Download Comprehensive school health education

Lecture 3
CHS 485
Contents
Brain research
basic principles related to learning.
Authentic learning
Characteristics of school health
education program
New and traditional teaching
* Today’s state-of-the-art health education curricula
reflect the growing body of research that emphasizes
 Teaching functional health information (essential knowledge)
 Shaping personal values and beliefs that support healthy
behaviors
 Shaping group norms that value a healthy lifestyle
 Developing the essential health skills necessary to adopt,
practice, and maintain health-enhancing behaviors.
 Less effective curricula often overemphasize
teaching scientific facts and increasing student
knowledge.
 Our greatest short coming in education these past few years
has been to ignore the brain research.
 Brain research is richly available to us that affirms that
implementing multi-sensory activities, pursuing meaningful
tasks, exploring a variety of skills with real world applications is
optimal learning and that it needs to be practiced regularly.
 A student sitting at a desk, taking notes and regurgitating
curriculum content uses approximately 3% of their brain's
capacity.
 Brain-based research shows
that using all senses maximizes
the learning experience.
 Interacting, manipulating,
exploring, collaborating,
discussing openly and sharing
for meaningful reasons while
having ample time to nurture a
greater depth of reasoning and
creativity is optimal learning.
What happens inside your brain
when you learn something new?
• Brain cells are called neurons.
• You are born with at least 100
billion neurons.
• Dendrites (fibers) grow out of
the neurons when you listen
to/write about/talk about/
practice something.
Learning is natural
• Neurons know how
to grow dendrites.
• Learning = Growth
of dendrites.
• New dendrites
take time to grow;
it takes a lot of
practice for them
to grow.
Connection form between dendrites
• When two dendrites
grow close together, a
contact point is
formed. A small gap at
the contact point is
called the synapse.
• Messages are sent from
one neuron to another
as electrical signals
travel across the
synapse.
Practice builds strong connections
• Special chemicals called
neurotransmitters carry
the electrical signals
across the synapse.
• When you practice
something, it gets easier
for the signals to cross the
synapse. That’s because
the contact area
becomes wider and more
neurotransmitters are
stored there.
Practice builds strong connections
• When practicing
something, the
dendrites grow thicker
with a fatty coating of
myelin.
• The thicker the
dendrites, the faster the
signals travel. The
myelin coating also
reduces interference.
Practice builds strong connections
• With enough
practice, the
dendrites build a
double connection.
• Faster, stronger,
double connections
last a very long time.
You remember what
you learned!
Short term memory is very short
• If you learn something new and do it only
once or twice, the dendrite connection is
very fragile and can disappear within
hours.
– Within 20 minutes, you remember only 60%.
– Within 24 hours, you remember only 30%.
But if you practice within 24 hours, and
then practice again later, you
remember 80%.
Twelve Basic Principles Related to
Learning
1.
Brain is a parallel processor
2.
Learning engages the entire physiology
3.
Learning is developmental
4.
Each brain is unique
5.
Every brain perceives and creates parts
and wholes simultaneously
6.
Learning always involves conscious and
unconscious processes
Twelve Basic Principles Related to
Learning
7.
The search for meaning is natural and
intrinsic
8.
Emotions are critical to learning
9.
Learning is enhanced by challenge and
inhibited by threat
10. The search for meaning occurs through
patterning
11. We can organize memory in different ways
12. The brain is a social organ
The Brain is a Parallel Processor
 Both hemispheres work together
 Many functions occur simultaneously
 Thoughts, intuitions, pre-dispositions,
and emotions operate simultaneously
and interact with other modes of
information. Good teaching takes this
into consideration.
 Edelman(1994) found when more
neurons in the brain were firing at the
same time, learning, meaning, and
retention were greater for the learner.
Learning Engages the Entire
Physiology
 This means that the physical health of the child -- the
amount of sleep, the nutrition -- affects the brain. So do
moods.
 An adolescent who does not get enough sleep one night
will not absorb much new information the next day.
 Fatigue will affect the brain's memory.
 Food, water, and nutrition are critical components of
thinking.
 We are “holistic” learners - the body and mind interact
Learning is Developmental
 Depending upon the topic
some students can think
abstractly, while others
have a limited
background and are still
thinking on a concrete
level.
 Building the necessary
neural connections by
exposure, repetition, and
practice is important to
the student.
Each Brain is Unique
o We are products of genetics and
experience
o This looks at learning styles and
unique ways of patterning.
o We have many things in common,
but we also are very, very different.
We need to understand how we
learn and how we perceive the
world.
o The brain works better when facts
and skills are embedded in real
experiences
Each Brain Perceives and Creates
Parts and Wholes Simultaneously
Some think more easily inductively while
others find deductive thinking more
comfortable - use both
Shank (1990) Telling stories is one of the most
influential techniques because you give the
information, ground the meaning in structure,
provide for emotion, and make the content
meaningful. Our brain loves storytelling.
 How might you make use of this?
Learning Involves Conscious and
Unconscious Processes
 We learn much more than we ever consciously
understand. Most of the signals that are peripherally
perceived enter the brain without our awareness and
interact on unconscious levels.
 This is why we say that learners remember what they
experience, not just what they are told.
 The brain and body learn physically, mentally, and
affectively
 Body language as well as actual language
communicate
The Search for Meaning Is natural
 This means that we are naturally programmed to search
for meaning.
