engaging rewired brain...differentiation and the brain (with carol tomlinson); and how the brain...

ENGAGING the

REWIREDBRAIN

David A. Sousa

©2016 by Learning S

ciences International. All rights reserved.

ENGAGING the

REWIREDBRAIN

David A. Sousa



Copyright © 2016 by Learning Sciences International

All rights reserved. Tables, forms, and sample documents may be reproduced or displayed only by educators, local school sites, or nonprofit entities who have purchased the book. Except for that usage, no part of this book may be repro-duced, transmitted, or displayed in any form or by any means (photocopying, digital or electronic transmittal, electronic or mechanical display, or other means) without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sousa, David A.Engaging the rewired brain / David A. Sousa.pages cmISBN: 978-1-941112-72-4 (pbk.)1. Neuroplasticity. 2. Brain. 3. Thought and thinking. 4. Teaching—Methodology. 5. Technology—Social aspects. I. Title.T14.5 .S6391 2015303.48`3—dc23[2015946926]



v

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ixAbout the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1About This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Questions This Book Will Answer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Chapter Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Other Helpful Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Who Should Use This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4A Note About Effect Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

What’s Coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Chapter 1Where We Are . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Views and Status of Technology in Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7How Technology Is Changing Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9How Technology Is Changing Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Does Technology Improve Student Achievement? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Measuring the Value of Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

What Is Student Engagement? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Levels of Student Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Types of Authentic Student Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

What Should Teachers Be Able to Do With Technology? . . . . . . . . . . 21What’s Coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Chapter 2Wiring the Young Brain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Getting the Brain Wired . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Wiring for Spoken Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26Impact of Technology on Spatial and Language Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27



vi ENGAGING THE REWIRED BRAIN

The Addiction of Electronic Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29The Distress of Disconnecting From Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30Technology Distractions and Student Achievement . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Summary: Wired to Rewired Brain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32What Kind of Classroom Will Engage the Rewired Brain? . . . . . . . . . . 33

An Academic Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34A Conceptual Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34A Differentiation Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34An Exploratory Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34A Flipped Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34Humor Is Included . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Games Are Allowed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35A Loosely Structured Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Project-Based Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Technology Is an Important Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Mastery-Based Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

What’s Coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Chapter 3Engaging Attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

The Complexities of Attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Attention Span . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39Do Some Instructional Models Discourage Attention? . . . . . . . . . . 41The Value of Novelty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Is Attention Span Getting Shorter? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44What’s Coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Chapter 4Engaging Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Memory Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Working Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48Is Capacity of Working Memory Changing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48Retention During a Learning Episode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50Getting Information Into Long-Term Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53The Power of Closure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

From Sense and Meaning to Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Does Practice Make Perfect? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Conditions for Successful Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62Guided Practice, Independent Practice, and Feedback . . . . . . . . . .63Factors That Increase Retention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64



Table of Contents vii

When Does Encoding Into Long-Term Memory Occur? . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Checking What Is in Long-Term Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66Self-Monitoring and Self-Regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68Deciding What Is Worth Remembering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

What’s Coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Chapter 5Engaging Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Technology and Thinking: Friends or Foes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Effects of Television on Children’s Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Information Overload Affects Decision Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Thinking and Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Are We Losing Our Desire to Think Critically? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80Engaging Students With the Flipped Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84Improving Thinking by Integrating the Arts Into Other Subject Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87The Case for Educational Video Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90Promoting Critical Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95Is Direct Instruction Dead? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

What’s Coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Chapter 6Engaging Social Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Building the Social Brain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99How Much Are Teenagers Using Technology? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Effects of Technology on Rewiring Social Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Finding the Right Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112

What’s Coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Chapter 7Where We Are Going . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Are Educators Embracing Technology? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Other Opportunities for Student Engagement With Technology . . .114

Increasing Differentiated Instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115Multiple Intelligences Model—Still Meaningful? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117Creating a Workspace for Makers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121Encouraging Online Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121Teaching About Digital Ethics and Netiquette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122



viii ENGAGING THE REWIRED BRAIN

Rewiring Teachers’ Brains Through Professional Development in Digital Literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Training Versus Professional Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Components of a Digital Literacy Professional Development Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Will Technology Replace Teachers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128What’s Coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151



ix

Acknowledgments

Learning Sciences International would like to thank the following reviewers:

Anna Baldwin2014 Montana Teacher of the Year Arlee High SchoolArlee, Montana

Gay Barnes2012 National Teacher of the

Year finalist Horizon Elementary SchoolMadison, Alabama

Charity CartlandInstructional Technology TrainerSheboygan Area School DistrictSheboygan, Wisconsin

Kathy Galford2013 Virginia Teacher of the Year Greenbrier Middle SchoolChesapeake, Virginia

Alana Margeson2012 Maine Teacher of the Year Caribou High SchoolCaribou, Maine

Brenda Werner2012 North Dakota Teacher of

the Year Bismarck High SchoolBismarck, North Dakota



xi

About the Author

DR. DAVID A. SOUSA is an international consultant in educational neuroscience and author of sixteen books that suggest ways educators and parents can translate current brain research into strategies for improving learning. A member of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, he has conducted workshops in hundreds of school districts on brain research, instructional skills, and science education at the preK–12 and university levels. He has made presentations to more than two hundred thousand educators at national conventions of educational organizations and to regional and local school districts across the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia.

