The New Brain Science of Learning by Dr Martha Burns at TEDxEnola
Watch the video below and list five useful ideas/facts/concepts you learnt from the talk in the comment section.
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Also mention the things that were not clear to you or you could not understand fully.
(A phenomenon known as 'synaptic pruning'. We will cover this topic in the next session.)
Primary Section must submit on or before Friday 8th Nov, 2019
Secondary Section must submit on or before Wednesday 13th Nov, 2019
The New Brain Science of Learning by Dr Martha Burns at TEDxEnola
We educators play a very important role in moulding the child through new ways of teaching and learning methods which involves study of neuro science,enabling us to understand the difficulties faced by the child,curriculum,technology,game playing,getting learning interactive,interesting and motivating.thus the study of neuro chemistry will help educators to motivate the brain of student that will increase their learning capacity and efficiency.brain is the most outstanding organ of our body n language is its greatest tools n for developing this parents play a vital role from birth till 4 years .parents should b made aware of talking n reading to their children n also playing games.this will help them to grow their brain development n they r ready to grasp the knowledge when they enter schooling.then begins the task of teachers who r now playing the role of teaching along with brain building.
ReplyDeleteFrom fauzia n gaytri
Hello Ms Fauzia! Thank you for sharing your views. I would like to make one suggestion. Try to develop the habit of observing rules of grammar when writing or typing your responses. Avoid using as 'n' for 'and', 'r' for 'are', 'b' for 'be', 'don't' for 'do not, 'wouldn't' for 'would not', etc. This will help you a great deal when you start working on your evidences.
DeleteSir will definitely keep in mind ,also will try to avoid wats app language
Delete�� Thank you! :)
DeleteYou have made some important points here Ms Fauzia.
Delete"...language is its greatest tools n for developing this parents play a vital role from birth till 4 years...". An extremely important point! Language enables us to think, analyze, organize and imagine complex ideas. Unfortunately, it is common for people to overlook or ignore language development, and adopt a myopic and compartmentalized view of education. This, of course, has a negative impact on the growth of individuals and, in the long run, of the entire society. We teachers must invest effort and time to incorporate these ideas in our overall understanding of the process of education.
"parents should b made aware of talking n reading to their children n also playing games.this will help them to grow their brain development n they r ready to grasp the knowledge when they enter schooling." Correct! Reading, talking and playing are activities that activate the parts of the brain that routinely participate in thinking, sequencing events/ideas logically, analyzing, composing, etc. Lack of these activities early on can compromise a person's ability to learn and delay their development. It is important that children be kept away from TV and smart phones during early childhood. It may seem that children are learning as they figure out ways to navigate a smart phone; however, the parts of the brain that play critical role in the learning process DO NOT get activated when children use phones. This leads to underdevelopment of intellectual abilities of children which manifest later in their lives.
The speaker has spoken about the new science of teaching and learning. Where we as educators have to focus on how every student learn and not how all students learn. We have to understand individual learning capacities. In this video we also came to know that the brain is divided into 2 parts that are left hemisphere and right hemisphere. Wherein left hemisphere deals with the learning of math, science, symbols etc. The right hemisphere of the brain deals with social interaction. Education is designed to develop the capacities of brain. She also spoke about how parents can help and prepare children to do well in their schooling years. Parents can talk or play with their children from birth till 4 years of age. Education is not just about teaching new things or making school interesting its also about how to practice what we have learn over and over. She also mentioned that we educators do not only teach but we also build the brain.
ReplyDeleteFrom:- Ms Jasmine Masani and Ms Krishna Trivedi.
Ideas are very well put! Thanks for maintaining the grammatical integrity of your response
Delete"...we ... have to focus on how every student learn and not how all students learn. We have to understand individual learning capacities." I really like the emphasis you have put on the importance of individual differences between learners. For teaching to be effective, it is important that we address and accommodate these differences in our instruction methods.
"Education is ... also about how to practice what we have learn over and over." Good point! And For someone to practice something time and again, they need incentives and motivation. One important part of teachers' role is to create and embed these incentives and motivations in classroom and school culture so that the environment at school is most conducive to learning.
"She also mentioned that we educators do not only teach but we also build the brain." Correct! This is what we really do. Given the magnitude of influence we have on learners' brains, we are much like guardians who monitor and regulate the growth of learners.
