An overview on how to improve learning based upon neuroscience and learning styles

1. How to Improve Results
By Ronald Speener

2. Objectives
• Explain the neuroscience of the brain
• Develop tools to improve memory
• Describe how intelligence affects learning
• Understand learning style
• Explore all factors the improve learning
• Practice the core 4R
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3. BRAIN FUNCTIONS
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4. Neuroscience
• Certain portions of the
brain process information
• Other portions may store
the information
• It stores information in
axions and transmits
through the synapsis
• Unused sections of the
brain atrophy
• Experience and
environment alter the
brain
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5. Neuroscience (cont.)
• The brain is a social organ
– Stimulation and connection necessary to survive
• We have two brains
– Cerebral hemispheres
– The brain is plastic and can change
• The mind, brain and body are interwoven
• Learning builds neural connections and changes
the brain
• The brain has a short attention span and needs
repetition and multiple-channel processing
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6. Right Brain—Left Brain
• The stark differences
between the two
hemispheres are mostly
myth
• Left hemisphere is more
speaking—aphasias
• Language is processed on
the left and enhanced on
the right
• The brain needs both
hemispheres
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7. MEMORY
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8. Definition--Memory
• Memory is the faculty of the mind by
which information is
– encoded,
– stored, and
– retrieved (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968).
• Memory is vital to experience.
• Without memory, we are not us.
• If we could not remember past events, we could
not learn or develop language, relationships, nor
personal identity (Eysenck, 2012).
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Human Memory
Sensory
memory
Short-
Term
Memory
Long-Term Memory
Explicit &
Implicit
Episodic
&
Semantic

10. Sensory Memory
• What is perceived
through our senses
– Sight-iconic memory
– Aural-echoic memory
– Tough-haptic memory
– Smell—olfactic memory
• The shortest retained
memory
– 200-500 milliseconds
• Can be consciously
ignored
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11. Short-Term Memory
• Working memory
• Allows to process
information
• Limited capacity
– Usually 7 items or less
• Limited time
– 10 to 15 seconds usual
– Sometimes up to a minute
• Must be consciously
move to long-term
memory or it is lost
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12. Long-term Memory
• Lasts over a life time
– Retrieval may be a problem
• Almost unlimited capacity
• Physical changes in the
structure of neurons
• Consolidation of short-
term memory through
– Rehearsal
– Meaningful association
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13. Explicit & Implicit Memory
Explicit--Declarative
• Knowing what
• Encoded by the medial
temporal lobe
– hippocampus
– Entorhinal cortex
– Perirhinal cortex
• Stored in the temporal
cortex
Implicit--Procedural
• Knowing how
• Unconscious memory
• Encoded and stored in the
– Cerebellum
– Putamen
– Caudate nucleus
– Motor cortex
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14. Episodic & Semantic Memory
Episodic--experiences
• Experiences and specific
events
• Autobiographical events
– Flash bulb memory
• Incorporates emotional and
context
• Starts in the hippocampus
and stored in the neocortex
• Retrospective—
remembering the past
Semantic--knowledge
• Facts, meanings, concepts,
and knowledge of the
outside world
• Derived from episodic
memory
• Primarily the frontal and
temporal cortexes
• Prospective—remembering
the future
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15. Encoding Memory Process
• Acoustic encoding
– Primarily short-term
• Visual encoding
• Tactile encoding
• Semantic encoding
• Encoding is enhanced
through association
Sensory
Short
Term
Long
Term
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16. Consolidation and Storage
Consolidation
• Stabilizing the memory
• Strengthening neural
pathways
• Connecting synapses and
neurons
• Synaptic and neural plasticity
– Neurons can make thousands
of connections
• Sleep is important for
consolidation
Storage
• Long-term memories are
stored throughout the
brain
• The parts of the same
memory may be stored in
different locations
• Almost infinite storage
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17. Recall and Retrieval
• Retrieving information from
long-term memory to short-
term memory
– Linked by associations and
neural networks
• This consolidates and
reinforces memory
• Two methods
– Recognition
• Requires familiarity
• Largely unconscious
– Recall
• Requires reconstructing
information
• Recognition may encourage
recall
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18. Memory Aids
• Organize
• Make it meaningful
• Create associations
• Learn it Actively
• Relax
• Create pictures
• Recite and repeat
• Write it down
• Reduce interference
• Over-learn
• Review notes the same day
• Use daylight
• Distribute learning
• Be positive
• Extract core concepts
• Combine memory
techniques
• Remember something else
• Close your eyes
• Use it before you loose it
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19. Memory Tricks
• Associate and rehearse
• Mnemonics
– Numbers & rhymes
– Number/shape
– Alphabet Technique
• Method of loci
• Create a story or song
• Teach it
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20. INTELLIGENCE
It’s role in learning
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21. Are You Smart Enough?
