Education Innovation

Learning About Swimming Takes Place Best At A Pool: Brain Rules Part 8

It’s all about encoding, elaborate, meaningful, and contextual encoding.

More from Chapter 5 of Brain Rules by John Medina.

“We know that information is remembered best when it is elaborate, meaningful, and contextual. The quality of the encoding stage—those earliest moments of learning—is one of the single greatest predictors of later learning success.”

The better quality of encoding, the more likely the student will be able to retrieve the information when he or she needs it. Think of the encoding as giving the information “tags.” The tags relate to content, timing, and environment. The better the tags, the more able to the student is to find the tagged information.

Make sure your students understand the information you are trying to drive into their heads, common sense of course. If your students don’t understand the information, rote memorization isn’t going to help. It is up to you to explain it clearly. Remember, elaborate, meaningful, and contextual.

Use lots of real world examples in your lessons. Real world examples make the learning meaningful. The more meaningful examples you can put in the lesson, the better the information will be remembered. Also, the more familiar or relevant the examples are to your students, the more meaningful it will be.

“Providing examples makes the information more elaborative, more complex, better encoded, and therefore better learned.”

First Impressions matter. In other words, how you introduce the information matters. Medina explains something he calls the timing principle.

“If you are a student, whether in business or education, the events that happen the first time you are exposed to a given information stream play a disproportionately greater role in your ability to accurately retrieve it at a latter date.”

So, how you set up your lesson and get into your lesson is very important. Starting with, “Class open your books to page…” is not exactly a great first start.

“If you are trying to get information across to someone, your ability to create a compelling introduction may be the most important single factor in the later success of your mission.”

Remember, you never get a second chance to make a first impression, or begin your lesson. Oh, you only have 3 minutes to sink the hook into your students.

Movie directors and public speakers all know the same fact, you lose or win your audience in the first 3 minutes of the movie or presentation. Teachers, you have 3 minutes to make the perfect first impression if you want to increase the learning.

Another interesting fact about the brain is the importance of retrieval taking place under the same conditions. Medina explains that a Spanish-speaking student trying to learn English would actually do better, based on language acquisition rates, at speaking on language in one room of their home, and the other language in another room of the house. I have often heard parents explain that they allow their children to speak Spanish at home and only speak English in public. The research seems to back up this practice.

Finally, teaching and learning about the subject in the place closest in context to the subject is another powerful tool. So, if a student were to learn about engine repair, it would be best to teach and test the student in the actual shop where the engine repair will occur. Want to teach about weather, go outside. I have always found this to be true when it comes to learning swimming. LOL

The Literacy of Social Networking

Following up on my posts about social technologies and the need for students to have the literacy skills to be capable to effectively navigate and participate in this web based ecosystem comes this excellent post Slouching Towards Intertwingularity, from Stephen Collins at acidlabs blog.

"But really, if we take a long, hard gaze into Alice’s looking glass, what we see is neither a meadow full of flowers nor a dark wood full of impending danger. What we do see is a tool, perhaps more powerful than we have ever had before, for connecting people and leveraging the almost infinite power of those connections. . The power of, as my friend Mark Pesce puts it, hyperconnectivity.

"Let’s first wind the clock back a little for some perspective. Just five years ago, most of the social networking tools I rely on in my business today didn’t even exist - LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, Youtube, Twitter, Dopplr, Slideshare. Just five years ago, pretty much all I had was web browsing and email.

"Now, the web and email were pretty powerful tools, but not nearly as powerful as the social networking tools I now use all day, every day. One of the very greatest benefits these new tools have afforded me is to be able to connect with a vastly greater number of people who think like me, do work like me, like the same things I like, than I ever could before. The thing is now, that group I connect to - that I used to have to attend a monthly meeting of eight or a dozen of the same people every time and ultimately get bored by… That group is now spread over the entire planet. Despite that geographic dispersion, I get the distinct privilege (and frankly, enjoyment) of working, collaborating and just gossiping with them every day of the week using social networking tools like Twitter.

"Humans, ever since the earliest of us could communicate with each other, have banded together in social networks. It’s not a new phenomenon by any means. But now we have, literally at our fingertips, a network that truly makes our village global. With no more difficulty than stepping next door to my neighbor’s house, I can connect with people that share interests with me - professional or personal - no matter where they are in the world. And I do."

This is a 21st Century literacy issue. We need to start thinking about how we will best address it and in what ways we can prepare and equip our students to succeed in this environment.

Take a look at this great presentation...

