|
Click here to learn about and download Dave Moursund's free book on science and technology education for teaches and parents of K-8 children.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
The history of brain science can be traced back more than 2,400 years.
“When you spoke of a nature gifted or not gifted in any respect, did you mean to say that one man may acquire a thing easily, another with difficulty; a little learning will lead the one to discover a great deal; whereas the other, after much study and application no sooner learns then he forgets …” (Plato; Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world; 428/427 BC– 348/347 BC.)
In more modern times, we have had the development of IQ testing, Piagetian and other scales in cognitive development, and now a substantial amount of progress in what is being called cognitive neuroscience. Progress in cognitive neuroscience is now at a level that can contribute to significant student gains in our educational system.
This leads to a question that is a challenge to both teachers and students. What should teachers and students be learning about brain science and cognitive neuroscience? How can we go about changing teacher preservice and inservice education and the general K-12 curriculum so that they adequately reflect the brain science and cognitive neuroscience we set for teachers and students?
This short IAE Blog entry cannot begin to give a definitive answer. However, it can suggest a few important ideas and point to some good sources of information. Here are a few ideas:
- We know that stress damages both one’s immune system and one’s cognition systems. On average, students growing up in poverty are significantly damages in both areas. I, personally, see no reason why we allow so many children in our country to be damaged due to our inability to provide them with basic food, shelter, and care.
- We know that attention and executive function are key aspects of cognition and doing well in learning situations such as school. We now know how to develop and implement interventions (especially with preschool-age children) that have significant and long-term positive impact in these areas.
- We know that a brain has great neuroplasticity and interventions done at a young age are much more cost effective than those done with older children
Some General-purpose Resources
Brain. Retrieved 1/29/2011 from http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-body/brain-article.html.
Children’s brain development is linked to physical fitness. Retrieved 1/29/2011 from http://scienceblog.com/38614/childrens-brain-development-is-linked-to-physical-fitness/.
Changing brains: A free video. Retrieved 1/29/2011 from http://changingbrains.org/.
Developmental cognitive neuroscience. Retrieved 1/29/2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developmental_cognitive_neuroscience.
Neuroscience for kids. Retrieved 1/29/2011 from http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html.
Daniel Pink. Short video on recent research on motivation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc.
Mapping the brain. $40 million federally-funded project. See http://www.physorg.com/wire-news/46010353/40-million-awarded-to-trace-human-brains-connections.html.
Robert Sylwester. Brain Connection Columnist. About eight years of monthly articles on brain science are available. All are education-oriented and written at a lay-person level. The sequence of articles provides an excellent overview of this rapidly changing field.
Teaching neuroscience and the brain for kids. Retrieved 1/29/2011 from http://www.findingdulcinea.com/guides/Science/Science-of-the-Brain.pg_03.html.
University of Oregon Brain Development Lab and Helen Neville. Retrieved 1/31/2011 from http://bdl.purpled.com/Personnel/people.php?page=people_staff&people=helen.
Vanderbilt Peabody College: Educational cognitive neuroscience Lab. Retrieved 1/29/2011 from http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/Psychology_and_Human_Development/Research_Resources/Educational_Cognitive_Neuroscience_Lab.xml.
What You Can Do
You know that the message sent is not necessarily the message received. You, for example, have “constructed” a personal meaning to my message given above. My overall intent is to provide you with some information and ideas that you will act upon in a manner that leads to improving our informal and formal education system.
So, pause for a few seconds and think about the meaning you have constructed from my message and some possible action that you might take based on the meaning you have constructed. What occurs to you that you, personally, will try out in your quest to improve our education system?
Here is a suggestion. Do a little restructuring of your time so that you can devote a few minutes every week learning about some of the current frontiers of cognitive neuroscience and ICT in education. One way to do this is by making setting up a free subscription to this Blog and a free subscription to the IAE Newsletter.
The Blog is the quickest. Just look in the left side menu of this blog entry, enter your email address in the appropriate spot, and you are done.
For the Newsletter, click here.
In both cases you have my personal assurance that the privacy of your email address will be protected.
As a personal example of what I am doing, I am particularly interested in how progress in cognitive neuroscience is affecting (or, failing to affect) our preservice teacher education programs. I am currently attending a term-long seminar on cognitive neuroscience and our society that explores this and related questions. This seminar has provided "gist for the mill" for me, and led to many interesting conversations with other people.
Final Remarks
Spend a bit of time reflecting on what you have just read. How does the information fit in with your current knowledge, beliefs, and activities? How can you make use of the information to help improve our informal and formal educational systems? Who do you know that might benefit from reading the IAE Blog entry?
If the IAE blog entries are useful to you, then consider signing up for a Free Subscription. (See the menu on the left side of the page.) You will automatically receive email about new postings to the blog. Typically, there are about three new postings per week.
Links to Related IAE Documents
An intact human brain is naturally curious and creative.
Brain Science.
Capabilities and limitations of human memory and computer memory. IAE Newsletter Issues 35 and 36 are a 2-part discussion of capabilities and limitations of human memory and computer memory. IAE Newsletter Issue # 35 February 2010 and Issue # 36 February 2010.
Cognitive development and IQ. Newsletter Issue 20, June 2009.
Cognitive Development.
Critical Thinking.
Mind and Body Connection.
Mind, Brain, and Education. IAE Newsletter - Issue # 52 October 2010.
Neuromythologies (brain science mythologies) in education.
Our Analog Human Brain in an Increasingly Digital World. IAE Newsletter - Issue # 55 December 2010.
Research on how exercise improves brain functioning.
Some things brain science research tells us about learning and doing arithmetic.
Some Brain Theory: Seven Plus or Minus Two.
Student and adult desires for instant gratification and extrinsic motivation are significant roadblocks to improving education. IAE Newsletter - Issue 24, August 2009.
The Biological Relevance of Music. IAE Newsletter - Issue # 53 November 2010.
The discipline of Educational Neuroscience.
The reading brain: Two chapters from the book "Mind, Brain, and Education."
The math brain: Keith Devlin’s chapter in the book “Mind, Brain, and Education.”
The Role of Fiction in Cognitive Development and Maintenance. IAE Newsletter - Issue # 37 March 2010.
Translating brain science research results into effective teaching practices.
Two Brains Are Better Than One.
Working Memory—A Bottleneck in Your Brain. IAE Newsletter - Issue # 41 May 2010.
|