Dr. Sousa has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts, a master of arts in teaching degree in science from Harvard University, and a doctorate from Rutgers University. His teach-ing experience covers all levels. He has taught senior high school science and served as a K–12 director of science, supervisor of instruction, and district superintendent in New Jersey schools. He was an adjunct professor of educa-tion at Seton Hall University for ten years and a visiting lecturer at Rutgers University.

Prior to his career in New Jersey, Dr. Sousa taught at the American School of Paris (France) and served for five years as a foreign service officer and sci-ence advisor at the US diplomatic missions in Geneva (Switzerland) and Vienna (Austria).

Dr. Sousa has edited science books and published dozens of articles in leading journals on professional development, science education, and educa-tional research. His most popular books for educators include How the Brain Learns, now in its fourth edition; How the Special Needs Brain Learns, second



xii ENGAGING THE REWIRED BRAIN

edition; How the Gifted Brain Learns; How the Brain Learns to Read, second edition; How the Brain Influences Behavior; How the ELL Brain Learns; Differentiation and the Brain (with Carol Tomlinson); and How the Brain Learns Mathematics, which was selected by the Independent Book Publishers’ Association as one of the best professional-development books of 2008 and is now being revised for a second edition. The Leadership Brain suggests ways for educators to lead today’s schools more effectively. His books have been published in French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Korean, Russian, and several other languages. His book Brainwork: The Neuroscience Behind How We Lead Others is written for business and organizational leaders.

Dr. Sousa is past president of the National Staff Development Council (now called Learning Forward). He has received numerous awards from pro-fessional associations, school districts, and educational foundations for his commitment to research, staff development, and science education. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award and an honorary doctorate from Bridgewater State University and an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Gratz College in Philadelphia.

Dr. Sousa has been interviewed on the NBC Today show, by other televi-sion programs, and by National Public Radio about his work with schools using brain research. He makes his home in south Florida.



1

Introduction

Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is most important.

—Bill GatesFounder of Microsoft

LET ME START OUT BY SAYING that much of what I report in this book is a blend of thoughtful speculation, personal experience, anecdotal reports,

and research about how the human brain is changing due to the impact of technology. However, the information here is based on scientific studies and established knowledge of brain function and how we learn. Certainly, there already are research findings revealing short-term distinct changes in stu-dents’ attention, memory function, thinking processes, and social behavior. However, no one knows for certain what the long-term impact will be, because we need more time to determine long-term effects. But if the short-term results are any indication of future change, then much of what you read here will very likely shift in a few years from thoughtful speculations to accepted understandings of how the brain is transforming itself because of its inte-ractions with our technological world.

In that sense, this book may be ahead of its time. It may serve to alert parents and educators to forthcoming changes—some beneficial and some undesirable—that we may wish to address now. For instance, will implications of long-term effects

• demand changes in current teaching approaches and strategies?

• require us to limit or expand the use of technology in the classroom?

• drive drastic changes in curriculum content and priorities?

• compel us to look closely at how technology is changing social behavior?

• replace teachers with technology?



2 ENGAGING THE REWIRED BRAIN

These are just a few of the questions that should stir our thinking now about what we are doing at home and in schools and classrooms. Major changes in educational practice are notoriously slow. But technology is mov-ing ahead at breakneck speed, and there is research evidence that it is having some effect on improving student achievement (Tamim, Bernard, Borokhovski, Abrami, & Schmid, 2011). We need to examine the emerging research and decide what action to take to ensure that the rewired brain sees schools as a critical part of learning and not a place to just sit and do something else that is more entertaining. Much of this research is part of a relatively new area of academic inquiry called educational neuroscience. This field explores how research findings from neuroscience, education, and psychology can inform our understanding about teaching and learning, and whether they have implications for educational practice. This interdisciplinary approach ensures that recommendations for teaching practices have a foundation in solid sci-entific research.

ABOUT THIS BOOKMany school classrooms are very different today compared to just a decade ago. In the following chapters, we examine what research is telling us about how technology may be altering the way students interact with their world and how they perceive the teaching and learning process. In addition, we will look at some teacher-tested and successful strategies that use technology as a tool to entice, motivate, and engage the rewired brain.

