The Brain and Learning

Research – Be Careful!People remember 10%, 20%...Oh Really?

Will Thalheimer www.willatworklearning.com“People do NOT remember 10% of what they

read, 20% of what they see, 30% of what they hear, etc. That information, and similar pronouncements are fraudulent. Unfortunately, this bogus information has been floating around our field for decades, crafted by many different authors and presented in many different configurations.”

The Brain and Learning

An Example of “Bogus Science”.

Chi, M. T. H., Bassok, M., Lewis, M. W., Reimann P., & Glaser, R. (1989). Self-explanations: How students study and use examples in learning to solve problems. Cognitive Science, 13, 145-182

Readi

ng

Seein

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Hea

ring

Seein

g &

Hea

ring

Colab

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ion

Doing

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

The Brain and Learning

The Graph is a Fraud! (Will Thalheimer – quote)After reading the cited article several times and not seeing

the graph---nor the numbers on the graph---I got suspicious and got in touch with the first author of the cited study, Dr. Michelene Chi of the University of Pittsburgh (who is, by the way, one of the world's leading authorities on expertise). She said this about the graph:

"I don't recognize this graph at all. So the citation is definitely wrong; since it's not my graph."

What makes this particularly disturbing is that this graph has popped up all over our industry, and many instructional-design decisions have been based on the information contained in the graph.

The Brain and Learning

The brain is the primary organ involved in learning

Our senses are secondary organs involved in learning

The Brain and Learning

Teachers Should Study…..

CognitionSensory perceptionBrain chemistry NutritionMemory and RecallLanguage acquisition

Studying cognitive science (the study of how the brain works) is very helpful to

teachers

Memory is the most impactful brain function with regard to

academic success

Memory is more thoroughly studied by cognitive psychologists than any other topic.

The Brain and Learning - Memory

Daniel Willingham, PhD Cognitive Psych-Harvard

“Willingham's basic theme is that, despite everything you've heard, nothing works to increase student ability like factual learning and practice. In fact, one of his first ideas is to point out that what separates the excellent student (or adult) from those performing less well is their ability to recall facts. The more facts you know about your subject, the more you can understand your subject because of significantly less energy spent on fact recall or retention. With facts learned to automaticity, more time can be spent on higher-order concept learning, and once that becomes automatic....etc.

Kevin Currie-Knight on D. Willingham

The critical thinking we hear so much about teaching our kids simply CANNOT happen without giving kids the requisite background info that must be employed to think critically.

Students must have LOTS of information and facts, learned beyond the point of mastery*, to use to learn to think critically.

*D. Willingham - Overlearning

The Brain and Learning - Memory

Receptors

Short-term

memory

Long-term

memory

Tiny in capacity but huge in importance, STM seems to be where we first process

the stimuli from our environment.

The Brain and Learning - Memory

In 1959, a very important discovery was made: Our capacity to store information in a temporary

memory bank (STM) is severely limited and susceptible to gross forgetting if we do not have

the opportunity to rehearse the information.

Cognitive Psychology, Solso, McLin 2005

3 6 9 12 15 180

20

40

60

80

100

Recall Interval

Percent Cor-

rectly Recalled

The Brain and Learning - Memory

This is a key factor in what makes some students “smart”

TYPICALLY “SMART” STUDENTS:Rehearse naturallyRequire few rehearsals to place info

into STM, and a few more to encode into LTM

Rehearsal

How can teachers help all students become SMART students?

Provide opportunities to rehearse – every time you introduce information students need to master

Use choral responses for the most efficient rehearsing

Creating Smart Students

The time between presentation of the letters and recall was filled with the subtraction task,

which prevented efficient rehearsal of the letter sequence.

RECALL IS SERIOUSLY ERODED IN THE ABSENCE OF FOCUSED REHEARSAL.

The results suggest that if the information was not rehearsed (or if rehearsal is

interrupted), it dropped out of memory.

The Brain and Learning - Memory

Short-term

memory

Working memory

Long-term

memoryWorking memory is thought to be part of

the LTM, but shares some features of STM. It is a system that temporarily

holds and manipulates information as we perform cognitive tasks.

WIT, SUM, HARM, BAY, TOP

The Brain and Learning - Memory

The Brain and Learning - Memory

WIT, SUM, HARM, BAY, TOP

Short-term

memory

Working memory

Long-term

memory

UNIVERSITY, OPPORTUNITY, ALUMINUM, CONSTITUTIONAL,

AUDITORIUM

The Brain and Learning - Memory

Short-term

memory

Working memory

Long-term

memory

Articulatory LoopPhonological Loop

Visuospatial ScratchpadCentral Executive

The Brain and Learning - Memory

Allow students opportunities to rehearse information you want them to remember!! Choral responses help you to KNOW they

are rehearsing If they don’t participate, they will probably

not remember Short chunks of information – short in

length Short chunks of information – short in

time

CONCISE LANGUAGE!

