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Cognition. Session One. Cognition The beginning. Cognition is a relatively Modern field of study The first books that looked at looked at the brain ( as opposed to a mind) did not surface until the 1970s Use both sides of your brain - ( Tony Buzan) 1974
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Cognition Session One
CognitionThe beginning Cognition is a relatively Modern field of study • The first books that looked at looked at the brain ( as opposed to a mind) did not surface until the 1970s • Use both sides of your brain- ( Tony Buzan) 1974 • Drawing on the right side of your brain-(Betty Edwards) 1979
CognitionThe beginning • IN 1980 Brain Based Education emerged as a whole new field • The field was driven by new research in • Neurobiology • Cognitive Neuroscience • New technologies that allowed scientist to map and view the brain like it was never seen before. Especially by allowing us to see it while a person was still alive and without surgery ( MRI, Magnetic resonance imaging/ PET Positron-emission tomography) scans
CognitionThe beginning • Some of this research lead to the following works: • Human Learning- Leslie Hart • Frames of mind; the theory of multiple intelligences- Howard Gardner • Making conections:teaching and the human brain- Caine an Caine
CognitionThe beginning • First ¾ • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyYhoCqo58w
CognitionThe beginning • By the 1990 the field exploded • Almost every discipline had an angle on using brain based research, sociology, education, psychiatry, nutrition
Cognitionwhat is brain based research? • Brain based education is concerned with primarily three concepts (ESP) • Student engagement • Instructional strategies • Learning principles
Cognitionwhat is brain based research? • It is learning with the Brain in mind • It encourages you to consider the brain in your decision making
Cognitionas we go on • As we begin to explore the brain and how it operates, you may learn that strategies and practices that were/ are common in some schools, were/are counter productive to learning • Many of the researchers that support brain-based research feel that many of the policies that are used in today’s schools are against brain based research. • Brain based researchers feel that the use of such strict rules, the use of reward and punishment and anti-brain-based methods
Cognitionas we go on • The old theory places a responsibility on the student- if learning does not take place, it must be the student’s fault • What brain- based research is against • Behaviorism- feels that it looks as children as rats • Using one strategy for everybody
Three Key understandings about the brain and learning • Events in one part of the brain, effect learning in other parts • Often what students learn is not what is intended by the teacher • The brain is highly adaptable and designed to respond to the environment
How the brain learns • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOIWVo-4-lc
How the brain learns • The brain processes different types of learning through different pathways • Words, pictures are processed through different senses
How the brain learns • Input is initially processed in the Thalamus • It is the “server” or central switching area of the brain • Simultaneously, the information is routed to other specific parts of the brain • Ex. Language to the temporal lobe
How the brain learns • The brain process information very quickly and decides on information quickly • It decides to : • Move it into storage in another portion of the rain, • React to it • Or decides if it is dangerous and activates the amygdala, our protection system • Or the information is discarded • All this is done within 5 to 20 seconds • New information is filtered and stored, or filtered and dismissed and never gets stored.
How the brain learns • Information that is stored, is organized and indexed by the hippocampus and then stored in the cortex. • The original sorting takes seconds, but storage can take hours or days and even some reports of weeks. • Each type of input takes a different path to be stored (emotional, spatial, vocabulary, skill learning)
How the brain learns • All of the sensory input, gets sorted, prioritized and stored and it takes place at a subconscious level
How the brain learns • Facts about the brain • A healthy brain is pink • Soft enough to cut with a butter knife • The outer surface is the cerebral cortex, The cerebral cortex makes up about 70 % of the nervous system and is connected by a million miles of nerves cells
How the brain learns • Facts about the brain • A brain contains between 50 billion and 100 billion neurons • A healthy brain weighs between 2 to 4 pounds the average is 3 pounds • Size may not matter, Albert Einstein’s brain was average size, the French Writer Honare de Blazac’s was 40% larger than average • The human brain has the largest amount of any species on earth of uncommitted cortex, this gives us great flexibility and capacity for learning.
How the brain learns • Cells of the central nervous system • We lose brain cells all of the time, • This process is called apoptosis ( cell Death) • Estimates are that we lose about 18 million a year • Between the ages of 20 to 70 years old. • Even losing this many, it would take centuries to loose our mind, • In certain parts of the brain, we grow cells back ( new research)
Neurons • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyNkAuX29OU
How the brain learns • Cells of the central nervous system Types: • Glial Cells- produce myelin, for axons, provide structural support for the brain, transport nutrients regulates immune system. ( Albert Ein had a lot of these) • Neurons-passes information to each other across synapses, one neuron may connect with between 1,00 to 10,000 other neurons • the more connections, the better. • Dendrites- Branches from cell bodies-the receivers of information • Axons- has the ability to expand connect to other cells, mostly dendrites, conducts information in the form of electrical stimulation and transports chemical substances
What is learning? • The physiological definition is very bland • It is when an electrical impulse travels down the axon, where it triggers the release of neurotransmitters into the synaptic gap. This happens thousands of times every second. • When this reaction is impaired, learning is effected. • For examples high levels of the stress hormone cortisol reduce learning and memory
Divisions of the brain • Brain stem- connects the brain and the spinal chord, houses the pons, medula, oblongata, these areas regulate the automatic and nonconscious behaviors such as heart rate and breathing
Divisions of the brain • Cerebellum- is our guide through life, controls – balance, posture and motor control • Located in the back of the brain just under the occipital lobe, • The size of a small fist/ one tenth of the brain • Thought to be the most complex structure of the brain • IT IS ALS RESPONSIBLE FOR PROCESSING MUCH OF OUR LEARNING
Divisions of the brainCerebellum continued • IT IS ALS RESPONSIBLE FOR PROCESSING MUCH OF OUR LEARNING- WHY?? • Think about it, how to you learn to move, throw, jump, • This is all controlled in the Cerebellum • When learning to do these things, what skills are necessary for learning?
Divisions of the brainCerebellum continued • When learning to do these things, what skills are necessary for learning? • Think about leaning to throw, jump/ Each of these is a sense of doing, seeing where you were wrong and adjusting, Too much muscle, made the throw go to far. • This helps create a network of sensory areas. • it teaches prediction, sequencing, mental rehearsal.
Divisions of the brain • Diencephalon- is located at the midline of the brain, Includes the thalamus, hypothalamus, pituitary gland and some other smaller midbrain structures • Thalamus is the primary place for sorting for all sensory information • The hypothalamus performs many vital functions such as , sensing environmental information and adjusting the body, the body’s thermostat- adjust for noise, humidity • Also signal hunger thirst, sex drive- • The pituitary gland secretes hormones regulating homeostasis and sexual desire
Divisions of the brain • Cerebrum-made up of four primary areas called Lobes • Occipital- located midbrain, primary responsibility vision- connects visual to language • Frontal-located in the front, responsible for purposeful acts judgment, planning , creativity • Parietal-located top back, process higher sensory and language functions • Temporal-located around your ears, responsible for hearing, memory, meaning and language
Micro level of learning • Although I stated earlier that learning takes place in the axon to dendrite connection, a significant amount of learning takes place outs side of that. • trillions of bits of information are stored in protein molecules called peptides, they travel through the brain and deposit their learning in different receptors.
Thalamus and Hypothalamus • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDZPmPWdT_8&list=PLDB0561B6E4C46EF9
Frontal Lobe • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z78fYCGR7WY&list=PLDB0561B6E4C46EF9
The four Lobes of the Cerebrum • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy8EvyQoQIE&list=PLDB0561B6E4C46EF9