Questions This Book Will Answer

This book will help answer questions such as these:

• How do students and teachers feel about how to use technology in the classroom?

• What are some major obstacles to using technology in schools?

• What are some major cautions about using technology?

• What should teachers be able to do with technology?

• How is technology rewiring our children’s brains?

• How does technology affect student achievement?

• Is technology shortening students’ attention span?



Introduction 3

• How is technology affecting students’ ability to remember information?

• What changes do we need to make in curriculum to accommodate the rewired brain?

• How can we use technology to improve students’ thinking abilities and creativity?

• What role should educational video games play in enhancing teaching and learning?

• How is technology affecting social behavior, and what can we do about it?

Chapter Contents

Chapter 1: Where We Are. Here we look at how students and teachers currently perceive the introduction and use of technology tools in schools, including whether technology improves student achievement. This chapter also describes different types of student engagement and suggests what teach-ers should be able to do to successfully use technology in today’s classrooms.

Chapter 2: Wiring the Young Brain. This chapter explains how the young brain responds to its environment by learning spoken language and developing visual and spatial skills. It explores how technology may be rewiring this brain and the kind of classroom that will engage it and moti-vate it to learn.

Chapter 3: Engaging Attention. Because most learning requires atten-tion, this chapter focuses on the complexities of attention and what is happening to attention span. It also addresses engaging the brain through novelty and how some instructional models actually discourage attention.

Chapter 4: Engaging Memory. Even rewired brains need to remember information and skills. This chapter explains the components of memory sys-tems and suggests what strategies are more likely to help students remember what they learn.

Chapter 5: Engaging Thinking. Here we explore what effects technology may be having on children’s thinking and how to deal with information over-load. This chapter also offers ways of improving students’ critical thinking and creativity.




Chapter 6: Engaging Social Behavior. Many people recognize that dig-ital devices are changing our youth’s social behavior. This chapter examines just how extensive those changes are and what teachers and parents can do about it.

Chapter 7: Where We Are Going. Predictions are always risky, but this chapter suggests ways in which technology will support and encourage effec-tive instructional strategies. It also outlines the components of a professional development program to develop teachers’ digital literacy.

Other Helpful Tools

We have included a Glossary of scientific and technical terms used in the book. A Resources section provides a few Internet sites to get teachers familiar with the variety of materials and information that is available. Keep in mind, however, that sites come and go, and they frequently change their names and addresses.

Who Should Use This Book

This book will be useful to classroom teachers because it presents recent research regarding how technology is affecting their students’ brains. It focuses on the rewired brain as the organ of thinking and learning, and takes the approach that the more teachers know about how this brain learns, the greater the number of instructional options that become available. Increasing the options that teachers have during the dynamic process of instruction, including the integration of technology, also increases the likelihood that suc-cessful learning will occur.

The book will also help professional developers who continually need to update their own knowledge base and include research and research-based strategies and support systems as part of their repertoire. These days, that includes ensuring that teachers are literate in the digital devices available to them. Chapter 7 offers some suggestions to help professional developers implement and maintain the knowledge and strategies that will help teachers know when, how, and why to integrate technology in their lessons.

Principals and teacher leaders will find here a substantial source of topics involving technology and the rewired brain for discussion at faculty meetings, which should include, after all, instructional as well as informational items. In



Introduction 5

doing so, they support the attitude that professional growth in digital literacy is an ongoing school responsibility and not an occasional event. More import-ant, being familiar with and modeling technology enhances the principal’s credibility as the school’s instructional leader and promotes the notion that the school is a learning organization for all its occupants.

College and university instructors will also find merit in the research and applications of technology presented here, as both suggestions to improve their own teaching and as important information to be passed on to prospec-tive teachers.

Information in this book will be useful to parents, who are, after all, the child’s first teachers and whose decisions often set the stage for how well their child will succeed in school.

A Note About Effect Sizes

Throughout this book, we will refer to the effect sizes of different inter-ventions. Effect size is a useful tool for measuring the strength of a relationship between two variables. In educational research, the two variables are usually an intervention and student achievement. Researchers ask the question, “How much of an effect does Intervention X have on student achievement?” The larger the positive value of the effect size, the greater the effect of the inter-vention on student achievement. Effect sizes are a useful descriptive statistic, and they are valuable when comparing the effect of an intervention across different studies, such as in a meta-analysis. Educational researchers generally agree that effect sizes around 0.20 indicate a mild effect, 0.50 a moderate effect, and 0.80 or more a strong effect.