Just one suggestion. When expressing numerical values such as in "Parents can talk or play with their children from birth till 4 years of age," instead of writing the number "4", write it as "four". In literature, we write numbers only when we have to express a date, year or page number.
Thnak u sir. Will make sure not to repeat that mistake again.
DeleteThank you sir. Will make sure not to repeat this mistake again.
DeleteIn this video Dr. Martha Burns has spoken about 'New Brain Science for Education'. She has discussed that the new way of learning is to be more effective, motivating, interactive, involving technology and incorporating all disciplines focusing on how each student learns and not all students learn. An educator has to think of each student's learning capacity.
ReplyDeleteThe brain is divided into two parts - The left hemisphere which is the visual, temporal, auditory, symbol system integration involving reading, math, geography and sciences catered to by schools. The right hemisphere - social skills which are dealt through talking, reading and playing with parents. She also says that the brain is an 'Object Naming Network' and to build on that network the teacher has to be active, dynamic and motivating.
How of teaching - teacher effective, learner motivated, enjoyable for learner, learner continues to think and works over it.The more you practice, the faster and effective you can get. Educators build fiber tracts in the brain which secrete different hormones increasing learning capacity and efficiency of each student. Parents prepare children for education and therefore talking, playing and reading with children is very important but no t.v or videos for them till age three. Babies learn phonemes of foreign and native language through speech sounds easily without an accent. The brain fine tunes the basic sensory skills and optimum development is achieved. Thus, by the time the child reaches secondary section the size of the symbol part of the brain will be as big and thick as the size of the vocabulary.
Each human being is addicted to learning. Education is brain building, it is designed specifically to develop the capacities of symbols used to a great extent, then problem solving and coming up with new solutions.
Thanks for you response, Ms Nital. You've made some excellent points!
DeleteWhat the speaker really means by "Object Naming Network" is that one of the essential functions of the brain is to categorize and organize object/ideas/information/data it encounters. For this, the brain has to first NOTICE the differences between the objects/ideas and then THINK how it might be related to the things they already know. This, in turn, requires the brain to recall their previous knowledge and think where exactly does the new information fit in! So, this is much like trying to find links between what the brain already knows and the new information presented to it. CATEGORIZING and ORGANIZING information/data/ideas is an essential part of learning. One of the primary functions of teachers is to helps learners make these connections. This idea underpins most of the modern pedagogy. Thank you for pointing out this important point!
"The more you practice, the faster and effective you can get." Absolutely! Because practicing helps make new synaptic connections and strengthen the relevant existing connections. Practicing also leads to growth of myelin sheath so that the signals can propagate within the brain without any loss. But for anyone to practice something consistently, they need to be motivated. We teachers are responsible to create a culture so that learners are motivated to practice and learn.
"...no t.v or videos for them till age three." Also, no smart phones before that age. I would increase that number to 5 - 6 years of age.
"The brain fine tunes the basic sensory skills and optimum development is achieved." This "fine tuning" here refers to SYNAPTIC PRUNING.
"by the time the child reaches secondary section the size of the symbol part of the brain will be as big and thick as the size of the vocabulary" Right! Mathematics is included in the symbol part of the brain.
Ms. Nital Ashar and Ms. Ankita Naidu
ReplyDeleteNeuroscience has given us new ways about learning, thinking abd teaching. It helps us in understanding every single student and focusing on how every student learns and not on how all students learn. Thinking of individuals about their learning capacities it helps us to understand the functions of left and right hemispheres of our brain and its impact on learning. First four years are the most important for the child's development of brain. So parents must talk, play, read to develop language architecture, educators build will depend on earlier level of development. This will prepare the child for school, that prepares the child for language that supports all additional learning so communication is a bridge between child and learning.Parents worry to early about the skill development which takes a long time to develop. To retain or reinforce learning the facilitator must use technology, electronic media and more interactive games,fun activities,novelty in teaching increases learning capacity , efficiency and knowledge is imprinted. Motivation is important so learners remain focused and continue to work on that problem or another task with the help of neurochemistry followed by effective and dynamic teaching. The more you practice you master the skill faster. Teachers need to balance both in inhibitions and excitation in getting relevant information and ignoring the rest. Educators are not just teaching they build brains.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ms Sonal for your response!
