neuro education

R ELEVA N T F I N D I N G S I N N EUR OS C I EN C E

NEURO-EDUCATION

Introduction

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Claudia Bohner

was trained in Germany as a teacher for children with special needs learning and behavioral difficulties

Worked for 4 years in the public school system in Germany

Since 1992 in Africa, Uganda, Rwanda and Ghana

First years in a children’s home in Uganda where I became a parent to African children

1993/94 Discipleship Training School YWAM Uganda, YWAM Biblical

Curriculum for children

1995-2004 work as a trainer of teacher with Youth with A Mission, University of the Nations, School of Early Childhood Education in Uganda

2000 Montessori Training in USA, Seattle for 3 months

Developing of Learning Materials for African pre-schools


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2004 Ghana working with Fountain Head School , YWAM Tema

2006-2014 Education for Transformation founded and

Hopeland pre-school started.

Since 2005 In-service Course for ECD teachers during vacation

Writing and publishing of teachers handbooks

2009- 2013 training teachers with GES Volta Region Akatsi District, GaEast, Dangwe West.

2013 GES approved training courses

Since 2009, Education for Transformation, Uganda

Since 2012 , Education for Transformation Burundi

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Why must ECD practitioner study the brain?


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Parents and teachers are concerned about the learning of the children in their care.

It is in the brain, where thinking and learning is happening.

Only after the invention of computers scientists started understanding what happens in our head, in our brain, when we are thinking and learning.

Understanding a few basic principles of how the brain works , can be very helpful for making learning and teaching more effective.

Sensational Media-reports

Brain Hacking Is Having Incredible Effects And It's Just Getting Started

With a jolt of electricity, you might be able to enter a

flow state that allows you to learn a new skill twice as

fast, solve problems that have mystified you for hours,

or even win a sharpshooting competition….

With an implanted chip, the possibilities might be

close to limitless….

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Education for Transformation Seminar

Limits:

The aim of educational neuroscience or neuro-education

is to generate basic and applied research that will

provide a new trans-disciplinary account of learning and

teaching, which is capable of informing education.

Despite optimism from many who believe that neuroscience can

make a meaningful contribution to education, some researchers

believe that the differences between the two disciplines are too

great to ever be directly linked in a practically meaningful way.

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BUT IT HELPS US TO UNDERSTAND BETTER

WHY CERTAIN THINGS WORK IN EDUCATION,

- OR WHY NOT

Neuroscience has not provided us with a lot of new discoveries about

learning and teaching

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12 Principles of Educational Neuroscience

1. All learning is physiological

2. The brain/mind is social

3. The search for meaning is innate

4. The search for meaning occurs through patterning

5. Emotions are critical to patterning

6. The brain processes parts and wholes simultaneously

7. Learning involves both focused attention and peripheral perception

8. Learning always involves conscious and unconscious processes

9. There are at least two approaches to memory: archiving facts or making sense of experiences

10. Learning is developmental

11. Complex learning is enhanced by challenge and prevented by threat / helplessness

12. Each brain is unique

Caine/ Caine 2004

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1. Learning is physiological

The brain turns information into biology

Through stimulation, similar experiences and thoughts, the connections between the nerve cells are developed.

Brain is like muscle:

Use it or lose it!

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Simple English Wikipedia

2. The brain is social

Mirror neurons help us to understand others.

Bonding , trust and a loving relationship are essential for learning

The main job of the brain is to select, judge and process information coming through the senses and to make meaning out of it by comparing with similar information already stored.

Then, it has to decide what is an beneficial response to the input.

Other people are needed to help in the process of making meaning, explaining, and defining experiences…

What is this?

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….it is a walnut

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3. The search for meaning is innate

The need for control and therefore understanding what is happening in and around me is a basic human need.

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4. The search for meaning occurs through patterning

The brain looks for order, similarities, categories, logical connections etc. with what is already there,-

And it looks for novelties, slight variations and differences

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5.Emotions matter

Emotions are essential for learning and remembering. They act a lot as ‘door openers’, allowing sensations or thoughts in or not in to conscious perception .

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6. The brain processes parts and wholes simultaneously

In order to select meaningful context and detail from the vast store of the memory, the brain has to consider both aspects in order to process and store new information.

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7. Learning happens through focused attention as well as peripheral perception

Learning Environment

is very important.

In learning there is far more that brushes off to the learner than what happens in intentional and conscious teaching/ learning process. Be very conscious to model wanted behavior

when with children!!

Be aware of what children are watching !!!

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8. Learning involves conscious and unconscious processes

Making decisions concerning the task that is appropriate to my level of skill and understanding requires a high level of awareness about the own learning process.

It is practiced during free

choice time.

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9. There are different types of memory

1. a type of memory that is for storing isolated facts and procedures ( semantic)

2. a type of memory that involves and activates multiple areas in the brain to process and store information in a meaningful way. (episodic)

The main aspects of memory are:The short-term memory, where information enters constantly,

and is deleted constantly after about 40 seconds.

