the brain and the educator

1. DR ABDUL KOKORI

2. Introduction
 Children go to school to learn, and learning takes place in
the brain. In the age period of formal schooling, a child’s
brain is still undergoing major developmental changes.
 For these reasons, neuroscience (the study of the brain) and
education are closely connected.
 Learning is possible because the brain is plastic: plasticity
refers to the capacity of the brain to reorganize its structure
and thereby change function and behavior.
 As educators, the more we know about learning brain, the
better we become as education managers.

3. GOLDEN QUESTION?
 But what exactly changes in the brain when we teach or
learn something new?
 What are optimal conditions for the brain to learn?
 Why do we also forget things?
 What developmental changes occur in the brain during
childhood and adolescence, and how are these processes
different or similar to the neural mechanisms of learning
and memory?

4. What if we know more….
• What classroom teachers need to know about how the brain
learns.
• Teaching students about their brains why and how.
• Cognitive Skills and Reading / Building a Reading Brain
• Cognitive Skills and Math
• The role of emotion in learning.
• The impact of technology on our brains.

5. What if we know more…..
• Developing students’ cognitive capacity, emotional
intelligence and executive functions.
• Teaching for different types of memory.
• Remediating Cognitive Skills for Students in Special Ed
• Closing the Achievement Gap by Closing the Cognitive Gap
• Early Childhood Brain Development
• How can a teacher or parent improve a child's brain
development?

6. .
LEARNING REVOLUTION
the main element of new learning
revolution are two fold:-
a. Brain Compatible Education
Based on Brain Research
B. Power of instant Communication
through Information and
Communication Technology
.

7. WHAT DO
WE NEED TO
KNOW
ABOUT THE
BRAIN
?

8. Neuroscience has disclosed
important information about
the brain and how we learn. We
now know more about how the
human brain processes,
interprets and stores
information than ever.

9. .
BRAINS RUN THE
WORLD
The brains run the world
Our brain runs us and is significantly
involved in running our families.

10. .
Our brain is intimately
involved in and
connected with,
everything educators
and students do at
school.

11. .
Brain-based education
emphasizes how the brain learns
naturally and is based on what
we currently know about the
actual structure and function of
the human brain at varying
developmental stages
WHAT IS BRAIN BASED
EDUCATION ?

12. .
Brain-based education emphasizes
how the brain learns naturally and
is based on what we currently know
about the actual structure and
function of the human brain at
varying developmental stages
WHAT IS BRAIN BASED EDUCATION

13. .
What is Brain-Based
Teaching?
It’s the purposeful
ENGAGEMENT
of effective
STRATEGIES
derived from
PRINCIPLES
from neuroscience

14. .
Specific areas of research
that have important
implications for learning and
teaching

15. .
The growing brain: the human
brain can and does grow new
cells.
The social brain: how
interactions and social status
impacts stress levels.
The hormonal brain: hormones
can and do impact cognition.

16. The hungry brain: what to eat:
the role of nutrition in learning
and memory
The memorable brain: how our
memories are encoded and
retrieved
The chemical brain: which
chemicals do what & how to
activate the right ones

17. The attentional brain: prefrontal
cortex, what really drives attention
and ADD
The emotional brain: impact of
threats on hormones, memory, cells
and genes
The adaptive brain: the impact of
distress, cortisol & allostatic states
The patient brain: the role of time in
the learning process

18. The computational brain: the role of
feedback in forming neural networks
The artful brain: the role of arts and
music
The connected brain: how our brain is
body and body is brain
The developing brain: what to do and
when to do it; value of the first 3
years

19. BRAIN BASED LEARNING PRINCIPLES
AND EDUCATION VALUE
• The Brain Is A Parallel Processor.
Thoughts, emotions, imagination and predispositions happen
at the same time as information from the environment is
processed.
Educational Value
A variety of strategies and techniques need to be used to
engage the students. This ensures that all aspect of the brain
operation are addressed.

20. 2. Learning Engages The Entire Physiology.
Learning is as natural as breathing, but it can be either inhibited or
facilitated. Everything that affects our physiological functioning affects our
capacity to learn.
Educational Value
Stress management, nutrition, exercise, and relaxation, as well as other
facets of health management, must be fully incorporated into the learning
process.
Students need to be properly fed, their brains need to be hydrated and
their needs to be an acceptable balance of comfort.

21. 3. The Search For Meaning Is Innate.
Trying to figure out or make sense of our experiences and
environment is automatic. The brain needs to and
automatically registers the familiar. The search for meaning
cannot be stopped, it can only be channeled or focused.
Educational Value
The learning environment needs to provide stability and
familiarity. Lessons need to be exciting yet meaningful and
offer a wealth of choices where the student can make sense of
the information presented to them.