WHAT’S COMINGIt is almost impossible to describe how technology is affecting education because as soon as you do, something has already changed. Nonetheless, in the next chapter, that is what we try to do. We explore the views that teachers and students currently have about technology and its impact on teaching and learning. We also discuss some useful criteria for helping teachers decide whether, when, and how to use technology tools effectively in the classroom.



7

Chapter 1

Where We Are

Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.

—Mitchell KaporFounder, Lotus Development Corporation

TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN ADVANCING AT SUCH a rapid pace that one barely has time to get accustomed to one device or program before

another one comes along to replace it. Smartphones are going through upgrades every few months, and new sites appear on the Internet daily, barely leaving us time to catch our breath. Therefore, this is a good time to pause and look at how teachers and students view the presence and role of technology in our schools.

VIEWS AND STATUS OF TECHNOLOGY IN SCHOOLSIn September 2014, CompTIA, a member organization for instructional tech-nology professionals, conducted two online surveys regarding the amount, use, and purpose of technology in schools. One survey involved four hundred teachers, and the other included one thousand middle and high school stu-dents. Both groups shared the same sentiment regarding wanting to see more technology in schools. However, there were some differences. Figure 1.1 shows that one-half of students judge the amount of technology use in their schools as moderate. About 41 percent thought there was a lot of usage, while 8 percent reported there was little or no use of technology in their school. Most teachers—that is, 84 percent—said the highest priority for the use of technology in schools was to help students meet achievement standards. As indicated in Figure 1.2, students, however, replied that technology makes




learning “more fun” (93 percent), “more interesting” (92 percent), and import-ant for teaching skills that will help in getting a job (92 percent). Apparently, students appear to recognize the importance of developing technology skills early to ensure that they are prepared to enter and succeed in an increasingly digital workplace.

Student percep+ons of amount of technology

in use in their school

Moderate amount

A lot

Li0le or no use

FIGURE 1.1 Chart shows students’ perceptions regarding the amount of technology being used in their school . Source: CompTIA, 2014 .

Just as in similar studies, boys showed more confidence in their technology skill levels than girls. Sixty percent of boys assessed themselves at a “higher level,” but only 46 percent of girls did so. Furthermore, 39 percent of boys said they rate themselves as “average,” but 51 percent of girls said they did. The study also asked about the areas where the students would like to develop their tech-nology skills at school. At the top of the list were gaming simulations (52 percent) and computer troubleshooting (49 percent). The study report noted that the high rating for computer troubleshooting was interesting, given that this is an area receiving very little attention in schools. It further noted that computer troubleshooting can often provide an excellent entry point for a career in technology because of a reasonably steady supply of job opportunities.

Go to www .learningsciences .com/bookresources to download figures and tables . Engaging the Rewired Brain © 2016 Learning Sciences International



Where We Are 9

91.5 92 92.5 93 93.5

Is important for teaching job skills

Makes learning more interes<ng

Makes learning more fun

Percent

Percent of students saying technology . . .

FIGURE 1.2 Chart shows students’ attitudes toward the value of technology in the classroom . Source: CompTIA, 2014 .

In a survey of more than five hundred currently enrolled college students, 27 percent of the students listed their laptop as the most important item in their backpack—almost three times the number of students who chose text-books, which was about 10 percent (CourseSmart, 2012). Nearly all of the students surveyed (98 percent) own a digital device. Thirty-eight percent said that they could not go more than ten minutes without checking in with their digital devices, and 85 percent reported that technology saves them an average of two hours per day when they are studying. It was no surprise that 73 per-cent said they could not study without using some form of technology.

How Technology Is Changing Schools

No one questions that technology is changing schools. The question is how those changes will affect curriculum, instruction, assessment, and stu-dent achievement. It is still too early to make definite statements about the long-term impact of these changes, but here are some happening now.

Some schools allow students to pick their instructional model.

Students Pick Their Instructional Model

Some schools are reorganizing to allow students to pick how they want to learn by choosing from among different instructional models. For





example, the Taylor County Schools in Kentucky offer students six instruc-tional models, including traditional, project-based, virtual, self-paced, peer-led, and a student-directed academy (Pierce, 2015). This student-centered approach has resulted in a graduation rate of 100 percent over the last few years. A multi- instructional framework such as this is likely to increase as more schools recognize the need to adopt initiatives that focus on student- centered learning.

