Understanding the Science of Learning

1. Understanding the Science of Learning 2010 2011 Grinnell Middle School Day 3

2. This year at a glance… Oct. 6 Dec. 1 Feb. 2 Apr. 6 Apr. 20 • Motivation (CLICCCK) • CEI (Iowa Core) • The Adolescent Brain(snow day) • The Adolescent Brain(postponed) • The Adolescent Brain

3. Learning Goals for today’s workshop: • To learn about basic differences between the adolescent brain and the brains of young children and/or adults • To identify the skills, abilities and processes that often prove challenging for adolescents, due to their still-developing brains. • To understand the implications this information might have for classroom practice. Microsoft Office Images, 2011

4. “As it turns out, teenagers may, indeed, be a bit crazy. But they are crazy according to a primal blueprint. They are crazy by design.” Barbara Strauch, The Primal Teen

5. What we KNOW… • PET • MRI • fMRI • DTI Image source: Google images

6. What might we DO… because of what we know?

7. So… what do you remember-or know- about the adolescent brain? What are you still curious about?

8. The Adolescent Brain Possible Topics for Today: How do we know what we know? Adolescent Sleep Patterns Effects of Drugs/ Alcohol Fundamental Differences Frontal Lobe Development Multitasking (working memory) Adolescents and Risk Taking Emotional Development

9. ? www.positscience.com 2010 Posit Science How do we know what we know about the adolescent brain?

10. How do we know what we know about the adolescent brain? These two men have played key roles… http://www.nih.gov/nihrecord/08_12_2005/images/teenbrain.jpg http://www.interscoop.com/media/phine.jpg Phineas Gage Dr. Jay Giedd

11. Phineas Gage Image source: Smithsonian magazine, January 2010 Google image source: http://www.sruweb.com/~walsh/gage1.jpg

12. Phineas Gage: September 1848 Age 26 Died: 1861 Google image source: http://www.brown.edu/Research/Memlab/py47/diagrams/phineas.jpg

13. Before the accident… Hard-working Respected Personable Efficient Effective Responsible After the accident… Unreliable Irrational Impulsive Disagreeable Difficult to get along with Overly emotional Indecisive Foul-mouthed Anti-social Irresponsible

14. The Frontal Lobes • Reason • Plan for the future • Make decisions • Control emotions • Control impulses • Plan & organize multiple tasks • Set goals & priorities • Make sound judgments • Assess Risk

15. Dr. Jay Giedd • Brain Imaging Technologies • PET Scan • CT Scan • MRI • fMRI Google image source: http://www.loni.ucla.edu/~thompson/OZARKS2001/37_schizo_pmaps_loss.jpg

16. Clarify with your tablemates… How have we come to learn about the adolescent brain? How might educators use the new information that is emerging? Topics Menu

17. Sleep www.positscience.com 2010 Posit Science What do we know about the sleep patterns of adolescents?

18. What do we know about adolescent sleep patterns? Many adolescents… • struggle to get up in the morning • claim they are not tired at bedtime • Sleep late on weekends Image Source: iCLIPART for Schools

19. What do we know about adolescent sleep patterns? Many adolescents… • go to school each day in a “fog” • struggle to concentrate in early morning classes • have difficulty remembering the content in early morning classes • feel drowsy and irritable by mid-afternoon Image Source: iCLIPART for Schools

20. What do we know about adolescent sleep patterns? • They are regulated by “circadian rhythms” (the brain’s natural “body clock”) • They differ from those of younger children & those of adults • The circadian rhythms of adolescents “program” them to stay awake longer into the night, & to wake-up later in the morning Image Source: Microsoft Office Clip Art

21. So… Just how much sleep do adolescents need? Permission granted: American Academy of Sleep Medicine, www.sleepeducation.com

22. Why does this matter? Without adequate sleep, adolescents… • Have a more difficult time holding a focus on the task at hand (class activities & lessons) • Have more difficulty in thinking creatively and solving problems • Are more prone to errors • Are more irritable; less patient • May be more impulsive • Miss out on the consolidation of learning that takes place during sleep Image Source: iCLIPART for Schools

23. What can educators do? • Inform parents re: adolescents & sleep • Stick to a schedule • Discourage long daytime naps on weekends • Discourage caffeine use during evening hours • Establish a “turn-off time” for TV, computer, cell phone, iPod • Encourage calming activities just before bedtime : iCLIPART for Schools • Inform students re: adolescents & sleep • Incorporate movement, engagement