Delete"...that prepares the child for language that supports all additional learning...," I cannot stress this point enough. Language forms the basis of ALL learning. Inadequate language skills severely restricts a child's or an adult's learning ability. Development of language early one is crucial for proper overall development of any human being. Human beings today are biologically (in terms of our cognitive capacity) same as the human beings that existed ten- or fifteen-thousand years ago. What makes today's human beings sophisticated is language. Language makes it possible for us to think, teach and learn. Language has significant impact on the ability of the brain to learn complex ideas. It is one of the most important tools human beings have developed. Most of the technological advances, including science and technology, is attributable to language. Therefore, it is important that both parents and teachers (regardless of what subject they are teaching) ensure that they contribute to linguistic development of learners.
"...novelty in teaching increases learning capacity...". True! Remember the hormone norepinephrine (responsible for feeling of happiness when exposed to new, interesting things)?
"Motivation is important so learners remain focused and continue to work on that problem...". Yes, this is something we have to work on. Being able to motivate is an indispensable skill in any teacher's arsenal. We must actively work to develop this skill.
Thank you for making these important points.
Everyone is different and so is their learning style. *Learning styles are a myth and do not exist* was a surprise to me as an Educator. After seeing this TedTalk video this idea was quite appealing to me and I certainly would believe in it to a great extent. Learning being a multi sensory, multi faceted, multi dimensional activity, students prefer their own self invented learning styles. As rightly said by Saint Dyaneshwar, "Everything is within us and one has to just tap that energy." Here the Teacher plays a crucial role by being that source of energy to be tapped, working on students' self invented learning preferences. learning styles and designing his or her lessons and activities as per the learners' preferences to make the teaching learning process go smoothly. This will in turn definitely help the teacher to motivate learners to a great extent. This I feel is necessary in the teaching learning process. Also, in this way the Teacher would be in a win win state to enhance all the senses of the learners. To sum up, I would say that Learning is not an Alien or Foreign concept. It comes naturally. Children are perhaps the most "voiceless" segment of our society and it is up to us as an educator to recognize their hidden capabilities and learning preferences and work together on it. As very well said, "Let no child be denied a chance to learn."
ReplyDeleteThank you for you response, sir.
DeleteI think your comment largely revolves around the idea of learning styles. However, the video posted above is on brain science and does not address learning styles theory. Please try going through the video and share your views on the ideas discussed therein.
I am getting the impression that you are in favor of the idea of learning style. Though students may have developed preferences as to how they would like to learn, it is important to note that their preferred way may of learning not be compatible with nature of content they are trying to learn. For instance, a student who prefers to learn by listening would find it extremely hard to learn mathematics just by listening to someone talk about it. Learning mathematics requires students to practice solving problems on paper regardless of their preferred style. Similarly, an art student who prefers to learn by observing (visual learner) would certainly take great pleasure in studying art pieces visually; however, for the student to develop his skill as an artist, he would need to train his hands to draw through repeated practice over time. Thus, him being a visual learner is irrelevant to him growing into a competent artist.
What has instead been shown through many research studies conducted across all age groups is that the strategies to be used to teach a particular content depends strongly on the nature of the content and not the students' preferred learning style. The speaker of Ted Talk we watched in class has elaborated on this point. You have rightly pointed out that learning is a "multi sensory, multi faceted, multi dimensional activity". What sensory stimuli do we include in our teaching strategy depends on the nature of the content we need to teach and not on students' learning preferences.
