Brain-Based Teaching in the Digital Age

Marilee Sprenger

• Publisher: ASCD
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781416612452
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Technology

Smartphones, videogames, webcasts, wikis, blogs, texting, emoticons. What does the rapidly changing digital landscape mean for classroom teaching? How has technology affected the brain development of students? How does it relate to what we know about learning styles, memory, and multiple intelligences? How can teachers close the digital divide that separates many of them from their students?

In Brain-Based Teaching in the Digital Age, Marilee Sprenger answers these and other questions with research-based information and practical advice gained from her years as a classroom teacher and a consultant on brain-based teaching. As she puts it, "It's time to meet the 'digital brain.' We need to use the technology tools, learn the digital dialogue, and understand and relate better to our students." At the same time, she emphasizes the importance of educating the whole child by including exercise, music, and art in the classroom and helping students develop their social-emotional intelligence. Creativity, empathy, and the ability to synthesize material are 21st century skills that can't be ignored in the digital age.

Readers will find easy-to-understand information about the digital brain and how it works, "high-tech" and "low-tech" strategies for everyday teaching and learning, and inspiration for creating classroom environments that will entice and encourage students at all grade levels. With this book as a guide, educators can move confidently across the digital divide to a world of new possibilities--for themselves and their students.

Note: This product listing is for the reflowable (ePub) version of the book.

Part 1

Digital Technology and the Brain

What is technology doing to the brain? The importance of 21st century skills coupled with what research has discovered about the brain creates an opportunity to combine brain-compatible strategies that will work with our diverse populations. Both digital natives and digital immigrants must survive and thrive in this very connected world.

Chapter 1

iPod + iPhone + iVideo + Internet = iBrain

One of my middle school students was texting her friend sitting next to her in study hall. The girls began laughing, so I asked what was so funny. She shared this text message with me. "First, he left me a voicemail, so I sent him a text on his cell; then, he contacted me on Facebook, so I e-mailed him on my BlackBerry. Two days later he sent me an instant message on AOL, but I wasn't online. How will I ever meet him?" This is the life of the digital brain. Face-to-face contact is not necessarily required! And herein lies one of the warnings about technology: our students may be lacking face-to-face social skills.

Various authors, including Gary Small (Small & Vorgan, 2008), call them "digital natives"; others, including Don Tapscott (2009), call them the Net Generation, or Net Gen; and we've called them geeks and nerds. Who are they? Your students. And maybe you, too.

The Changing World of Digital Interaction

When on playground duty at the middle school in the morning, I am amazed at the changes I have seen in the past 10 years. Students stand together in circles just like they used to, but they aren't speaking to each other. Instead, they are sending text messages—to the people they are standing with. It's more fun, they say. And they can text things they don't want to say out loud.

Once these students enter the building, their cell phones must be turned off. We can't have students texting each other in class. They have to be paying attention to the lesson. The question is, can they? Or will they? How can a teacher be as interesting as a communications tool that can take students anywhere they want to go—MySpace, outer space, or cyberspace?

The facility with which most students approach the digital age is awe-inspiring. While I am still at the stage of believing the way to fix my computer is to reboot, our students are opening multiple windows and using advanced programs to make things happen. (If when you read "opening multiple windows" you thought I was referring to letting in fresh air, you must keep reading!) They have staked out their personal territory on MySpace or Facebook. They talk to people around the world using Skype, and they have their own Web sites, blogs, and wikis. If you think I am speaking a foreign language, be patient; these terms will be explained throughout this book.

You need to know the language, the programs, and your students better. Knowing their world means being familiar with cyberspace, text messaging, and an informal language that makes you LOL (that's "laugh out loud").

The Changing Brain

We know that the brain is changing in response to the changes brought about by the high-tech information age in which we live. If we want brain-compatible classrooms, we need to know what these changes are—the good, the bad, and the ugly—just as we want our doctor to keep up with the latest treatments and medications, our accountant to keep up with the tax laws, and our mechanic to know how to keep our computer-regulated cars in good shape.

According to Jensen (2005), teachers must be experts on the organ that they teach—the brain. New information about the brain can have a profound effect on the classroom if teachers are aware of it (Allen, Nickelsen, & Zgonc, 2007). Many administrators feel that the first professional development their teachers participate in should focus on how the brain learns. Although it is not necessary to know a lot about brain biology, there are some essentials that the brain-compatible teacher should know in the digital age, which presents us with a new kind of diversity in our classrooms: students who have been exposed to various kinds of digital equipment and communications systems, and students (and teachers) who have not.

