Learning and the Brain

1. Learning and the Brain Hillary Crissinger, M.A.& Doctoral candidate in Special Education

2. Presenter • I am Hillary Crissinger, Charter Schools Resource Specialist servicing the learning disabled population attending charter programs and other duties as assigned. • My email address is hcrissinger@sccoe.org • Please make sure you signed for the session. • Please turn your cell phone to silent or off.

3. Agenda • Introduction • Ice Breaker • The Brain structure • Functions of structures • Brain and Learning • Break • Application of this information to the workplace • Importance of Neuroscience • Questions

4. Ice Breaker • Everyone line up by height and tell the group where they grew up. • Name a change in your place of birth that has happened over the last 15 to 20 years.

5. The Structure of the Brain

6. Parietal Lobe It is connected with the processing of nerve impulses related to the senses, such as touch, pain, taste, pressure, and temperature. It also has language functions.

7. Frontal Lobe It is concerned with emotions, reasoning, planning, movement, and parts of speech. It is also involved in purposeful acts such as creativity, judgment, problem solving, and planning.

8. Temporal Lobe The temporal lobes are responsible for hearing, memory, meaning, and language. They also play a role in emotion and learning. The temporal lobes are concerned with interpreting and processing auditory stimuli.

9. Occipital Lobe The occipital lobe is involved with the brain's ability to recognize objects. It is responsible for our vision.

10. Other structures

11. Brain and Learning • Quick Review of the brain parts: • Stand up and put your hands together in the shape of two fists praying : • Now smile at one another and repeat the following: • Frontal lobe is your thumbs. • Mid section of your knuckles is your Parietal Lobe. • The back part of your fist is the Occipital Lobe • The hand part of the fist is the Temporal Lobe. • The Cerebellum as at heel of the hand.

12. Brain and Learning • Looking at each other, smiling and using a physical reference point are all strategies to help a student learn. • The goal is to move information into the working memory.

13. Brain and Learning :Chunk • How can we maximize learning ? • Chunk content into 8 minute intervals. • The body needs to move at the end of the 8 minutes or dialogue . • Create a story to help build a context to the learning.

14. Implications for Educators

15. Engaging the mind and the body • Mirror Neurons also known as the “monkey see –monkey do “ neurons are located in the frontal cortex ( Broca’s region) and the ventral premotor cortex. • Scientists noticed that the same areas of the brain fired up when a monkey or a human performed a task or watched the same task. • Studies in young children best demonstrated this concept.

16. Mirror Neurons

17. Mirror Neurons • Mirror Neurons are key to learning in a social context. • A deficit in this capacity has been associated with Autism. • When we practiced creating the hand brain we engaged the following: • The body • Mirror Neurons (smiling) • Auditory mode • To engage the working memory located in our temporal lobe.

18. Moving information into our working memory • Students challenged with memory issues or by a specific content area have difficulty recalling vocabulary, sequencing, formulas etc. • Using a multi-modal approach that engages the body and chunks information helps students. • Multi- modal means using visual, auditory, and kinesthetic approaches to teach new information. • Remember the best retention works in a social context- teaching, doing, & demonstrating.

19. Lindamood Bell Visualization and Verbalization Demonstration • Integrates visual and auditory skills. • Mastery of the learning is done in a social context. • Requires intense and direct work with the teacher. • This technique uses the brains capacity to visualize to support language skills. • I need a volunteer to come up to the front of the room and me in showing this technique.

20. Lindamood Bell

21. Now it is your turn • Please pick a partner and one of you pick a picture to describe to your partner. • Use the questions hand out in your take away packet. • The person holding the picture needs to describe the picture to the person asking the questions. It is a lot more fun if only one of you has seen the picture. (The questioner will hopefully not see the picture.) • Goal: Let us see how close you come to communicating an accurate image to your partner. • Feedback

22. Break • After break we will be applying more of this information in a lesson.

23. Application • Find the lesson in your take away packet and work with apartner. • You can teach a multiplication lesson or a reading lesson. • Please volunteer to share your creations after you are finished.

24. Neuroscience • This is a hot topic !!! • People want to know more about operating their minds in an optimal manner. • In the take away packet is an article from Real Simple magazine with some good advice on supporting your brain. This is basedthe research literature on this topic.

25. Final Words • Questions