As teachers, we must motivate students and create an interest in them toward the content (or the topic) so that they would want to learn it by any means. How to motivate students to take interest in a topic? By making that topic relevant to them. This is the founding principle of Constructivism. We will discuss this in one of the future sessions. In the mean time, please try viewing the Ted Talk on Learning Styles again and convince yourself that the concept of learning styles is flawed and invalid. Here's the link to the Ted Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=855Now8h5Rs&t=103s
New Science of learning focusses on each student learns as an individual and not on all students. But to think of students individually and think of individuals learning capacity. The role of the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere. Both the hemispheres are trained and educated in different areas by the parents as well as the educators. Interacting with the children especially by the parents from the early childhood plays a very vital role in the upbringing of the child and in the development of the brain. The parents must talk to children on daily basis and not to give them mobile phone or tab or computer as well as they should avoid watching TV rather communicate their ideas, listen to the children and how they express them and keep motivating , guiding them. Neurons and Hormones are equally responsible in the development and upliftment of each and every child. The environment and the situation in which the child resides has a great impact in the child's life.To create such a pleasant atmosphere for each and every child whether at home or in school so that as an individual child he/ she always feels welcomed, motivated, activated and interested towards whatever he/ she is doing or wherever the child may be around. It may be any skills like listening, singing, writing, dancing, talking etc. Learning through game play makes the child learn and understand anything very easily as all the skills and organs are involved and the child is more focussed to what is being done plus enjoys the work or activity and also does it with more interest. Along with game playing practicing is very important. Practicing any skill on regular basis over and over, again and again makes the child very efficient and effective in that skill and helps in the learning process as well as the myelin sheath becomes thicker and thicker in the human brain.The child is always attracted towards learning new things. So the teaching should be innovative, fun learning , informative, using different technologies, engaging each and every child in the learning process and age appropriate as per the learners requirement. From Rajeshri discussed with the mentor Miss Shimonee.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ms Rajeshri for your response!
DeleteYou have made many an important observations, "...avoid watching TV rather communicate their ideas, listen to the children and how they express them and keep motivating, guiding them," being one of the observations. I think playing on smart phones should go along with TV as things we must take care to not overexpose our children to.
"Practicing any skill on regular basis over and over, again and again makes the child very efficient and effective in that skill and helps in the learning process as well as the myelin sheath becomes thicker and thicker in the human brain." True! But the question is why would anyone practice anything over and over? Isn't this similar to rote learning? What would a teacher need to do, other than force the student, to make her practice anything over and over.
"The child is always attracted towards learning new things." This is because humans are innately curious. Exploration usually arouses a feeling of happiness, excitement and satisfaction (dopamine, norpinephrine) in us. If we can provoke and connect students' curiosity with the topic we are trying to teach them, we can get them excited and engaged in whatever it is we are trying to teach.
Few ideas that i understood through the video are: 1. We as educators need to focus on individual learning capacities. 2. The right hemisphere of the brain builds on the social skills whereas the left hemisphere focuses on understanding of symbols etc. 3. We need to focus not only on 'what of teaching ' but also on 'how of teaching '(Effectiveness of teaching, enjoyment and critical thinking of learners). 4. Education is not only about teaching new things and making school interesting, it is also about practising the things that you have learnt over and over, in order to be more affective at it. 5. We need to train attention in learners so that it has lasting effects over long periods of time in learning, for this we need inhibition and excitation which needs to be balanced. 6. Combination of different neuro modulators leads to increase in learning capacities and efficiency.(Educators need to keep the lesson interesting which will solidify the knowledge of learners and motivates them to keep thinking about it, the more interesting a thing is the better the child will retain the information) 7. We need to understand the importance of stimulating brain and provide the information it needs to build itself. 8. We as educators need to help parents to understand the importance of their interaction with their children. 9. The more we use the human brain the better we get at that skill and the faster it goes.
ReplyDeleteFrom: Asra and Kushal
Thanks for responding well in advance of the submission deadline! Really appreciate it :)
Delete"...enjoyment and critical thinking of learners," note that these two things that you have pointed out are general characteristics that make any lesson effective regardless of the topic being taught. Whatever it is we are trying to teach, we must always design learning activities and lesson plans keeping these two things in mind.
"[Education] is also about practising the things that you have learnt over and over, in order to be more [affective] at it. 5. We need to train attention in learners so that it has lasting effects over long periods of time in learning, for this we need inhibition and excitation which needs to be balanced." Points well made. But then the questions that merge here are:
What do we do to make students or any individual practice something over and over? Won't they get bored? Doesn't this sound like rote learning? And can we keep anyone engaged in doing something and maintain their attention (focus) for long time intervals?
You have made points in your comment that partly, but correctly, address these questions. But these points are made in a different context. Try going over your comment and see if you can find anything that might help you answer these questions. Post your thoughts as a reply to this comment.