If you need a refresher on how the brain learns, you'll find it in Appendix A (see p. 151). But it's also important to know how students' brains are changing and working now. How do their brains learn best? What can we do to compete with the attractions of the digital age? Better yet, how can we join the digital age? Becoming a part of this transformation is something we must do because we are dealing with digital brains. So even if you are a digital dinosaur, it's not too late. Your brain can change, too. In fact, it's changing every day.

The Reticular Activating System: A Busy Filter

Brain research during the past 20 years indicates notable changes in parts of the brain, including the reticular activating system (RAS), which is the brain's first filter. Located in the area of the brain associated with survival activities, it scans the outside world for danger and determines which information is allowed to enter the brain. Because the brain is programmed to forget, the RAS filters out about 99 percent of the incoming information (Gazzaniga, 1999). This selectivity usually allows us to focus and keep our sanity.

Our students live in a world of constant messaging, and therefore their brains— their reticular activating systems—have changed more than ours. Fast-paced, emotionally laden messages bombard them regularly from computers, videos, and other technology, and the RAS has changed as a result of this overexposure. Because of the increase in the number and pace of messages, the RAS scans more quickly and expects more information. We may see the effect when we are teaching our students; their engagement may be brief, as new stimuli are discovered by the RAS. If you do not find yourself "performing" more in your classroom or putting on a "dog and pony show" to get your students' attention, then you are in the minority.

Digital Dopamine

The neurotransmitter dopamine is released in the brain when we feel pleasure. Ask your Net Gen students what they like and you'll probably hear responses that refer to a variety of digital activities and devices, such as texting, instant messaging, and playing Nintendo, Xbox, PlayStation, or Wii. They may mention iPods, iPhones, cruising the Internet, and watching HDTV. Because the brain craves novelty, excitement, and innovation, it naturally turns to things that are new and different, and technology offers much of this kind of stimulation.

As Judy Willis (2006) tells us, we have to get the dopamine flowing in our students' brains when they are learning. Pleasure must be part of the learning. But technology isn't the only source of pleasure. It behooves us to include both high-tech and low-tech activities in our lessons to encourage pleasurable experiences. For example, movement encourages the release of dopamine and can be incorporated into certain learning activities.

Pruning Traditional Language Pathways

The more our students are actively involved with the new technology, the more their brains are changing. Texting, e-mailing, and instant messaging call for a new kind of language. It is an abbreviated form of verbal communication that originally horrified me as a teacher of grammar, spelling, punctuation, and writing. I have calmed down over the years as I see that the world has not come to an end as a result of this insult to my language, my content area, and my life. In fact, I have grown quite used to it, and I even understand much of it.

R U reading this? If you are, TIA. If you aren't, OMG! Get a life!

Translation? "Are you reading this? If you are, thanks in advance. If you aren't, oh my gosh (god)! Get a life!"

As educators, we know it behooves us to enter our students' worlds. This form of interaction is the world to many of them. I am suggesting you change your brain. You probably think, as I once did, that you are part of this technological era because you use e-mail. I have quickly learned that e-mail is becoming as passé as snail mail. Texting, blogging, and messaging are the mediums of choice. Try it; you might like it! LOL.

Meanwhile, as our students are using their changing brains, some of the old connections— the neural networks—are slowly fading. The traditional communication skills need to be used to solidify those neural networks. The Net Geners may ask, "Why?" And my answer to them is that the whole world hasn't changed yet. They will still be in classrooms that require traditional learning. Colleges and universities have lots of technology, but students still will be required to write an essay that flows, a story with a beginning, a middle, and an ending; and they may even have to write (I know this is hard to swallow) a formal letter!

Digital Dilemmas

There are some aspects to the digital world that are causes for concern. It seems that every year we see more students with attention problems. Now, there are questions about technology stunting brain growth, losing emotional intelligence skills, multitasking, developing reading skills, and acquiring general knowledge. The digital brain may encounter some issues that we will need to address.

Frontal Lobe Lethargy

Our frontal lobes are the last lobes to develop completely as the brain grows. They perform executive functions such as abstract thinking, future planning, and decision making. They also are involved in our social interactions. To the surprise of some researchers, playing video games does not activate the frontal lobe. Even games that are more complex tend to stimulate the visual and motor functions in the brain, not the frontal lobes (Small & Vorgan, 2008). Interestingly, researchers have found that doing ordinary addition problems activated many more brain areas, including the frontal lobe.

