Kenneth WessonEducational Consultant: Neuroscience

(408) 323-1498 (office)(408) 826-9595 (cell)

San Jose, CA kenawesson@aol.com

If It’s Your Job To Develop The Mind, Shouldn’t You Know How The Brain Works?

How The Brain Works

• How the brain works and how it learns best

• How the brain makes its most critical cognitive connections (disciplines, conceptual, vocabulary, etc,.)

• Active learning for deep/long-lasting learning

• “I will’s…”

“Let me keep my mind on what matters,

which is my work, which is mostly

standing still and learning to be

astonished.”

-- “The Messenger” by Mary Oliver

1900 Workplace Demands

Highly skilled

Low skilled

• Avg. age to enter work force

• Avg. age to leave work force

14

47

• Life expectancy 47

2010 Workplace Demands

Highly skilled

Low skilled

• Avg. age to enter the workplace 21• Number of career changes 5-8• Est. Life expectancy in 2100 107 -124!

Today’s Kindergartners…

• Will retire in the year 2072 (?) • In what ways are you preparing them for

success in the years between 2012 and

2072?

• What foundations for learning must we

establish for them?

It is your job to prepare our students for

new occupations that

1. have yet to be created

2. for a future that we have neither

encountered nor envisioned in

detail

3. demanding the mastery of skills that

we cannot even imagine.

Preparing Students for YESTERDAY OR THE FUTURE?

Today: 30,000 to 35,000 new research fields

Newly hybridized scientific areas creating new disciplines:Neuropharmacology Neuro-oncology Neuroendrocrinlogy Environmental Toxicology Psychoneuroimmunology Protein Engineering Developmental Neurobiology Pharmacogenomics Bio-organic Chemistry Molecular EndocrinologyMolecular Biophysics Molecular PsychiatryCognitive Neuroscience Molecular GeneticsMicroelectronics Gene Therapy Microbiology Plasma Physics Evolutionary Biology Evolutionary PsychologyBiophysics Geothermal EngineeringGeophysics/Astrophysics Physical Chemistry Heteronuclear Isotopic labeling Behavioral pharmacology

21st Century Skills for Creative Thinkers Learners

• Agricultural Age → Industrial Age

→ Information Age

• Moving from the Information Age

→ The Innovation Age

Learning for the 21st Century

– Learning to learn in order to learn more, and to re-learn several times during one’s lifetime (“information explosion”)

– Flexibility in thinking

– Modifying one’s thinking/understanding based on new information

– Higher-order thinking

– Creative and innovative thinking (visualization)

– Working cooperatively

– Communicating within a diverse (multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, international) environment

– Living with new number sense/new Technologies

How far back was _____ seconds ago?

1 million secs. 1 billion secs. 1 trillion secs.

11.5 days

Living with Large Numbers

32 years ago 32,000 years

What Is A $14 Trillion Deficit?

The illiterates of the future are not those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot

learn, un-learn, and re-learn. --Alvin Toffler

New Information:The Knowledge Explosion

“The sum total of humankind’s knowledge doubled between 1750 and 1900. It doubled again between 1900 and 1950, again from 1950 to 1960, again from 1960 to 1965. It’s been estimated that the sum total of humankind’s knowledge has doubled at least every five years since then.

It’s been further projected that by the year 2020, knowledge or information will double every 73 days.”

Dr. James Appleberry - President, American Association of State Colleges and Universities

International Astronomical Union

... Jupiter's Moons

Jupiter has moons giving it the largest

retinue of moons with "reasonably secure"

orbits of any planet in the Solar System.

Saturn?

63

59

Technology will not replace the

need to be literate. --Rebecca Alber, UCLA

“The 21st Century”

We don't need more information; we

need more effective strategies for

1. retrieving just what we want

(memory or technology)

2. understanding it

3. managing information

How the Brain-body Works

Evolutionary biologists - the physiological transitions of a brain that has changed dramatically over the past 4 million years.

Developmental psychologists - the information-processing software (preloaded during the early stages of “brain building.”)

Experimental psychologists -dig deeper into “the roots” of human behavior.

Until the 1980s, brain research centered on diseases, abnormalities and dysfunction. Now neuroscientists are examining the brains of healthy individuals to understand average "normal" brains (cognitive enhancement).

Enhanced Cognition

Indentifying ways to improve cognition by enhancing the • Capacity of cognitive processing• Efficiency of processing• Endurance of memory• Facility of recall• Ability to apply stored cortical information in novel

situations.

The purpose of memory is not to recall the past, but to use stored memory resources to navigate the present world and to solve future problems.

