Mr Zarkovic

To get the child ready in academics begin the following at ages 2 - 5. Read to them. Give them time to discover and learn

independently. Teach rhyming games and alphabet. Provide simple toys that require

imagination. Talk to them and ask questions.

Birth to Age 2 is critical in the brain development for two main reasons. The Scaffold Effect says although a child

could learn motor skills later in life, she needs them earlier because they are foundational for other important early skills.

The Manana Effect says that anything we can put off until tomorrow will be put off until tomorrow.

Provide opportunities for social games and activities.

Role-model emotional stability. Teach how to behave with peers. Help children learn to be

comfortable with peers.

To work fast and function, the brain needs:

Nutritional foods Proteins Unsaturated Fats Complex Carbohydrates Sugars Elements, such as boron, iron, selenium,

vanadium, and potassium Proper hydration

Hormones are only partly to blame for teenagers’ bizarre behavior. Teens need time to catch up with the rapid and massive structural change going on in their brain. This takes place during sleeping hours.

The teen brain is also influenced by increased chemical levels in the brain.

Suggestions for working with teens: be concise, use modeling, be a coach, be understanding rather than judgmental, be tactful, cut them some slack, just let them sleep, and be clear about dangers of substance abuse.

Engagement is NOT a requirement for all learning.

However, more focused engagement is better than less of it.

“Pay attention” is a payment of the brain’s resources when teachers orient, engage, and maintain the student’s attention.

Repetition strengthens connections in the brain.

Variations and When to do it Pre-exposure days,

weeks, months, years ahead Previewing minutes,

hours ahead Priming seconds, minutes

ahead Reviewing minutes after

learning Revision hours, days,

weeks later

Prior knowledge influences all learning.

The best way to teach is to understand, respect, and build on the student’s prior knowledge.

Mental models are coherent structures for understanding things.

When you require students to make their own mental models, you’re helping them reach a deep understanding rarely achievable by more traditional lecture.

The brain and body have many different rhythms, lasting about 90 to 110 minutes = 12 to 16 cycles over a 24-hour period.

The brain’s rhythms play a key role in understanding and influencing cognitive performance, memory processes, visual perception, levels of arousal, performance, mood, and behavior.

By shifting a little to align with the rhythmic patterns, teacher’s can increase student comprehension and retention.

Hormones can and do alter how we learn.

Left-hemisphere performance increases as testosterone levels decline.

Right-hemisphere performance increases as estrogen levels decline.

These level shifts affect the performance in each hemisphere.

Differences vary greatly in males and females.

Based on two simple truths: The brain rarely gets what is right the first time. Making mistakes is key to developing intelligence.

Trial-and-Error learning is needed to sort out mistakes. Value of Trial-and-Error Learning

Entry-level neurons receive input. Middle-level neurons repeatedly process input through trial-

and-error. Output-level neurons speak, write, and demonstrate the

output.

Emotions are one of the most important regulators of learning and memory.

The more intense the emotional state, the more likely we are to remember it.

Negative emotions are well known for influencing brain functions.

Positive emotions affect memory.

Most neuroscientists agree that movement and cognition are powerfully connected.

Evidence from anatomical studies, imaging sources, and clinical data shows that moderate exercise enhances cognitive processing.

Exercise also increases the number of brain cells and can reduce childhood obesity.

68% of high school students do not participate in a daily physical educational program

Schools that do not implement a solid physical activity program are shortchanging students brains and their potential for academic success.

Research found that exercise improves classroom behavior and academic performance.

“Loss” in studying time does not translate into lower academic scores.

It can enhance social skills, emotional intelligence, and conflict resolution ability.

Neuroscientists have emerged with important research that has changed the way we think about emotions—they are related to learning!

Emotions drive attention, create meaning, and have their own memory pathways.

Emotions regulate behaviors, and they help us organize the world around us.

Emotions are not located in a single emotion center but are distributed throughout the brain.

Brain chemicals are transmitted from the synapse but are dispersed to wide areas of the brain.

Chemicals of emotion influence our behavior.

Emotions give us a more activated and stimulated brain. They help us recall things better and form more explicit memories.

Good learning embraces emotions, recognizing emotional states as fast changing, specific neural networks that incorporate multiple areas of the brain.

Emotions affect student behavior because they create distinct mind-body states.

The most important things every educator should know about emotional states:*They are everywhere.*They are connected.*They are who we are.*They are brief.*Stable emotional states can be a problem.

Strategies that can change a student’s emotional state:

*Compelling questions*Role-modeling*Celebrations*Physical activity*Engineered controversy*Purposeful physical

rituals*Getting personal

Physical environments influence how we feel, hear, and see. Those factors influence cognitive performance.

5 variables in the physical environment that have the greatest effect on academic success: seating, temperature, lighting, noise, and building design.

Better awareness, smarter planning, and simple changes can be made in every environment to improve learning.

