NINE
BRAIN-CONSIDERATE ELEMENTS -- SUSAN KOVALIK
| ABSENCE OF THREAT/NURTURING REFLECTIVE THINKING |
What constitutes threat--real and perceived--is in the eye of the beholder. Thus, creating an environment free of threat includes a wide range of issues much like those described by Abraham Maslow. First physical safety, then psychological safety--necessary conditions for effective collaboration between teacher and students, and among students themselves, in the classroom and schoolwide. It is important to note that the environment of the school at large also spills over into the classroom. Creating a threat-free environment requires that teachers work together to alter the entire school environment.
| COLLABORATION |
The choice of the word "collaboration" rather than "cooperation" or "cooperative learning", is deliberate here. In Webster's Dictionary it means "to work in association with, to work with another." Frank Smith, in Insult to Intelligence, 1986 ( p. 62) lists opportunity for manipulation of information as one of his key ingredients for learning,. Full understanding of what is being learned and the ability to apply it in real-life settings--creative problem solving and flexible use of what is learned--depends upon ample opportunity to manipulate information in our heads, to test it, expand it, connect it with prior learnings. Collaborating with others allows us to examine our own thinking while expanding our knowledge base.
| ADEQUATE TIME |
In terms of the pattern seeking and program building nature of the brain, adequate time is not a luxury, it is a prerequisite. It takes time to extract meaningful patterns (make meaning) and it takes time to know how to use what we learn in meaningful ways (acquire useful programs). Adequate time is needed to get the job of learning done well, to accomplish mastery (the ability to use the concept/skill in real life settings), to fully understand the connections among prior learnings and learnings yet to come. Using fragments of time--20 minutes for this, 40 minutes for that--is the ideal way to guarantee a low degree of meaningfulness and high failure rates. Using uninterrupted time to allow students full concentration is the ultimate gift, e.g., a two-hour block, all morning or even an entire day devoted to a major concept and its application to real life. Learning should be more than covering the material and building mental programs for use.
The implications for the classroom of the 21st century are obvious--we need to do less and do it better and more in-depth, giving students time to use the information again and again in varying settings until the information is recallable in a usable form, i.e., as a behavior, a mental program.
| ENRICHED ENVIRONMENT |
When creating an enriched environment, it is important to keep in mind the extent and kind of experiences with the natural and manmade world that your students bring with them to school. The key here is to balance that experience, not replicate it. For example, if students come to you long on TV, videos, video games, and secondhand resources (books and pictures), then the classroom must provide the REAL stuff--not books about, videos about, pictures about, replicas of, models of, but the real thing! If the environment is inner city with typical harshness, chaos, and dirtiness, then you must take the time and effort to create an environment in the classroom and school that is brain-compatible, e.g., aesthetically pleasing, clean, orderly, calming, etc.
Some other things to keep in mind: Make the environment body compatible. Eliminate clutter; avoid distraction and over stimulation. Provide each class with a broad-based reference library; trade books, current encyclopedias, CD-ROM and video discs. Change bulletin boards, displays and materials frequently; always stay current with what is being studied at the moment. Put away the old except for a few items which will job recall.
| MEANINGFUL CONTENT |
How would one describe meaningful content? That's a tricky question for an educator because, in fact, it is not the educator's question to answer. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is meaningfulness determined by the learner. And yet, it is worth answering because meaningful content is the most powerful brain-compatible element. It digs deeply into the learner's pool of intrinsic motivation and provides focus for the ever active brain, thus harnessing the brain's attention and channeling its power. Fortunately, thanks to brain research, we can do a better job than ever before of surmising what the learner beholds and how he/she processes learning.
| CHOICES |
Webster defines choice as "the act or power of choosing, the thing chosen, alternative, preference, the best." We especially like the phrase "power of choosing" because it pinpoints the essential characteristic of the lifelong learner. "Preference" acknowledges what brain research tells us over and over again: every brain is different and, therefore, each individual learner has preferred ways of learning that the individual knows to be more effective and reliable for him/her.
Frank Smith, in to think , 1990 ( p. 27), notes that thinking is made easy and effective when two fundamental requirements are met: 1) we understand what we are thinking about; and 2) the brain itself is in charge, in control of its own affairs, going about its own business. Smith goes on to say that "Thinking becomes difficult and inefficient when the brain loses control, when what we try to think about is contrived rather than an integral part of whatever we would otherwise be engaged in at the moment. ...the most difficult kind of thinking is that which is imposed on us by someone else..."
The definition of "power of choosing" is wonderfully descriptive because it pinpoints the essential characteristic of the lifelong learner. Making wise choices comes from practice; the desire to choose comes from confidence that choices will be good ones. "Preference" acknowledges what brain research tells us over and over again: that every brain is different and, therefore, each individual learner has preferred ways of learning which that individual knows to be more effective and reliable for him/her.
| IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK |
Each of us has personal experiences with learning when the feedback was confusing, delayed, or not forthcoming at all. Such feedback is dangerous because it too often results in development of incorrect patterns (misinformation) and programs (wrong responses). Examples abound. Many among us experience the frustration of fumbling over the spelling of a particular word; our two choices are always the same, the same incorrect version vs. the correct. Years later, we continue to fumble between the same competing set of possibilities.
Contrary to popular belief, the hardest thing the brain does is forget something it has learned, as distinguished from forgetting something it never learned in the first place or that was never meaningful....which occurs for 80 percent of the students on the bell curve who stopped just short of mastery, just short of building a program. Feedback (and time) must be sufficient for the student to develop a correct mental program.
The importance of immediate feedback to the student, then is obvious. Feedback, accurate and immediate, is needed at the time the learner is building his/her mental program to ensure that the program is accurate and to help speed up the building of a program.
| MASTERY/COMPETENCE |
Leslie A. Hart has a dual definition for learning:
1) Learning is the extraction, from confusion, of meaningful patterns.
2) Learning is the acquisition of useful programs.
Simply translated, the issues are what do students understand and how they can use it.
Part 1 of the learning process involves processing of incoming data, making meaning of the input. While every learner's perspective differs somewhat, care should be taken to uncover the accuracy of those patterns.
Part 2 of the learning process involves using what we understand, the mental patterns we have detected to get translated into specific actions.
Assessment procedures should be established in the classroom to permit the teacher to determine the accuracy of patterns and the depth of understanding they represent and to determine if mental programs have been developed and stored in long-term memory.
| MOVEMENT TO ENHANCE LEARNING |
Motor skills are fundamental to learning. (Eric Jensen) "Physical activity is good not only for the heart, but also for the brain, feedingit glucose and oxygen and increasing nerve connections, all of which makes it easier for children of all ages to learn. Numerous studies show that children who exercise do better in school." (Newsweek, 2/19/96)
| Excerpted from Synergy: Transforming America's High Schools Through Integrated Thematic Instruction by Karen D. Olsen (1995) pp. 3-4 to 3-38. |