• Intelligence is the ability
to assimilate
information and use it
• Intelligence is plastic
– It changes over time
• Intelligence is selective
– Idiot savant
• It is influenced by
experience and learning
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22. I Q
• An intelligence
quotient (IQ) is a total
score derived from one
of several standardized
tests designed to assess
human intelligence.
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23. The Problem
• Most intelligence test
are culturally and
linguistically biased
• IQ can be increased
with practice
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24. MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
More than one way to be smart
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25. Multiple Intelligences Defined
The theory of multiple intelligences challenges
the idea of a single IQ, where human beings
have one central "computer" where intelligence is
housed. Howard Gardner, the Harvard professor
who originally proposed the theory, says that
there are multiple types of human intelligence,
each representing different ways of processing
information:
• (from Multiple Intelligences: What Does the
Research Say?, 2016,
https://www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-
research)
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26. Multiple Intelligences
• related to language and to the written and spoken--
ObamaLinguistic/verbal
• related to reasoning, numbers, abstractions, and
patterns—Stephen HawkingLogical/mathematical
• Related to anything visual and the creation of mental
images—Steven SpielbergSpatial/visual
• Related to physical movement and actions located in the
brain’s motor cortex—Michael JordonBodily/kinesthetic
• Related to sounds and auditory patterns, to rhythm, beat
and tempo--UsherMusical
• Related to relationships with others and various means
of communication—Bill ClintonInterpersonal
• Related to self-reflection and self-awareness
(mindfulness)—Meryl StreepIntrapersonal
• Related to observation and awareness of the natural
world and the patterns found there—David AttenboroughNaturalistic
• Related to asking and examining questions about the
“big questions” (Spiritual)—Dali LamaExistential
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27. Inventory
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28. How to Use MI to Improve Learning
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29. LEARNING STYLE
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30. Learning Style Definition
• Learning style can also be described as a set
of factors, behaviors, and attitudes that
facilitate learning for an individual in a given
situation.
• Styles influence how students learn, how
teachers teach, and how the two interact
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31. Difference between Intelligence and
Learning Styles
• Intelligences are areas
which we are more
proficient at
• Learning styles are how we
process information
• Intelligences affect learning
styles
• Skills can be learned to
compensate for weaknesses
• Intelligences and
weaknesses change over
time with experiences.
Intelligence
Learning
Style
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32. Learning Styles
Honey-Munford
•Activist
•Reflectors
•Theorists
•Pragmatists
VARK
•Visual
•Auditory
•Reading
•Kinesthetic
Myers-Briggs
•Extrovert/Introvert
•Sensors/Intuitors
•Thinkers/Feelers
•Judgers/Perceivers
7 Styles
•Visual (Spatial)
•Aural (Auditory)
•Verbal (Linguistic)
•Physical
(Kinesthetic)
•Solitary
(Interpersonal)
•Social
(Interpersonal)
•Logical (Math)
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33. VARK
• Visual
• Auditory
• Reading/Writing
• Kinesthetic
• Acoustic encoding
– Primarily short-term
• Visual encoding
• Tactile encoding
• Semantic encoding
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34. Visual Strategies
• Highlight important
points in text; key words •
• Create flashcards for key
information; be concise •
• Limit amount of
words/information;
allows for mental imagery
•
• Convert notes and
translate words into
symbols, diagrams,
and/or pictures •
• Create visual reminders of
information •
• Practice turning visuals
back into words •
• Color-code, underline,
and/or highlight
information •
• Be creative with charts,
diagrams, mind maps
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35. Auditory Strategies
• Work in groups or with a study
partner; i.e. discussions:
listening, talking •
• Review assignments and text
reading before class •
• Read notes and text out loud •
Recite information that is
important to remember •
• Record notes, key information,
and lectures; listen to
recordings regularly
• Use books-on-tape •
• Mathematical/technical
information
– State the problem out loud
– Think through a process or
sequence of steps: write out,
then read out loud
– Discuss questions/problems in
a group or with a study-buddy
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36. Read/Write Strategies
• • Rewrite notes •
Read/review notes every
