Education and Neuroscience

1. Education and Neuroscience Spring 2011 Tutor Training Presented by Tem Fuller

3. How does the brain works • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQEiux-AOzs

4. Reading the Brain • Mind Reading • 60 minutes

5. Why the science of our neurons is important for tutors? • If we do not keep up with the newest discoveries, we may continue with misconceptions about human learning.

6. Cargo Cult Science • The American Nobel Laureate, Richard Feynman, in one of his famous graduation addresses at Caltech, warned his audience of young science graduates about 'cargo cult science' (Feynman, 1974). • His point was that, while it might accord with 'human nature' to engage in wishful thinking, good scientists have to learn not to fool themselves.

7. Brain-based mythologies in education • According to modern Neuroscience: • We use most of our brains most of the time, not some restricted 10% brain usage. • This is because our brains are densely interconnected, and we exploit this interconnectivity to enable our primitively evolved primate brains to live in our complex modern human world. • Author: John Geake a • Affiliation: • a Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK • DOI: 10.1080/00131880802082518 • Publication Frequency: 4 issues per year • Published in:Educational Research, Volume 50, Issue 2 June 2008 , pages 123 - 133

8. Brain-based mythologies in education (continue) • Although brain imaging delineates areas of higher (and lower) activation in response to particular tasks, thinking involves coordinated interconnectivity from both sides of the brain, not separate left- and right-brained thinking. • High intelligence requires higher levels of inter-hemispheric and other connected activity. The brain's interconnectivity includes the senses, especially vision and hearing. • Author: John Geake a • Affiliation: • a Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK • DOI: 10.1080/00131880802082518 • Publication Frequency: 4 issues per year • Published in:Educational Research, Volume 50, Issue 2 June 2008 , pages 123 - 133

9. Neuromythologies in education • We do not learn by one sense alone, hence VAK learning styles do not reflect how our brains actually learn, nor the individual differences we observe in classrooms. • Neuroimaging studies do not support multiple intelligences; in fact, the opposite is true. Through the activity of its frontal cortices, among other areas, the human brain seems to operate with general intelligence, applied to multiple areas of endeavour. • Studies of educational effectiveness of applying any of these ideas in the classroom have failed to find any educational benefits. • Author: John Geake a • Affiliation: • a Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK • DOI: 10.1080/00131880802082518 • Publication Frequency: 4 issues per year • Published in:Educational Research, Volume 50, Issue 2 June 2008 , pages 123 - 133

10. Neuromythologies in education • Conclusions: The main conclusions arising from the argument are that teachers should seek independent scientific validation before adopting brain-based products in their classrooms. • A more skeptical approach to educational panaceas could contribute to an enhanced professionalism of the field. • Author: John Geake a • Affiliation: • a Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK • DOI: 10.1080/00131880802082518 • Publication Frequency: 4 issues per year • Published in:Educational Research, Volume 50, Issue 2 June 2008 , pages 123 - 133

11. Neuroscience and Education • There is a glimmer of truth embedded within various neuromyths. • Usually their origins do lie in valid scientific research; it is just that the extrapolations go well beyond the data, especially in transfer out of the laboratory and into the classroom (Howard-Jones, 2007).

12. Brian-based Myths 10% Learning styles The brain is a fast computer There is some truth in every myth …

13. Judy Willis MDNeurologist/Teacher/Grad School Ed faculty/Author How to Rewire Your Burned-Out Brain: Tips from a Neurologist MAY 22, 2012

14. If You're Burned Out, Your Brain Has Rewired to Survival Mode Neuro-imaging studies reveal the metabolic changes in regions of the brain where activity increases or decreases in response to emotional or sensory input. In the high-stress state, subject's scans reveal less activity in the higher, reflective brain and more activity in the lower, reactive brain that directs involuntary behaviors and emotional responses.

15. Judy Willis MD Prolonged stress correlates with structural increases in the density and speed of the neuron-to-neuron connections in the emotion-driven reactive networks of the lower brain, and corresponding decreased connections in prefrontal cortex conscious control centers.

16. Why? The explanation of these changes is generally attributed to the brain's neuro-plasticity of "neurons that fire together, wire together." The brain literally rewires to be more efficient in conducting information through the circuits that are most frequently activated.