"We as educators need to help parents to understand the importance of their interaction with their children." We need to learn or develop ways to convince parents of the importance of this particular factor.
Thank you for the appreciation sir.We need to make students practice things over and over by designing fun activities that will help learners to be focused(maintaining the interest level of the learners) and at the same time we are revisiting the basic ideas that will concertize the concepts in learners while learning new things too. Hence we are building on learner's existing knowledge which will be actually very different from rote learning. Also setting achievable targets and progressive rewards will help learners to stay enthusiastic towards learning.
DeleteYes, that makes sense!
DeleteYou allude to a very important point -- "...building on learner's existing knowledge". The question that emerges from this is, "Why is it important to build on learner's existing knowledge?" This forms the founding principle of constructivism. We will discuss this soon :)
In this video, Dr Martha Burns shares some essential points regarding the new way of thinking about teaching and learning under the title “The New Brain Science of Learning” which encompasses the idea of neuroscience.
ReplyDeleteAfter having heard this talk, one can understand that the brain has two hemispheres: right and left. The left hemisphere skills include reading, mathematics, geography, sciences and symbols whereas the right hemisphere deals with the social skills which can be immensely developed through game playing. The children having autism spectrum disorder may have the difficulty with the right hemisphere and they fail to understand the theory of mind which is a big part of the social world. As educators, one needs to focus on the individual learning requirements by understanding the difference between each child.
The speaker states that “education is brain building” because the educators not only concentrate on the teaching and learning aspects but also on the development of the brain. Furthermore, one can comprehend the vital role of parents in the development of the brain of a child by playing and talking where playing develops the right hemisphere and talking develops the left hemisphere. The parents prepare their child for better learning.
In addition, the speaker mentions about the “how of teaching” which is connected to the chemicals in the brain and falls under the category of neuro chemistry. It was interesting to understand the working of the brain highways and about the neuro modulators like acetylcholine, norepinephrine which play an important role in motivating and drawing the attention by appreciating the efforts of a child.
It was fascinating to learn the fact that the basics of the foreign languages along with the native language can be grasped by a child ,only through human interactions, as early as six months of age. Moreover, one can correlate the size of the symbol part of the brain with the size of the vocabulary they possess.
In conclusion , through this talk, one can understand that reading ,like the educators, helps the building of the brain.
I was unable to understand the concept of International contour.
Ms. Ketki and Ms. Tanzila
Thanks for the timely response!
DeleteYou mean "intonational contour"? :)
"The children having autism spectrum disorder may have the difficulty with the right hemisphere and they fail to understand the theory of mind which is a big part of the social world." Children with autism find it difficult to empathize with other people. Additionally, in the brains of autistic children the cognitive structure that interprets social cues conveyed through body language and intonations in verbal communication are underdeveloped.
"...the vital role of parents in the development of the brain of a child by playing and talking where playing develops the right hemisphere and talking develops the left hemisphere." Both playing and talking engage both hemispheres of the brain. Almost all activities we partake are complex enough to require involvement of both hemispheres. I have elaborated on this particular point in my response to Neha's comment. We will also discuss this point in our next session.
"...foreign languages along with the native language can be grasped by a child ,only through human interactions, as early as six months of age." Yes! Language development in early years happen happens in the context of human interactions. Language then begin to act as a medium where thoughts are born, live and thrive or die depending on their apparent validity and veracity. A developed and vibrant language infrastructure in brain is essential for development of thinking skills. We will also discuss this point in our next session.
We are all educators in our own way .Whether you share knowledge in a classroom, with your kids or with your friends but for an educator one of the most important characteristic which they need to be aware of is how brain development takes place .In the video the speaker has mentioned about New science of learning to focus on how every student learns not on how all students learn considering individual differences and curriculum .The speaker has highlighted the importance and working of different hemisphere’s of brain where right hemisphere is basically responsible for the social skills and left hemisphere is responsible for reading ,mathematics ,geography all sorts of science and symbols .
ReplyDeleteThe speaker conveys parents need to talking to their kids and play with them so as to develop right hemisphere of the brain till the age of four. We would also like to suggest that the games should be design in such a manner where their soft skills are developed like critical thinking, acceptance of losing, self motivation, communication skills which in turn will stimulate different part of the brain .Home is a miniature society, developing social skill or stimulating the right hemisphere will enhance their skill requirement in the actual society.