The working memory, where focus attention is applied to information to elaborate, associate, process and classify it.

The long -term memory or reference memory, where we remember past experiences and stored and consolidated information.

During sleep information stored in the hippocampus is downloaded into the frontal cortex . Sleep is essential for learning

Content connected with emotions is recalled more easily. Personalized experiences help in learning.

Well associated and understood information can be retrieved on different paths and used for solving problems or understanding more complex issues.

Incorrect answers should be corrected to avoid errors to get stored in the memory of pupils.

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Synaptic Consolidation is the process by which items are transferred

from short term to long term memory. Within the first minutes or hours

after acquisition, the engram (memory trace) is encoded within synapses.

As long-term memory is subject to fading in the natural forgetting process,

maintenance rehearsal (several recalls/retrievals of memory) may be

needed to preserve long term memories. Individual retrievals can take

place in increasing intervals. This can happen quite naturally through

reflection or deliberate recall (also known as recapitulation), often

dependent on the perceived importance of the material.

The re-activation of memories during sleep can lead to lasting synaptic

changes within certain neural networks. Sleep spindles are thought to

induce synaptic changes and thereby contribute to memory consolidation

during sleep.

The brain does not store memories in one unified structure, as might be

seen in a computer's hard disk drive. Instead, different types of memory

are stored in different regions of the brain.


The stronger and/or more frequent an impulse is coming from the axon

to the dendrite of another neuron, the stronger will be the synapse for

association and storing of information.


10. Learning is developmental

Though there are sensitive periods,( times of specific learning opportunities, as we see it for ex. in the ability to learn languages) ,-

it seems now that the brain is more flexible and plastic than it had been thought prior.

The brain develops in different aspects:

During the first weeks of life and in the first 2 years the main brain structures develop. First experiences and impressions are very important for the structuring process.

An explosion of synapses is taking place in this time, which are pruned by the continuous experience and learning process.

The myelin layer on the axons is developing at different times in different regions of the brain.This fatty layer works as an insulation around the axon cable, and it results in an far higher speed of information transmission. Different areas of the brain are going “ on line” at different times the developmental process. When brain areas are going on line, they are on the out look for information and input that matches the function of the area especially well. It results in an increased awareness and interest in an certain area of learning like recognition of faces, object permanence, language, motor skills, social competence, moral values and ethics.

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In the young child (1) the neurons in the brain are like an even net allowing impulses to be transmitted in all directions. The number of synapses is growing till about 2 years of age. The frequency of impulses in a certain direction and connection results in the strengthening of those synapses involved in the transmission, the ones less used diminish. The more stimulation and diversity the more complex the neural structural network becomes. By puberty (2) this process has come to an end. The adult (3) has a brain with fewer but well established pass ways for impulses. Learning becomes more difficult.

11. Fear makes stupid

Complex learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat associated with helplessness.

When we feel threatened it is hard to think systematically and to reason. Emotions take over. We shift into survival mode, and our inner response is: fight or flee.

What works best for thinking and learning is an environment of relaxed alertness, a place safe and supportive but with real challenges and tasks to tackle.

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12. Each brain is uniquely organized

Each person in unique, with a unique genetic disposition, talents, interests, and with his/ her unique experiences and history.

In education it works best to understand what is general for the developmental process in children, and on the other hand to make room for the individual uniqueness of each child. It is often far more effective to support the strength, instead of trying to cure a weaknesses.

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• For most people it

is easier to

experiment or solve

a problem within a

group.

• Lots of practice is

required to secure a skill or knowledge

• The brain is a social organ.

• Friendly atmosphere, good relationships are

• important in the learning process

• Shame and fear kills the motivation

Learning is a slow process.

The synaptic connections in the brain need time

and stimulation to grow.

Well understood and available knowledge is the

best foundation for learning new things.

Continuous verification of information and

processing is required to learn something well

and thorough.

The intake of new bits information, and the time

for processing and practicing has to alternate.

Wisdom of conventional

Pedagogic PracticeFindings in Brain Science


Wisdom of conventionalPedagogic Practice

• Tasks and challenges

need to be on the

individual level. The

task has to match the

ability of the individual

student.

Every brain has it’s individual history of

experiences and interpretations.

Therefore every new information has to

make sense within the context of this

individual understanding and outlook to

reality.

From : Neurodidaktik Ulrich Herrmann 2009

Findings in Brain Science

As teachers /or learners we can not cause success in learning through an effort of willpower, all we can do is to create the conditions that are conducive for learning,

and we can try to understand and deal the hindrances for learning and remove those,

for ex. frustrating experiences long ago that resulted in convictions like ,’ I can not do

this…’.or ,” I am too dumb for maths……


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