5. Game time!
From Training with the Brain in Mind – Mike Kczala, Kuczala Consulting.
Fill in the blanks:
• We have a limited working memory capacity.
• A major factor in memory is emotion.
• Presentations with meaning are the more powerful.
• Learning is a risk encouraged by environment.
27 January 2015
5
6. From Brain Fitness Exercises to Combat Fatigue
You need to be fit to learn well. This means Physical and mental exercise – producing
neurotransmitters.
But what does this mean? Let’s look at how the brain operates.
27 January 2015
6
7. Q: In which order would you like to address these?
1) Neurotrophins: Ask what physical and mental activities do in the brain…
Physical and mental activities produce neurotrophins – electrical impulses that:
•activate the brain;
•keep the mind flexible;
•fight off the negative effects of mental aging.
2) Neuro-transmitters: ask what they are…
• Chemicals that inhibit or conduct those electrical impulses
• negative emotions = inhibit
• positive emotions = conduct
Q: What does this means for learning? A: Fun is important
3) Cerbrospinal Circulation:
It turns out stretching / lengthening exercises increase cerebrospinal circulation which enhances your
27 January 2015
7
8. ability to focus
4) Mental Exercises & Brain States:
Q: What are brain states?
A: 5 states w/wave frequencies from 40 cycles per sec. down to 3 cps:
GAMMA – STRESS!
BETA – Practical/Alert/Performance/Doing
ALPHA - Relaxation / The Zone
Thinking / Learning
THETA - Sub-Conscious/
Dreaming /
Creative Thought
DELTA - Deep Dreamless Sleep
Unconscious
Q: How can we get into ALPHA rhythm? A: Excercises like breathing slowly, recalling humor,
listening to Baroque music.
5) Physical Exercises
27 January 2015
7
9. From Mike Kuczala’s Teaching with the Brain in Mind and Brain Fitness to Combat Fatigue, here are
some thoughts about brain stimulation to keep in mind.
Q: Name the 5 senses through which the brain can be stimulated firing those neurotransmitters.
27 January 2015
8
10. Homolateral = physical or mental activity only.
Bilateral = both types of activity.
With all we’ve just leaned, the takeaway is that we learn most efficiently when we are
Q: Name some other bilateral activities?
27 January 2015
9
11. Switch on:
• Visual
• Auditory
• Kinesthetic
Q: What do you to relax before learning?
27 January 2015
10
15. In general the quadrants are interpreted as:
High road = cognitive processors
Low road – emotional processors
Left hemisphere = local processing (what it means to me)
Right hemisphere = global processing (what it means to others)
You can also think of the quadrants as:
L1 likes to find out “What are the facts?”
R1 likes to find out “Why is this important?”
L2 likes to find out “How does this work?”
R2 likes to find out “Who is impacted?”
27 January 2015
14
16. The words in the graphic are connected with the various learning.
L1 prefers communication that is clear/sensible/accurate/coherent
R1 prefers communication that is challenging/filled with metaphors&imagery/synthesizing ideas
R2 prefers communication that is encouraging/understanding/emotionally expressive/meaningful
L2 prefers communication that is correct/planned/detailed
Q: Take a few moments to choose words that best match your thinking style.
Count the words you chose in each box. The box that has the most words is your thinking preference.
Note: There is more information defining each of the quadrants that we won’t get to today. But let’s
see how thinking preference information can be used.
27 January 2015
15
17. The interesting thing for us in Learning & Development is that research has shown us what types of
jobs generally have what types of working styles.
Q: Type in what jobs would you think are L1s?
Q: Type in what jobs would you think are R1s?
Q: Type in what jobs would you think are L2s?
Q: Type in what jobs would you think are R2s?
Q: How might you use this information in designing training? A: if you know the audience’s job function,
without much more information you can design the course to have activities that best match the way
those people learn!
27 January 2015
16
18. Next session – how this information can be used to increase engagement for PCL.
Q-revisiting: How do brain principles and brain operation concepts influence thinking preferences?
Q-call-to-action: What/where will you use what you have learned?
27 January 2015
17
20. Q: How many attended the session on Neuroscience: the basis of learning?
Q: What is your definition of engagement/PCL?
We’ll look at how to apply neuroscience to design and instruct learners participant centered learning
that engages learners so learning will “stick”.
19
21. 1) Neurotrophins: Ask what physical and mental activities do in the brain…
Physical and mental activities produce neurotrophins that:
•activate the brain;
•keep the mind flexible;
•fight off the negative effects of mental aging.
2) Neuro-transmitters: ask what they are…
• Chemicals that inhibit or conduct electrical impulses
• negative emotions = inhibit
• positive emotions = conduct
Q: What does this means for learning? A: Fun is important
3) Cerbrospinal Circulation:
It turns out stretching / lengthening exercises increase cerebrospinal circulation which enhances your
ability to focus
27 January 2015
20
22. 4) Mental Exercises & Brain States:
Q: What are brain states?
A: 5 states w/wave frequencies from 40 cycles per sec. down to 3 cps:
GAMMA – STRESS!
BETA – Practical/Alert/Performance/Doing
ALPHA - Relaxation / The Zone
Thinking / Learning
THETA - Sub-Conscious/
Dreaming /
Creative Thought
DELTA - Deep Dreamless Sleep
Unconscious
Q: How can we get into ALPHA rhythm? A: Excercises like breathing slowly, recalling humor,
listening to Baroque music.
5) Physical Exercises
27 January 2015
20
23. From Mike Kuczala’s Teaching with the Brain in Mind and Brain Fitness to Combat Fatigue, here are
some thoughts about brain stimulation toward learning.
The brain is stimulated through our senses.
Q: Name the 5 senses through which the brain can be stimulated firing those neurotransmitters.
So, what can we do to stimulate our senses to learn efficiently and effectively?
27 January 2015
21
24. Game time!
Bob Pike suggests the following.
Q: Ask them to fill in the blanks:
• People don’t argue with their own data (get them to experience or observe what you are trying to
teach them)
• Help people learn how to learn
• Learning is directly proportional to the amount of fun you have
• Honor the experience adults bring
• Teach from a prepared life not a prepared lesson
22
25. The following techniques come from various ASTD sessions I attended including: Bob Pike’s Top 10
Strategies for Instructor-Led, Participant-Centered Training session, Brain Fitness to Combat Fatigue,
Mike Kuczala’s Training with the Brain in Mind , and Cook and Lowe’s Building a Learner Centered
Classroom using Thinking Preferences session.
Q: In which order do you want to cover them?
Make sure that in each of the following to cover how to do them in a Virtual Classroom environment.
23
26. help visual learners
This is more in the design phase than the delivery phase. The rest are in the delivery phase.
27 January 2015
24
27. From the Peek Teams group that has done some work for PPS:
Learning is best when you connect with people in consort with the evolution of our brains.
• Reptium (cortex) area (stem and cerebellum) – the oldest - make the social connection
• Limbic area (Temporal and Occipital lobes) – the next to develop - make the emotional connection
• Neo-Cortext (Cerebrum – Frontal and Parietal lobes) – the most recently evolved - make the
rational connection
Q: The Greek philosopher Aristotle identified the 3 components of persuasion. Anyone know those
Greek words that translate into the concepts of Social, Emotional, and Rational?
A: Pathos, Ethos, and Logos
27 January 2015
25
28. From Brain Fitness to Combat Fatigue
Q: Anyone remember what brain state is most conducive to learning? A: ALPHA.
Q: How can we get into ALPHA state? A: Exercises like breathing slowly, recalling humor, listening to
Baroque music.
27 January 2015
26