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Recommended Reading:

Literacy Ladder: Learning on the Social Technographic Ladder

The New Literacy Ladder: Clay Shirky's -- Here Comes Everybody

Great Teaching and Presentation with the Brain Rules Lesson Plan: Brain Rules Part 6

Guaranteed Good Teaching: The Brain Rules Lesson Plan

More from John Medina’s book, Brain Rules.

John describes his model for giving a lecture. This model would serve anyone who needs to teach information to learners.

Modules: Modules should be 10 minute long segments that cover a single core concept. The core concept is, “always large, always general, always filled with ‘gist,’ and always explainable in one minute.”

Thus, in a 50 minute lecture there would be 5 large concept modules covered.

The remaining 9 minutes in each module are used to, “provide a detailed description of that single general concept. The trick was to ensure that each detail could be easily traced back to the general concept with minimal intellectual effort.”

One should make sure to regularly take time out from the content being taught, “to explain the relationship between the detail and core concept in clear and explicit terms.”

After 10 minutes, you should be done with the core concept and ready for the next.

John explains that there is 3 reasons that he structured his lesson plan this way.

1. Knowing that the audience checks out 20% of the way through a presentation or lecture, you have about 600 seconds to get their attention and keep it. After 600 seconds, or 10 minutes, you need to do something to buy another 10 minutes.

2. Our brains process meaning before they process detail. Brains also like hierarchy, so staring with general concepts and then moving to, “explaining information in a hierarchical fashion.” John says, “You have to do the general idea first.”

3. The teacher or lecturer needs to front load the lecture plan at the beginning of the class or presentation and continue to point out to the students or audience where they are in the lesson. “This prevents the audience from trying to multitask. If the instructor presents concepts without telling the audience where the concept fits into the rest of the presentation, the audience is forces to simultaneously listen to instructor and attempt to divine where it fits into the rest of what the instructor is saying.”

In other words, you might force their brain into multitasking without intending to do so. And, as we have learned, the brain does not multitask attention.

So, you finish 9 minutes and 59 seconds in your general concept module. You filled it with great explanations of the relationship between the detail and the core concept in very explicit terms, and did so in a hierarchical fashion, with frequent “where are we” moments; now what?

You are about to lose your audience or class. You must quickly regain their attention. You shouldn’t give them more information. That would be overload. Don’t do something random that is not connected to the lesson that would just be confusing.

“The need something so compelling that they would blast through the 10 minute barrier and move on to new ground—something that triggers an orienting response toward the speaker and capture executive functions allowing efficient learning.”

You need an…

ECS—Emotionally Competent Stimuli—a.k.a- “The Hook”

And you need one every 10 minutes!

So what makes a great Emotionally Competent Stimuli (ECS)?  Three things.

1. Trigger and emotion: Fear, laughter, nostalgia, etc. A great story that is short and right to the point can be very powerful.

2. Make it relevant: “It couldn’t be just any story or anecdote.”  If it doesn’t’ relate to the lesson, people are going to be scratching their heads trying to figure out where you are going with it. Make it relate.

3. The hook or ECS goes between each module, at the beginning looking forward anticipating the lesson or material. Or place the hook at the end of a module looking backwards summarizing the information or material.

John found 2 interesting changes to his audiences when he started placing hooks in his lessons. “First they were still interested at the end of the first 10 minutes. Second, they seemed able to maintain their attention for another 10 minutes or so, as long as another hook was supplied at the end.”

The Brain Rules Lesson Plan—try it today!

Catalytic Questions:

How would ordering your lesson plan around the Brain Rules model change your content delivery? 

In what ways could you develop hooks (ECSs) that would be relevant to your content and purpose? Is there a resource that you could use?

How does the Brain Rules lesson plan fit with what you have seen in your own teaching and presenting?

How might this knowledge change your approach to your delivery?

Suggested Reading:
Brain Rules blog

Weblogg-ed blog

The Common Room blog

Holographic Teachers--The Future of Education is Now!

Teachers replaced by holograms. Sounds like something from a science fiction movie or T.V show. What would happen if holographic teachers could be sent into you? The reality is, the technology exists right now to bring live holograms from one location and beam it into any location in the world. Thanks to Teaching College Math blog for sharing.

 

The technology is called TelePresence and is a result of collaboration between Cisco Systems and Musion. Musion calls the system Eyeliner.