As the skills is acquired and not innate (inborn) so acquiring skill will lead to new connection between the neurons and also strengthen synaptic connections
Stimulating various parts of the brain will lead to overall development and ‘multiple intelligence’ which is proved scientifically by Howard gardener’s theory.
Mr Karan and Mr. Ravi
"....games should be design in such a manner where their soft skills are developed like critical thinking, acceptance of losing, self motivation, communication skills...". Thanks for pointing this out! This is also how we design learning activities. Learning activities are effective when they engage learner's multiple skills.
Delete"The speaker has highlighted the importance and working of different hemisphere’s of brain where right hemisphere is basically responsible for the social skills and left hemisphere is responsible for reading ,mathematics ,geography all sorts of science and symbols ." I think the speaker was trying to paint a simple picture of brain so that the content she was presenting would be more comprehensible to the audience. All these subjects require the use of both hemispheres. I have elaborated on this point in my response to Neha's comment. Let's have a good discussion on this point in our next session :)
"...‘multiple intelligence’ which is proved scientifically by Howard gardener’s theory." Multiple Intelligences theory is not proven scientifically. It is rather a useful way of thinking about how brain is organized. Few years from now, someone may come along and offer a better way of thinking about the human brain. I'll address this point in our next session as well.
Thanks for your timely response!
“Educators are not teaching only; they build brains.”
ReplyDelete- Dr Martha Burns
For the longest time, teachers have looked at education as the mere dissemination of information. What we, as future teachers, need to understand is that there is a whole lot of science involved in the seemingly unidirectional scope of teaching.
What I understood from the insights shared by Dr Burns is that we need to look at students as individuals first, and not as a collective bunch. Once we understand that, our whole approach to teaching changes. We look at teaching in a broader sense, which, in all honesty, is the need of the hour.
Secondly, I really found it interesting to know that the right hemisphere of the brain is the one helping us socialise better. It is the one that is better at gameplay.
Intrigued by the findings of Dr Burns, I thought of looking into the information a notch deeper, and here’s what I found. According to a paper titled, “The Neuroscience of Teaching and Learning” ( https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/smg/Website/braincourse/brainlearning/unit1_sec3.html ), “The contribution of the right may be more emotional—the melody (pitch) and contour that produce the affective music of language (intonations that express our intention, like sarcasm or sincerity, or that indicate social conventions, like turn-taking in conversations). Broadly speaking, the left hemisphere works with the denotation of our language; the right plays with the connotation. And, in most people, both are essential for fully expressive communication and understanding.”
This finding resonates with what Dr Burns says in her video about the Left hemisphere having to deal with the perception of symbols, which is the core of how we as humans converse or comprehend Mathematical symbols or attribute sounds to letters we learn in the Alphabet.
Dr Burns vocally advocates the need for communication and gameplay with the words, “talk talk talk, play play play”. She seems to be of the opinion that parents need to play and talk to their children a lot between the age group 0-4. I experienced this as a child as my dad used to talk a lot about mathematical puzzles while I played games. And this helped me build up an interest towards mathematics without being in a classroom.
As educators, we need to understand that architecture of the brain. This would help us build a relaxed environment in class, which helps the child actually learn. Again, just the mere dissemination of information does not suffice. Effective teaching is the required norm.
Effective teaching is when the student is motivated, and to make the student enjoy the process of repeated efforts because repetition is basically what is practice, and the process of practising can seem quite dull for students sometimes. Dr Burns opines that effective teaching is making the monotonous process of practice seem fun to a child.
Education really is all about practising a certain set of skills over and over again, and the more seamlessly this is achieved, the better learner the student becomes.
Another aspect mentioned by Dr Burns was Neurochemistry, which is the interplay of chemicals inside the brain that defines how the brain works. She mentioned certain brain chemicals and how they play a critical role in the student’s learning.
Dr Burns strongly feels that parents need to read to their kids more often and talk to them. This way, their socialisation skills are further enhanced. She also highlighted the fact that the Brain is constantly learning and evolving. It masters what one does often and loses mastery over something that one doesn’t do often. This consistent stimulation is, therefore, required at all times.
