Meaning Making:

Insights into how learning

happens in the human
brain

Developed by Professor Terry Doyle

Ferris State University
www.learnercenteredteaching.wordpress.com
doylet@ferris.edu

Making Meaning

Slides from the presentation are available at

www.learnercenteredteaching.wordpress.com

Our Professional Obligation

As in any profession
we need to follow
where the validated
research findings
leads us.

Here is Our Challenge?

We as teachers cant make
informed decisions about
which teaching
approaches or tools to use
if we dont first understand
how our students learn.

Here is Our Challenge?

To understand how our
students learn we must
understand how their
brains take in, process, and
retrieve information as well
as the numerous factors
that affect these processes.

Question1.
What do we teach?
1. What would make us
happy that our students
still knew and could apply
from the content and skills
of our course/class a year
later?

Question2.
Where do we put our efforts?

1. What knowledge and skills

do students need our help
with to learn and what can
they look up as needed or
learn on their own?

Question3.
What is the best use of our
time?
2. How do we use our time
most effectively to help
students master the learning
outcomes of our courses?

Question 4.
What teaching actions best
facilitate students
learning?
What activities,
assignments and
assessments work best?

The Human Brain Myths and Mistakes

Forget that Right-Left Brain Stuff

The human brain works as

a complex design of
integrated systems not
through specialized and
competing right and left
brain functions.
(Tokuhama-Espinosa, Mind Brain and Education Science, 2011

The Human Brain

Complex mental tasks and
behaviors and even
simple task result from a
complex coordination of
activity in multiple brain
regions including both the
right and left
hemispheres.
(Rekart, 2013)

We only use 10 % of our Brains

Brain scans have shown that
no matter what one is doing,
brains are always active.
Some areas are more active
at any one time than others,
but barring brain damage,
there is no part of the brain
that is absolutely not
functioning.

No Science Support for Learning

Styles
there is no adequate
evidence base to justify
incorporating learning
styles assessments into
general educational
practice

(Pashler et al, 2009:105)

No Science Support for Learning

Styles
Professor John Hattie , author
of Visible Learning in 2012
produced a synthesis of
years of educational research
trying to figure out what has
the biggest impact upon
student learning states that,
One of the more fruitless
pursuits is labeling students
with learning styles.

No Science Behind Learning Styles

We are all visual and
auditory learners
evolution made
certain of it.
(Rekart,2013)

No Science Behind Learning Styles

Advocating a tactile style
of learning is a mistake.
The direct connectivity
found in the visual and
auditory centers of the
brain are not found in the
tactile modality.
(Rekart, 2013)

No Science Support forLearning Styles

Neither the
somatosensory cortices
(which process touch) nor
the cerebellum (motor
learning) would produce
the kind of long term
memories desired in
school.
(Rekart, 2013)

Myths
Myth: You can train certain parts of the brain to improve their
functioning.
Fact:Thishasbeenanattractiveandsometimeslucrativeideaformany
entrepreneurs.However,itisnotpossibletotargetaspecificbrainregion
andteachjusttothatpartofthebrain.
Thebrainishighlyconnected.Neuronsinthebrainlearnrememberand
forget,buttheydonotdosoinisolation.

Myths
You are born with certain abilities and
these do not change over time.
Fact:At one time, people believed that the
brain developed into its full form by the
age of three, and that what developed
afterwards was just a matter of refinement.
In fact, we now know that the brain is
plastic it changes with experience and
development. Evidence shows that rather
brain development continues into one's
twenties. For many adolescents, the
maturation of the frontal lobes may not
end until age 25.

Multitasking is not Possible when

trying to Learn New Things

Multitasking does not Exist unless the

Tasks are Automated

You're not actually doing

four or five things at once.