Adolescents who are completely immersed in technology may suffer from stunted frontal lobe development. Social abilities are not maturing as students between the ages of 8 and 18 spend 8½ hours per day with digital media (Klingberg, 2008). Their ability to empathize and relate to others is delayed as their neural networks focus on a faceless world without gestures.

Attention

As noted earlier, the brain is fueled by the need to encounter something new and different. Novelty is important to us. This is one reason why the technological revolution continues to engage our students—and many of us as well. As we scan our world for new things, the amount of attention we give to any one of them is dwindling. The average person spends about two seconds per Web site when doing a search. We have become experts at seeking out the information we want and are able to peruse a Web page quickly as we scan for specific words and concepts.

As our students work at their computers outside of school, they await instant messages and e-mails from their friends. Their anticipation is likely to cause stress as they hope to be contacted and think about this possibility while they try to do their work. Stress causes the release of stress hormones, and as they finish their work, many students have higher stress levels than when they began.

The need for connectivity is heightened under these circumstances—the waiting and the wondering: Will she text me back? Did he see that I am online, and is he avoiding me? Where is everyone while I am doing my work? Even those of us who do not yet rely on these instant connections get caught up in this tendency. I check my "friend" list when I log in to my message page. I feel more connected to my own children and to my friends when I see their screen names listed as "online." We all have the need to feel in control of our lives, and when we don't have that feeling, it can affect our self-worth.

---

Instant Message

As students divide their attention among various tasks, their sense of control over their lives may be threatened, adding more stress to their lives. They need some downtime to balance their brains. Interacting with real people face to face, taking short naps, and exercising may be beneficial.

---

Depression

Jane Healy warned us about the problem of depression in her book Failure to Connect (1998). She reminded readers that the brain responds to its environment, that computer usage in isolation limits language development, that lack of physical exercise affects brain growth and stimulation, and that there may be more incidences of depression by students living in a more isolated world.

When communication is limited to texting, e-mailing, instant messaging, and blogging, emotional warmth is lacking. In particular, those who are new to technology—the digital immigrants—notice the isolation and depression more than digital natives (Small & Vorgan, 2008).

Social-Emotional Intelligence: Lost in Cyberspace?

The ability to understand, recognize, and handle our own emotions, recognize others' emotions, and manage relationships are all components of emotional intelligence. Add impulse control and empathy and you have the characteristics of a student we would all like to have in our schools and classrooms.

Daniel Goleman (2006) defines social intelligence as a combination of social awareness and social facility. These traits involve listening to others, understanding their feelings, responding to their gestures and facial expressions, interacting nonverbally, and responding to their needs.

These social and emotional skills are learnable, as we have seen through wonderful school programs and brain-compatible schools where they are a priority. These skills are built through face-to-face encounters and are nearly impossible to learn through digital technology. Yes, webcams and Skype can provide some face time, but body language and gestures are sometimes lost in these high-tech interactions. A lack of social skills can be a side effect of too much time spent with technology.

Multitasking—or Not?

According to many neuroscientists, including John Medina (2008), multitasking is not only unproductive, it is impossible. The brain can attend to only one thing at a time. Multitasking is unfeasible for the brain. Yes, we can walk and talk at the same time, but those two processes do not involve the same brain functions. Walking is a procedural motor memory. It has become automatic; we don't have to think about it. The executive part of our brain can focus on the conversation.

Let's look at what happens in Emily's brain as she thinks she is focusing on her homework:

Emily sits in front of her laptop. Her iPod is playing music by Coldplay as it sits in its base on her dresser. She has three windows open on her computer screen: AOL, MSN Messenger, and her word processing program. Her homework is to write about five causes for the Civil War and support them with details.

As Emily is putting her heading on her paper, her cell phone rings. She quickly picks up her BlackBerry, recognizes the caller by the programmed music that plays for that person, and sees the picture of her caller appear as she says, "Hi, Ivy. What's up?" Ivy begins the conversation by saying, "You're not going to believe who texted me!" Emily is absorbed in the conversation and squeals as she hears the familiar name of someone Ivy is interested in dating.