In conclusion, Dr Burns mentions about the importance of learning experiences a student is introduced to. In the absence of these experiences, the learning of the child can be affected. Mental experiences are, therefore, crucial to the child’s learning.
Ms. Neha and Mr. Shailesh
Thanks for taking time out to write a well articulated and comprehensive response. Really appreciate it! And that for sharing that link to the article "Language, Music and the Brain" :)
DeleteWe may say that right hemisphere of the brain is more about finding patterns and big pictures, whereas left hemisphere is about noticing, analyzing and disentangling details. An excerpt from the link you shared that echoes this view: "Rather, the left and right hemispheres may have broader functions that are recruited across domains like language and music to support abilities in both. Both hemispheres contribute to language production and understanding, and both contribute to music production and understanding. The left hemisphere may specialize in tasks involving hierarchical sequencing—like grammar, syntax and meaning; and the right hemisphere may deal more with contour-based patterns—like melodic contour and large repeating patterns, especially with emotional significance. The contributions of the left hemisphere may be less emotional—grammar and definitions of words.."
I must underscore here the importance of both hemispheres in detemining the efficacy of any individual. In psychology jargon, human brain is a "cognitive miser" -- it tries to find ways to avoid expending resources into activities that require cognitive effort. It does so by means of constructing simplistic but plausible, seemingly logical and 'believable' narratives. We see this phenomenon when in the urban myths on right and left hemispheres. It is true that there are important distinctions between the two but it is also true that both hemispheres are equally crucial in completing ANY complex task successfully.
For instance, people claim that an artist has a dominant right brain because she is creative and thinks in patterns and overall aesthetic appeal of an art work. However, she won't survive as an artist if she did not have a good understanding of finer details such as effects produced from different kinds of brush strokes, when a layer of paint is applied on a layer of dried paint, when a layer of wet paint is applied on a layer of wet paint, when a given paint is diluted in different media, when gesso is applied (or not applied) on canvas before painting, etc.
My point is an artist needs to apply her right brain to contemplate a meaningful and aesthetically appealing pattern, but then she needs to apply her left brain to realize that pattern. When she is in the process of creating this artwork, she must continuously think whether the her actions on the canvas are leading to the final image she has concocted in her brain. Thus, she must continuously assess the impact of her actions and make adjustments in her action to ensure she is moving toward her goal. In other words, there must by continuous conversation -- a feedback system -- between the left and the right hemisphere.
It is as if the right hemisphere determines the direction for us and the left does the necessary work to ensure that we are moving in the right direction. In any profession, both hemispheres MUST work in concert. A good teacher ensure that both are being developed simultaneously. We will discuss more on this when we talk about cognition and metacognition.
"Dr Burns strongly feels that parents need to read to their kids more often and talk to them. This way, their socialisation skills are further enhanced." I think she suggests that parent talk more to their children so as to expand their vocabulary. Words help transform our feelings into concrete thoughts which we can process to make logical inferences that are usually not obvious. Language acts as a powerful medium in which thoughts are created and transformed. Underdeveloped vocabulary severely restricts development of any child's or adult's cognitive abilities. Learning social skills is more a function of modelling appropriate behavior by adults in social settings.
When you done enough doing with right than go left. This is how our right and left hemisphere will go hand in hand functioning. So then we can work with a proper sense all the time to attempt and create logical and rational path through out our work. Purpose of education is to make an active mind more creative.Being an educator, we can consider education and learning as a brain of human life. Since education activates it. Though brain learns and human body treasures it and follows it everywhere. This can only possible when we get along with passion and dedication for accomplishment of any task. As it is said, teacher/educator who have sense of purpose and who are able to see the big picture can ride above the hard and boring days because their eyes is on something further down the road. As also to become a successful educator we should develop positive attitude among learners and also to expect and motivate them to succeed.
ReplyDeleteWe do notice and appreciate languages, but also at times lost in their translations,not everything that is translated can be easily understood to us. Sometimes our cultural context also do exist. But as it that necessary to live in this increasingly globalized world we should immersed and allow oneself to open door for viewing and facing this world in an entirely new ways.
Hafiza and Rakesh Singh Sir
Thanks for your response, Ms Hafiza! We will discuss the ideas you have outlined here in person.
DeleteBrain is a "use it or loose it' organ.
