Brain-STEM:
From STEM to S.T2.R.E.A.M.
Kenneth Wesson
Educational Consultant: Neuroscience
San Jose, CA
kenawesson@aol.com
Brain-STEM:
From STEM to S.T2.R.E.A.M.
1. What is STEM → S.T.2R.E.A.M.?
2. How can we create “Brain-considerate”
learning environments to advance STEM
education? (the neuroscience of learning/
VST)
3. How can we meet the goals of the CCSS and
the NGSS based on our answers to the above
questions?
Quick writes and table talks
Education and Neuroscience
• Educators and neuroscientists are both
interested in learning and memory.
• Translational medicine: Trying to move
medicine from the laboratory to the
bedside. We hope to build a similar
bridge between educational research
and the classroom of the future with
translational neuroscience.
Translational Neuroscience
Investigate the ways in which our emerging
understanding of the latest scientific
evidence from neuroscience can inform
practical questions in education and the
teaching of science and mathematics in
the contemporary classroom.
In medicine, insights and proofs come by way of
correlations and data.
Medical research takes a group of inbred mice
 exposes them to a disease  later
compares those mice with other mice with
the same genetic background.
Knock out a gene or insert a
gene to make comparisons.
This is very hard to do in education. We cannot
conduct a double-blind study on genetically
inbred students.
Our Two Seconds Before Midnight
If the 3.7 billion of years of life on Earth
were compressed into a 24-hour
clock, our hominid ancestors would
have appeared 47 – 96 seconds before
midnight.
Our species, Homo sapiens, would arrive
on the scene just two seconds before
midnight.
The brain is without doubt our most fascinating
organ. Parents, educators, and society as
a whole have a tremendous power to shape
the wrinkly universe inside each child's
head, and with it, the kind of person he or
she will turn out to be. We owe it to our
children to help them grow the best brains
possible.
What is Going in There?
-- Lise Eliot
If it's your job to develop the mind,
shouldn't you know how
the astonishing human brain works?
It has been said that the next great journey for humankind will not take place
in outer space, but in the inner space of the human brain. Educators should
cultivate a working knowledge of the processes operating within the cerebral
"inner space" of the biological mind.
The Human Brain: Astonishing!
“Let me keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work, which is mostly
standing still and learning to be
astonished.”
-- “The Messenger” by Mary Oliver
By looking at the same thing
differently, we can see something new.
1. Focus your attention on
his eye
2. Then shift your attention to
his neck and chin area
Did you see the man
turn his face?
Creativity: approaching problems
with a fresh perspective and
multiple perspectives
Astonishing: Today’s Kindergartners…
• Will retire in the year 2075
• What foundations for learning must we
establish for them?
• In what ways are you preparing them for
success in the years between 2014
and 2075?
Wesson - CCSS + NGSS = ST2REAM - 2013
Creative Thinkers Learners
• Agricultural Age
→ Industrial Age
→ Information Age
• Moving from the Information Age
→ The Innovation Age
“This (educational) revolution arises from ongoing and
compelling research on how children and adults
learn (i.e., a science of learning). The old model of
teaching as simply telling, and of learning as
passive sit-and-get listening will not meet the
needs of tomorrow’s citizens.”
Science for the Next Generation: Preparing for the New Standards
Thomas O’Brien, Professor of Science Education.
Binghamton University
1900 Workplace Demands
Highly skilled
Low skilled
• Avg. age to enter work force 14
• Avg. age to leave work force 47
• Life expectancy
47
2014 Workplace Demands
Highly skilled
Low skilled
• Avg. age to enter the workplace
21
• Number of career changes
5-8
• Est. Life expectancy in 2100
107 -124!
STEM
The most recent 10-year employment
projections by the U.S. Labor Department show
that of the 20 fastest growing occupations
projected for 2014, 15 of them require
significant mathematics or science preparation
to successfully compete for the job.
In 2012, nearly 70% of American HS graduates
failed to meet college-readiness benchmarks
in science.