Musion describes it as, “a high definition holographic video projection system allowing spectacular three-dimensional moving images to appear within a live stage setting.
Live or virtual stage presenters can appear alongside and interact with virtual images of humans or animated characters…”

“The Musion® Eyeliner™ system utilises the current generation of High-Definition technology and integrates it into a visual ecosystem that enables HD media to fully realise its potential within the blossoming digital ecosystem.

Eyeliner™ requires only a single camera shoot, single projector playback and does not require any special audience props, such as the use of 3D glasses. Yet, the audience viewing Eyeliner™ are always left awestruck by the startling realism of our 3D virtual shows. When using Musion® Eyeliner™, your imagination is the only limit.”

Awestruck is right.

So, what are the implications and applications of this technology for education? Teachers can now teach from any location on the globe and beam themselves into any other location on the globe with this technology. Experts on different subject matter could be made available for lectures right in the classroom, interacting live with the students. Teachers would be able to enter a classroom and interact with students, teachers, and administrators from across, campus, across town, or across the globe.

Distance is dead! 

Tear down these four walls!

Catalytic Questions:
What are the applications for this technology in education?

In what ways could/will this technology impact education in the future?

How might we begin to prepare our schools and districts for such a change?

What changes in thinking might have to occur for this technology to be utilized effectively?

In what ways will the technology impact the infrastructure of the school? (I.e.; TelePresence labs, classroom, boardrooms, etc.)

How can this technology be leveraged to provide greater learning opportunities for our students?

In what ways might parents and community react to such technology being utilized in education?

What sorts of systems, vendors, and educational business might arise out the use of such a technology?

At what point would this technology become a “must have” rather than a novel idea?

Suggested Reading:

Teaching College Math blog

Musion Eyeliner Hologram blog

now we are talking blog

Educational Games Research blog

Theory of Mind-- Brain Rules Part 4

More from Brain Rules by John Medina…Chapter 3 Wiring

When we last left off, John was just about to share some ideas about what we can do about the Brain Rule theory that all brains are different and learn different.

One idea John mentions is smaller class size.

“All things being equal, it has been known for many years that smaller, more intimate schools create better learning environments than megaplex houses of learning. The Brain Rule may help explain why smaller is better.”

This is an interesting assertion. On the face it seems to match well with the Brain Rule theory, but most research has shown that class size is not an indicator of better learning. Having worked with grants that directly relate to class size reduction, I have not found one study that directly relates class size with better learning.

John may not be saying test scores go up when class size goes down. He explains that…

“Given that every brain is wired differently, being able to read a student’s mind is a powerful tool in the hands of a teacher.”

And we have now arrived at the second theory described in this chapter, The Theory of Mind.

The Theory of Mind has two important parts that apply directly to teachers.

First, “It is defined as the ability to understand the interior motivations of someone else…”

Second, “…and the ability to construct predictable ‘theory of how their mind works’ based on that knowledge.”

John explains the importance of these two parts to teachers.

“This give teachers critical access to their students’ interior educational life. It may include knowledge of when students are confused and when they are fully engaged. It also gives sensitive teachers valuable feedback about whether their teaching is being transformed into learning.” 

So this would explain his preference for small class sizes. Obviously this can be accomplished much easier in a smaller class. In other words a small class size makes it easier to tell if your teaching is working.

“Students comprehend complex knowledge at different times and at different depths. Because a teacher can keep track of only so many minds, there must be limit on the number of students in a class—the smaller, the better.”

And the crowd goes wild. Who doesn’t like that?

In other words teachers are mind managers. They manage several minds at time and quite obviously can better manage fewer minds at one time than the many.

Here is another very interesting idea that results from this theory.

“This suggests that an advanced skill set in Theory of Mind predicts a good teacher. If so, existing Theory of Mind tests could be used like Myers-Briggs personality tests to reveal good teachers from bad, or to help people considering careers as teachers.”

“I have come to believe that people with advanced Theory of Mind skills possess the single most important ingredient for becoming effective communicators of information.”

A test to see if you will be a good teacher would certainly cause some debate.

Another suggestion, aside from smaller class size is the use of customized instruction. The more individualized the instruction, the better the learning. Technology is a key component here.

So, John suggests that future research be conducted between brain and education scientist in three areas.

1.    Evaluate teachers and teachers-to-be for advanced Theory of Mind skills.
2.    Develop adaptive software for a variety of subjects and grade levels.
3.    Test both ideas in various combinations.

Catalytic Questions:

How could Theory of Mind testing be added to the current teacher selection process?

In what ways might we create smaller class sizes?

How would the role of the teacher change if he or she viewed him/herself as a manager of minds?

