Brain Compatible Learning and Study Skills Workshop

Marnie Malacara Jane CamillettiMary Chudej Marie LaChance

Melissa Toner

Understanding Memory and Learning

•Learning is the process by which we acquire new knowledge and skills.

•Memory is the process by which we retain the knowledge and skills for the future.

•The brain goes through physical and chemical changes when it stores new information as the result of learning.

•Memory and learning are therefore inextricably linked.

Defining Memory •Short term memory includes both immediate memory and working memory.

•These processes include:•Perception – brain attaches meaning.•Expectation – what the brain expects to see.•Attention – focused on anything the brain finds new and exciting, pleasurable or threatening.

•Immediate memory which only lasts seconds involves 3 processes that decide which sensory information coming in from the environment goes to short term memory.

SET THREE Model for Information Processing 4

WORKING MEMORY

LONG-TERM MEMORY

PERCEPTUAL REG

ISTER

SHORT-TERM MEMORY

Learning about Short and Long Term Memory

•Short term/Working memory is a temporary memory and the place where you are consciously processing information.

•Long term memory has the capacity for infinite storage of information if transferred efficiently and effectively.

•Short term/Working memory can last anywhere from 18 seconds to 20 minutes based on chronological age and development.

•When both sense and meaning are part of learning, the likelihood is high that it will be stored in long-term memory.

SET THREE Model for Information Processing 6

M-Space

(Plus or minus 2)

& Time Limits by Age Group

15

13

11

9

7

5

10-20 min.

5-10 min.

Based on Pascual-Leone’s Structural Mental Capacity theory.

Strategies to Increase Memory and Learning

•Rehearsal or sub vocalization is repeating information over and over to facilitate recall i.e. numbers, oral or written information.

•Visualization is adding imagery such as pictures, diagrams or symbols to help us recall and retrieve information more easily.

•Chunking is reducing or condensing information to smaller units i.e. Mnemonics, Acronyms, and grouping numbers.

•SQ3R is surveying, questioning, reading, reciting and reviewing information. This is best done with another student (s) or adult to increase comprehension of recently learned information.

Study Skills & Strategies

Compiled by Ken Zajac Student Success Services University of Wyoming

Making an Effort to Remember

Interest – In order to remember something thoroughly, you must be interested in it. You must have a reason to learn it.

Ways to create interest in a class:• Find a good study partner.• Get to know the instructor.• Do some extra practice or research• Teach the assignment to someone else.• Seek a way to make the information personal• Find a way to make it kinesthetic

Making an Effort to RememberIntent to Remember – Having a positive attitude will help you to remember.

Ways to remember in a class:• Use a concentration check sheet.• Use a rubber band on your wrist and snap it when your attention slips.• When reading an assignment, talk back to the author.• Ask questions when listening to a lecture.• Look for test questions. Key factor to remembering is having a positive attitude!

Controlling the Amount and FormSelectivity– The mind can absorb only a certain amount of new material at a time.

Ways to be selective in a class:• Look for clues when reading a textbook assignment.• Study the summary and review questions before and after you read the chapter or articles.• During a lecture, listen for verbal clues such as voice intonation, emphasis or repetition.• Pay attention to non-verbal clues such as the lecturer’s body language.• Make yourself the test maker.

Controlling the Amount and FormMeaningful Organization– You can learn and remember better if you can group ideas into some sort of meaningful categories or groups.

• The human mind usually best remembers 5 to 7 items at a time.• Break down larger numbers of items into smaller groups –25 items into groups of 5.• Organize obvious groups together.• Alphabetize lists.• Use mnemonic devices (take the first letter of each item and spell a word or make a sentence.• Utilize grids to organize information that has similarities or differences.

Strengthening Neural Connections

1. Mental Visualization:When you create a mental picture, you are anchoring information in two parts of your brain, which increases chances of recall.

2. Recitation:Saying things aloud in your own words is probably the most powerful tool you have to transfer information from short to long-term memory.3. Association:

Memory is increased when facts to be learned are associated with something familiar to you.

Studying Tips for Learning Styles:

VISUALDraw & redraw concept maps & chartsFind drawings/charts /Organize notes in concept mapsColor code materialWatch class videosUse flashcards

KINESTHETICPace, exercise, tap while studyingBuild models/ExploreDraw or write large (newsprint/poster)

AUDITORYRecite notes out loudDictate notes on tape/CDVerbalize questions from notes Answer questions out loudTeach it to others

Vocabulary Strategy: LINCSHelps students to learn new vocabulary

words using memory techniques. Uses visual imagery, associations with prior

knowledge, and key-word mnemonic devices to create a study sheet or note card that promotes comprehension and recall of the concept.