Today’s College Students…
College Freshman are Well or Very Well Prepared
‐ High School Teachers ‐ 89%
26%
‐ College Instructors –
Freshmen Needing Remediation
51.7%
Two-year colleges –
Four-year colleges/univ. –
19.9%
College Retention Rates in 2012: From 1st to 2nd
year of higher education
55.5%
Two-year colleges –
Four-year colleges/univ. – 65.2%
Average Graduation Rates: 1983-2012
Two‐year colleges in 3 years – 29.1%
Four‐year colleges in 5 years – 36.6%
Your Major Matters
Bachelor’s Degrees Granted in the U.S.
1. Business
2. General Studies
3. Social Science and History
4. Psychology
5. Health Professions
6. Education
7. Visual and Performing Arts
8. Engineering and Technology
9. Communications and Journalism
10. Computer and Information Science
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
Your Majors Matter
Bachelor’s Degrees Granted in Competing Nations
1. Business (1)
2. General Studies (10)
3. Social Science and History (6)
4. Psychology (9)
5. Health Professions (4)
6. Education (5)
7. Visual and Performing Arts (8)
8. Engineering and Technology (2)
9. Communications and Journalism (7)
10. Computer and Information Science (3)
Bachelor’s–Competing Nations
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
13 Million Americans are unemployed.
However, 3.8 million jobs in the U.S.
remain unfilled.
10 Highest-Paying Degrees
(Aug 2011)
The 10 college degrees that lead to the highest salaries.
1. Petroleum engineering
Median starting salary: $97,900
Mid-career average: $155,000
2. Chemical engineering
Median starting salary: $64,5000
Mid-career average: $109,000
3. Electrical engineering
Median starting salary: $61,300
Mid-career average: $103,000
4. Materials science and engineering
Median starting salary: $60,400
Mid-career average: $103,000
5. Aerospace engineering
Median starting salary: $60,700
Mid-career average: $102,000
6. Computer engineering
Median starting salary: $61,800
Mid-career average: $101,000
7. Physics
Median starting salary: $49,800
Mid-career average: $101,000
8. Applied mathematics
Median starting salary: $52,600
Mid-career average: $98,600
9. Computer science
Median starting salary: $56,600
Mid-career average: $97,900
10. Nuclear engineering
Median starting salary:$65,100
Mid-career average: $97,800
STEM
In 2002 there were 4M 9th graders in the US. In 2011,
what percentage of this group graduated from a
(2/4 yr.) college with degrees in a STEM field?
A. 5.5%
B. 10.5%
C. 19.5%
D. 25.5%
National Center for Education Statistics; Digest of Education Statistics
STEM
Approximately what % of all US-granted doctoral
degrees in engineering, mathematics, computer
science, and physics (STEM) were awarded to
foreign students in 2008?
A. 20%
B. 50%
C. 75%
D. 90%
Tapping America’s Potential, www.tap2015.org
24
In 2000, the number of foreign students studying
physical sciences and engineering in US
graduate schools surpassed the number of
US students for the first time.
The US Is Prospering
• The nation produces 28% of the world’s economic product
with less than 5% of the world’s population.
• America’s economy has been creating nearly 2 million net
new jobs a year.
• Business Week ranks 8 US firms in the top 10 “most
innovative” companies in the world.
• America has a gross domestic product close to $13 trillion
and has contributed one-third of the growth in global
output over the most recent 15-year period.
• Its household net worth is now over $55 trillion.
• U.S. universities employ 70% of the world’s Nobel
Laureates.
Maintaining our status as a global economic
leader requires that we excel not in standardized
tests, but it creativity and innovation. That
hinges on what we are teaching our schools and
what our students learn to apply well beyond
school.
Teaching continues to be the most
cognitively exhausting profession,
because what teachers must know
and do today. The list of prerequisite
knowledge continues to swell every
year.
The Knowledge Explosion
“The sum total of humankind’s knowledge doubled
between 1750 and 1900. It doubled again between 1900
and 1950, again from 1950 to 1960, again from 1960 to
1965. It’s been estimated that the sum total of
humankind’s knowledge has doubled at least every five
years since then.
It’s been further projected that by the year 2020,
knowledge or information will double every
73 days.”