Say Goodbye to Cursive Handwriting

Although recent research suggests students remember more when they take notes by hand rather than on laptops, technology marches on (Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014). Children first learn to block print before moving on to cursive writing. However, fewer schools are teaching their students cursive handwriting. Even the Common Core State Standards (CCSS, 2013) no lon-ger require it. Many young students grew up with technology, so they have mastered typing on keyboards and using just their thumbs on the smaller devices. They see little reason to learn handwriting. Supporters of the new policy argue that learning to type is a useful real-world skill, while good pen-manship will not get them a job. However, research studies show that cursive handwriting recruits areas of the brain involved in successful reading, while typing does not (e.g., James & Engelhardt, 2012). Other studies support cur-sive handwriting as an important tool for improving fine motor skills, attention, and academic achievement (e.g., Dinehart & Manfra, 2013; Harralson, 2013). There is no reason why students cannot learn both cursive and keyboarding.

Teachers Don’t Use a Blackboard

Middle-aged adults who visit a classroom today will see a very different environment. The blackboard is gone, replaced by whiteboards and washable markers. LCD projectors have replaced overhead projectors. Many classrooms are using pencils and paper less now that laptops are widely available. Desks are on rollers and organized in circles or in groups, rather than in rows. Instead of raising their hands to answer teachers’ questions, students can press a “clicker,” which records and displays their answers on the whiteboard. Feedback in real time increases motivation because students are continually aware of their progress. Soon, whiteboards will be synchronized with the students’ individual computers, making it easy for them to copy notes or view multimedia.



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Students Have Lighter Backpacks

Do you remember when pediatricians were worried that the heavy back-packs young children carried could affect their spinal development and posture? As schools replace more textbooks with electronic books, those fears can melt away. Learning on a tablet is more personal and accessible than being tied to a desk. Furthermore, digital texts, such as McGraw-Hill’s SmartBooks, quiz students after every chapter, highlight the material they need to review, and provide teachers with data to help them make instruc-tional decisions. Whether this process actually improves student achievement remains to be seen.

Students Learn About Computers and Gaming

Computer classes have come a long way. Now, students learn about com-puter coding, three-dimensional printing, and video game development. Recently, more than fifteen million students around the world took part in “Hour of Code,” an international movement to get even more young people involved in computer coding. Gaming has caused a shift in the way students learn by replacing dull periods of concentration with emotional engagement. As we will see in Chapter 4, whenever new learning involves emotions, there is a higher probability the student will remember the learning. With gaming, learning becomes less of a theoretical endeavor and more of an emotional and engaging activity.

Students Are Allowed to Have Cell Phones

Most schools banned cell phones when they first came out. They were confiscated during or after class if students were caught using them. However, with so many cell phones in use, it was very difficult to enforce the ban. Now teachers are becoming more comfortable with students using their cell phones for research, and some schools even use smartphone apps in classrooms. Under the supervision of their teacher, students can use their smartphones to create podcasts related to their schoolwork or to respond to teacher surveys about upcoming curriculum topics.

How Technology Is Changing Teachers

Experienced teachers in recent years have had to make major changes in their instructional approaches to accommodate the various technologies that have flooded into the classroom. These accommodations have changed the




way teachers interact with their students even as they attempt to overcome some major obstacles when using technology.

Teachers View Their Students Differently

Technology is changing the way teachers view their students and their own role in the classroom. Young brains have the advantage of adapting to emerging digital technologies faster than adult brains. They learn how to manipulate the devices, create shortcuts, and even develop their own language abbreviations to communicate more efficiently with their peers. Teachers report that technology is having a significant impact on how their students interact with each other and how they approach their learning tasks.

A Pew Research Center survey of nearly 2,500 middle and high school teachers yielded widespread agreement among the respondents regarding digital technology and student learning (Purcell et al., 2012). Here are the percentages of teachers who “strongly agree” or “agree” with the following statements:

• Technologies allow students to share their work with a wider audience: 96 percent.

• The Internet encourages learning by connecting students to topics of interest: 90 percent.

• Technologies encourage student creativity and personal expression: 88 percent.

• Technologies encourage greater collaboration among students: 79 percent.

• Technologies do more to distract students from schoolwork than help them academically: 64 percent.

It is intriguing to note that although a large majority of teachers recog-nizes the many positive aspects of learning with technologies, nearly two-thirds of the teachers surveyed felt that these technologies distract stu-dents more than help them academically. High school teachers expressed more concern than middle school teachers did over the digital distractions. These concerns, of course, mean that teachers need to find ways to use the technologies to enhance their students’ progress toward the learning objective while minimizing their potential for distraction. We will investigate sugges-tions for how to accomplish this in the following chapters.



