The New Science of Learning

A New Paradigm for Student Learning is

Needed
1. Students need to prepare their
brains for learning each day.

2. Students need to follow the

new brain research for how to
take in, process and retrieve
information.
Preparing to Learn

The simple but important

shift in our understanding is
---that if the brain is
prepared to learn greater
success occurs.
Questions that Impact Learning
After waking up this morning
how much time passed before
you had something to Drink?
Something to Eat?
How many times each day do
you eat a meal?
How many hours of sleep did
you get last night?
How many hours of sleep do
you usually get each weekday
night?
How often do you exercise? For
how long on average is each
exercise session?
Do you take a nap each day or
most days? How long is the nap?
 Preparation for Learning Means Students Have
Addressed these Four Areas

The brain needs to function

effectively:
1. Hydration
2. Proper Diet (glucose)
3. Exercise
4. Sleep
Hydration and Healthy Body/Brain Function
An adult body is around 55-60%
water," so drinking water
everyday is vital for the body to
work correctly.

(Angela Lemond, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics)

Water First Thing in the Morning
After going several hours
without water (during sleep) a
serving of water first thing in the
morning can hydrate the body
while aiding digestion and
metabolism.

(Lemond, 2017)
Hydration and the Brain

Water is needed for the brain's

production of the hormones and
neurotransmitters which key the
brains communication system.

(Allen,2016)
Hydration and the Brain

When you lose too much

water your brain cells lose
efficiency.

(Gowin2010)
Mild Dehydration and Learning
According to two studies recently conducted at the
University of Connecticuts Human Performance
Laboratory --
Even mild dehydration can alter a
persons mood, energy level, and
ability to think clearly,

Mild dehydration is defined as an

approximately 1.5 percent loss in
normal water volume in the body.
(Armstrong & Lieberman, 2011)
Symptoms of Dehydration
1. Thirsty
2. Dry mouth
3. Weakness
4. Dizziness
5. Heart pounding
6. Fainting
7. Less or dark yellow urine
8. No tears
9. Muscle cramps
10. Tired
Easy Solutions
We lose 2 lbs of water while sleeping--
hydrate when you wake up12-16
ounces of water.
We lose about 80 ounces of water daily
through sweating, breathing and
eliminating waste.(The Mayo Clinic)

Water is bestdrink when thirsty.

Iced tea, coffee or other drinks like
Gatorade are 2nd best.
Your Diet and
Learning
Diet and Learning
Neurons are living cells with a
metabolism, and they need
glucose in order to function.

Glucose is the fuel of the brain

just like gasoline is the fuel of
your car.

(Levitin,2014)
The Brains Energy Source

Because neurons cannot store

glucose, they depend on the
bloodstream to deliver a constant
supply of this precious fuel.

(The Franklin Institute)

Diet and Learning

This supply in the form of blood

sugar is obtained from a balanced
diet and regular food consumption
throughout the day.

(The Franklin Institute)

Diet and Learning
Too much sugar or refined
carbohydrates at one time,
however, can actually deprive
your brain of glucose depleting
its energy supply and
compromising your brain's
power to concentrate,
remember, and learn.
(The Franklin Institute)
Being Tired Reduces Effectiveness of Glucose
Sleep deprivation cause the
body to be less efficient in its
ability to use food by 1/3 also its
ability to make insulin and to
extract energy from the glucose
becomes quite poor.
Diet and Learning

For learners, this research on diet

implies that the contents and
timing of meals may need to be
coordinated to have the most
beneficial cognitive effects that
enhance learning.
Web MD Food Recommendations for Healthy
Brain Function
Blueberries
Avocadoes
Dark Chocolate
Nuts and seeds
Beans
Fresh brewed Tea
Whole Grains
Wild Salmon
Exercise and Learning
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)

Power of Exercise
If there were a drug
that could do for
human health what
exercise can do it
would be the most
valuable
pharmaceutical ever
developed. (Dr Mark Tarnopolsky genetic
metabolic neurologist at Mc Master University )
Exercise and Learning
Exercise is the single most
important thing a person
can do to improve their
learning.

(John Ratey, 2008, Spark, The Revolutionary New Science

of Exercise and the Brain)
Exercise Improves Attention
You will pay better attention to a
task when you have been active

Allocate more cognitive

resources to the task

Do it for longer periods of time.

