Brain Basics and Beyond: How to Engage Young Adolescents

1. Brain Basics and Beyond:How to Engage Young Adolescents Micki M. Caskey Barbara Ruben Lorraine Morgan NMSA Conference November 1, 2002

2. Advance Organizer • Examine the relationship between recent brain research and effective instruction • Identify teaching practices that promote learning • Describe environmental conditions that facilitate learning • Explore ideas to create enriched classroom environments • Exchange practices to stimulate brain development in young adolescents

3. People have been fascinated by the brain and how it works Historical explanations… Aristotle – The heart was the center of the intellect (4th century BC) Descartes – Fluids in ventricles controlled motor activity, but human mental activities existed outside the brain in the mind (1662) Gall – Bumps on the head explained characteristics (1758) Adapted from Pat Wolfe, 2001

4. Brain Research In the Media…

5. Modern Myths… • People only use 10% of their brain • People are either right-brained or left-brained which explains their natural abilities • Everything people have ever experienced is stored somewhere in their brain • At birth people have all the neurons that they will ever have Adapted from Pat Wolfe, 2001

6. Brain Research • Describe the human brain and how it functions • Use findings to inform our practice and educational policy • Keep in mind that no specific studies connect brain function and educational practice (Davis, 2000/01)

7. Human Brain • About 3 pounds • 78% water, 10% fat, 8% protein • Less than 2.5% of body’s weight • Uses 20% of body’s energy

8. Amazing Brain Numbers 100 billion neurons 1 trillion glial cells 1,000 trillion synaptic connection points 280 quintillion memories

9. “The nerve cell, or neuron resembles a miniature tree…”(p. 21) Diamond & Hopson, 1998

10. Brain is modified by environment • Dendrites can grow at any age • Synaptic connections occur at any age; easier earlier in life • Brain is adaptable Plasticity ‘Use it or Lose it’

11. Synaptic Density 6 year old 2 year old Diamond & Hopson, 1998

12. Myelination • A fatty substance that coats the axon and speeds electrical impulses • Coating of myelin is not complete until about age 20

13. PET* Scan Imaging *Positron Emission Tomography

14. PET BrainScan

15. fMRI* *functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

16. Effective Instruction Research • Teach for understanding (D. Perkins) • Understanding by design & uncoverage (G. Wiggins and J. Tighe) • Non-threatening, emotionally safe learning environments (R. Sylwester) • Integration of curriculum (J. Beane, H. H. Jacobs, S. Kovalik) • Multiple intelligences (H. Gardner) • Differentiated curriculum & instruction (C. Tomlinson)

17. Memory Processes

18. Memory Processes

19. Engaging the Brain Attention • The brain is much more like a sieve than a sponge… (Sousa, 1995) • Approximately 99% of all information entering through the senses is dropped (Wolfe, 2001) • Factors that influence attention are meaning and emotion

20. Meaning • Ways to make information meaningful • Anchor new information to previous experience • Create a new experience

21. Brain Structures are impacted when environments… • Are learner centered • Focus on “making meaning” • Connect what is being learned to what is already known

22. Emotion Ways to get learner attention • Create an emotional ‘hook’ • Provide appropriate level of intensity

24. MRI’s reveal the Adolescent Brain Parietal lobes, seat of visual/spatial ability, lose gray matter through age 16 Frontal lobes, which control planning and judgment, are still immature Subcortical regions change, perhaps as habits are laid down In the frontal lobes, unused circuits get pruned into the 20s

25. Adapted from Pat Wolfe, 2001

26. Myelination and emotional maturity • Coating of myelin is not complete until about age 20 • Areas of the brain that regulate emotion, judgment, and impulse control myelinate during adolescence • Myelination occurs earlier in girls than boys This is why teenage girls seem more emotionally mature than boys

28. Adolescent Brain • Solidifying circuitry • Used synaptic connections strengthened • Natural pruning process • Pruning of unused connections • Most of the pruning occurs between 10-16 years • Synaptic density reduced

29. Shore, R. 1997

30. Substance Abuse… Smoking Drinking Abusing drugs have dramatic and erosive effects on the adolescent brain

31. Enrichment improves branching and growth of dendrites • Enrichment strengthens synaptic connections • Enrichment has positive effects on the adolescent brain

32. Teaching Practices that Support Young Adolescents

33. Meet the intellectual, social, emotional, and physical developmental needs of young adolescents • Demonstrate individual support for all students • Encourage and employ collaborative learning • Heighten student awareness about benefits of nutrition, sleep, and fitness • Emphasize the importance of water for electrolytic balance and hydration • Create opportunities for paired learning and peer sharing • Provide experiences that target student interests and concerns

34. Create atmosphere that is high in challenge and low in threat • Tap prior knowledge to construct meaning • Employ scaffolding strategies • Teach study skills and learning how to learn • Utilize both inductive and deductive reasoning • Afford all students adequate processing time

35. Emphasize an active approach to instructional practice • Provide choice of topics, ways of learning, and modes of expression • Feature hands-on and touchable learning situations • Increase motor activity, lab experiences, arts, music, and drama • Build and nurture curiosity • Offer opportunities for self-assessment and reflection • Give frequent and elaborative feedback

36. Adopt curricular models that support best practice • Seek patterns, relationships, and connections among the disciplines • Reveal interconnectedness of concepts across multiple contexts • Select essential concepts to investigate and explore deeply • Plan and implement integrated units of study • Use project-based learning that connects students’ effort with real life • Infuse the arts across the curriculum to build and extend meaning

37. Middle Level Classroom Practices that Promote Learning • Project-based and Authentic Learning Opportunities • Simulations and Role Plays • Debates and Learner Discourse • Learning Strategies and Strategic Instruction • Advance and Post organizers • Frequent checks for understanding • Elaboration and feedback

38. Middle Level Classroom Practices that Promote Learning Content Enhancements • Storytelling • Drawing • Music • Mnemonics • Concept maps; mind mapping

39. School-wide Actions that Support Young Adolescents

40. Ensure a safe learning environment • Create positive, inclusive classrooms • Minimize unproductive stress • Stop unhealthy or disruptive behaviors within the school context • Address issues of bullying, violence, harassment, and substance abuse • Rehearse responses to emergency or crisis situations • Promote and practice empathetic behavior • Foster and model cultural competence

41. Seek productive interactions with the community • Extend and apply knowledge and skills learned in the classroom • Develop civic and social responsibility • Form alliances with others who share similar interests • Engage in thoughtful social discourse in novel settings • Pursue authentic service learning activities • Explore continuing education options or career choices