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Teachers Face Obstacles When Using Technology

Teachers also responded to questions about what major or minor chal-lenges they face in incorporating more digital technologies into their classrooms. Here are the percentages of teachers who report the following obstacles as a “major” or “minor” challenge:

• Time constraints: 61 percent major, 33 percent minor = 94 percent

• Pressure to teach to assessments: 43 percent major, 38 percent minor = 81 percent

• Lack of technical support: 30 percent major, 47 percent minor = 77 percent

• Lack of comfort, knowledge, or training with digital technologies: 9 percent major, 43 percent minor = 52 percent

Some teachers within that 52 percent of this survey group who felt a lack of comfort with technologies are uneasy because they recognize students are digital natives and know more about the technologies than they do. Teachers have expressed this concern to me on numerous occasions, especially those experienced teachers who, in the past, have seen themselves as the primary source of information for their students. Even though they may still be the resident expert on the course content, their lack of knowledge or skill about the digital technologies can be a major concern. Fortunately, an increasing number of school districts are implementing training sessions in educational technology as part of their professional development activities. Moreover, teachers may know more about technology than they think. A study of twenty-four middle school science teachers from New York and Utah com-pared their technology skills with those of more than one thousand of their students (Wang, Hsu, Campbell, Coster, & Longhurst, 2014). Researchers found the teachers were just as well versed in technology as their students, but still needed professional development on how to integrate the technology with their instructional strategies.

Does Technology Improve Student Achievement?Teachers make a huge difference in the effectiveness of technology.

Perhaps the better way to ask this question is, “Does the way teachers use technology in instruction improve student achievement?” Technology is a tool, and how and why teachers use this tool to help students learn usually determines how well those students succeed. Studies that look at how




technology affects student achievement have largely focused on computer-assisted instruction (CAI) because that practice has been in use for around two decades. Although no single study can definitively assert that CAI alone improves student outcomes, collections of studies provide ample evidence that technology can enhance student knowledge and skills when teachers thoughtfully integrate it into teaching and learning. In other words, teachers make a huge difference in the effectiveness of classroom technology.

Hattie’s (2012) meta-analysis found an effect size of 0.37 for CAI, translat-ing to a percentile gain of 14. Other recent studies (e.g., Li & Ma, 2010) have shown somewhat smaller effect sizes of around 0.28, which equates to a per-centile gain of 11. Looking at specific subject areas, a meta-analysis of eighty-four studies showed that CAI produced the largest improvement in reading scores compared to instructional models that did not use technology (Cheung & Slavin, 2012). In mathematics, a meta-analysis of seventy-four studies of computer applications in K–12 had a greater effect on mathematics achievement than programs without the computers (Cheung & Slavin, 2011). These studies reveal that technology can improve student achievement in those instances where teachers carefully integrate it into a long-range instruc-tional plan.

Measuring the Value of TechnologyTechnology that does not advance learning is of little value.

Most educators I have talked with admit that technology can be a valuable tool for instruction. However, technology that does not advance learning is of little value. Kolb (2015a) warns about technology becoming just a gimmick to engage students, rather than a learning tool. She suggests a practical scaffold, called the Triple E Framework, for helping teachers measure whether a tech-nology tool will help students achieve their learning goals. The three levels are as follows:

1. Engagement. This is the most basic level of technology integration. A piece of technology is often enough to get students engaged in an activity. However, teachers need to consider whether the technology is merely capturing the students’ interest or actually engaging them in the lesson content.



Where We Are 15

2. Enhancement. This occurs when the technology tool is effectively aiding or assisting learning in a way that the teacher could not have accomplished with traditional methods. At this level, the learning is more personalized and has more meaning for the students. Now the technology is actually beginning to change how learning occurs.

3. Extension. When technology can show students real-world connections to the new learning, then that learning extends outside of the classroom into the students’ everyday lives. Another way to extend learning is to help students develop digital-age skills, such as grit and Partnership for 21st Century skills (P21) that many employers are now looking for.

While there can be benefits from meeting just one or two, ultimately the goal of every technology integration lesson should be to engage, enhance, and extend learning.

Kolb (2015a) has also developed an assessment tool to help teachers ana-lyze a lesson or unit to determine whether integrating technology will have a positive impact on student learning goals. The tool follows.

Assessment tool for measuring whether technology is engaging students and enhancing and extending their learning.

Engagement in the learningThe technology allows students to focus on the assignment or activity with less distraction .

0 = No 1 = Somewhat 2 = Yes

The technology motivates students to start the learning process .


The technology causes a shift in the behavior of the students, where they move from passive to active learners .


(Continued on next page)




(Continued)

Enhancement of the learning goalsThe technology tool allows students to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the learning goals or content .


The technology creates supports (scaffolds) to make it easier to understand concepts or ideas .


The technology creates paths for students to demonstrate their understanding of the learning goals in a way that they could not do with traditional tools .


Extending the learning goalsThe technology creates opportunities for students to learn outside of their typical school day .