22. 4. The Search For Meaning Occurs Through “Patterning”.
The brain is designed to perceive and generate patterns.
Information is organized and categorized into meaningful
patterns. Meaningless patterns are resisted.
Educational Value
Learners are constantly patterning perceiving and creating
meaning in one way or another. Even when students are not
engaged in the formal learning activities.
An educator can only influence the direction through different
approaches (Thematic teaching or integrated lessons)

23. 4. Emotions Are Critical To Patterning.
What we learn is influenced and organized by emotions and
mind sets based on expectancy personal biases and prejudice
degrees of self esteem and the need for social interaction.
Educational Value
Educators need to understand that students’ feelings and
attitude will be involved in the learning process and will
determine learning in any desired context.(present or future).

24. 5. The Brain Processes Parts And Whole Simultaneously.
Research shows that there is a significant difference between
the left and right hemispheres of the brain. However, in a
healthy person, both brain hemispheres interact in each and
every daily experience. They are separate but they work
together to organize information. One reduces information into
parts and the other
Educational Value
Good teaching should build understanding and skills over time
because learning is cumulative and developmental.

25. 6. Learning Involves Both Focused Attention And Peripheral
Perception.
The brain absorbs information with which it is directly
involved, but also pays attention to information outside of the
direct involvement field.
Educational Value
All aspects of the educational environment are important.
Teachers need to engage the interest and enthusiasm of
students through their own enthusiasm, coaching, modeling

26. 7. Learning Always Involves Conscious and Unconscious
Processes
We learn much more than we ever consciously understand.Our
experiences become part of our prior knowledge in both
conscious and unconscious ways
Educational Value
Understanding may not take place immediately and may occur
later.
Reflection and processing time are important to the learning
environment.

27. 8. We Have At Least Two Ways Of Organizing Memory.
• A Spatial Memory System
• A System of Rote Learning
We have a spatial/autobiographical memory that does not need
rehearsal and allows for "instant" recall. It is always engaged,
inexhaustible, and motivated by novelty.
Educational Value
Learning by ROTE is sometimes important (multiplication
tables)
In other settings, teaching devoted to memorization does not
facilitate the transfer of learning.

28. 9. We Understand And Remember Best When Facts And
Skills Are Embedded In Natural, Spatial Memory.
Our native language is learned through multiple interactive
experiences with vocabulary and grammar. It is shaped both by
internal processes and by social interaction.
Educational Value
All education can be enhanced when this type of embedding is
adopted.
Real life activities are essential to the learning process
Learners need to be immersed into a multitude of complex
and interactive experiences.

29. 10. Complex Learning Is Enhanced By Challenge And
Inhibited By Threat.
The brain makes maximum connections when risk taking is
encouraged and supported; however, it "downshifts"
(helplessness) when under perceived threat.
Educational Value
Students need a safe place to think and risk.
The threat of failure may inhibit instead of encourage learners.

30. 11. Every Brain Is Uniquely Organized.
All humans have the same set of systems, yet we are all
different based on genetic endowments, differing prior
knowledge, and differing environments. The more we learn,
the more unique we become.
Educational Value
All learners are different and need to be empowered to make
choices and allowed to understand the world from their own
unique perspective.

31. General Implications
• It shifts the focus from the teaching
process to the learning process.
• The teacher becomes facilitator, guide,
coach, mentor and talent scout.
The role of the teacher changes but is not
eliminated.
• Orchestrated Immersion
The learning environments are created to
immerse students into a full learning
experience.

32. General Implications
• Relaxed Alertness
An effort should be made to
eliminate fear while maintaining a
highly challenging environment.
• Active Processing
The learner consolidates and
internalizes information by actively
processing it.
Reflection time becomes important.

33. General Implications
• The Brain Needs
Nourishment
 Food
 Hydration
 Air Quality
 Light
 Sleep

34. General Implications
• The Brain is a Social Organ
Do something with the
information
Cooperative learning
Hands on learning
Active review
Peer Teaching
Peer interaction

35. General Implications
• The Brain Seeks Safety
 Classroom environment
 School culture
 Relaxed environment
 A sense of security
 Predictable
 Challenges

36. General Implications
• The Brain is Emotional
 Pays attention to emotions naturally
 Music activates brain waves and plays on emotion
 Humor
 Reflection
 Role Play
 Images in the brain

37. General Implications
• The Brain Seeks and Process Information
 Makes it meaningful
 Information in isolation is forgotten
 Information that is interesting is retained
 Connections to prior knowledge
 Connections to real life
 Choices
 Reflection
 Writing across the curriculum

38. IN CONCLUSION

39. “Five percent of the people think;
ten percent of the people think
they think;
and the other eighty-five percent
would rather die than think.”
-Thomas A. Edison

41. TOGETHER WE
ALL CAN ACHIEVE
OUR GOALS

42. FOR YOUR ATTENTION.