Dr. James Appleberry - President, American Association of State Colleges and Universities
In years’ past, → need to make a purchase? → visit
perhaps 2-3 retail establishments within
convenient walking or driving distance →
determine who offers the desired item with the
best overall promise of satisfaction (price, delivery
time, reliability, etc.)
Today, rather than going to the garage to start your car’s
engine → desk and start a search engine on a
computer → who globally offers the best promise
of satisfaction
Today employers welcome applications on the Internet
from anywhere in the world.
Survival of the Fastest Adapting Brain
• Frances Cairncross, of The Economist: “The death of
distance”— parties to 21st Century transactions no
longer need to be physically close to one another
(aviation and telecommunication make distance and
time increasingly irrelevant.)
• Lost a suitcase? Problem with a bank account? Trouble
with your new computer? The customer service center
is more likely to be in India than Indiana, in the
Philippines than Philadelphia. Might be in Charlotte, →
smarter to bet on Mumbai, India.
Survival of the Fastest Adapting Brain
• US income tax returns prepared by major accounting
firms are processed in India.
• In 2001, a patient in Strasbourg, France had his
gallbladder removed by a surgeon in New York who
was using a remotely controlled robot.
• Today, the CAT scans in many US hospitals are
routinely read by radiologists located in Australia
or Bangalore.
• ↑ Americans – getting their health care delivered
overseas (dentists = 20-25% of the US cost)
Technology
Because we are “online most of our lives,” the
constant use of technology is chipping away at our
capacity for concentration, contemplation, and
reflection. Instead, our lives are bombarded by eBay,
Amazon, MP3s, broadband, dish TV, Napster, Google,
iPods, Wi-Fi, YouTube, blogging, smart phones,
netbooks, blogging, tweets, and streaming video has
become an American tidal wave.
Technology: the more we use it, the more it alters the
way we work and think (modifying existing
brain circuitry).
Harmful Affects Of Digital Devices
• ↑ time devoted to using digital devices and
TV and ↓ time engaged in meaningful
conversations with others is leading to a
“communications” deficit and an inability to
generate new personal relationships
(antisocial → asocial).
• “Cocooning” = ↑ time alone with a computer
leading to loneliness and isolation. ↓ in
“family time”
Technology in the 21st Century
Caveat #1
Technology will not replace the need to be
literate.
--Rebecca Alber, UCLA
Caveat #2
“I’ve seen students with i-Pads and the novelty
is there and the engagement is there, but it’s
not clear that novelty and engagement will lead
to increased academic achievement.”
--Larry Cuban, Stanford University
Today:
8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38
minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media
across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week).
Because of “media multitasking” → a total of 10 hours
and 45 minutes “on” (on a device) during those 7
hours.
How Does Screen Time Affect the Brains of Our Children
?
How Does Screen Time Affect the Brains of Our Children
?
Learning: When “More” Becomes “Less”
•
Enrichment studies: Examine the effects of enrichment or
deprivation on brain development, neurogenesis, neuronal
growth and synaptogenesis.
•
While neurons generally grew in size, measures of
(a) increased dendritic density
(b) increases in the number of glial cells
(c) myelination of the axons
(d) changes in brain weight and overall brain volume
•
No toys or playmates  all growth measures (impoverished)
•
Playmates + a change of toys every other day  (Enriched
environments)
•
Changing toys every hour: → similar  neural connections in
brain growth and development (your school day??)
Learning: When “More” Becomes “Less”
Question: “What did you learn in
school today?”
Response: “Nothing.”
Why???
Translational Neuroscience
Our best efforts in teaching requires a shift
from…
“What am I supposed to teach?”
to
“How do my students learn?”
Old Models of S-R Learning
and
New Models Based on
Neuroscience
Expanding the Traditional Model of
Thinking and Learning
Does the name “Pavlov” ring a bell?
Stimulus  Response
S R
Teaching  Learning
Thinking and learning are neurobiological processes that take place inside
the brain, just as digestion is another biological event that takes place in
the pancreas and the stomach.