Student seating can affect student success in several ways.*Influences stress levels.*Influences access to resources.

Design of students’ desks and chairs can play a role in cognition.

How students’ seating is arranged matters.*Match the seating arrangement to the activity.

The human brain is temperature sensitive and temperature is a factor in cognition.

The cooler the brain is, the more relaxed, receptive, and cognitively sharp.

Classrooms kept 20-23 C are most comfortable for the majority of students.

Students in brightly lit classrooms perform better in school compared with students in dimly lit classrooms.

Natural sunlight is the best for learning.

Practical suggestions:*Maintain constant, adequate level of bright lighting.*Maximize student exposure to daylight.*Hold class outside on occasion.

In classrooms that fail to address noise, student attention decreases and off-task behaviors and discipline problems increase.

Children for whom English is a second language and children with hearing or learning deficits have difficulty attending to the teacher in noisy classrooms.

Room décor needs to be rich and full but not distractingly cluttered

Opportunities for mobility need to be offered with flexibility in seating.

Aromas ought to be kept to a minimum. Accommodating special needs makes

a world of difference to the student.

Research indicates that well-planned learning environments stimulate learning and reduce discipline problems.

Brain-friendly learning environments strengthen neural connections and support long-term memory, planning, and motivation.

Quality facilities with strong academic programs are conditions essential to optimum student learning.

Top school designs:*Acoustics*Daytime lighting*Ecology*Temperature, Humidity, and Ventilation*Learning spaces*Optimal views*School size*Staff areas

Cognition The extent to which

social conditions can influence cognition cannot be overestimated.

Key factors to consider within the learning environment: Peer Pressure Acceptance Disapproval Reinforcement

Social Stress Stress plays a role in

many social interactions. Females are more likely to

mobilize social support under stress than males.

Males are more likely to affiliate with groups of people with similar status or power.

Females are more likely to affiliate by friendships or task needs.

Social BondingPreening is a

common manifestation of the social brain.

The increased risk of depression and suicide among teens makes obvious their need for more guidance, camaraderie, and support.

Social BiasRacism is learned.Our brain does

respond in a negative way to those different from ourselves if we have not been desensitized to those differences.

How you treat another after the initial wariness is the learned behavior.

Peer Pressure Adolescent and teen

students are more interested in peer approval, autonomy, and discovery.

These tendencies can be either a nightmare for a school or a delight, depending on how well they are managed.

Social Difficulties Research suggest

that more than 10 % of students may suffer some social impairment.

Social difficulty can be a result of:

Emotionally poor upbringing

Genetics Biological dysfunctions

When specific areas of the brain are damaged, social skills fail.

Social contact has significant and broad-based effects. Teachers influence students a great deal. We must believe that school is about the “whole person”. Practical ways to apply research findings related to the

social brain: Information gathering Quick social grouping A balance of social and individual events Cooperative learning Social skills instruction

Lack of positive relationships Learned helplessness Awareness of disrespect toward one’s

culture or ethnicity Perception of threats Brain anomalies Drug use Perception that class assignments or tasks

are irrelevant.

• Biologically, human brains are designed to predict, process, enjoy, and remember rewards.

• The brain may have different types of reward signal systems:• One system includes codes for reward prediction, and

the other for error correction.• The first system creates attentiveness, and the second

creates better learning.• Although learners improve when they’ve received an

initial reward, over time, the performance of many will actually drop as their actions are being rewarded.

• Biologically speaking, the brain quickly habituates to rewards.

• What one student finds rewarding may not be rewarding to another.

Practical ways to use rewards in the classroom in order to increase motivation: Use rewards

judiciously Use low-cost, concrete

rewards Use abstract rewards Avoid going “cold

turkey” Begin to develop

intrinsic motivation Step up the abstract

rewards

Activating intrinsic motivation depends on the student as well as your own skill.

The students’ feelings matter a great deal!

Skills in orchestrating a good environment, one with low stress and high challenge, are critical.

Ways to build students’ intrinsic motivation: Make sure students have either a process model to

follow or a strong end goal. Ensure they have the working tools they need. Provide plenty of encouragement but not a direct

reward. Allow students to exercise choice. Role-model the joy of learning. Provide a variety of relevant experiences. Ensure that the content has high relevance. Allow students to be part of a successful team. Increase feedback to the learners.

In the ideal states, motivation and engagement are far easier to achieve than you could ever imagine. States are the body’s environment for making

decisions. If you think you’re going to get a negative

response to the next activity you want your students to do, change the state first.

You will be more successful when you ask them to do the activity while they’re in a good state to say yes!

Some practical ways to change student states: Eliminate threat. Set daily goals that incorporate some student

choice. Work to have a positive influence. Manage student emotions and teach them to do it

too. Provide relevant curriculum and coherent

activities. Give feedback.

Both prenatal differences and postnatal experiences causes the differences that show up in the unique brain.