Neurogenesis: 250K – 1M brain cells/minute Gender differences The “education” of the motor circuitry and sensory systems (touch,

taste, sight and sound) begins during fetal development. All human competencies become fine-tuned following birth depending on the richness of the environmental at which they find themselves (quality/quantity of subsequent stimulation and experiences.)

Fetal Origins: College preparation begins when?

How the Brain Learns

1. An emotional and biological brain

2. PERC3S

3. We learn through direct experience

Expanding the Traditional Model of Thinking and Learning

Stimulus Response

S R

Teaching Learning

Thinking and learning are neurobiological processes that take place inside the brain, just as digestion is another biological event that takes place in the pancreas and the stomach.

Does the name “Pavlov” ring a bell?

Factors Influencing Stimulus Response

In addition to desires, tendencies, appetites, instincts, inclinations… Genetics +Epigenetics and early nutrition

+Pre-natal care +Age

+Early development (0-3) +Emotions/emotional state

+Parenting +Gender

+Physical history +Perception/expectations

+Neuro-physiology +Memory

+Prior learning (situated L’) +Diet

+Prior experiences +Self-esteem

+Need state +Disability

+Strengths +Neural circuitry/plasticity*

+Formal Education +Stress factors

Learning/Behavior

* Neural plasticity: The flexible nature of the brain to modify structures, alter its functioning and re-route neural circuitry as a response to new stimuli and ongoing learning experiences.

Learning and memory can be positively or negatively impacted by the learner’s emotional environment.

“An emerging theme is the question of how emotions interact with and influence other domains of cognition, in particular attention, memory, and reasoning.”

Dolan, R. J. Emotion, cognition, and behavior. Science. 298(5596): 1191-1194 2002

Emotions

  S.A.I.L.

The environmental preconditions that should be experienced by students prior to initiating formal instruction include...

S afetyA cceptanceI nclusion, interactions and involvement (interpersonal/social aspect of memory formation)

After satisfying these prerequisite neurophysiological and hierarchical conditions, students are biologically ready for

L earning (students feel their immediate environment is secure enough for them to take risks, explore and discover).

Source: Kenneth Wesson (2011). Education for the Real World; Six great ideas for parents and educators. Brain World, Issue 2, Volume II Winter 2011.

• Epstein: “We are what we read.”

• “We are what we experience.”

• Our experiences (or the lack there) change how

we respond, how we think (S = R), what we

think (connect), and whether our

background knowledge suggests that any

response to the stimulus is warranted (if we

respond at all.)

Learning and Experience

Brain-considerate Learning: PERC3S There are five BC elements that the human brain seeks while

processing incoming stimuli for personal “meaning,” which makes the information “memorable” and worth remembering.

 

(1) Patterns

(2) Emotions

(3) Relevance

(4) Context, Content, and Cognitively-appropriate

(5) Sense-making

Patterns, emotions, relevance, context, content and sense-making are critical factors in driving (1) attention, (2) motivation, (3) learning, (4) memory formation, and (5) recall. Collectively, these 5 factors are the primary criteria for transfer into long-term memory storage.

BC Attention-getting Teaching Strategies

• Humor Novelty• Change Prior knowledge

activation• Color Music• Movement Surprise• Discrepant events Personal relevance• Patterns• Emotions/social interactions• A…

suspenseful pause

Activate the intrinsic reward (dopamine-pleasure) systemNo attention = No engagement = No Learning

Cognitive Rehearsals

When playing with objects, learners are simultaneously manipulating and playing with ideas (using internal dialogues to attach words and meaning to actions)

Exploring and experimenting involve examining relationships, interactions and systems, where learners formulate their own personal “theories” (mental constructs)

Thinking is a rehearsal for discourse

Discourse is a rehearsal for writing

Cognitive Rehearsals

Playing with objects and ideas, exploring and experimenting, thinking, talking, and writing become rehearsals (background knowledge) for reading.

Writing and reading clarify one’s thoughts, generate coherent thinking, and cultivate precision in expressing one’s inner thoughts

Discourse and writing become rehearsals for assessment

Source: Kenneth Wesson (2011). Education for the Real World: six great ideas for parents and teachers.Brain World, Issue 2, Volume 2.

• Human beings were (and still are) engaged in

STEM experiences before we called them

STEM.

• Our human advances have nearly always been

dependent on an improved understanding

of science (“knowing”)

The STEM Initiative is not NEW

The Heritage of the Human Brain

• Human beings have always been naturally explorers/scientists and have been so inclined for the last 4.5 to 5M years.

• In their quest to respond to danger and opportunities, and the most important of all cognitive tasks -- survival.