Factors Influencing Stimulus  Response
In addition to desires, tendencies, appetites, instincts, inclinations…
Genetics
+Pre-natal care
+Early development (0-3)
+Parenting
+Physical history
+Neuro-physiology
+Prior learning (situated L’)
+Prior experiences
+Need state
+Strengths
+Formal Education
+Epigenetics and early nutrition
+Age
+Emotions/emotional state
+Gender
+Perception/expectations
+Memory
+Diet
+Self-esteem
+Disability
+Neural circuitry/plasticity*
+Stress factors
Learning/Behavior
* Neural plasticity: The flexible nature of the brain to modify structures, alter its
functioning and re-route neural circuitry as a response to new stimuli and
ongoing learning experiences.
Neurons
The Astonishing Neurons
Neurons and synapses.
The number of neurons (the information processing cells)
inside your brain is approximately equivalent to
all of the trees found in the Amazon rain forest
(100,000,000,000). The # of plausible permutations
and combinations of brain activity > the # of
elementary particles in the universe.
They operate by making connections with one another.
The number of connections (synapses) inside your
brain is comparable to all of the leaves on all of the
trees in the Amazon rain forest (approx. one
quadrillion connections among the 100 billion
neurons cells.)
Distributed Networks: Making Connections
Egg yolk
ball
Baseball
round
yellow
basketball
coconut
Tennis
Brown
School
bus
banana
Taxi
Apple
fruits
persimmon
Train
Orange
pear
pineapple
The “Use it or lose it” principle.
What is
STEM/STEAM/S.T.2R.E.A.M.?
A Framework for K-12
Science Education
 Children are born
investigators
 Understanding builds over time
 Science and Engineering require
both knowledge and practices
Why is Hands-on Learning Effective?
Developmental Neurobiology
Motor cortex
Sensory Cortex
In the “digital age,” it is critical that educators
remember that the 10 digits on your hands were the
first human digital devices
(and remain the most powerful).
The brain moves best from meaning-to-print,
rather than from print-to-meaning
1st hand
2nd hand
3rd hand
APPLE
CONCRETE
Visual
representation (VST)
SYMBOLIC/
ABSTRACT
difficult means of learning
for the young developing brain
Standards from Which Discipline: Math or Science?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Asking questions and defining problems
Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
Look for and make use of structure
Planning and carrying out investigations
Attend to precision
Analyzing and interpreting data
Model with mathematics
Using mathematics and computational thinking
Constructing explanations and designing solutions
Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
Reason abstractly and quantitatively
Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
Developing and using models
Engaging in argument from evidence
Use appropriate tools strategically
Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning
Standards from Which Discipline: Math or Science?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Asking questions and defining problems (NGSS)
Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information (NGSS)
Look for and make use of structure (M)
Planning and carrying out investigations (NGSS)
Attend to precision (M)
Analyzing and interpreting data (NGSS)
Model with mathematics (M)
Using mathematics and computational thinking (NGSS)
Constructing explanations and designing solutions (NGSS)
Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them (M)
Reason abstractly and quantitatively (M)
Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
(M)
Developing and using models (NGSS)
Engaging in argument from evidence (NGSS)
Use appropriate tools strategically (M)
Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning (M)
Interdisciplinarity
Good thinking is a matter of making
connections, and knowing what kinds
of connections to make.
---David Perkins
Interdisciplinarity
• The human brain is the most sophisticated
information-integration processing
system on earth with over 40,000 miles of
neural circuits connecting over 100 billion
neurons and nearly 1 trillion other cells.
• As brain cells develop into circuits, the brain
makes no distinction between academic
disciplines (there was no evolutionary
basis for such a “need”.)
Scientists, Mathematicians and Engineers
• Do scientists, mathematicians and engineers
communicate with one another?
• Do scientists, mathematicians and engineers write
summaries of their work?
• Do they write reports?
• Do they write research papers?
• Do they give oral presentations of their research at
symposiums? Interviews?
“Reading and writing comprise over half of the
work of scientists and engineers.” (NRC
2011)
Stories are so important to us that
when the body goes to sleep at
night, the brain stays up all
night telling itself stories.