(Levitin,2014)

The Brain Cant Multitask

Our brains engage in
sequential tasking or unitasking
shifting rapidly from one thing
to another without realizing it.
The brain is actually fracturing
time into ever smaller parts
and focusing on each thing
individually.
(Levitin,2014)

Multitasking = Less Productive

People often think they are
being more productive when
they try to juggle tasks.
Not only is sequential unitasking
detrimental to productivity, but it
produces less creative work as
well.
Levitin, 2014

Multitasking Burns Energy and

Stresses the Brain
When people try to do several
things at once-like text and listen to a lecture,

The brain uses up oxygenated

glucose at a much faster rate
and releases the stress
hormone cortisol.

(Levitin,2014)

Studies on Multitasking
2011 study explored the perception
on how often a person thinks they are
multitasking in a 30 minute period

Subjects guessed 15

(Brasel and Gips, 2011)

Studies on Multitasking

The students actually looked

away an average of 123
times.

Reducing Multitasking
How can someone overcome
their brains attempts to
distract?
Best solution-- physically
removing distractions
whenever possible.
Shut down the phone when
driving or disconnect from WiFi while doing homework.

The Human Brain

The human brain weighs
about three (3) pounds
Contains 86 billion neurons
These neurons can make
40 quadrillion connections
(Ratey, 2001, Goldberg, 2009)

We are Born to Learn

The brain was meant to explore and learn

The Definition of Learning

Learning is a change in the
neuron-patterns of the brain.
(Goldberg, 2009)

www.virtualgalen.com/.../ neurons-small.jpg

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)

Helping elementary and middle school students make

meaning by understanding how their brains learn

Neuro
n

Brains Change a Great Deal

A lot of pruning
Born with 200 billion
neurons
We have only 86 billion by
about age 10

Functional Areas of the Brain

An Unfortunate Reality for

Elementary Teachers
The brain begins to mature even
before birth. Although it continues to
mature throughout most of life, the
brain does not mature at the same
rate in each individual.

This should not be surprising. After

all, our bodies grow at different rates
we reach puberty at different ages
and our emotional maturity at
different times as well. Why should
our brains be any different?

Maturation differs by individual

For example
A young child with highly advanced
verbal skills may develop gross and
fine motor control more slowly and
have trouble learning to write clearly.
Another child may be advanced
physically but not know how to
manage his/her social skills.
Others may be cognitively advanced
but show emotional immaturity.

Example of readiness for reading

For example: A key
predictor of reading
readiness is a child's
ability to understand
rhyming (SemrudClikeman, 2006).
This ability translates into
skills in understanding
how sounds differ and in
turn predicts a child's
success with phonics

Moving from rote to automatic

As neural networks form, the child learns
both academically and socially. At first,
this learning is mostlyrotein nature.
As skills become more automatic, the
child does not have to think as hard
about what he or she is learning or
doing, and brain resources are freed up
to be used for complex tasks that
require more and more attention and
processing.
Skills in reading, mathematics and
writing become more specialized and
developed.

Development of New Levels of

Connectivity
From late elementary school into middle school,inferential
thinkingbecomes more emphasized in schools, while rote learning
is de-emphasized.
This shift in focus is supported by the increased connectivity in the
brain and by chemical changes in theneuronal pathwaysthat
support both short and long term memory.
These chemical changes can continue for hours, days and even
weeks after the initial learning takes place (Gazzaniga, & Magnun,
2014). Learning becomes more consolidated, as it is stored in longterm memory.

Match instruction to maturity levels

of students brains
As a teacher, all children need to be challenged and
nurtured in order to profit from your instruction.
Instruction that isabove or below the maturitylevel
of a child's brain is not only inappropriate; it can also
lead to behavior problems in your classroom.
Inappropriate behaviors such as avoidance,
challenging authority and aggression towards other
students can be explained by a failure to match
instruction to the brain maturity of your students.

Instructing even young children

about their brain is a good idea

Marshall and Comalli believe such instruction about how the

brain learns can and should begin much sooner.

