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
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