
•Men who burned 2,500 calories a day in aerobic
activity were 28% less likely to develop clinical
depression.
•Exercise increases the neurotransmitters
(norepinephrine, dopamine & serotonin) associated
with mood, cognition, behavior and personality.
ADHD and the Brain
•Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) can
result from a malfunction of the attention system.
•Most often, ADHD individuals are deficient in the
motivational sensations of pleasure and pain, and as
a result they struggle to sustain the drive required to
complete important but tedious tasks that only
reward after a long period of time.
•Example, doing well in school to eventually take on
college or a career.
A User’s Guide to the Brain – John Ratey M.D.
ADHD and the Brain
•ADHD individuals seek the intensity of the present
because their attention and reward systems are
fueled by the pursuit of immediate pleasures.
•The neurobiological imperative may be so strong
that it easily overpowers the reasoned advice of the
frontal lobes, such as considering the
consequences.
•Recent knowledge points to neurochemical
evidence to show that ADHD is a motivational
deficit, reward deficiency syndrome, which results
from a deficiency of pleasure neurotransmitters
(dopamine, serration and endorphins) in the reward
systems of the brain.
A User’s Guide to the Brain – John Ratey M.D.
ADHD: Dopamine and the Brain
•Dopamine may represent the link between the
reward, novelty detection, and executive functions,
and also between the overall attention system and
learning.
•Dopamine strengthens the prolonged chemical
firing of messages between neurons allows for
unfettered communications between neurons.
•Dopamine may be the link between rewarding
sensations of pleasure and long-term memory.
A User’s Guide to the Brain – John Ratey M.D.
ADHD: Dopamine and the Brain
•Dopamine, the “learning transmitter” may also be the
link between the motivational reward and motor
systems:
•Problems with working memory ( a form of short-term
Memory) correlate highly with dopamine deficiencies.
•It is working memory that enables us to maintain
continuity in our attention from one moment in our lives
to another.
•Substances such as nicotine, cocaine, chocolate,
marijuana, carbohydrates, and alcohol increase the level
of dopamine.
•High-risk behaviors or constantly confronting novel
and challenging situations forces sustained release of
A User’s Guide to the Brain – John Ratey M.D.
dopamine.
Working Memory
The initial transition from rest to either a working
memory or a reading task was accompanied by
significant increases in extracellular dopamine
concentration of similar magnitude. During a
sustained word paired-associates learning protocol,
increase in dopamine release in the amygdala related
to learning performance.
www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v4/n2/full/nn0201_201.html
Physical Exercise and the Brain
Exercises that involve complex movements cause
more connections to grow between neurons.
Exercise that focuses on balance and coordination
strengthen neural networks in the cerebellum.
They also affect the basal ganglia and corpus
callosum, sharpening memory and increasing
capacity to master new information.
Part of the reason for the generalized slowing down
effect as we age is that the body becomes less
efficient at delivering nutrients to the brain. Exercise
gets more nutrients to the brain.
Older men who stay in shape do better on mental
tests.
A User’s Guide to the Brain – John Ratey M.D.
Movement and the Brain
Motor function is crucial to all the other brain functions,
including memory, emotion, language, and learning.
The many connections between motor and cognitive
functions suggests that any sort of physical activity can
improve our motor function and therefore our cognition.
The reason is that the primary motor cortex, basal ganglia,
and cerebellum, which coordinate physical movement, also
coordinate the movement of thought.
Fundamental motions like walking and running trigger the
most deeply ingrained neural firing patterns in these brain
regions.
To improve our brains, we need to move our bodies.
Mental Exercise and the Brain
•Mental exercise causes physical changes in the brain,
strengthening connections between brain cells called
synapses and actually building new connections.
•Education and interesting work protect people against
Alzheimer’s. The more connections, the more resistant.
•Below 8th grade, twice the risk of Alzheimer’s.
•Lower education and unstimulating work, 3 times the risk.
•The aging brain retains much the same capacity as a
child’s brain to rewire itself. Not as good at repair.
Mental Exercise and the Brain
Mental exercise strengthens and even renews
neural connections, keeping the brain flexible and
resilient.
Evidence indicates that there is no great loss of
neurons in old age.
PET scans show that the frontal lobes of a twentyfive year old and a seventy-five year old glow
equally bright after the same memory test.
Decline in old age is caused primarily by lack of
mental exercise.
New Mental Tasks and the Brain
New mental tasks increase neural connections and
help the brain become more adaptive to future
events.
You have the best chance of growing connections
between your axons and dendrites by tackling
activities that are unfamiliar to you.
One of the brain’s most basic principles:
USE IT OR LOSE IT – never too late to start
By constantly challenging you brain to learn new
things, you may develop more neural connections
that help you delay the onset of Alzheimer's
disease, recover from stroke, and live a longer life.
Meditation and the Brain
•The body has a physical reaction to this altered
state of consciousness.
•Sympathetic nervous system activity decreases
•Metabolism slows down
•Heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rates fall
•Electrical skin conductance decreases
•Blood flow decreases
•Relieve chronic pain and migraines
•Soothe depression and anxiety
•Brain’s own electrical activity: large numbers of
neurons fire in a pleasing synchrony.