A 20-minute lesson about the brain was enough to

improve knowledge of brain functioning in second
graders.

Teaching the youngster about their

brain

Marshall and Comallis neuroscience lesson was especially

focused on teaching children about the role of the brain in
sensory activitiesthat the brain is not just for thinking, as
many kids assume, but also for seeing, hearing, smelling, and
feeling.

Teach Kids Very Early about their

Brain
Stanford University psychologist
Carol Dweck has demonstrated
that teaching students about
how their brains workin
particular, that the brain is
plastic and can develop new
capacities with effort and
practicemakes a big
difference in how constructively
kids deal with mistakes and
setbacks, and how motivated
they are to persist until they
achieve mastery.

Dwecks Work
Dweck has found that
childrens attitudes and
behaviors regarding
achievement and failure are
already in place by preschool.
Parents and educators
messages about the
malleability of the brain and
the importance of effort must
begin even earlier.

Dwecks Recommendations
To reduce anxiety about new "stuff" , reading problems or the
Common Core State Standards, -- you can find opportunities to
emphasize students' ability to literally build the brains they
want.
Remind them when they turn in a story, demonstrate a science
principle in a skit, or even raise their hand to respond to a
question, they grow more dendrites and add new layers of
myelin to their axons.
Like a muscle, the brain responds to interaction and activity.

Building understanding of how their

brains work
You can support your instruction by
explaining which executive functions
will be activated during a unit, and
how.
Then invite students to describe the
executive functions they believe they
activated in their work.
Be specific. Remind them how the
math word problem they worked on
strengthened their organizing and
prioritizing, which resulted in more
dendrites in their brain's connections.

Executive Function of the Week

Building Student "Brain Literacy"
A second grade class could have an "Executive Function of the Week." After
introducing a new function and giving an example, you could invite students to
offer their own examples.
Other examples for elementary students might include:
Judgment
What is a fair way to take turns when six students want to play 4-Square, a two-person
handball game?
What do you say when a friend is being mean to another classmate?
How do you respond differently when a two-year old sibling, a new puppy, or an older
brother damages your toy?
Which library book do you select when you like three and can choose only one?
How much paint of each color should you take for your table group's project?

Executive Functions--Priority
Priority
Which television programs do
you most want to watch for
your hour of TV?
Which of your favorite stuffed
animals should you pack for
vacation when there is room
for only two?
Should you take full notes
during a lecture or jot down
key words to fill in later from a
book or with a classmate?

Organization
Organize
How do you sort your music
on playlists?
How do you find and sort
art materials for others?
How do you organize your
classroom desk materials?

Analyze
Analyze
What strategies are best when
playing a card or video game
(independently and with others)?
Is something your friend said
about monsters in their closet
true? How can you find out?
Which your favorite video games
can you complete? Which might
be too easy or too hard?

Cognitive Flexibility
Cognitive flexibility and emotional
self-control both support students'
capacity to be more responsive to
corrective feedback and learn from
mistakes
How do you react when a substitute
teacher does things a different way?
How do you adapt when disappointed
by changes in family plans?
When you don't get your first choice of
the topic you want to write about, how
do you find things you like about one
of the other choices?

Frontal Lobes
Thefrontal lobesbegin to mature more
fully in middle school. The maturation
continues through high school and
adulthood (Semrud-Clikeman & Ellison, 2009).
The frontal lobes are a more recent
evolutionary development in brains and
allow humans to evaluate and adapt
their behavior based on past experience.
The frontal lobes are also thought to be
where social understanding and
empathyreside (Damasio, 2008).

Experience play a major role in

frontal lobe development
The refined development of the
frontal white matter tracts begins
around age 12 and continues into
the twenties. This region of the brain
is crucial forhigher cognitive
functions, appropriate social
behaviors and the development
offormal operations.
These tracts develop in an orderly
fashion and experience appears to
contribute to further development.