Exercise Increases Attention
and Concentration
Exercise directly stimulates the
dorsolateral prefrontal cortices- the
brain regions responsible for:
focus
concentration
organization
planning

(Postal, 2015)
Exercise Boost the Brains
Ability to Learn

Exercise increases production of Energy Calm

neurotransmitters that help:
1. Motivation
2. Patience
3. Mood (more optimistic)
4. Attention

(Ratey, 2013)
Exercise can Enhance Learning

Studies also show that following

exercise, problem solving,
memory, and attention improve.

Postal, 2014
Exercise Increases Production of BDNF

BDNF
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

Enhances the wiring of neurons

which underlies all human
learning

Miracle Gro for the

(Ratey, 2008)
Brain
Exercise Produces BDNF

Improves brain health

Is a stress inoculator

Makes the brain cells more

resilient

(Ratey, 2008)
How Sleep Effects Learning and Memory
GOOD SLEEP HYGIENE?
Sleep, Memory and Learning
50 to 70 million adults in the
United States alone have a sleep
or wakefulness disorder, according
to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
The Power of Sleep

Research on the role of sleep in hormonal,

immunological and learning and memory function
suggest that if you dont get enough you couldbesides
being very tiredwind up sick, overweight, forgetful and
(depressed) very blue.(Strickgold, 2015)
How Much Sleep do College
Students Need?

Adults need between 7 and 9

hours of sleep per night and
teenagers need at least 9 hours
of sleep a night.
Effects of Sleep Deprivation

Poor attention
Irritability
Difficulty with memory
Increased risk taking and
impulsivity
Slowed reaction time
Depressed Immune system
Sleeps Affect on Learning and Memory
Scientists have fortified evidence
that a key purpose of sleep is to
recalibrate the brain cells
responsible for learning and
memory
So the lessons can be solidified
and used when awake.

(Diering,2017)
Sleep and Learning and Memory
The bottom line, he says, is
that sleep is not really downtime
for the brain.
It has important work to do
then, and we in the developed
world are shortchanging
ourselves by skimping on it.
Rehearsal of Learning before Sleep

A 2012 study out of the University

of Notre Dame confirms that
sleeping directly after learning
something new is beneficial for
memory.

(Payne, Tucker, Ellenbogen, Wamsley, 2012 )

Dewar, Alber, Butler, Cowan &DellaSala, 2012)
Rehearsal of Learning before Sleep

it would be a good thing to

rehearse any information you
need to remember just prior to
going to bed.

(Payne, Tucker, Ellenbogen, Wamsley, 2012 )

Sleep, Creativity and Problem Solving
Sleep also seems to reorganize
memories, extracting the
emotional details and
reconfiguring the memory to
help us produce new and
creative ideas.

(Wagner, U., Gais, S., Haider, H., Verleger, R., & Born, J. (2004).
Awake but Off Line

New findings suggest that when

the brain is sleep deprived even
though the person is fully awake
the neurons used for important
mental task switch off.

(Chiara Corelli,2011 Nature)

Awake but Off Line
This is likely to have
consequences on mental
performance and we likely
function less well the longer
weve been awake.

(Chiara Corelli,2011, Nature)

Less Sleep Equals Lower GPA
2012 study from the University of
Arkansas Sleep and Learning Lab
concluded that students that
consistently got less than the
recommended 7-8 hours of sleep each
night had more than a half of grade
lower GPA than students with 7-8
hours of sleep.
Can we bank sleep?
Can we bank sleep?not really.

But when sleep deprived you

can catch up with recovery
sleep.

When you know you will have to

be sleep deprived it is valuable
to sleep well the day before.
Nighttime Light and Sleep
Nighttime light exposure
especially to the blue light of TV,
computers, cellphones and iPads
suppresses melatonin the
hormone that controls our wake
and sleep cycles
Blocking the Blue Light
New lenses that block the blue
light have been developed and Amber colored lenses
are available for all when you block the blue light
get new glasses.

There are apps available that

you can download for your
phones, iPad (etc.)that will
reduce the effects of the blue
light.
Naps Can Improve Learning Readiness
The newest research suggest a
nap of 90 minutes is ideal for
true refreshment and improved
cognitive readiness for learning.