ReplyDeleteWhat we do is what we are good at.
What we do not do is what we are bad at.
Five things that i learnt.
Till age five ,parents /care takers should be especially encouraged to engage in game play and talk with the child so as to enable better learning in the future, as we are prone to modulating our voices dependant on the age of the child we address.
The same cannot be achieved by a lesson being delivered from a technological device.
2.Talking to the child in more than one language then, would prove to be more advantageous for the child, going forward.
3. There is scientific evidence to prove the adage " practise makes perfect " as shown in the video.
4. I particulary liked learning how using novelty factor facilitates learning , with the release of norepinephrine and am looking forward to incorporate that in my future leassons.
5. Neuroscience assists teachers to address students who have difficulty in learning. Evoking emotions that assist in releasing dopamine (which is literally the SAVE button and makes a student remember a topic for longer, if learning is made a fun activity) and similarly the release of acetylcholyne is when a student is alerted of something important being taught, simply by the action of a teacher walking past or patting the student on the shoulder.
As teachers we are addressing the left hemisphere of the brain . The right side deals with social skills and intercation , the architecture of which has been already built till age four, by their parents or care takers.
The science of learning aims at ensuring that every child learns :-)
"What we do is what we are good at.
DeleteWhat we do not do is what we are bad at."
The following statements are valid just as well:
"We LIKE to do what we are good at.
We DON'T LIKE to do what we are not good at."
We will discuss this in the next session.
"Talking to the child in more than one language then, would prove to be more advantageous for the child, going forward." True, but why do you think it would be advantageous for the child? (By the way, it is also advantageous for adults!)
"Evoking emotions that assist in releasing dopamine (which is literally the SAVE button and makes a student remember a topic for longer, if learning is made a fun activity)." Evoking GOOD emotions. This can be done by creating an environment where they feel they are welcome, their opinions and actions are values, and where are able to have positive experiences as they engage in learning process.
Thanks for your response!
Through the video, we came to know that from the age of 3 months to 4 years the child learns from facial expression, behavior, human touch. From childhood, a suitable environment should be created to learn language skills (reading, verbal) and keep the children away from the technology. It is harmful for their growth and development. Teachers and parents should keep the age factor (growing age) in their mind when the child's brain is developing. Human brain is curious, it always learns. Keeping this in mind, we should keep updating its information. KG and Play way method is based on this system only. Duty of the teacher is to develop and utilize the brain in an appropriate manner.
ReplyDeleteMs. Chhaya and Rakesh Kushwaha Sir
Thank you Ms Chhaya for your response!
Delete"... keep the children away from the technology." I don't think the speaker meant to say/imply that keeping child away from all technology is necessary, rather she meat to say that gadgets that replace social interactions are harmful. There may be certain gadgets that might enhance social interactions between parents and children.
"...we should keep updating its information." For this it is important to convince the brain to invest effort and time into learning. How do we convince the brain to do this? This is an important topic that we will address during our discussions soon.
When teachers are teaching the different subjects they are addressing the left brain hemisphere of the students . The right brain hemisphere of the students deals with social interactions skills.
ReplyDeleteUp till 4 years of age the parents should only concentrate on talking continuously to the child hence schooling begins from Age 5 which is the appropriate age to teach the child language , to read and write as well as other subjects.
The neurochemistry of the brain helped me understand why practicing is important to learn any subject.
The more we practice the more expertise we will gain in that subject or skill.
I have understood how a dynamic teacher can use novelty to teach a topic which would draw the students attention as it releases a chemical norepinephrine in the brain and makes them further interested due to the newness.
We have learnt that modulating our voices further enriches learning for children up to 4 years of age for example we talk differently to a child who is a 6 month old and differently for a child who maybe 3-4 years. This is more beneficial than simply showing a video.
The human brain is always looking for new stimulus as it loves to learn and is looking for new things.
Early childhood philosophy of education is talk , talk, talk, play , play and play games . Learning actually comes through very relaxed interaction of parent and children . The child learns sequencing the words and production of world .
focus is on interaction and dedicated time . Early childhood care requires close knit support web that develops a sense of growing confidence in the learner . Affirmations and conversations are prime .
Yogesh Tiwari and Khushnuma Gandhi