The technology creates a bridge between students’ school learning and their everyday life experiences .


The technology allows students to build grit and P21 skills, which they can use in their everyday lives .


Total= /18

Reading the Results14 to 18 points: Exceptional connection between technology and learning goals

10 to 13 points: Strong connection between technology and learning goals

7 to 9 points: Average connection between technology and learning goals (re-evaluate to make certain that technology enhances and/or extends the learning goals in some significant way)

6 points or below: Low connection between technology and learning goals (possibly rethink if technology should be used at all)

Source: “Is Technology a Gimmick in Your Classroom?” by Liz Kolb . Copyright © 2015 . Reprinted with permission .



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WHAT IS STUDENT ENGAGEMENT?Simply put, genuine student engagement is the amount of attention, interest, curiosity, and positive emotional connections that students have when they are learning, whether in the classroom or on their own. Furthermore, it describes their willingness and desire to participate in their work and take genuine pleasure in accomplishing their learning goals. Their degree of engagement often determines whether they will persist when encountering obstacles and challenges and be motivated to pursue the new learning to higher levels for deeper understanding.

Levels of Student Engagement

Engagement is a vital part of the school experience and runs on a spec-trum. Schlechty (2002, 2011) describes five levels of student engagement:

1. Authentic engagement. Students are fully immersed in their schoolwork, see immediate value in what they are learning, and are motivated to pursue their new learning beyond the classroom.

2. Ritual compliance. Their schoolwork makes sense but has little or no meaning. However, they stay engaged to benefit from extrinsic outcomes that they value, such as getting good grades to get into college.

3. Passive compliance. There is little or no meaning in their schoolwork, but they persist to avoid negative consequences, such as staying after school or during recess to complete their work.

4. Retreatism. Although the students are not engaged in their schoolwork nor do they intend to, they do not interfere with other students’ learning.

5. Rebellion. Students refuse to do their schoolwork, are disorderly, and turn to alternative activities in the classroom.

When students disengage from their school, they become behavior problems, disaffected, and dispassionate and may eventually drop out of school completely. That is why it is so important for educators to purpose-fully plan ways to encourage authentic student engagement in all aspects of school life.




Types of Authentic Student Engagement

Students can engage with their learning, peers, teachers, and school envi-ronment in different ways that include both cognitive and noncognitive interactions. Research in recent years has pointed out the importance of non-cognitive factors in the learning process, such as motivation, curiosity, responsibility, attitude, and social skills. We can look at six ways in which students’ engagement presents itself in schools (see Figure 1.3): intellectually, emotionally, behaviorally, physically, socially, and culturally (“Hidden Curriculum,” 2014).

Intellectually

SociallyBehaviorally

CulturallyEmotionally

Physically

FIGURE 1.3 The diagram shows the different ways that students can authentically engage with their school experiences .

Teachers generally focus mainly on their students’ intellectual engagement and create lessons and assignments that stimulate their students’ curiosity and interests. Today, the attractions and distractions of digital devices and other technologies complicate the task of intellectually engaging students. Because of these media, teachers are not the only ones attempting to get their students’ attention. Promoting engagement can take many forms. For example, present-ing a problem to solve that involves higher-order thinking is one of many ways to engage students because the thinking skills they need to employ, such as analysis, evaluation, and creativity, are much more interesting than just mem-orizing facts. Additional suggestions will appear throughout this book.




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Emotional Engagement

Emotional engagement is another way that students interact with their learning and with their teachers and peers. One aspect of emotional engage-ment is the connection that students make between their emotions and the new learning. Whenever students get emotionally involved with what they are learning, they are likely to be more engaged and much more apt to remember the new learning (see Chapter 4). Another aspect of emotional engagement is how students feel about the environment in which the learning is taking place. Do they feel welcomed and respected? Does their teacher sincerely care about their success and about them as individuals with passions and aspirations? Is there a trusted adult in the school that they can go to regularly for advice, monitoring, and counseling? Does the school promote positive relationships between students and teachers? As we will find out in the ensuing chapters, emotions drive attention, and attention drives learning. Consequently, stu-dents who feel emotionally disengaged from their school are not inclined to become intellectually engaged.

Whenever students get emotionally involved in their learning, they are more likely to remember it.

Behavioral Engagement

Students engage behaviorally when they accept and carry out a pattern that is conducive to learning. That behavior can change when they become bored with classroom routines, cues, and seating assignments that never vary. Teachers can reduce the monotony of routines and potential disengage-ment by using novelty and physical movement to break up these patterns (see Chapter 3).

