Analisa Gerig-Sickles & Heidi Schubert
Advanced Teaching Strategies
September, 2011
Brain-Based Research Strategies
Introduction
For centuries humans have been fascinated with their bodies and how they function. Surprisingly people sometimes ignored one of the most vital organs, the brain. The Egyptians thought it was a waste of space and did not bother to embalm it in the mummifying process. However, since then humans have become aware of the necessity of the brain as a control center for the entire body and have not ceased to be fascinated by it. In recent years, educators have become interested in the brain’s part in the learning process. Brain based learning is learning in accordance with the way the brain is naturally designed to learn. The hope is that if teaching is aligned with how the brain functions, students will become more effective learners who retain their knowledge and skills. (Jensen, 2008). Brain based learning can be applied to any age group or setting. Of course, some studies are more effective for certain age groups and settings than others.
All that we know about specific brain processes is relatively new. The imaging devices that allow us to see the workings of the brain have been around for 30 years and studies relating specifically to education have only become a subject of interest in recent years. Some principal researchers linking brains and education have included Patricia Wolfe, Eric Jensen, and Geoffrey and Renate Caine. Their studies have enlightened us in regards to how reading works in brain, biological timing for best learning and general principals of brain based learning. In order to conceptualize these and other theories of brain based learning, it is important to understand the brain’s anatomy.
Background: Basic Brain Anatomy
The brain’s two main hemispheres are connected by a mass of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum. Within these hemispheres, scientists typically classify the other parts of the brain into four lobes: the frontal lobe, the parietal lobe, the occipital lobe, and the temporal lobe. Underneath these lobes can be found the cerebellum and the brain stem.
These brain parts are made up of brain cells called neurons. Neurons, in their form, can be compared to a tree. They have a long trunk-like protrusion called an axon that ends in what looks like a system of roots, called a terminal. At their other end lies a conglomeration of branch-like extensions, known as dendrites, at the center of which is the cell body. The dendrites of one neuron attach to the terminal of another neuron to form a network of connections. These connections are called synapses and allow for electric signals to pass from one neuron to another. The axons of these nerve cells are protected by a substance called myelin that also helps to speed the process of transmitting electrical signals in conjunction with a chemical process that involves neurotransmitters. It has been shown that humans are not born with a static and complete set of neural connections but that neurons and myelination occur throughout life, especially in early childhood and adolescence.
Scientists have been able to study the electrical activity that passes through these synapses in the brain through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and computed tomography (CT). Using these sources some general functions can be applied to the different parts of the brain. The frontal lobes, located right under the forehead, have been shown to control our emotional responses and our expressive language. They also play a role in judgments we make, our memory for habits and motor activities, and in our sense of consciousness, and they assign meanings and associations to words. The parietal lobes, which lie directly behind the frontal lobe in the top part of our brain, are critical in touch perception, visual perception, manipulation of objects, and coordination of different senses to understand an object or idea. Beneath the parietal lobes lie the occipital lobes which primarily control our sense of vision. Next, above the ears on the sides of the head are the temporal lobes which are vital in humans’ abilities to hear, acquire memories, and categorize objects, and which also have some role in visual perception. At the base of the skull the cerebellum is responsible for memory of reflex motor actions and of coordinating voluntary movement. Similarly to the cerebellum, the brain stem controls some of our basic survival instincts including heart rate, breathing, swallowing, sweating, blood pressure, sense of balance, ability to sleep, and digestion.
Though scientists have made these generalizations about the functions of each brain part, it is dangerous to assume that only one lobe or part of the brain is solely responsible for certain actions. Moreover, scientists recognize the importance of other parts of the brain that lie deep within it, including the hippocampus and amygdalae, and the parts that lie on the surface creating ridges and valleys. By its interconnected network of neurons and as shown by the fact that more than one lobe has a role in certain abilities (such as vision), the brain and its functions must be looked at in a holistic manner when considering its implications in the learning process.
The 12 Principles of Brain Based Learning
Since brain research is relatively new and its implications on learning are still being explored, it is difficult to find much research beyond the lab that takes place in classrooms. However, some common learning principles have been identified by Caine and Caine (2004) and elaborated on by others. These principles have applications within the classroom, but continue to need more research to better understand the classroom implications. The twelve principles are:
1. The brain is a parallel processor. The brain takes in an abundance of information at all times. However, despite the brain’s ability to simultaneously collect multiple stimuli, the brain can only focus on one matter at time. The reason people can multitask is because automaticity of certain procedures has been developed.
2. Learning engages the entire physiology. This means that anything that affects our physiology such as food, nutrition, exercise, stress or hydration affects our abilities to learn.
3. The search for meaning is innate. Meaning is made in the brain by the connection between dendrites and terminals. This biological process gets translated into our consciousness as a sense of meaning.
4. The search for meaning occurs through “patterning”. When people learn they make patterns and connections in their brain. The brain resists meaningless patterns, or unrelated pieces of information, being imposed on it. Teachers can help ensure that students form the correct types of patterns.
5. Emotions are critical to patterning. It is not possible to separate cognition and emotion. How students are feeling and how they perceive the teacher feels can affect their learning. In addition, this emotion shows that humans are social creatures. Working in groups can also affect our learning.
6. Every brain simultaneously perceives and creates parts and wholes. The left and right hemispheres of the brain each perform different functions, but they work together at the same time. This means while each takes in their own part, together they work to make a whole concept.