The Brain and Learning - Memory

Capacity of Short-Term Memory is approximately 7 items.

This is a very consistent number in the research – and holds true regardless of the type of data involved.

The Brain and Learning - Memory

More INFORMATION was held in the string of words than in the string of letters, so your memory of those words contained more information, but the same limited number of items.

Words are a form of “chunking” which allows us to maximize the STM.

The capacity of the STM is increased by our ability to chunk information, but there must be information in the LTM in order to chunk.

The Brain and Learning - Memory

AUDITORY CODEShort-term memory seems to operate by means of an auditory code, EVEN IF THE

INFORMATION IS DETECTED BY A NONAUDITORY CODE SUCH AS A VISUAL

ONE.

STM errors were made on the basis of auditory rather than visual characteristics.

P/B; S/X

The Brain and Learning - Memory

Long-Term Memory is believed to be limitless in capacity. We know about

many of the features of LTM:Codes

Types of information held thereGeneral architecture and organization

CapacityPermanence

The Brain and Learning - LTMemory

Theory: Information held long enough in STM is encoded into LTM.

Adrenaline and Glucose – memory enhancers:

Experiences are remembered better if:Exciting, ego-involving, or traumatic

due to adrenaline.Glucose enhances memory!

The Brain and Learning - LTMemory

If information is rehearsed, it will likely be encoded. If it is not rehearsed, it will likely “decay” by being covered (masked) with other information or displaced by new information.

If information is encoded, and we are asked to recall it, we usually can and will.

How can we now think about Model, Lead, Test, DT?

The Brain and Learning – Retrieval and Decay

Distributed practice over time is better than massed practice – the greater the distribution over time, the better the information is remembered.

The Brain and Learning – Retrieval and Decay

Brain Research and Motivation Theory

Operant Conditioning: strengthening or weakening of a behavior as a result of its consequences

Consequences that strengthen a behavior are called REINFORCERS

Consequences that weaken a behavior are called PUNISHERS

Specifically, an event is a REINFORCER if1. It follows a behavior, and2. The future probability of that behavior

increases.

Brain Research and Motivation Theory

Rewards for behaviors are reinforcers. There are two types of reinforcers, extrinsic and intrinsic.

Intrinsic reinforcers are provided by the mere act of performing the behavior.

Extrinsic reinforcers are provided by some consequence that is external to the behavior

“the dangers of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivations have been greatly overstated”

• CAMERON, BANKO, PIERCE, 2001

Brain Research and Motivation Theory

They also learned that verbal rewards such a praise often produce an increase in intrinsic motivation, as do TANGIBLE REWARDS given for HIGH-QUALITY performance.

Brain Research and Motivation Theory

Previous work has shown that if a decision leads to a successful outcome, it is registered in the brain's reward system. The reward stimulus is then relayed to the area of the brain which was responsible for making the decision. In this way, the brain optimizes its processes for improved performance each time.

Brain Research and Motivation Theory

Learned Industriousness –according to LIT, if working hard (displaying high effort) on a task has been consistently associated with reinforcement, then working hard might itself become a secondary reinforcer. This can results in a generalized tendency to work hard.

Brain Research and Motivation Theory

Experiments with both humans and animals have confirmed this. Students who have been reinforced for solving complex math problems will later write essays of higher quality; rats which have been reinforced for emitting forceful lever presses will then run faster down an alleyway to obtain food.

Brain Research and Motivation Theory

Rats and humans that have been reinforced for displaying low effort on a task will show a generalized tendency to be lazy (Eisenberger, 1992).

Brain Research and Motivation Theory

Just starting a task is often the most important step in overcoming procrastination; once you start, the work often flows naturally. For this reason, it is sometimes helpful to use certain tricks to get started, such as beginning with a short, easy task before progressing to a more difficult task.

This is especially important to teach students so they can successfully complete independent work.

Brain Research and Motivation Theory

Should we use rewards with our students?

Yes!!! The result: depending on the size of

the reward, the subjects were able to subsequently make the correct decision with improved accuracy. "It turns out to be stronger, the higher the reward."

USE CONCISE LANGUAGE WHEN TEACHING SPECIFIC CONTENT Chunking helps us increase the capacity of STM

Require students to rehearse (without distraction)LTM requires delayed tests and overlearningReinforcement increases learningTangible rewards and praise increase motivationGetting started is a skill

Brain Review