The Education Revolution

How to Apply Brain Science to Improve Instruction and School Climate

Horacio Sanchez

• Publisher: Corwin
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781506336565
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Teaching Methods

Maximizing student capacity and restoring motivation—the key to school success Brain research has the power to revolutionize education, but it can be difficult for educators to implement innovative strategies without the proper knowledge or resources. The Education Revolution bridges the gap between neuroscience, psychology, and educational practice. It delivers what educators need: current and relevant concrete applications to use in classrooms and schools. Readers will find

• Teaching strategies and model lessons designed to advance academic performance
• Solution-focused practices to address the root of negative behaviors
• Approaches to counteract the negative impact of technology on the brain
• Concrete methods to improve school climate

1 A Brain-Based Approach to Teaching

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This Chapter

The success of many lessons is often determined at the point of introduction. This is because the brain reacts poorly to new information when it is difficult to comprehend. Strategies in this chapter will improve students’ abilities to consider and comprehend new information, increase information entry into short-term memory, and promote the perception that the information is relevant to their lives.

The Biology of the Learning Brain

Little is written concerning approaches to curriculum implementation and its correlation to effective outcomes and practices. For example, are the methods of instruction being implemented able to advance learning of a range of students from the gifted to the troubled student? The reality is that pathology is a direct result of altered brain function resulting from biological and environmental factors. Altered brain function has a direct correlation to how one is able to learn and retain lessons. A solution is utilizing an instructional approach that is compatible with how the brain learns most readily.

Optimal brain functioning occurs when chemical secretions in the brain are in balance—homeostasis. When not in balance, the brain is less able to manage new information. What is not common knowledge is that when new information is difficult to comprehend or contradicts prior learning, the brain’s chemical response jeopardizes homeostasis. The brain processes information through cells called neurons. Emotion signals the neurons to send messages chemically. It is the efficiency of this process that predicts comprehension. Neurotransmitters send little sacks of chemicals and spew the contents to neuroreceptors (also called dendrites) that receive the information. One neuron can communicate with as many as 20,000 others. The brain has 100 billion neurons, and they all have the capacity to communicate with 20,000 other neurons, making learning a complex process.

A healthy brain knows when to send chemical messages, how much and which chemical to send, and how to process each chemical to produce an action. Basically, this chemical process accounts for everything an individual does and explains why learning deficits, as well as pathologies, can be summed up as abnormal brain chemistry. Damage to neurotransmitters or neuroreceptors will produce abnormal chemical levels in the brain, which result in atypical learning. Neurotransmitters and neuroreceptors can be damaged in a range of ways. One can inherit damaged neurotransmitters and neuroreceptors. Neurotransmitter and neuroreceptor impairments can also be caused by persistent exposure to stress or traumatic experiences. Even temporary periods of stress hinder learning until homeostasis is restored. Early deprivation from crucial stimuli that children require during the first few years of life can also alter neurotransmitter and neuroreceptor functions. However, what is not widely known is that exposure to fundamental stimuli during the adolescent brain rewiring process is also essential. What students engage in during puberty is highly predictive of the brain’s later capacity.

When students are not chemically balanced, it will impact their entire physical system: heart, blood vessels, lungs, skin, salivary glands, muscles, digestion, and immune system (Chiras, 2012). Individuals who suffer from learning disorders or pathologies suffer from persistent chemical imbalance. For example, children who exhibit aggression often suffer from a serotonin imbalance. However, less widely known is that any abnormal secretions of any chemicals in the brain will impact learning temporarily or long term. Healthy students can go through a stressful period in their lives and experience issues with memory and comprehension similar to peers with persistent chemical imbalances. The difference is that for healthy students, the impact is only temporary. However, it is important for teachers to understand that temporary imbalances should be tended to and not ignored. The longer any chemical imbalance exists, the more difficult it will be to rectify.

The brain stem, the back region of the brain, regulates the body’s homeostasis. This regulation is done through the autonomic nervous system, which extends throughout our entire body and regulates heart rate, respiratory rate, and digestion. The autonomic nervous system has two parts: The sympathetic nervous system alerts us through chemical arousal, and the parasympathetic nervous system calms us. When we experience chemical imbalance, the sympathetic nervous system can trigger stress, anger and irrational behavior. On the other hand, a chemical imbalance can cause the parasympathetic nervous system to make us feel lethargic, bored, and even depressed. To maintain homeostasis, our brain must feel safe and strike a delicate balance of not being overstimulated or disinterested.