Differences are attributed to many factors. Gender Exposure to abuse or neglect Specific disorders Culture Exposure to drugs, trauma, or toxins

Teachers should consider approaches to teaching thinking that includes a significant amount of variety and choice.

The human brain was designed to solve problems. General problem solving requires many skills. Problem solving skills must be taught and require the

following: Motivation to use the skill Role modeling Opportunity to acquire the skills Time for trail and error, practice, and debriefing Time to use and strengthen the skill in multiple contexts

Critical Thinking skills can take weeks, even years to realize. It is usually easier to get younger children to comply than

older children.

Environmental factors can influence brain maturation.

Specific life experiences during the early years influence patterns of interactivity between brain areas.

The brain changes so much that the same behaviors in infants and adults may be mediated by completely different brain structures.

This suggests educators can expect a wide range of student performance, and some inabilities may be a result of maturation.

There is no need for the brain to adapt to change if what it must deal with is the same.

Novelty creates a stronger opportunity for new learning and pathways in the brain.

Educators should provide something unusual and the support to go with it. Learning will follow.

Students emotions are constantly fluctuating.

Emotional states are always in the process of: Strengthening Diminishing Changing to another state

The longer a student is in a particular state the more likely it is for that student to re-enter that same state.

Students must be able manage their emotional states in order to be able to think well.

The best learners “shift states” on their own; other students need to learn how.

Memory tied to survival is the simple things of every day life: The location of your

house Your parents’ names Favorite foods

Four main ideas of memory are organized around survival.

Locations—How to Find Food, Housing, Social Contact Also called Episodic memory

Procedures—How to do Walking, driving, putting on clothes

Emotional Experiences—How to feel Car accidents, natural disasters Rarely need review

Conditional Responses—How to react Smells, tastes, reactions to the tone of

someone’s voice Response to stimuli

Scientifically speaking—it is the particular firing of neurons.

The pattern of the firings determines memory.

Researchers are unsure how the brain creates these patterns.

Current understanding is the process between two neurons:

Electrical impulse triggers neurotransmitter release. Within the neurotransmitter is the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA).

The mRNA dock into receptors. Electrochemical threshold is

reached and long-term potentiation (LTP) is formed.

LTP reaction stimulates new electrical activity in the neuron.

While the previous is complex there are three critical principles: Encoding—multiple pathways of

memory Maintenance—activating memories

keeps them strong Retrieval—the ability to access

memories

Semantic This includes the

factual elements of our memories.

Facts, figures, and textbook- like information

Limitations include time and capacity.

Only lasts seconds in our memory like forgetting a name of a person you just met.

Often times to remember things we need it in chunks.

Lists rather than random items

Episodic Had to have been

present to use this type Unlimited capacity Often associated with

location When asked: “What did

you eat last night?” Often we ask ourselves “Where was I?” before an answer to the question is formed.

Contamination can occur when many memories are associated with one particular location.

Reflexive Responds to stimuli

Ex: The doctor taps your knee and it jerks.

Learning can become reflexive.

Two sub-categories: Emotional Non-emotional

Procedural Also known as habit

memory These are

memories of learned skills.

Very complex in formation so they are easily remembered.

Ex: walking or riding a bike

“Teaching with the Brain in Mind”

10%Befor

e

80%Durin

g

10%After

PrepareCreate

EngageFrameAcquireElaborateConnect

SettleRehearse and Incorporate

Consider the students who need extra are they behind or ahead???

Walk through the lesson. Ask: “How will I engage the student?”

Get into a good emotional state. The students notice things like this.

Prime your students’ brains with content days and weeks prior. Post key ideas so students can become familiar with them.

Or as stated earlier: Prepare and Create!

1. Engagement Both mind and body Make sure

environment is positive—it helps with learning.

First few minutes of class

2. Framing After engagement This is the emotional

invitation to learn. As a teacher you want

to hook the students—arouse their curiosity.

3. Acquisition Really goes on all the time Learning activities,

lectures, and fields trips Can be individual or social

4. Elaboration The deepening of learning Connecting the synapses

of the brain and solidifying what was just covered

5. Connect Help build recall skills. Use a variety of skills—

drama, quizzes, rhymes, mnemonics.

Settle Break times Walks, lunch, and for younger students—naps

Rehearse and Incorporate Review the material Exercise the newly formed synapses of the

brain.

This is difficult because not all children develop at the same pace; therefore, curriculum connections may be hard to come by.

Finding these connections may lead to questions about how curriculum has been created.

We must examine content and see if it is what the children need for survival.

Also, teaching social behaviors must be emphasized.

We must value learning as much as the results.

Often times the classroom narrows thinking strategies and answer options … effectively ignoring the natural human instinct to question.

Use creative problem solving rather than the right answer approach.

Make assessment challenging.

Student achievement is tied to teacher effectiveness.

Teachers must work to critically think about their effectiveness.

Other teachers and the administration must help in these endeavors. This includes stress

reduction tools.