Enhancing Teaching by Understanding How Students Learn

1. Jie Zhang, Ph.D. Department of Education and Human Development References 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 Enhancing Teaching by Understanding How Students Learn

2. 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). What is learning?

3. Question: What do we want our students to learn?

4. The brain was meant to explore and learn. The brain needs … to function effectively: Exercise Sleep Oxygen Hydration Food (glucose) We are born to learn.

5. 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? Movement helps learning.

6. 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? Multisensory teaching helps learning.

7. 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). Why students forget?

8. 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

9. The best way to minimize memory decay is to use elaborative strategies: Visualizing Singing Writing Semantics mapping Drawing pictures Symbolizing 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? Teaching for long term recall (cont’d)

10. Which of the following two slides is easier to remember? WHY?

12. fixed mindset vs. Growth mindset

13. 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? fixed mindset vs. Growth mindset (cont’d)

14. 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 Effect Comparison and Contrast In students’ own words Question: What are the patterns you are using in your teaching that are helping students to learn? Patterns help learning.

15. 5853955547 (585) 395-5547 Which of the following two numbers is easier to remember? WHY?

16. NSFFBINBCUSAMTV NSF FBI NBC USA MTV Which of the following two word series is easier to remember? WHY?

17. 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? Rest after learning improves recall.

18. 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 (GyorgyBuzsaki, 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). Sleep helps learning.

19. The combination of caffeine and sugar enhances sustained attention, working memory, and learning (Grabulosa, Adan, Falcon, & Bargallo, 2010). Caffeine + SUGAR (glucose) HELP LEARNING.

20. 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). Progress helps learning.

21. Survival is accomplished by working with other brains. Groups of brains almost always outperform a single brain. The brain is social.

22. 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 Multitasking slows learning.

23. 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. Stress harms learning.