17. According to Judy Willis: • As you internalize your thwarted efforts to achieve your goals and interpret them as personal failure, your self-doubt and stress activate and strengthen your brain's involuntary, reactive neural networks. • As these circuits become the automatic go-to networks, the brain is less successful in problem-solving and emotional control. • When problems arise that previously would have been evaluated by the higher brain's reasoning, the dominant networks in the lower brain usurp control.

18. The solution according to Judy Willis MD • Reset Your Brain's Default Neural Network from Retreat to IGNITE! • The good news is that you can apply what you now understand about your brain's survival mode to take back voluntary control of your choices.

19. The Solution • You can activate the same neuroplasticity that gave dominance to the lower brain networks in the burnout state to construct a new, stronger default response.

20. Solution • With more successful experiences, you can reset the circuits that will direct your brain to access its highest cognitive resources for creative problem-solving. • You can build up new, improved circuitry, switching your responses from retreat to IGNITE! Willis, J. (2007). Research-based strategies to ignite student learning: Insights from a neurologist and classroom teacher. ISBN-10: 1416603700 | ISBN-13: 978-1416603702.

21. John R. AndersonKevin A. GluckWhat role do cognitive architectures play inintelligent tutoring systems?Anderson, J. R., & Gluck, K. A. (2000, March). Retrieved from What role do cognitive architectures play in intelligent tutoring systems? http://mplab.ucsd.edu/wp-content/uploads/andersongluck2001.pdf

22. What you need to do is to attack yourself with small successes for a long tome Complex cognition can be decomposed into units of cognition of a few hundred milliseconds. The cognitive tutoring work has progressed at a much higher level, analyzing cognition into unit tasks of often more than 10 seconds.

23. The bridge to successful cognitive focus? Three bridges  • The first would get from the brain to models of the simple steps of cognition. • The second would go from these components to performance or unit tasks (Indicators of Success). • The third would compose these unit tasks into educational competences of true significance.

24. Tutors Help Tutees to Develop Brain Function “Arguably, you might say teachers [& tutors] are the only professionals charged with the daily development of brain function, and one scientist (Koizumi 2004) has even suggested that education might be defined as a 'nurturing of the brain’.” Koizumi, H. (2004). The concept of “Developing the Brain”: A new natural science for learning and education. Brain and Development 26(7_, pp. 434-441. In Geake , J. (2008, June). Retrieved from Neuromythologies in education. Educational Research 50(2): doi: 10.1080/00131880802082518 • Author: Paul A. Howard-Jones a • Affiliation:   Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol, UK • DOI: 10.1080/00131880802082492 • Publication Frequency: 4 issues per year • Published in:Educational Research, Volume 50, Issue 2 June 2008 , pages 119 - 122

25. Learning requires neurons to change

26. WE HAVE NO INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO LEARN ACADEMIC MATERIAL Body rewards: food, water, sex, drugs of abuse Social rewards: Feel pleasant touch (Rolls et al. 2003) See attractive faces (Aharon et al. 2001) Hear positive words (Hamann & Mao 2002) Interact with others (Rilling et al. 2002) Gain social status (Tooby & Cosmides, 2002)

27. Reward System: trigger amygdala activity trigger dopamine release trigger frontal lobe activity THERE IS NO EVIDENCE FOR LEARNING TRANSFER

28. There is evidence for specific innate cognition modules (Gallistel, 2003) 1 Fast-mapping of word to object 2 Person recognition of face, voice, clothes 3 Obligation computation of what we owe others and what they owe us 4 Imitation of all aspects of the behavior of others

29. Executive Functions • The process of learning is a constant analysis and synthesis of new information + our memory. • Our brain works as a creator of theory about how the world works – the theory is changing every day. • Long-term memory is a constant consolidation of our experiences. • Most likely the consolidation of our new experiences into the refined understanding is happening during sleep

30. The brain creates ideas and tests their validity on a daily basis • The creativity and analysis are working together to improve our life day after day. • Learning is changing the brain; however, our learning is limited by the architecture of the brain. • Inductive and deductive reasoning are not invention – they imitate the functions of our brain.

31. More information • www.g2conline.org • http://www.g2conline.org/839