Human beings relish in stories.
Writing and Learning
Students should appreciate that learning was the
ultimate goal not to memorize the discreet facts and
vocabulary words.
Students should find that the new vocabulary is so
useful and familiar that they begin to use the
new vocabulary words naturally when they:
(a) explain their work
(b) reflect on their work
(c) describe what they do personally during the
active learning process, and when they
communicate their findings in the future.
S.T2.R.E.A.M.
Science
Reading/Language Arts
(Standards)
Reading, writing, discourse,
argumentation, vocabulary development,
comprehension, journals, note-booking,
lab reports, summaries, oral
presentations, recording interpreting and
critiquing data and information
Technology
Visual Literacy
Engineering
Mathematics
Art
Drawing/diagramming, visual spatial
thinking, imagery, inferential
thinking, 2/3-dimensional modeling,
symbolic models, interpreting visual
evidence, visual representations illustrations, charts, etc.
Convergent/Integrative STEM T’ & L’
STEAM: Making Connections
• Global catastrophes → $$ & medical equipment → 3rd World
countries → incubators from WHO/international relief
orgs. → when the incubators are no longer operational
(no parts or repair expertise) → abandoned/trashed (1
dz.= $500K) → “Design That Matters” → more reliable,
less complicated/less expensive incubator (no expensive
spare parts/no highly-trained repair tech).
• NeoNurture (Dr. Jonathan Rosen, RISD students) →
incubator made out of recycled and spare car parts:
headlights (heat), dashboard fans, air-intake filters (air
circulation) and batteries (= easy to repair/replace)
power supply → comparable to expensive incubators in
function and results.
The 50 Best Inventions of 2010: NeoNurture Incubator
• Spare/old automobile parts → re-purposed into
a life-saving neonatal device (Coffee, Coke, and
Cigarettes, old Car parts are everywhere in the
world).
Making Connections
How can we cultivate inside the
young minds we are responsible for
developing, the ability to look at an
old car and “see the incubator
buried within the parts” of that old
car?
…Annually Televised
Teaching Awards?
What about new televised programs…
 Monday Night Science
 So You Think You Can Teach?
“Dancing with the Astronomers”
 The Teachers of Orange County
“America’s Next Inventor”
We want to known best as the innovation nation
instead of a high-stakes testing nation,
where two-thirds of the hours in a school
year should not be devoted to prepping
students for tests leaving no time for
building
creativity through engaging in
relevant STEM/STREAM learning.
STEM:
Students and Teachers Enjoying every Minute
of the school day,
because it is finally connected and the
learning suddenly makes sense!
Each year, new findings in cognitive psychology
and neuroscience will be infused into teacher
preparation, curriculum, instruction, student
assessment, and the classroom environment.
The works of Howard Gardner (“Multiple
Intelligences”), Daniel Goleman (“Emotional
Intelligence”), Kenneth Wesson (“Brainconsiderate Learning”), and others have
already been influential in reshaping the
independent school classroom, while programs
like Mel Levine’s Schools Attuned are assisting
educators in using neurodevelopmental content
in their classrooms to create success at
learning and to provide hope and satisfaction
for all students.
Forecasting Independent Education to 2025
-- NAIS
STEM and Curious Minds
“We don’t learn from experience, we
learn by reflecting on it.”
-- John Dewey
Compose two “I will” reflections on
this afternoon’s experience.
“Reflect and Connect”
• What was the most valuable piece of information that
you learned this morning? What new question is
now on your mind?
• How did our conversation change your thinking?
• Write down two “I will” statements from this
experience. (What will you look at differently/do
differently in your school/district, program or
institution?)
Wesson - CCSS + NGSS = ST2REAM - 2013
“These STEM subjects don’t really go
together, do they?”
The illiterates of the future are not
those who cannot read or write,
but those who cannot
learn, un-learn, and re-learn.
--Alvin Toffler
Contact Information:
Kenneth Wesson
National Science Consultant
(408) 323-1498 (office)
(408) 826-9595 (cell)
San Jose, CA
kenawesson@aol.com
sciencemaster.com