Download Learning and the Brain - Santa Clara County Office of

Hillary Crissinger, M.A.& Doctoral candidate in Special Education
Presenter
 I am Hillary Crissinger, Charter Schools Resource
Specialist servicing the learning disabled population
attending charter programs and other duties as
assigned.
 My email address is [email protected]
 Please make sure you signed for the session.
 Please turn your cell phone to silent or off.
Agenda
 Introduction
 Ice Breaker
 The Brain structure
 Functions of structures
 Brain and Learning
 Break
 Application of this information to the workplace
 Importance of Neuroscience
 Questions
Ice Breaker
 Everyone line up by height and tell the group where
they grew up.
 Name a change in your place of birth that has
happened over the last 15 to 20 years.
The Structure of the Brain
Parietal Lobe
It is connected with the processing of nerve
impulses related to the senses, such as touch,
pain, taste, pressure, and temperature. It also
has language functions.
Frontal Lobe
It is concerned with emotions,
reasoning, planning, movement, and
parts of speech. It is also involved in
purposeful acts such as creativity,
judgment, problem solving, and
planning.
Temporal Lobe
The temporal lobes are responsible for
hearing, memory, meaning, and language.
They also play a role in emotion and
learning. The temporal lobes are
concerned with interpreting and
processing auditory stimuli.
Occipital Lobe
The occipital lobe is involved with the
brain's ability to recognize objects. It is
responsible for our vision.
Other structures
Brain and Learning
 Quick Review of the brain parts:
 Stand up and put your hands together in the shape of
two fists praying :
 Now smile at one another and repeat the following:
1. Frontal lobe is your thumbs.
2. Mid section of your knuckles is your Parietal Lobe.
3. The back part of your fist is the Occipital Lobe
4. The hand part of the fist is the Temporal Lobe.
5. The Cerebellum as at heel of the hand.
Brain and Learning
 Looking at each other, smiling and using a physical
reference point are all strategies to help a student
learn.
 The goal is to move information into the working
memory.
Brain and Learning :Chunk
 How can we maximize
learning ?
 Chunk content into 8
minute intervals.
 The body needs to move
at the end of the 8
minutes or dialogue .
 Create a story to help
build a context to the
learning.
Implications for Educators
Retention of Learning
100%
Teaching, 90%
90%
80%
Doing the task, 75%
70%
60%
Discussion, 50%
50%
40%
Demonstration, 30%
30%
Audio Visual, 20%
20%
Reading, 10%
10%
lecture, 5%
0%
lecture
Reading
Audio Visual
Demonstration
Discussion
Doing the task
Teaching
Engaging the mind and the body
 Mirror Neurons also known as the “monkey see –
monkey do “ neurons are located in the frontal cortex
( Broca’s region) and the ventral premotor cortex.
 Scientists noticed that the same areas of the brain
fired up when a monkey or a human performed a task
or watched the same task.
 Studies in young children best demonstrated this
concept.
Mirror Neurons
Mirror Neurons
 Mirror Neurons are key
to learning in a social
context.
 A deficit in this capacity
has been associated with
Autism.
 When we practiced




creating the hand brain
we engaged the
following:
The body
Mirror Neurons
(smiling)
Auditory mode
To engage the working
memory located in our
temporal lobe.
Moving information into our
working memory
 Students challenged with memory issues or by a
specific content area have difficulty recalling
vocabulary, sequencing, formulas etc.
 Using a multi-modal approach that engages the body
and chunks information helps students.
 Multi- modal means using visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic approaches to teach new information.
 Remember the best retention works in a social
context- teaching, doing, & demonstrating.
Lindamood Bell
Visualization and
Verbalization
Demonstration
 Integrates visual and auditory
 I need a volunteer to come up
skills.
 Mastery of the learning is
done in a social context.
 Requires intense and direct
work with the teacher.
 This technique uses the
brains capacity to visualize to
support language skills.
to the front of the room and
me in showing this
technique.
Lindamood Bell
Now it is your turn
 Please pick a partner and one of you pick a picture to




describe to your partner.
Use the questions hand out in your take away packet.
The person holding the picture needs to describe the
picture to the person asking the questions. It is a lot
more fun if only one of you has seen the picture. (The
questioner will hopefully not see the picture.)
Goal: Let us see how close you come to communicating
an accurate image to your partner.
Feedback
Break
 After break we will be applying more of this
information in a lesson.
Application
 Find the lesson in your take away packet and work
with a partner.
 You can teach a multiplication lesson or a reading
lesson.
 Please volunteer to share your creations after you are
finished.
Neuroscience
 This is a hot topic !!!
 People want to know more about operating their
minds in an optimal manner.
 In the take away packet is an article from Real Simple
magazine with some good advice on supporting your
brain. This is based the research literature on this
topic.
Final Words
 Questions