Altered secretion patterns impact not only the back region of the brain, but also the midbrain that controls eating and sleeping. The midbrain is commonly referred to as the limbic system and is comprised of the hypothalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus. The amygdala determines emotional response, which can impact all bodily functions, especially eating and sleeping. That is why when individuals experience stress such as divorce, deadlines at work, or death of a loved one, they often experience temporary disturbances in their eating and sleeping patterns. The impact of chemical imbalance on the midbrain explains why so many psychiatric diagnoses co-occur with altered eating and sleeping patterns.

The brain impacts how the body functions

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The impact of altered brain chemistry on the midbrain will have a ripple effect on the brain’s entire system. The limbic system is known as the seat of human emotions, and it tells us when to run or fight. In simple terms, it is how the body reacts to danger, real or perceived. Before the limbic system responds to a stimulus, it consults with the cortex. The cortex is in charge of reasoning and executive functions. The cortex takes in data and searches for related information to help individuals reach a reasonable decision based on prior experience. After analyzing data, the cortex communicates with the limbic system to justify or to reduce the level of emotional response. However, if chemical secretions overwhelm the limbic system, it will override the cortex and make impulsive decisions on its own. It is this level of impulsivity and misperception that causes many children suffering from emotional problems to behave in a manner that is irrational.

The cerebral cortex is responsible for executive functions.

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Altered secretion patterns impact not only behavior but learning as well. An essential component of the limbic system is the hippocampus; it is the seat of initial learning and short-term memory. A chemical imbalance slows initial learning and halts long-term learning, because long-term memory cannot exist unless preceded by short-term memory. Altered sleeping and eating patterns also impair the ability of the cortex to behave in a logical fashion. When the cortex is impeded, the ability to reason and problem solve is diminished.

The inability of the brain to appropriately manage some of the chemicals it produces causes it to function consistently outside of optimal learning conditions. Children whose brains are unable to control their bodies’ chemical patterns are often the same individuals who experience mounting risk factors. The increased level of risk results in dramatic shifts in brain chemistry.

An understanding of how the brain learns should be reflected in every teaching process and practice to help at-risk students receive information in a manner that improves their brains’ levels of functioning. Learning how the brain works is one of the most valuable pieces of information a teacher can acquire, and it can have positive ramifications on student performance regardless of level of risk. One of the best things about the human brain is that it is akin to the human heart. Most of the things that are good for one heart are good for all hearts, and most of the strategies that help one brain learn help all brains learn. When teachers learn strategies that are brain-compatible and gain a level of comfort utilizing strategies, instruction will become effective across cognitive abilities. Likewise, the process of learning is the secret to achieving a healthier brain. Learning is actually therapeutic.

The Importance of the Relationship with the Instructor

There is one caveat concerning maximizing brain-based strategies for enhancing learning. The ability of the teacher to build rapport with students cannot be replaced. Each brain-based strategy will provide the instructor with an effective tool for maximizing learning. However, research indicates that unless the strategy is delivered by a teacher who knows how to forge a positive relationship with students, the full benefit of each strategy cannot be obtained. Resiliency studies indicate that individuals who overcame the presence of multiple risk factors did so through a nurturing relationship with at least one adult. Numerous studies determined that the relationship between teacher and student is a predictor of whether or not the student will reach his or her potential. It is interesting to note that a myriad of studies on mental health treatment reached the same conclusion. The predictor of the effectiveness of treatment is the relationship between client and provider.

Therefore, it is only rational that the process for developing any curriculum must include an educational paradigm that effectively utilizes all of what is known about how individuals learn. The brain learns and applies information best when it is at its optimal level of functioning. There are some simple strategies that improve the brain’s ability to receive new information. However, the strategies still require a caring and passionate teacher to deliver the lesson.

Strategies That Prepare the Brain to Learn

Help students feel at ease with new information. Effective instruction employs practices that reduce a student’s production of chemicals that inhibit the brain’s ability to function at its best. Teachers can learn to utilize techniques that help students relax before they are challenged.