 The brain needs and automatically registers the familiar
while simultaneously searching for and responding to
additional stimuli.
 What does this mean for education?
 Provision must be made to satisfy the hunger for novelty,
discovery, and challenge. At the same time lessons need
to be exciting and meaningful and offer students an
abundance of choices.
The Search for Meaning Is Innate
 Capitalize on this quality!
 Present ideas, experiences that may NOT follow what
one expects:
 Speculate
 Question
 Experiment
 Hypothesize
Emotions Are Critical to Learning
In the brain you can't separate out emotion from
cognition. Emotions trigger the chemicals active in the
brain cells. This permits or inhibits communication
between the cells.
• Anxiety floods your body with adrenaline “fight or
flight”.
• Adrenaline makes it hard for the neurotransmitters to
carry messages across the synapses in your brain
• That causes “blanking out” on a test.
Emotions affect learning
• Endorphins make you
feel calm.
• Your body produces
endorphins when you
relax, exercise, laugh,
or learn new things.
• If you practice
producing calming
hormones, it will help
when you are under
stress.
Learning is Enhanced by
Challenge and Inhibited by Threat
 When the learner is empowered and challenged,
you begin to get the maximum possibility for
connections. That is why the brain needs stability as
well as challenge.
 Excess adrenaline can suppress learning
 Stress should be kept to a manageable level
 Provide challenge opportunities to “grow” and to
make changes
 Have high, but reasonable expectations
The Search for Meaning Comes
Through Patterning
 Patterning refers to the organization and categorization of
information.
 The brain resists having meaningless patterns imposed upon it. By
"meaningless" we mean isolated and unrelated pieces of
information.
 When the brain's natural capacity to integrate information is
evoked in teaching, vast amounts of seemingly unrelated or
random information and activities can be presented and
assimilated. The brain tries to make sense of the information by
reducing it to familiar patterns.
 The brain is capable of taking in enormous amounts of
information when that information is related in a way so the brain
can pattern appropriately.
Brain Organizes Memory In Different
Ways
Retrieval often depends upon how the
information was stored.
Relevancy is one key to both storage and
retrieval
Connect to what students know, what they
are interested in
Provide and get examples
Memory
 When objects and events are registered by several
senses, they can be stored in several interrelated
memory networks.
 This type of memory becomes more accessible and
powerful.
 Conversation helps us link ideas/thoughts to our own
related memories. Students need time for this to
happen!!




Storytelling
Debates
Simulations
Games
- Conversations
- Role playing
- Songs
- Films
Brain Friendly techniques to
improve Memory
 Connect to prior knowledge experience, or skill
(discuss common experience)
 Develop personal relevance (create real life
situations)
 To go from short to long term memory,
information must make sense (map concepts
visually)
 Elaborate and extend key concepts ( stimulate
concepts with gross motor activities)
The Brain is a Social Brain
The brain develops better understanding
when learning is shared with others
 When students have to talk to others
about information, they retain the
information longer and more
efficiently.
 Make use of small groups,
discussions, teams, pairings, and
question and answer situations.
Authentic learning
 Authentic learning is real life
learning. It is a style of learning that
encourages students to create a
tangible, useful product to be shared
with their world.
 Authentic learning engages all the
senses allowing students to create a
meaningful, useful, shared outcome.
They are real life tasks, or simulated
tasks that provide the learner with
opportunities to connect with the
real world.
What is Authentic Learning?
 Authentic Learning is an approach
to teaching in which the students
work on realistic problems,
participate in activities that solve
real life problems, and create
products that have real life
meaning.
 The learning environments are
multidisciplinary, similar to a real
world application (managing a
city, building a house, flying an
airplane, setting a budget, solving
a crime).
Authentic Approach
 Hands On- Students are allowed to
perform as they construct meaning
and acquire understanding.
 Minds On- Activities allow students
to develop thinking processes and
encourage them to answer
questions.
 Authentic- Students are presented
with problem solving activities that
incorporate authentic real life
questions and issues.
Is It Happening in Your Classroom?
Authentic Characteristics
• Learning is real world oriented and has meaning
beyond the school setting.
• Students use higher order thinking skills and learn
concepts as well as basic facts.
• The classroom is learner centered and allows for a
variety of learning styles.
• Students have ownership of their learning.
• Instruction uses hands on approaches.
Is It Happening in Your Classroom?
Authentic Characteristics
• Learning is active and student driven.
• Teachers act as coaches or learning facilitators.
• Allows students to receive help if they need it
and work independently when they can
accomplish a task on their own.
• Students often work together and have
opportunities for discussions.
• Students produce a product that is directed
towards a real audience.
Ready Set Action!
Students
• Take advantage of every opportunity to learn
• Develop skills needed to seek information and solve
problems
• Keep an open and questioning mind
• Learn to work with others, share responsibilities, and
value new experiences
Ready Set Action!
Parents and Communities
• Support teachers by establishing high
expectations
• Encourage the curiosity of children
• Provide opportunities for learning in the home
• Make sure all homework is completed
• Create partnerships between schools and
community places
Ready Set Action!
Teachers
• Commit to professional development to learn new
strategies
• Establish high achievement standards for ALL
students
• Model good learning habits
• Use technology to enhance classroom experiences
Thank you …