Enhancing Teaching by Understanding How

Students LearnJie Zhang, Ph.D.Department of Education and Human

DevelopmentReferences

Terry Doyle (2012). Helping students learn in harmony with their brain. Bethesda, MD, May 30-June 2, 2012. Lilly Conference on College and University Teaching and Learning .

www.learnercenteredteaching.wordpress.com

WHAT IS LEARNING? Guido Sarducci Five Minute University:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO8x8eoU3L4

Teachers’ definition of learning: Learning is the ability to use information after

significant periods of disuse AND it is the ability to use the information to solve problems that arise in a context different (if only slightly) from the context in which the information was originally taught (Robert Bjork, Memories and Metamemories, 1994).

QUESTION: WHAT DO WE WANT OUR STUDENTS TO LEARN?

WE ARE BORN TO LEARN. The brain was meant to explore and

learn. The brain needs … to function effectively:ExerciseSleepOxygenHydrationFood (glucose)

MOVEMENT HELPS LEARNING. Exercise stimulates synaptic growth, whose

capacity and efficiency underlie superior intelligence (Art Kramer of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).

Exercise increases production of neurotransmitters that help focus and attention, motivation, patience, and mood (more optimistic) (Ratey, 2008).

Exercise produces BDNF, which improves brain health, enhances the wiring of neurons, is a stress inoculator, and makes the brain cells more resilient (Ratey, 2008).

Question: Is it possible to find way to get more movement into our classes?

MULTISENSORY TEACHING HELPS LEARNING. Interactions between vision, hearing,

smell, touch, and taste are the rule (Aaron Seitz, 2006).

The more senses used in learning and in practicing what has been learned, the more pathways are available for recall.

Proust effect is the unusual ability of smell to enhance recall. Best results when smells are congruent with the situation (Medina, 2008).

Vision trumps all other senses. Question: How can we use more

multisensory teaching activities in our classrooms and online?

WHY STUDENTS FORGET? Blocking: Information stored but cannot

be accessed (Schacter, 2001). Misattribution: Attributing a memory to

the wrong situation or source (Zola, 2002).

Transience: Memory lost over time (65% of a lecture is lost in the first hour) (Schacter, 2001).

TEACHING FOR LONG TERM RECALL Cumulative tests lead to improved student

performance (Thomas Edmonds, 1984). If the intervening test includes correct answer

feedback, testing often improves long-term retention (Cull, 2000).

Practice, use, repetition, review, reflection or other meaningful ways we engage with new learning over time is a major key to its recall.

Reviews may shift the learner’s attention away from the verbatim details of the material being studied to its deeper conceptual structures (Dempster, 1986).

TEACHING FOR LONG TERM RECALL (CONT’D) The best way to minimize memory decay is to use

elaborative strategies:VisualizingSinging WritingSemantics mapping Drawing picturesSymbolizing Mnemonics Emotions helps boost activity in the areas of the

brain that form memories (Hamann & Emony, UN). Using multiple senses and emotion can create

powerful memories. Question: What strategies can we use to get

our students to do more recalling of information rather than just reading or studying information?

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING TWO SLIDES IS EASIER TO REMEMBER? WHY?

FIXED MINDSET VS. GROWTH MINDSET

Fixed Mindset Growth MindsetIntelligence is unchangeable.

Intelligence is malleable and can be improved.

Look smart. Desire to learn;Is paramount.

Avoid challenges. Failure is seen as an opportunity to learn;

Risks are necessary for growth.Make excuses and try to

avoid difficulties.Effort is necessary for growth and

success.Criticism is taken

personally.Criticism is directed at their current

skills level. Students know they can improve.

FIXED MINDSET VS. GROWTH MINDSET (CONT’D)

There is no relation between students’ abilities or intelligence and the development of a growth mindset.

A mindset is contextual—not held in all areas of learning.

Feedback: Teachers should focus on students’ efforts and strategies.

Question: How can we get students to change their mindset from fixed to growth?

PATTERNS HELP LEARNING. The brain is a pattern seeking device that relates

whole concepts to one another and looks for similarities, differences, or relationship between them (Ratey, 2002).

Use clustering to organize related information into groups to help remember and recall.

Common patterns for learning:Similarity and Difference Cause and EffectComparison and Contrast In students’ own words Question: What are the patterns you are

using in your teaching that are helping students to learn?

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WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING TWO NUMBERS IS EASIER TO REMEMBER? WHY?

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NSF FBI NBC USA MTV

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING TWO WORD SERIES IS EASIER TO REMEMBER? WHY?

REST AFTER LEARNING IMPROVES RECALL.

During rest, the areas of the brain were just as active as they were when they were learning the task -- The greater the correlation between rest and learning, the greater the chance of remembering the task in later tests (Lila Davachi, NYU’s Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science).

Question: Should students not take classes back to back?

SLEEP HELPS LEARNING. It takes 6 hours of sleep to just stabilize new

memories. Consolidation of the new memories requires 7 to

8 hours of sleep each night (Gyorgy Buzsaki, Professor at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University).

When the brain is sleep deprived, even though the person is fully awake, the neurons used for important mental task switch off (Chiara Corelli, 2011).

Sleeping soon after learning something new is beneficial for memory: Rehearsal of learning prior to sleep (Payne, et al., 2012).

CAFFEINE + SUGAR (GLUCOSE) HELP LEARNING.

The combination of caffeine and sugar enhances sustained attention, working memory, and learning (Grabulosa, Adan, Falcon, & Bargallo, 2010).

PROGRESS HELPS LEARNING. A feeling of making progress is what

allows humans to deal with tasks, esp. tasks we don’t necessarily like to do (James Zull, 2002).

THE BRAIN IS SOCIAL. Survival is accomplished by working

with other brains. Groups of brains almost always

outperform a single brain.

MULTITASKING SLOWS LEARNING. The memory task and the distraction stimuli

engage different parts of the brain. These regions probably compete with each other (Foerde, Knowlton, Poldrack, & Russell, 2006).

It is not possible to multitask when it comes to activities that require the brain’s attention (Foerde, Knowlton, & Poldrack, 2006).

When trying to do two things at once, the brain temporarily shuts down one task while trying to do the other (Dux, Ivanoff, Asplund, Lo, & Marois, 2007).

Selective attention test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo

STRESS HARMS LEARNING. Long term and short term stress

diminishes/harms brain function. Toxic levels of stress erode the

connections between the billions of nerve cells in the brain.

Chronic depression shrinks certain areas of the brain.