LOEB, 2014
Rest after Learning Improves Recall
Neuroscientist Lila Davachi
of NYU found that during
rest periods following new
learning the areas of the
brain used during new
learning were just as active
as they were when they
were learning the task

Dr Lila Davachi, NYU's Department of Psychology and Center

for Neural Science.
Significance of this Finding
The greater the correlation between
rest and learning the greater the
chance of remembering the task in
later tests.

Taking a (coffee) break after class can

actually help you retain the
information you just learned."
Dr Lila Davachi
Spaced Learning
Spaced learning studies have shown
that regular gaps between learning
which allow the brain time to encode
learning, have helped primary school
children read more effectively and
have improved surgical skills of
medical students.
(R. Douglas Fields Scientific American in 2005)
Learning in Harmony with Your Brain
Senses Create Multiple Pathways for Learning
and Memory
The more senses used in
learning the more possible
connections to prior
knowledge and the more
pathways are available for
recall.
 Our Most Powerful Sense for Learning is
Vision
Evolution made certain we were visual
learners.

See the predator or be eaten

See the food to hunt or starve
See a safe place to live of be eaten
See a mate to pass on your genes
Our Most Powerful Sense for Learning is
Vision
33% of the human brain is
devoted to vision.

Vision is still intricate to our

survival.

Vision makes powerful

memories.
Our Brains Learn in Patterns

The brain is a pattern seeking

device that relates whole
concepts to one another and
looks for similarities,
differences, or relationships
between them.

(Ratey, 2002, pg.5)

 Which of the following slides is
easier to remember and WHY?
SLIDE ONE

4915802979
Slide Two

(491) 580-2979
Common Patterns for Learning

Similarity and Difference

Cause and Effect

Comparison and Contrast

In students own words

Efficient Memory Formation
Cramming
The short-term advantage of
study practice shows that
cramming can improve exam
scores.
However, if the goal of
practice is long-term
retention of course
Carrier & Pashler, 1992; Roediger & Karpicke, 2006b;
material, cramming
Thompson, Wenger, &Bartling, 1978; Wenger, Thompson,
& Bartling, 1980; Wheeler, Ewers, & Buonanno, 2003 appears to be an
irrational behavior.
The Four Rules of Memory

1.Repetition over time

(distributive practice)

2.Elaboration of material

3. Wanting to Remember

4. Recall from memory

Keys to Memory Formation
The more elaborately you
encode new information at
the moment of learning the
stronger the memorymake
it detailed, multifaceted and
emotional.

(Squire and Kandel)

Keys to Memory Formation
The same neural pathways used
to process new learning are the
same ones used to store it.

So the initial moments of

learning are crucial to helping us
to recall what we learned.
Keys to Memory Formation
The quality of our initial
encoding of new learning is the
greatest predictor of later
learning success.
Keys to Memory Formation
The more closely you replicate
the environment and conditions
at the moment of learning when
trying to recall something the
easier remembering it will be.

Studying in the place you will be

tested is ideal.
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)
Power of Repetition
Do you know the lyrics to songs that
you did not try to learn and do not
want to know the lyrics to?

YES
Why Students Forget

1.Blocking information stored but cant be accessed (Schacter, 2001)

Test Anxiety for example

2. Misattribution attributing a memory to the wrong situation or source (Zola,

2002)

3. Transience memory lost over time 65% of a lecture is lost in the first hour
(Schacter, 2001)
The Brain cant Multitask when it
Comes to Learning
Multitasking and Classroom Learning
Multitasking and the Brains Reward System
Some behaviors, such as texting
or using social media, trigger the
brains reward system. Once the
brain has linked a behavior to
that reward, it continues to seek
the reward again and again.

(Roper in Psychological Science)

Studies on Multitasking

Multitasking decreases mental

resources needed for new learning
and study
( Newman Kellert and Just 2007)

The amount of brain activation in

the areas needed for new learning
is much less then when a single task
is being learned.
(Just, Carpenter Keller, Emery, Zajac and Thulborm 2001),
Listening to Music while Studying

Listening to music while

studying is bad for learning
and memory formation.
The beat, rhythm and words
are all a distraction for the
brain from the
learning/studying task.
Studies on Multitasking

Heavy multitasking shortens

attention spans.

(Ophir, Nass and Wagner, 2009)

Studies on Multitasking

It gives value to all stimuli so

distractibility increases.

(Ophir, Nass and Wagner 2009)