Janet Fulks, Bakersfield College
Why didn’t my students
learn that important
concept we went over
and over and over and
over in class?
Perpetuating the learning cycle:
1. Understanding How the Brain Works
2. Active Learning – The Learning Environment –
a.
b.
c.
d.
Deep learning – Scaffolding – Neural Nets
3.
a.
b.
c.
4.
Using all of the brain
Many inputs
Many chemicals
Many outputs
Patterning and organization content (chunking info)
Concrete words and abstract words versus nonsense
words
Visualizing to make concrete patterns
Ownership/metacognition
The Art of Changing the Brain by
Zull
 How People Learn by the
National Research Council
 Scientific Teaching by Jo
Handelsman et al.
 HHMI & PBS online resources
 Harvard
https://www.testmybrain.org/ind
ex.html?page=home


Learning and memory require physical
changes in the neurons of the brain
Primitive Brain controlling
survival functions Breathing
 Consciousness
 Heart Rate and Blood
Pressure
 Relaying information
 Digestion
 Alertness
Think vegetable
Center for movement
control
 Voluntary muscle
movements
 Fine motor skills
 Posture, balance, and
coordination
Think repetitive
movements – dancing,
bicycling
The Surface of the
Brain –
 Touch
 Vision
 Hearing
 Judgment
 Reasoning
 Problem solving
 Emotions
 Learning
Think HUMAN
Each lobe of the brain has a different set of functions, so damage to a particular lobe may determine the type of problems that could be expected.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/im
agepages/9549.htm

Frontal lobes =
personality, speech, and
motor development

Temporal lobes =
memory, language and
speech

Parietal lobes = sensation

Occipital lobes =primary
vision centers
Learning = modification, growth, and pruning neurons,
Learning =connections (synapses) & neural networks
Four stages of Kolb’s Learning Cycle.
1) Concrete experience,
2) Reflective observation and Connections,
3) Abstract hypothesis,
4) Active testing
http://sharpbrains.wordpress.com/2006/10/12/an-ape-can-do-this-can-we-not/




PET Scan
fMRI
Other new
technologies
Discrete physical
areas http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso
/tryit/brain/probe.html
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/
Right side controls
the left side of the
body, creativity and
artistic abilities
Think – non-verbal
 Left cerebral
hemisphere controls
the right side of the
body, logic and
rational thinking.
Think - Language

The Girl from Volga. Zull, p 143
Paying attention is not focusing on a single focal point.
HHMI – Howard Hughes Medical
Institute
http://www.hhmi.org/senses/e110.html
Brain function when listening
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/
Learning and memory require physical changes in the
neurons of the brain – electrical rewiring

I will read some numbers, you remember
them
Word Position by % Recall
120%
100%
80%
60%
Word Position by % Recall
40%
20%
0%
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Image of actual neurons firing in a monkey’s brain and the image he is staring at creating
a physical image in the brain. Zull, p 144
Note that as we go down
the pyramid, we are
engaging additional areas
of the brain, creating
deeper learning.
Washington Crossing the
Delaware
by Emanuel Leutze 1816-1868
Multiple Inputs = Multiple Pathways
http://www.youtube
.com/watch?v=XwU
n64d5Ddk&feature=
fvwrel
http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~lss/NNIntro/InvSlides.html#what


Patterning and organization
Concrete words and abstract words versus
nonsense words



Infection
Syphilis
Treponema pallidum


Visualization – metrics and real life
How do you create patterning in your
teaching?
Figure 1.1 - Functions of the Communal Scaffold
3. Deep
Learning:
Requires
organizing
and linking
knowledge
for later
retrieval –
deep learning
through Scaffolding
Patterning and organization content (chunking info)
Concrete words and abstract words versus nonsense
words
 Visualizing to make concrete patterns



Infection
 Syphilis
 Treponema pallidum

Visualizing content – metrics and real life

How do you create patterning in your teaching?
http://www.ccsse.org/publications/2008_Executive_Summary.pdf
Definition
Two simultaneous processes:
Monitoring your progress as
you learn
and
Making changes and adapting
your strategies if you perceive
you are not doing so well

“The most shocking finding of all is that if
students aren’t aware of these skills and have
not found ways to master them, they cannot
learn discipline content.” National Research
Council – How People Learn (2003)

Students with Basic Skills needs arrive
without metacognitive experience – they
don’t know how to be successful students,
therefore……
1.
Taking conscious control of learning
2.
Planning and selecting strategies
3.
Monitoring the progress of learning
4.
Correcting errors
5.
Analyzing the effectiveness of learning
strategies
6.
Changing learning behaviors and
strategies, when necessary

CATs

Exam Post Mortem

Self Evaluations

Student Self Assessment

Learning Styles Assessment
Create outcomes
Develop scaffolded content
Embed metacognition activities
Create feedback-heavy learning activities
Manage the environment & consider
teamwork
Assessment – See article chapter 5 Appendix
Write down one thing you will
do in response to this
information.
Comments and Questions