Meditation and the Brain
– Relaxation Response
Reduced stress and anxiety.
Improved Mental Abilities:
Increased intelligence, increased creativity,
improved learning ability, improved memory,
improved reaction time, higher levels of moral
reasoning, improved academic achievement,
greater orderliness of brain functioning, increased
self-actualization.
Improved Health:
There are many activities that can produce the
Relaxation Response.
http://tm.org/charts/chart_08.html
Brain-Based Learning
Application

Stress
Environmental factors are the key ingredients of
optimal learning.
For example, studies point to the effects of stress on
learning. “When we feel stressed, our adrenal glands
release a peptide called cortisol. Our body responds
with cortisol whether it faces physical, environmental,
academic, or emotional danger. This triggers a string
of physical reactions including depression of the
immune system, tensing of the large muscles, bloodclotting, and increasing blood pressure.
www.kcet.org/education/brainatwork/proceedings_review.htm
Imagery Should be as Vivid as Possible
A strong and potent image will be more effective and 'real' than a
weak one when it is presented to the appropriate nerve pathways
in your brain. Images can be made more real by:
•Using all your senses in an image. Touch, sound, smell, taste
and body position (kinaesthesia) should be combined with visual
imagination to create highly 'real' images.
•Observing detail of sensations such as the feeling of the grip of
a bat, the texture of clothes, the smell of sweat, the feeling and
flow of a karate punch, the sound of a large crowd, or the size
and shape of a stadium in which you will compete. These can be
observed in detail in reality, and then incorporated into imagery
later to make it more vivid.
•Imagining yourself within your body feeling and sensing all
going on around you rather than looking on at yourself from a
remote position. If you imagine yourself within yourself, then the
image is more connected, realistic and involved than a remote
view.
Mental Action Imagery
Test-Wiseness
1. Which of the following are the bases of
RNA nucleotides?
a. Adenine
b. Guanine
c. Cytosine
d. Uracil
e. All the above
Select an occasional ALL the Above
Which of the following are the bases of
RNA nucleotides?
a. Adenine
b. Guanine
c. Cytosine
d. Uracil
e. All the above
1. The actual process by which the cell splits
into two new cells is called:
a. Telophase
b. Anaphase
c. Mitosis
d. Metaphase
Select the More General Answer
• The actual process by which the cell splits
into two new cells is called:
a. Telophase
b. Anaphase
c. Mitosis
d. Metaphase
1. Nutrients can pass through a cell
membrane by
a. Diffusion
b. Diffusion and endocytosis
c. Endoplasmic movement
d. Endocytosis
Select the More Inclusive Answer
• Nutrients can pass through a cell
membrane by
a. Diffusion
b. Diffusion and endocytosis
c. Endoplasmic movement
d. Endocytosis
True or False
1. All oxidative reactions occur inside the
mitochondria.
Absolutes are seldom the correct answer
True or False
1. All oxidative reactions occur inside the
mitochondria.
Some Absolutes
All birds fly south for the winter.
The sole reason he works is to earn money.
Birds never fly south for the winter.
Children always love their parents.
1. In the human body the fluid found outside
the cells is called?
a. Environmental fluid
b. Extracellular fluid
c. Circulatory fluid
d. Intracellular fluid
Select one of Opposites
One of two opposites are usually the correct
answer.
• In the human body the fluid found outside
the cells is called?
a. Environmental fluid
b. Extracellular fluid
c. Circulatory fluid
d. Intracellular fluid
1. How many pairs of chromosomes do
humans have?
a. 27
b. 25
c. 23
d. 21
Get rid of Lowest number and
Highest number
1. How many pairs of chromosomes do
humans have?
a. 27
b. 25
c. 23
d. 21
1. The membrane surrounding the cells is
called?
a. Golgi apparatus
b. Nuclear membrane
c. Nuclear envelope
d. Cell membrane
Don’t select answers with Same Meaning
Two answers with the same meaning can’t
both be right.
• The membrane surrounding the cells is
called?
a. Golgi apparatus
b. Nuclear membrane
c. Nuclear envelope
d. Cell membrane
Cornell Note Taking
www.dartmouth.edu/admin/acskills/no_frames/lsg/cornell.html
Cornell Note Taking
This format provides the perfect opportunity for following
through with the 5 R's of note-taking:
Record: During the lecture, record in the main column as
many meaningful facts and ideas as you can. Write legibly.
Reduce: As soon after as possible, summarize these facts
and ideas concisely in the Cue Column. Summarizing clarifies
meanings and relationships, reinforces continuity, and
strengthens memory.
Recite: Cover the Note Taking Area, using only your jottings
in the Cue Column, say over the facts and ideas of the lecture
as fully as you can, not mechanically, but in your own words.
Then, verify what you have said.
Reflect: Draw out opinions from your notes and use them as a
starting point for your own reflections on the course and how
it relates to your other courses. Reflection will help prevent
ideas from being inert and soon forgotten.
Review: Spend 10 minutes every week in quick review of your
notes, and you will retain most of what you have learned.