Body/Brain Connection: Linking Movement to Learning

1. Body/Brain Connection: Linking Movement to Learning MPESA Fall Conference September 13, 2006 Patti Field Grant McManes

2. Movement: The Untapped Resource Learning • Movement Supports Learning - Brain Physiology - Brain Fuelling - Brain Repair - Brain Chemistry - Pleasure • Movement Is Learning - Memory: Evidence of Learning - Procedural Memory: the untapped resource

3. Body/Brain Connection Brain Physiology The part of the brain used in almost all learning, the cerebellum, is in high gear when a learner is physically active.

4. Body/Brain Connection Fueling the Brain Exercise fuels the body with oxygen and feeds it neurotropins which encourages growth, helps to make stronger connections, elevates mood & helps long-term memory.

5. Body/Brain Connection Repair Scientists have now discovered that the brain can reproduce neurons. This has a huge impact on education. Newly formed neurons have a 50% survival rate in enriched environments. Increased physical activity improves this process.

6. Body/Brain Connection Brain Chemistry Brain chemicals (in particular acetylcholine) serve to activate neurons for the formation of a memory trace. This chemical enhances the ability of the brain to plant a memory. Each time there is physical movement acetylcholine is released in the brain. So movement, may actually enhance learning: not just for kinesthetic people but for all people.

7. Body/Brain Connection Brain Chemistry Neuroscientists at the University of California have discovered that exercise triggers the release of BDNF. BDNF is a natural substance which enhances cognition by boosting the ability of neurons to communicate with one another.

8. Body/Brain Connection Pleasure: Sensory-motor experiences feed directly into the brain’s pleasure center. This is not of trivial importance; enjoying school keeps students in school and helps motivate them while there. Exercise increases serotonin in the brain so it reduces distress and depression.

9. Body/Brain Connection Interesting Facts: Students who tip back on two legs of their chairs in class might be stimulating their brain with a rocking motion that activates the vestibular system. While rocking in a chair is not to be encouraged in a classroom, its motion happens to be good for the brain.

10. Body/Brain Connections Movement and Memory: Movement can be constructed to meet both the brain’s need and curricular objectives. Movement can: • make the abstract concrete, • force higher level thinking, • provide needed opportunity for rehearsal and review, • motivate students to learn, and • plant memories (memories planted in more than one part of the brain are easier to retrieve)

11. Memory Lanes Body/Brain Connection Learning and Memory The Brain in Action Marilee Sprenger 1999

12. Memory Lanes and Learning • The only evidence we have of learning is memory • The brain has at least five memory path lanes • These memory lanes are used to access and store information for long-term memory

13. Memory Lanes and Learning Episodic Semantic Emotional Memory Pathways Automatic Procedural

14. Group #1

15. 1. Semantic Memory • Information learned from words; these words may be oral or written • Knowledge of facts and data: lists, dates, names, places, etc. • Book or school learning • Requires intrinsic motivation from learner • Requires much repetition for long-term storage to take place • Strategies: graphic organizers, jigsaw, acronyms

16. Group #2

17. 2. Episodic Memory • Learning is associated with location (contextually imbedded) • Has unlimited capacity, is effortless, and is used naturally by everyone • Learning space and people provide opportunity for memory retrieval • Contamination can take place when you have too many event memories embedded in one location (rotate seating) • Students who learn information in one room and are tested in another room have more difficulty than those taking the test in the original room • Strategies: role plays, masks

18. Group #3

19. 3. Automatic Memory • Any learning that has become automatic may be stored in this memory lane e.g. decoding skills, multiplication skills but not comprehension • Sometimes called conditioned response • Strategies: word association, repetition, drill

20. Group #4

21. 4. Emotional Memory • Most powerful kind of memory • Takes precedence over any other kind of memory; the brain always gives priority to emotions • The correlation between the strength of the original emotional event and the likelihood of retrieval of that event is around 90% • Other memory lanes shut down if a strong negative emotion, like fear or anxiety, is present • Strategies: music, personal anecdotes

22. Group #5

23. 5. Procedural Memory • Stores memories about what the body does (sensory, bodily-kinesthetic): motor learning • Often called muscle memory • remembering ‘how’ to do something • Sequences that are consistently repeated are stored in procedural memory • Allows the brain to do more than one thing at a time • Helps us learn things that don’t require conscious attention • Strategies: building a model, conducting an experiment, hands-on experiences, practice, rehearsal

24. Procedural Memory: The Untapped Resource • Procedural Memory does not require processing first by the hippocampus • Procedural Memory does not require conscious thought • Procedural Memory has unlimited storage, requires minimal review and needs little intrinsic motivation • At school, this type of learning diminishes each year until it’s virtually absent from all but a physical education, industrial arts, or drama curriculum