24. Clarify with your tablemates what you’ve just learned about the sleep patterns of adolescents. What might educators DObecause of what we now know…? Topics Menu

25. Risk-Taking www.positscience.com 2010 Posit Science What do we know about adolescents & risk-taking?

26. The Adolescent Brain: Risk-Taking Scientific American Mind: Dec. 06-Jan. 07 254 9th-12th grade students were asked to estimate the likelihood that a sexually active teenage girl would contract an STD Image source: Google images, 2011

27. The Adolescent Brain: Risk-Taking Scientific American Mind: Dec. 06-Jan. 07 254 9th-12th grade students were asked to estimate the likelihood that a sexually active teenage girl would contract an STD

28. Risk-Taking:Adults vs. Adolescents For what amount of money would you be willing to participate in a game of Russian Roulette?

29. Risk-Taking:Adults vs. Adolescents The Fuzzy-Trace Theory… Gist vs. Verbatim Valerie F. Reyna, Cornell University; Frank Farley, Temple University; Charles Brainerd, Cornell University, Scientific American Mind, Dec. 06-Jan. 07

30. Clarify with your tablemates what you’ve just learned about adolescents and risk-taking. How might you use this information as you work with middle level learners? Topics Menu

31. Drugs, Alcohol, Addiction www.positscience.com 2010 Posit Science What do we know about drugs, alcohol, addiction and the adolescent brain?

32. The Adolescent Brain: Alcohol, Drugs and Addiction

33. Research suggests that adolescents… • become addicted more strongly… • have a more difficult time quitting… • are more susceptible to “drug-cue associations”… • are more susceptible to relapse, once they have quit…

34. Clarify with your tablemates what you know about adolescents and drugs, alcohol and addiction. What are you currently doing to address this issue… and what more might you do? Topics Menu

35. The Adolescent Brain Frontal Lobe Development www.positscience.com 2010 Posit Science What is actually going on (developmentally) inside the adolescent brain?

36. Exuberance… Pruning… A systematic pruning away of unused connections… between neurons A thickening of the brain’s gray matter… caused by an overproduction of connections between neurons Google image source: http://www.brainexplorer.org/brain-images/graymatter.jpg

37. Myelination… Myelin sheath …the developmental process in which neurons are coated with a fatty, waxy substance… that insulates and speeds signals as they pass through one brain cell and on to another…

38. The Frontal Lobes • Reason • Plan for the future • Make decisions • Control emotions • Control impulses • Plan & organize multiple tasks • Set goals & priorities • Make sound judgments • Assess Risk

39. Clarify with your tablemates what you’ve just learned about myelination and pruning in the adolescent brain. What implications does this information have for middle level educators? Topics Menu

40. Multitasking(Working Memory) www.positscience.com 2010 Posit Science What do we know about multitasking and the adolescent brain?

41. What do we know about multitasking? First… a bit about working memory • Right behind the forehead • Also called the prefrontal cortex • Processes conscious thoughts • Limited in its capacity • Develops with age… to a point www.positscience.com 2010 Posit Science

42. Task #1: 6 3 8 2 5 9 4 Task #2: 7 4 0 3 1 5 9 2 8 3 6

43. Working memory… 177618651945 1865 1945 1776

44. Memory Space (M – Space) 15 13 *Mental Age 11 9 7 *Plus or Minus 2 5

45. Working memory… 1-8-0-0-3-7-5-2-8-7-2 18 - 00 - 37 - 52 - 87 - 2 1-800-375-2872 1-800 DR LAURA

46. Working memory… X CNN PHD FBI CIA NCAA X XCN NPH DFB ICI ANC AAX

47. Factual and Conceptual Knowledge (organized for retrieval & application) BSCS 5E Instructional Model Engage Explore Explain Elaborate Evaluate Rigor & Relevance Framework Bloom’s Taxonomy

48. The limitations of working memory… The Cocktail Party Effect: The brain is usually able to block out competing stimuli, in order to focus on the task at hand. (but not always)

49. In performing an experiment like this one on man attentioncarit house is boy critically hat important shoe that candy the man material car that house is boy being hat read shoe by candy the man subject car for house the boy relevant hat task shoe be candy cohesive man and car grammatically house correct boy but hat withoutshoe either candy being man so car easy house that boy full hat attentionshoe is candy not man required car in house order boy to hat read shoe nor too difficult.

50. “Read” the colors…