Movement and Learning

Natural selection
developed a human brain
to solve problems of
survival in outdoor,
unstable environments
while in almost constant
motion.
(Medina, 2008)

Movement and Learning

Our brains were shaped and
sharpened by movement.
We continue to require
regular physical activity in
order for our brains to
function optimally.
(Raichlen and Polk, 2013)

Moving to Learn
A growing body of
evidence suggests we
think and learn better
when we walk or do
another form of exercise.
Rhodes, 2013

Coke and CriscoA Multisensory

Experience

Understanding how the brain learns

The one who does the work
does the learning

Teachers can do way too

much of the work for students
Significant time and effort are
needed for learning- more
than students think.

Ownership of learning requires

several steps
Deep processing =
Elaborations
Learners need to make
connections to all prior
knowledge through
multiple sensory
pathways.
Need to use emotional
connections when

Multiple Uses Leads to Ownership

Multiple useswrite it,

talk about it, think it, say
it, visualize it , draw it,
map it, free recall it.

To own it you must sleep on It

Memories are made
during sleep

Zulls, Natural Learning Model

In
take

Annotation is an action that lead to

ownership
Annotation
Read it
Understand it
Translate it
Write it in own words
Analyze it
Become aware if you understood it( metacognition)
Fix up strategies

Ownership of words
Vocabulary- sound it out
Say it correctly
Recognize it in print
Be able to show you know what it means and how it is
used correctly in a sentence
No memorizingownership is what we want.

Reward pathway in the brain

Wanting to learn it and
remember it are vital to
learning success.
Wanting to learn engages
the emotional reward
pathways in the brain
dopamine is a
neurochemical that
reinforces learning as a
survival behavior.

Directing the brain to learn and

remember
The brain can be directed
to recall what is
important-especially
before sleep.

(Payne, Tucker,
Ellenbogen, Wamsley,
2012 )

Free recall
How information gets
studied can significantly
improve its chances for
recall.
Recall the information
from memory
strengthens the
connections of the
memory and speed up its
ability to be recalled in
the future (LTP).

Efficiency of Reading
Read only what is
designated by the
purpose of the reading.
This is how professionals
read.
Know the patterns of the
text.

Don't waste the brains energy

Spending time on things
that you do not care
whether the students
learn is wasting their
brains energy.
Students spending time
on social networks uses
up the brains energy.

Spaced Learning
The brain needs time to
process new learning.
Non cognitive down time
between repeated learning
activities improve learning
and recall for all levels of
learners.

Paul Kelley,Making Minds: What's wrong with education- and

what should we do about it?, Routledge, London / New York,150-4

Ideal Study Intervals

10 to 20 % of retrieval
intervalsif studying
facts.
Test in 3 weeks =21 days.
Study every 2-3 days.
(Cepeda Coburn, Rohrer, Wixted, Mozer and Pashler
2009)

Enhanced Meaning from Patterns

Meaning is enhanced
when learners see the
patterns that exist with in
the new learning and use
familiar patterns of their
own to organize and recall
the information.

Using Any Pattern Make these

Words Easier to Recall.
olives, tomatoes, carrots, chicken,
lettuce, ham, grapes, beef,
strawberries, spinach, pork, plums,
mangos, potatoes, onions, fish,
duck, broccoli, cheese, cherries,
turkey and blueberries

Using Patterns to Make

Learning Easier- A too SIMPLAE APPROACH
AlphabeticalThis is a familiar pattern but it doesnt
help very much.

Beef, blueberries, carrots, cheese, cherries, etc.

A More Meaningful Patterning

Lunch and Dinnercategorizing the food by familiar areas like lunch
and dinner gives it more meaning and makes it much easier to recall.
Lunch a salad including lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, olives, carrots,
spinach, broccoli, onions, turkey, ham served with bread.
Dinner a fruit salad with plums, strawberries, mangos, grapes and
cherries.
Choices of duck, chicken, beef, fish or pork with potatoes.