Physical Engagement

Much research has emerged in recent years about the importance of phys-ical activity as it relates to learning (e.g., Ratey, 2008). Even simple movements, such as asking students to get up and write their answers on the whiteboard instead of giving them orally from their seats, are enough to stimulate brain regions that process memory. Research studies show that quick exercises before an assessment can bring additional oxygen and glucose to the brain and improve memory recall and cognitive performance (Martins, Kavussanu, Willoughby, & Ring, 2013; Roig, Nordbrandt, Geertsen, & Nielsen, 2013).




Schools serving low-income adolescents should consider implementing brief sessions of aerobic exercise during the school day.

Tine (2014) found that after asking low-income and high-income adoles-cents to run in place for twelve minutes, their selective visual attention (SVA) and reading comprehension significantly improved. Improvement in SVA among the low-income adolescents was particularly large, substantial enough to eliminate a preexisting income gap in SVA. The effect lasted for about forty-five minutes. Furthermore, the mean reading comprehension score of low-income adolescents who engaged in the twelve minutes of aerobic exer-cise was higher than the mean reading comprehension score of low-income adolescents in the control group. However, there was no difference between the mean reading comprehension scores of the high-income adolescents who did and did not engage in the twelve minutes of aerobic exercise. One possi-ble explanation for this difference is that low-income students may be under greater stress than high-income students and that the exercise lowered their stress level so that they could perform better on cognitive tasks. Based on these results, schools serving low-income adolescents should consider imple-menting brief sessions of aerobic exercise during the school day.

Social Engagement

Teachers pay a lot of attention to their students’ intellectual growth but often do not remember that they are developing socially as well. As more stu-dents spend more time on their digital devices to communicate with each other, the classroom may be one of the few places left where students can work collaboratively face to face. Projects, academic contests, friendly competitions, and in-class debates are just some of the strategies that teachers can use to have students interact with each other and share their learning experiences. The arts offer a valuable means of getting students to join forces and work toward producing musical concerts, dance programs, and plays. Research studies show that participation in the arts improves not only students’ social skills but their academic achievement as well, especially for at-risk students (Catterall, 2012). Extracurricular activities and civic volunteer programs are additional ways that students can get socially involved with peers and mem-bers of their community. In Chapter 6, we will examine in detail the impact that digital devices are having on students’ social development.



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Cultural Engagement

Schools are becoming more culturally diverse every year. Therefore, it is important for school administrators, staff, and teachers to make students from all cultural backgrounds feel safe, valued, welcomed, and accepted. Teachers can consider revising their lessons to include references to the arts, history, literature, and cultural differences of the students in their classes and other cultures. Students, themselves, may wish to share information about their nationality, customs, and traditions. School events could include stories, songs, and dances that highlight the diverse nature of the local community. The objective of these endeavors is to encourage positive feelings toward all cul-tures in the school so that all students can comfortably engage in their work.

By recognizing the different ways that students engage with their school experience, school administrators, teachers, and staff can constantly monitor their programs and instruction to increase the amount of engagement time so students can be successful in their learning.

WHAT SHOULD TEACHERS BE ABLE TO DO WITH TECHNOLOGY?I have asked this question of nearly a dozen school technology assistants. Essentially, I wanted to know what they considered the bare minimum com-petencies that teachers should have to use technology tools successfully to advance teaching and learning. While their lists of skills varied, some com-mon ones stood out. Here they are:

• Scan a document and be able to save it as a file, such as a PDF.

• Upload photos from a digital device and know how to use them with different programs.

• Create a high-quality presentation, using a program such as Prezi, Keynote, or PowerPoint.

• Use word-processing, spreadsheet, and database programs successfully.

• Set up and conduct videoconferencing sessions.

• Navigate the Internet and search for data efficiently and effectively.

• Know how to search for, download, use, and remove apps from technology tools.




• Manage emails efficiently.

• Create a blog and know how to manage and update it frequently.

• Know how to operate an interactive whiteboard and integrate it into lessons.

• Create, copy, move, and delete computer files and folders.

• Upload videos to appropriate websites, such as YouTube.

• Know educational copyright and fair use guidelines.

• Understand how to connect with and manage social media.

• Be willing to learn new technology.

• Explain netiquette and computer ethics to students.

This list may seem daunting, but many teachers have already developed competency in these tasks just through their own personal use of technology. Furthermore, an increasing number of school districts have implemented long-range professional development programs to help teachers become better acquainted with current and emerging technology tools and how to use them.

WHAT’S COMINGResearchers have been looking into ways that modern technology may be affecting brain growth and development. In the next chapter, we look at some of their surprising findings, a few of which seem counterintuitive but have real implications for parents and teachers.



engaging rewired brain...differentiation and the brain (with carol tomlinson); and how the brain...

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