Just as Em is about to respond to Ivy, her computer spouts out, "You've got mail!" and she turns her attention to the newest e-mail message. The executive part of her brain drops the conversation (though Ivy keeps talking), and Emily reads the e-mail from another classmate asking her what the homework assignment is. Em replies with the page numbers and the assignment as Ivy rambles, but she realizes that she should get back to her homework. "I'll text you later, Ivy. I have to get some work done."

Emily shifts her attention back to the computer screen. "Let's see, where was I?" she wonders. Now her brain must let the snippets of social conversation drop out of her working memory. Attending to her homework on the Civil War causes her brain to retrieve some long-term memories of her readings and teacher lectures on the topic. As she begins to think about the differences between the North and the South before the Civil War, her mind drifts to Gone with the Wind and how cute Rhett Butler was.

Refocusing takes several seconds as she remembers what Mr. Montgomery told them in class about the slaves. Emily types "causes of the Civil War" into Google. Immediately, the search engine provides 12,900,000 hits. She clicks on the first site listed, realizes it doesn't have any information she is looking for, hits the "back" button, and tries the next Web site. Deep into her search, she is startled by the familiar sound from her BlackBerry indicating that she has a text message. She grabs her phone, presses the mail button, and sees Jackson's message: "What r u doing?" Jackson is special, so her brain turns its attention to possibilities of love. Her brain is flooded with pleasurable chemicals that keep her from returning to her homework as she begins typing her reply.

And so it goes with the Net Generation. Multitasking? Not many tasks are actually getting done. Later, however, Emily will remember that her mission was to complete her homework, and she will stay up late attempting to explain the reasons for the Civil War.

Some researchers believe that rather than multitasking, what Emily is doing is putting herself into a state of partial attention. Linda Stone, a former software executive for Microsoft, has examined attention and coined the phrase "continuous partial attention" (Stone, 2007). Digital natives are motivated by a desire to be busy and in demand. They don't want to miss anything. Being physically present has become less important. Instead of multitasking and trying to be productive, it is more important to be connected. This "overconnectedness" can cause stress.

Stress results in the release of two chemicals from the adrenal glands, cortisol and adrenaline. Initially, this chemical release may enhance memory. But over time, stress chemicals can weaken the immune system, weaken cognitive functioning, and in some cases cause depression.

Net Geners think more quickly than their older counterparts. In a Oxford Future of the Mind Institute study, Net Geners scored up to 10 percent higher on problem solving than older people, which of course may be attributed to age differences and high exposure to fast-paced technology. Some studies suggest, however, that when Net Geners are interrupted, they think and work at about the same speed as people in their 30s. Some research concludes that those who were raised with digital media can switch attention faster and have optimized their ability to multitask. Is this a good thing? In most cases the answer is no. Researchers believe that this does not make them more productive, creative, or inventive, and perhaps makes them less so than those without the interruptions (Scott, 2006). Studies show that interruptions can cause 50 percent more errors and take people 50 percent longer to complete the task (Medina, 2008).

Differences in Reading Skills

Maryanne Wolf, author of Proust and the Squid (2007), is concerned about the need children feel for speed on the Internet and other digital devices when it comes to reading. As an expert in the neuroscience of reading, Wolf fears that as young children learn to read on equipment that is known for fast pace and skimming, they will lose their ability to truly comprehend and reflect on the text they are encountering.

Wolf believes that the love of reading comes from some interaction with books, just as I do. In her book, she...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: And a Good Time Was Had By All
• Part 1: Digital Technology and the Brain
• Chapter 1. iPod + iPhone + iVideo + Internet = iBrain
• Chapter 2. Recent Research on the Brain: We Need Low Tech, Too
• Chapter 3. Do Brain-Based Principles Apply in the Digital Age?
• Part 2: Desk Space, MySpace, My Style
• Chapter 4. Environments for Learning
• Chapter 5. Social Networking Through Teams
• Chapter 6. Understanding Learning Styles
• Chapter 7. The Digital Native and Intelligence
• Part 3: Music, Mind Maps, and Memory
• Chapter 8. The Digital Brain and Music
• Chapter 9. Visual Tools
• Chapter 10. Flash Blubs and Flash Drives: Understanding How Memory Works
• Part 4: Balancing Digital Desires with Digital Natives' Needs
• Chapter 11. The Balancing Act
• Chapter 12. The Present and the Future of Learning
• Appendix A. How the Brain Works
• Appendix B. How Tech Savvy Are You?
• Appendix C. Glossary of Digital Terms
• References
• About the Author
• Related ASCD Resources
• Study Guide
• Copyright