Download Understanding the Gifted Learner`s Brain

Understanding the
Gifted Learner’s Brain
GATE Parent Conference
Presented by Kate Miller
March 12, 2016
Objectives:
To better understand:
• Brain Development
• How the brain “remembers” and
“learns”
• Factors that influence learning
• What makes a gifted brain unique
Neurogenesis
(Growth of Neurons)
•  During the 9 months of fetal development,
neurons grow at the rate of 250,000 per minute.
•  At birth the brain has approximately 100 billion
neurons and weighs about 1 pound. By one year
it has doubled and by age 5 or 6 it is 90% of its
adult size and weight
•  This growth is not caused by the growth of more
neurons but rather by the rapid growth of more
synapses.
Development of the Brain
Brain Cells
(Neurons)
The 100 billion
neurons
communicate with
one another at
junctures called
synapses.
The Developing Brain
There are two factors that determine how the brain
develops….
1.  Genes are the building blocks.
Some genes are determinants.
Some genes are predispositions.
The Developing Brain (continued)
2. Environment - the on-the-job foreman
The environment provides the instruction for the
final construction of the brain.
The brain gobbles up the external
environment through its sensory system and
then reassembles the digested world in the
form of trillions of connections which are...
Constantly growing or dying , becoming
stronger or weaker....
Depending on the richness of the banquet.
Genes & Environment as Partners
Genes and the environment work closely together
during the first three to four years
to form a healthy brain.
It is during these years that the foundations
are laid down for:
* vision
* language
* vocabulary
* intellectual development
* emotional development
Neuroplasticity
•  When children are born, they can hear the sounds
of 6000 languages. However, very early the neural
connections representing the sounds that have
been reinforced remain and the others wither
away.
•  What do you think would happen in the brain of a
person born blind?
•  Plasticity is a feature of the brain throughout an
individual’s lifetime, however, young brains are
much more plastic than adult brains.
The Four Lobes of the Brain
Development of Vision
Lack of visual stimulation at birth
causes the brain cells designed to interpret
vision to dry up or be diverted to other tasks.
Vision (continued)
The neurons in the visual circuits have a growth
spurt at the age of 2 to 4 months, which
corresponds to when babies start to really notice
the world. This growth peaks at 8 months, when
each neuron is connected to 15,000 other neurons.
A baby whose eyes are clouded by cataracts from
birth will, despite cataract-removal surgery at age
two, be forever blind.
Although the eyes may be perfectly healthy, the
child will not be able to see.
Hearing and Language
• The critical period for
learning a spoken language is
totally lost by about age ten.
• When a child is born deaf, the
50,000 neural pathways that
would normally carry sound
messages from the ears to the
brain are silent.
Second Language Development
The learning of a second language is also
dependent upon the stimulation of the
neurons for the sounds of that language.
Learning a second language after age 10 to
12 is not only more difficult, it is highly
unlikely that it will be spoken without an
accent.
Vocabulary
Babies whose mothers talk to them
more have a bigger vocabulary.
At 20 months, babies of talkative
mothers knew 131 more words than
infants of less talkative moms. At 24
months the difference was 295
words.
Syntax
The critical period for learning syntax is
before age 3.
Everyone can learn to use nouns and verbs
correctly throughout childhood. But the
critical period for learning the correct use
of articles, conjunctions, and prepositions
seems to be much shorter.
Societal Implications
1. Many children are not talked to or read to or
encouraged to interact verbally.
2. Children watching television aren't personally
involved with language.
3. Majority of babies born in U.S. are placed in full
time day care within a year. In many day care
centers there is little interactive talk.
Synaptogenesis and Pruning
•  Between the second month in utero and the age of
two, each neuron in the cortex forms an average of
1.8 synapses per second. At this point the brain
begins to prune away large numbers of
connections.
•  Which connections remain, and which are pruned,
depends on whether or not they are used.
•  Experience literally changes the brain!
What are Learning & Memory?
• Learning is the act of making (and
strengthening) connections between
thousand of neurons forming neural
networks or maps.
• Memory is the ability to reconstruct or
reactivate the previously-made
connections.
• Neurons that fire together, wire together!
Information Processing
Factors that Influence Attention
Attention is important for moving sensory memories to
working memory. How do we get the brain to “pay
attention”?
There are many factors that influence attention, however
the two over which we have the most control are:
•  Meaning – Whether or not the student can make sense
of the information (Does it connect to what they know)
•  Emotion – Whether or not the information has an
emotional “hook” (Do they have an emotional response?)
Emotion’s Powerful Role
Under threat, the rational/thinking part of
the brain is less efficient and learning is often
impeded. Kids must be not only physically
safe but also psychologically safe to learn.
Adrenalin can positively influence memory
by stamping them with extra vividness.
Anything which engages students’ emotional/
motivational interest will naturally engage
the adrenalin system and result in stronger
memories.
Consolidation
The process of stabilizing a memory trace over time, moving
it from working memory to long-term memory
•  New information is not “fixed” the moment it is processed.
It takes time to become “gelled” or consolidated.
•  Consolidation is enhanced by spaced intervals of
appropriate elaborative rehearsal.
•  Learning occurs best when new information is
incorporated gradually into memory rather than being
jammed in all at one time!
Two Types of Rehearsal
•  Rote Rehearsal - deliberate,
continuous repetition of material in the
same form that it originally entered
working memory.
• Elaborative Rehearsal – elaborating or
integrating information, giving it some
kind of “hook” to increase retention,
creating chunks of reminders.
Two Types of Long-term Memory
1.  Procedural Memory
(Best rehearsed by repetition)
Processes that have been practiced or
repeated to the extent that they have
become automatic.
Driving a car, writing, reading, typing,
throwing a pass in football, walking,
playing the piano, etc.
Two Types of Long-term Memory
2. Declarative Memory
(Best rehearsed with elaboration.)
Semantic
Episodic
Our general
knowledge:
Our life experiences:
Language, people,
places, faces,
concepts, facts.
(Independent of
context, acquired by
learning.
Specific events and
emotions connected
with these events.
(Reconstructed over
time, recall not
necessarily accurate.)
Effective Rehearsal
•  The more elaboratively information is rehearsed at
the moment of learning, the stronger the memory.
•  The more modalities used to rehearse, the more
paths you have for retrieval.
•  The more real-world examples given, the more
likely the concept will be understood and
remembered.
•  The more information is linked to previous
learning, the stronger the memory.
What Helps the Brain Learn?
• 1. Reciprocal Teaching – A/B Teams
• 2. Storytelling
• 3. Metaphor, Analogy and Simile
• 4. Simulations and Role Play
• 5. Reflect and Write, Reflection Journals
• 6. Rhyme, Rhythm and Rap
• 7. Visuals and Graphics
• 8. Projects and Problem-based Learning
• 9. Mnemonics
• 10. Hands On Activities