The Human Brain Evolved As…

1. An emotional2. A pattern-seeking device 3. Finely tuned to solve problems in the context

of the real-world4. While moving about outdoors 5. In largely unpredictable conditions in order to

survive to the next day or beyond. (brain-compatible schools?)

• Lived → passed on the genes that carried those successful adaptation strategies (inquiry)

• Failed → a “final” exam

What does a modern scientist look like when he is working?

Relevant questions, imagination, predictions, inferences, patterns, hunches, experimenting (trial/error) skepticism, thinking, memory, curiosity, minimize errors, sense-making, a quest for knowledge →

Survival

What is the difference between

knowing and understanding?

1. Experiencing/doing

2. Distinguishing “what” from “why?”

3. Adaptation and application

Can we distinguish exposure from

experience?

Thinking Scientifically

Kelly: Personal Construct Theory 

…everyone and every student is an “Intuitive Scientist,” formulating hypotheses about the world, collecting data that confirm or disconfirm these hypotheses, and then altering his/her conception of the world to include this new information. In this way, everyone operates in a manner similar to the scientist.

The goal is to synthesize data and information not to memorize it.

Information must be taught in a way

that emphasizes use. Motivation is

stimulated by the expectation of

use.

-- Paul Hurd

Balance

Transfer

• Transfer is facilitated by knowing the multiple contexts under which an idea applies

(i.e., effective transfer is inextricably linked to the conditions for applicability; rote

learning rarely transfers.)

• New learning depends on prior learning and previous learning can often interfere with new content that is being taught.

• Have you ever designed and built a cantilever

bridge model?

• How far can our bridge extend without toppling?

• Agree on a distance with your tablemates.

Engineering: The Cantilever Bridge Challenge

Balance and Engineering: The Cantilever Bridge Challenge

= washers

Table2 inches

1 inch

= 12 inch ruler

How far?

= washers

Table 2 inches

1 inch

= 12 inch ruler

2020

2012

4

1 inch

Balance and Engineering: The Cantilever Bridge Challenge

The cantilever bridge will extend 28+ inches from the edge of the table with no hinges

6 more rulers =21 in total

Balance

History of toys; different toys used by children around the world = S.S.

Bridges

Toys, playground equipment, amusement parks = balance and motion (physical science)

Physics/systems

The geometric shape used most in construction?

Structural engineers, architects and scientists

experiment with various models asking,

“What makes this one strong(er)?”

“What makes parts of a bridge weak?”

“How can we design the most reliable

structure?”

Engineering: The Cantilever Bridge Challenge

Good thinking is a matter of making connections, and knowing what kinds of connections to make.

---David Perkins

• What are some of the obstacles preventing our students and children from making viable, reliable and flexible connections?

Obstacles to Successful S.T2.R.E.A.M. Learning

1.A weak foundation in concrete learning and working memory formation – prerequisites for complex and abstract thinking

2.Reading, writing, discourse, argumentation and mathematics are taught as subjects rather than as tools we use in the pursuit of knowledge (in science).

3.↑ time memorizing facts (and testing) instead of on viable curricular connections - S.T2.R.E.A.M.

Obstacle:

Conceptual “holes” in a student’s thinking

caused by a lack of clear connections

and practice knowing (finding, seeing

and understanding) where the

connections are and what the

connection is.

The Hole Illusion

• Roll a sheet of paper lengthwise into a tube shapeapproximately 2 inches in diameter. • Hold the tube up to your left eye with your left hand.• Focus on an object 12-15 feet away with both eyes,

with the left eye still looking through the tube. • Hold right hand 8-10 inches in front of right eye -- with right hand open/palm facing towards you.• Move your right hand towards side of the paper tube

until your little finger touches the edge • With both eyes open you should see a strange sight. • What happened?

A Hole in Your Hand Illusion

Both of your eyes see the same thing, but from two slightly different visual fields. Your brain must combine two slightly different viewpoints in order to see depth, 3 dimensions and to judge distances. We have interfered with that process.

X

A Hole in Your Hand Illusion

• We gave your brain two different images to process.

o Your right eye sees the palm of your right hand.

o The left eye is looking at a distant object.

• When combining the two images, information is merged in order to “perceive” what is in front of you.

• A significant portion of the information entering from your left eye is blocked by the interior tube walls. So your brain processes more information from your right eye

• The limited amount of information coming in from your left eye is combined with a disproportionate amount of information entering from the right eye. When combined, they produce what appears to be a hole in your right hand.

I find that the great thing in this world

is not so much where we stand

as in what direction we are

headed. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes 

Reflect and Connect 

At some point within the next 24 hours, write: • What did you learn from tonight’s conversation?

• Write down two “I will” statements from tonight’s conversation