_____________Reminding Word

Self-Test Forward Self-Test Backward

• Say the new word• Say the reminding word• Think of the LINCing story• Think of the LINCing picture• Say the meaning of the new word• Check to see if you are right

•Say the meaning of the new word• Think of the LINCing picture• Think of the LINCing story• Think of the reminding word• Say the new word• Check to see if you’re right

Term LINCing Story LINCing Picture Definition

LINCS Worksheet

LINCS ProcedureStep 1: List the New Term and definitionStep 2: Identify a Reminding WordStep 3: Note a LINCing StoryStep 4: Create a LINCing PictureStep 5: Self Test

LINCS with a Note Card

Vocabulary Word

Reminding Word

Essential Definition

LINCing Story LINCing Picture

Front of Card Back of Card

Reminding word (sounds like or is a part of the vocabulary word)

Vocabulary Word

Front of Card

Definition of vocabulary word

Part of speech (Noun, Verb, Adverb, Adjective)

Pronunciation from the dictionary

Sentence from the text where you found your word with page

#

Picture of vocabulary word

Sentence of picture using vocabulary word and reminding

word

Back of Card

Brain Compatible Learning and AnxietyMany students experience anxiety in the classroom. The symptoms are the same for almost all students who experience it (University of Alabama, 2010).Symptoms of Anxiety:

• Rapid Heart Beat

• Muscle Tension

• Palmar Sweating (galvanic skin response)

• Mental Block

• Shortness of Breath

• Nausea (“Butterflies”)

Physical Aspects of Test AnxietyHormonalChemical

The purpose of this biological reaction is to keep the body ready to run or fight. (“Fight or Flight” Response)

• Result in the classroom: A person’s (the student’s) brain will in effect shut down (“Downshift”)

• The emotional reaction. mental state of a person (the student) produces a corresponding

• Interferes with concentration and memory.

Dealing with Anxiety Use of Brain Compatible Teaching Methods

(mentioned in previous slides)Teach Students Relaxation TechniquesEncourage Positive Attitudes Mentally Prepare Students to LearnTeach and Encourage Good Study Habits and

Skills

RelaxationRelaxation procedure involves systematically tensing and then relaxing different groups of muscles in your body

B. Sit in a comfortable chair or lay down. Move your arms toward the center of your body and bend both arms at the elbow. Tighten your hands into fists and simultaneously tense the muscles in your upper arms and shoulders. Hold for 10 seconds and relax for 15 seconds.

A. Tense your face muscles by wrinkling your forehead and cheek

muscles. Hold for Ten Seconds then relax

Examples of Relaxation Techniques

C. Make a conscious effort to take deep breaths when starting to feel tense. (The brain requires oxygen to function as it should)

Attitude and Mental PreparationCognitive restructuring- A process of examining

irrational messages one sends to oneself concerning outcomes of tests, or classroom experiences.

Example: Test anxiety is not caused by the test but rather by the meaning that the individual attaches to the test. So, If you tell yourself that you are not going to do well, or that you didn’t study enough, then you will have an emotional reaction that is constant with the message. The message can be negative or threating.The objective is to send positive

emotional messages to the brain

Good Study HabitsEstablish Good Study HabitsInclude Plenty of Rest and Good Eating

HabitsAvoid Cramming

Cramming just doesn’t cut it!!!!!!!

Citationshttp://www.ctl.ua.edu/AcadSup/browseacadsup01.aspThe

university of Alabama, Center for Teaching and Learning, 2010.http://www.enotes.com/gale -psychology-encyclopedia/test-

anxiety, 2010Ferris, Rick., How to Deal With Test Anxiety,

http://www.ehow.com/how_2109696_deal-test-anxiety.htmlhttp://www.k8accesscenter.org/documents/JKnight.webinar.ppthttp://www.kenton.k12.ny.us/.../Study%20Skills

%20Memory%20Principles.ppthttp://www.nycc.edu/webdocs/ic/iqa/celt/student.../

study%20skills%2006.pdf How the Brain Learns-3rd Edition, David A. Sousa The Power of Brain Compatible Learning – Participant Manual, The

Connecting Link Designing Brain-Compatible Learning-3rd Edition, Ga