What would the role of mind manager look like in a classroom, as opposed to the standard view of a teacher’s role?

Suggested Reading:
Brain Rules Part 1

Brain Rules Part 2

Brain Rules Part 3

Brain Rule blog

Beth's Blog

Blue Skunk Blog

Billions of Inetelligences? --Brain Rules Chapter 3

More from Brain Rules by John Medina…Chapter 3 Wiring

Two theories from this chapter caught my attention. The first is called Brain Rule

The Brain Rule states, “Learning results in physical changes in the brain, and these changes are unique to each individual. Not even identical twins having identical experiences posses brains that wire themselves exactly the same way. And you can trace the whole thing to experience.”

Basically we have what I call Big Brain and Little Brain. The big brain is to use John’s analogy, sort of like our interstate highway system, freeways, and state highways.

“These big trunks are the same from one person to the next, functioning in yours about the same way they function in mine.”

The Little Brain is, to use another of John’s analogies, sort of like our residential streets, one-lane roads, and dirt roads. This is where Big Brain and Little Brain diverge. Little Brain is very individualistic.

“Every brain has a lot of these smaller paths, and in no two people are they identical. The individuality is seen at the level of the very small, but because we have so much of it, the very small amounts to a big deal.”

So already I am thinking about what this means for our students. But it gets more interesting.

“It is one thing to demonstrate that every brain is wired differently from every other brain. It is another to say that this affects intelligences.”

Okay, so we know Howard Gardner’s theory on multiple intelligences. Gardner believes that there are at least 7 categories of intelligence: intrapersonal, interpersonal, musical/rhythmic, bodily/kinesthetic, verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, and spatial. If you are good at one there is no way to tell if you will be good or bad at any of the others. So this is the view of the theorist.

The neurosurgeon has a theory too. Instead of 7 intelligences, the neurosurgeon believes in there may be billions. In other words, one intelligence for each person on the planet.

Several intelligences vs. Billions?  How does that impact education? Your lesson plans have to account for not just 7 intelligences or learning styles, but one for each of your students.

“…because on two brains are wired identically. Not in terms of structure. Not in terms of function. For example, from nouns to verbs to aspects of grammar, we each store language in different areas, recruiting different regions for different components. Bilingual people don’t even store their Spanish and their English in the similar places.”

Okay, so my brain is crunching the implications of this for education, and then comes this kicker.

“Not only are people’s brains individually wired, but those neurological differences can, at least in the case of language, predict performance.”

Let that sink in for a minute. Performance in language is already determined by the individual student’s brain?

Then John asks…

“Given these data, does it make any sense to have school systems that expect every brain to learn like every other?”

“The data offer powerful implications for how we should teach kids…”

1)    The current system if founded on a series of expectations that certain learning goals should be achieved by a certain age. Yet there is no reason to suspect that the brain pays attention to those expectations. Students of the same age show a great deal of intellectual variability.

2)    These differences can profoundly influence classroom performance. This has been tested. For example, about 10 percent of students do not have brains sufficiently wired to read at the age at which we expect them to read. Lockstep models based simply on age are guaranteed to create counterproductive mismatch to brain biology.

So, lots of problems, but does he offer any solutions. Actually he does. I will share John Medina’s ideas in my next post. (Or you can go out and get the book)

Also I will discuss the second theory John writes about in Chapter 3, the Theory of Mind.

Catalytic Questions:
What are the implications for education in moving from the Howard Gardner multiple intelligences theory to John Medina’s billions of individual intelligences?

What shape might this take in a classroom?

How would instructional materials need to change to meet the needs of each individual?

How could technology by used as tool to or lever to bring the instruction each individual needs?

If individuality of our brain requires individuality of instruction, how does this explain the results researched based strategies, Marzano’s strategies, thinking maps, etc.?

Suggested Reading:

Intelligences, Intelligences, and More Intelligences

Brain Rules Part 1: Increase Test Scores with Exercise

I have enjoyed reading Brian Rules by John Medina.

Chapter 1 is titled Exercise and John explains that our brains were made for walking. And by walking, he means, 12 miles a day. So, if you want to improve your thinking you have got to move.

The implications of this idea for education are interesting. John explains that in our search for higher test scores, many districts have resorted to canceling P.E programs or have canceled recess.

“Given the powerful cognitive effects of physical activity, this makes no sense.”

I have seen schools that have removed the afternoon recess in the hopes of increasing instructional time. Sadly, those schools that don’t have effective P.E programs are also doing a disservice to their students according to this line of thinking.