Beginning Class Ritual

Effective teachers often begin classes with the same ritual each day. The students grow accustomed to the routine and the predictability of the practice and thus learn to relax. This predictability helps the brain perform at its optimal chemical level or, at the very least, it will not increase chemicals that can hinder brain functioning. For example, some teachers use an interactive chant that incorporates positive affirmation with physical movement and unique sounds. A teacher, after watching the movie 300, which is about an army of Spartans who overcame overwhelming odds, came into class one morning and told his inner-city high school class that they are like modern day Spartans and showed a clip from the movie. He told the students that they, too, have to overcome odds daily to survive, and one way of surviving is through education. So each morning he had his students engage in a warrior chant:

• He would say, “Are my warriors ready?”
• They would say, “Ready,”
• He would say, “What will my warriors do today?”
• They would say, “Win.”
• He would say, “How can we win today?”
• The students will respond, “Learn” and let out a warrior yell!
• He convinced his students that one way to win was overcoming the odds through education.

Student Comfort

Other educators seek to create student safety by emphasizing what students have in common with one another. For instance, every Monday morning, a teacher would poll his students. The poll was a way of finding commonalities related to everyday activities such as how students’ spent their free time, what they watched on television, or what types of music they listened to. Each time he would end the poll with the same phrase, “You see, we are all unique, yet very much the same—uniquely the same.”

Icebreakers

Another technique that can be utilized is icebreakers, which are an activity or game used to welcome and ease participants into a conversation. Although icebreakers are often traditionally used in meetings, training, or team building, they are just as effective as an everyday classroom tool. Icebreakers allow the students an opportunity to get in the right frame of mind to learn. Many students come to class with a lot on their minds, physically fatigued, and even stressed by personal issues. Brain research tells us that we cannot begin to engage the cortex, the location in the brain where new information is processed, until the need for safety and comfort are met. The cortex of the brain, the “higher” brain, is composed of many lobes specializing in complex functions: The occipital lobes primarily engage in visual processing; parietal lobes evaluate information about the body; temporal lobes, auditory analyses and memory; frontal lobes, reasoning and decision making. These primary functions have many complex facets, and no part of the cortex operates independently of the rest of the brain. Without comfort, the higher-ordered functions of the cortex are compromised. Comfort, in this case, is both physical and social.

Icebreakers should be fun. Humor has a very positive effect on the brain’s chemistry. Some teachers begin class with a joke. It is very common to attend a conference and have the keynote speaker begin his or her talk with a joke. The reasons are far more brain-based than people imagine. When you laugh, the brain secretes hormones that not only relax us but also allow us to be open to new ideas. A positive frame of mind helps the brain consider new ideas without passing quick judgement. On the other hand, many of us can remember experiences in which the speaker said something that irritated us early in the lecture and we were closed off to everything else he or she had to say.

The beginning of class is not the time to challenge the students. It is important to remember that before you can challenge, you must first make safe.

Techniques for Introducing New Subject Matter

The learning of any new information causes increased chemical activity in the brain. The following strategies are designed to improve comprehension of new information without jeopardizing homeostasis. The greater the level of chemical disturbance to the brain during the learning process, the lower the comprehension and the higher the risk of impulsive student behavior.

Correlate New Information to Prior Knowledge

Fundamentally, memory represents who we are. Our habits, our ideologies, our hopes, and fears are all influenced by what we remember of our past. At the most basic level, we remember because the connections between our brain’s neurons change. Each experience primes the brain for the next experience, so every structural change in our brain reflects our history as a tree’s rings tell the story from seed to towering oak. Memory also represents a change in who we are because it is predictive of what we will most likely focus on in the future. We remember new things more easily if we have been exposed to similar things in the past—so what we remember from the past has a lot to do with what we will learn in the future.

Another technique for ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Acknowledgements
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Publisher’s Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Introduction
• 1 A Brain-Based Approach to Teaching
• 2 Advanced Thinking Made Easy
• 3 Three Levels of Learning
• 4 Working Toward Automation—Core Information
• 5 Learning Principles and Applications Through Embodied Cognition
• 6 The Goal of Higher-Level Thinking
• 7 Promoting Success Is Key to Restoring Student Motivation
• 8 The Paradox of the Slow and Gifted Learner
• 9 Science of Cheating
• 10 The Decline of Empathy
• 11 New Breed of Bully
• 12 Diet and Education
• 13 Male and Female Brains
• 14 The Subtle Influence of Bias
• 15 Designing Replacement Behaviors
• 16 The Education Revolution
• References
• Index
• Publisher Note