day •
• Rewrite ideas and
principles into other
words •
• Organize diagrams/graphs
into statements •
• Turn reactions, actions,
charts, etc. into words •
• Write exam answers •
• Practice with multiple
choice questions •
• Write paragraphs,
beginnings and endings •
• Write lists (a,b,c,1,2,3,4) •
• Arrange words into
hierarchies and points
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37. Kinesthetic Strategies
• Skim through reading
material • Move around as
you read aloud or • Record
notes and listen to them •
Take frequent study breaks
• Listen to music while
studying • Sit in the front of
the classroom • Stay
actively engaged in class:
take notes, • Create hands-
on learning when possible:
o Use models, extra lab
time, visit museums
• Create cards for processes:
– Color code like information
– Limit information: use key
words, symbols
– Arrange in order; shuffle and
repeat •
• Type over notes from text
and class
• Create spreadsheets, tables,
charts to organize material
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38. OTHER FACTORS
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39. Other Factors that Affect Learning
• Prior knowledge
• Prior experiences
• Learning environment
• Physical wellbeing
– Nutrition
– Hydration
– Energy level
– Mental status
• Stress
• Drugs and alcohol
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40. Know Thyself
• Develop a plan that
supports strengths
• Develop tools to pair
teaching style with
learning style
• Develop strategies
when styles do not
mesh.
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41. THE 4 RS
Putting it all together
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42. The Core 4R to Learning
Repetition
• Build
pathways
Relevance
• Make
personal
Relationshi
ps
• Find
connections
Reflection
• Internalizes
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43. Repetition
• Repetition is necessary
to reinforce the neural
pathways
• It strengthens long-term
memory
• It facilitates transfer
from short-term to
long-term memory
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44. Relevance
• Relevance is important
because it make what is
being learned
important to the
learner
• This makes learning
personal
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45. Relationships
• Relationships are
important because it
interconnects
• The more connections
information has the
easier to recall
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46. Reflection
• Reflection is important
because it ties the other
three together
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47. Summary
• The brain has unlimited capacity to learn and
remember
• Use multiple methods for learning
• The difficulty is in retrieving it
– Repetition
– Relevance
– Relationships
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48. Resources—The Brain
• Research in Brain Function and Learning
http://www.apa.org/education/k12/brain-
function.aspx
• Resources on Learning and the Brain
https://www.edutopia.org/article/brain-
based-learning-resources
• How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience,
and School
https://www.nap.edu/read/9853/chapter/8
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49. Resources--Memory
• The Human Memory http://www.human-memory.net/types.html
• Memory Techniques for Exam Preparation: 10 Astonishing Ways to
Harness the Power of Your Brain https://www.oxford-
royale.co.uk/articles/memory-tricks-exam-success.html
• Memory Techniques, Memorizations Tips
https://www.academictips.org/memory/index.html
• Memory Techniques US Air Force Academy
http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/usafa/memory.htm
• Memory Methods
http://changingminds.org/techniques/memory/memory.htm
• Anatomy and Physiology Nursing Mnemonics & Tips
https://nurseslabs.com/anatomy-and-physiology-nursing-
mnemonics-tips/
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50. Resources—Multiple Intelligences
• Multiple Intelligences: What Does the
Research Say?
https://www.edutopia.org/multiple-
intelligences-research
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51. Resources—Learning Styles
• Ways of learning: Learning theories and learning styles in the classroom
(2013) http://www.epitropakisg.gr/grigorise/ways%20of%20learning.pdf
• Learning styles and critical thinking relationship in baccalaureate nursing
education: a systematic review (2014)
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Christos_Andreou/publication/247
154412_Learning_styles_and_critical_thinking_relationship_in_baccalaur
eate_nursing_education_A_systematic_review/links/00b7d521afed92096
e000000.pdf
• Learning styles and approaches to learning among medical
undergraduates and postgraduates
https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6920-13-
42
• VARK Learning Styles: Visual, Auditory, Read/Write, Kinesthetic
http://www.gardner-
webb.edu/Assets/gardnerwebb/academics/advising/files/vark-learning-
styles.pdf
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