“Cutting of physical exercise—they very activity most likely to promote cognitive performance—to do better on a test score is like trying to gain weight by starving yourself.”

John asks why don’t schools have recess twice a day and simply let our students where gym clothes all day long.  Another of his ideas is having students walking at a 1 to 2 mile per hour pace on treadmills while learning a math lesson or an English language arts lesson.

Catalytic Questions:
Could a district’s creativity and innovativeness be correlated with their employees’ fitness levels?

In what ways might we increase student and teacher fitness?

In what ways might we find more opportunities for students and teachers to exercise?

If you knew you had to increase the P.E time of your students by 30 or 60 minutes a week, how would you accomplish it?

Novel Ideas:
Principals and teachers who do P.E with their class each day.

Tread mills in the classroom.

Recommended Reading:
Brain Rules

Think Lab: Ironic: The Ideal "Anti-Brain" Environment

Thinking Allowed: More on how cool the brain is

Presentation Zen: Brain rules for Powerpoint & Keynote presenters

Must See Video:

The Four Forces of Change: Rising Expectations

“The point is that what we are satisfied with today, we will not be satisfied with tomorrow.”

The fourth force of change impacting on you and your schools, as described by Peter Sheahan in his book Flip, is Rising Expectations.

This force of change, “results from the other three and in turn feeds back into them: rising expectations for faster, better, cheaper products, for more varied options, and for greater transparency and flexibility in response to customer needs and wants.”

Americans always expect things to get better. It is one of our most admirable traits. Good enough is never good enough. We push for better.

The forces of rising expectations have not spared education. Each year we expect to see test scores going up. Each year we expect to see more technology in the classroom. Each year we expect to see teacher quality improve. We have created standards, testing, and other accountability measures to meet the force of rising expectations.

When we look at history, there are things that came into being that today, we consider a necessity. Air conditioning, automobiles, cell phones, computers, and the like are all now part of what we consider a necessity. What in education today, will become an absolute necessity tomorrow? Remember, the Internet is still fairly new, but I doubt we would say we could live without it.

Teaching is going to be impacted by the force of rising expectation too. The basic price of entry for a teacher will be to have obtained a bachelor’s degree, completed observation hours, completed student teaching, completed a teaching program, and maybe some volunteer work in or substitute work in the classroom. But, rising expectations will drive up the bar. If everybody has completed the same basic requisite, the question might become, “How will you add value to this school? What else do you bring to the table?”

Standards, technology, assessments, data management systems, interventions, and Professional Learning Communities will soon become necessities that we won’t be able to imagine education without. But, times will change as they always do, and rising expectations will create new necessities.

As been famously said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Peter Drucker

How You Think Is Everything: Think Creative

From Busayo Akanro

"Why do people hate intentional creativity? Why must things be done in one particular way or another? Who makes the rules? Who sets the boundaries? Life itself imposes no limitations on us. After all, even though the law of gravity is fundamental, it can be broken through once one understands the principles of aerodynamics. Even then, the law of gravity doesn’t have as much relevance as it does on earth outside the earth.

"Who says everything that goes up must come down?  Someone who lives in space would give you a strong argument because what he knows is that you can throw something up and it will never come down in your life time. It would keep going on and on since the force of gravity is six times weaker there than on earth. So I guess that will help someone like me who has always wanted to be superman. You can be superman once you are on the moon.

"Take a look at this: A survey was done to discover the creativity level of individuals at various ages. After all the testing, the statistics indicated that 2 percent of the men and women who were in their forties were highly creative. As they looked at younger people, the results emerged that 2% of the 35-yr-olds were highly creative; 2% of the 30-yr-olds were highly creative. This went on down to each age group until they reached the 7-yr-old children. 10% of them were highly creative. However, further study showed that 90% of the 5-yr-olds were highly creative.  

"Between the ages of 5 and 7, 80% of us who are highly creative develop an image, a picture, an attitude that we are not creative, and we begin to deny that particular part of our God-given equipment. Pablo Picasso the great artist said “Every Child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

I agree. Those of is in education need to keep the "artist" alive. We need to be intentional about helping our students be innovative and creative.

Education or Schooling

From Educational Paradigms...

"I don’t teach the kids that Education’s bad. I say that Schooling’s bad. Education is a personal thing: you develop your powers and your singularity to the utmost But Schooling is NOT Education.   Schooling’s an attempt to write the one right way for everybody."  -John Taylor Gatto