7. Learning involves both focused attention and peripheral perception. The brain absorbs direct information but also sensory and other information. The learning that happens in a classroom is not just the learning the teacher presents. In a classroom, students are also learning peripherally through the environment, other people and emotions. At all times the brain is being bombarded with sensory input. The brain discards around 99 percent of sensory information (for example, the feeling of clothing against the body) so the sensory memory is able to focus on needed areas.
8. Learning always involves conscious and unconscious processes. The brain is always learning more than the learner consciously understands. Many signals enter the brain without awareness. This is why processing time, reflection and metacognition are important tools in the classroom.
9. There are at least 2 types of memory: spatial memory and rote memory. Spatial memory is where connections and meaning take place. Rote memory is where things are stored simply by memorization or in a rote way.
10. The brain understands and remembers best when facts and skills are embedded in natural spatial memory. Learning is given meaning when it is embedded in everyday occurrences. The best learning takes place when information is stored in the spatial memory, when connections have been made.
11. Learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat. There is a section of the brain, the hippocampus, which has more receptors for stress hormones than any other portion of the brain. It plays an important role in forming memories. If it comes under stress, this area shuts off. When a challenge, as opposed to a threat, is presented, the hippocampus is engaged. This is why it is important to have a safe learning environment.
12. Each brain is unique. Although brains work in similar ways, each brain is different. This means that each student learns in a different way and perceives the world in a unique way.
Brain Research, Reading, and Dyslexia
Recently, scientists have taken a great interest in the biological processes that occur in the brain while reading. It has been found that the brain works differently with written language as opposed to oral language. Oral language learning is natural for the human brain. When babies are born they can recognize up to 6,000 sounds of languages. As they grow, the neural connections that are used remain and those which are not used die away. Children do not need to be taught to talk, they naturally learn.
Reading, however, is not a natural process. People need to be explicitly taught how to read. When learning to read, the brain makes new connections among circuits and structures that were originally used for more basic processes such as oral language and vision. This process of forming new connections and changing uses of pathways is known as plasticity. Oral language uses many areas of the brain including the auditory cortex, Herschl’s area, Wernicke’s area, the arcuate fasiculus and Broca’s area. When reading, the brain uses the same areas, but also uses the visual cortex and the angular gyrus. The pathway used starts when words are taken into the thalamus and then transmitted to the visual cortex where visual patterns of the words are recognized, then to the angular gyrus where written words are translated into sounds of word, next to Wernicke’s area for comprehension of words, and finally to Broca’s area for the processing of syntax. It is important to note that the pathway for decoding words in a phonological way is different than the pathway for when a word is memorized. (Nevills & Wolfe, 2009)
Educators who teach reading have often been stymied by students who seemingly can’t decode written language. This inability has been labeled as dyslexia. Dyslexia is defined as a disability separate from intelligence that affects a person’s ability to read and write words (Nevills & Wolfe, 30). Since reading involves both visual and auditory processing, dyslexia can arise from difficulties in either part of the process or in the translation between the two. Lack of activity in certain parts of the visual cortex (the covering of the occipital lobes) or in the cingulated gyrus (deep in the frontal lobes beneath the separation of the two hemispheres) results in difficulty distinguishing between similar looking letters such as b and d and in difficulties with semantic processing (Nevills & Wolfe, 31).
Similarly, people who have difficulty distinguishing between sounds also may experience symptoms of dyslexia, because the auditory cortex (covering of the temporal lobes) is normally quite active during the reading of a non-impaired person since the brain must associate the letters with their corresponding sounds. In English, consonants have been shown to be particularly difficult for some readers, because some consonants such as p and b are said rapidly which can make it hard to hear the difference between them. (Nevills & Wolfe, 31)
Using these findings on auditory difficulties, several programs have been developed to expose children to intensive practice with specific sounds in an effort to overcome this deficit. One such program is Fast ForWord . According to their website, “The Fast ForWord program develops the cognitive skills that enhance learning. The strengthening of these skills results in a wide range of improved critical language and reading skills such as phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, decoding, working memory, syntax, grammar, and other skills necessary to learn how to read or to become a better reader”(Fast ForWord, 2011). If Fast ForWord ’s claims can be proven through research, this program could be quite promising for students with dyslexia because it could give them the extra practice that they need to build up the proper neural pathways.
Fast ForWord is a computer program that includes several computer exercises in kid-friendly format that provide practice distinguishing between sound changes between individual phonemes, sequences of acoustic frequency sweeps, as well as visual phonics work. Students spend 30 to 100 minutes daily for 5 days for up to 16 weeks. Using headphones and a mouse, students answer questions which are adapted to their exact skill levels approximately 80 percent of time. Starting from the same level, students continue to higher difficulty levels when they reach a predetermined level. The effectiveness of this program is usually verified at the end of the program using traditional reading assessments. (Intervention, 2007)
Temple and her colleagues in their study, Neural deficits in children with dyslexia ameliorated by behavioral remediation: Evidence from functional MRI, found that dyslexic children made significant gains after 8 weeks of using the Fast ForWord program. Over a period of 27.9 days on average, these children spent 100 minutes a day five days a week on Fast ForWord. Twelve children with dyslexia, between the ages of 8 and12, along with the same number of non-impaired children who were matched for age, gender, nonverbal IQ, and handedness, were tested with an fMRI prior to and after 8 weeks of working with this auditory language computer program. During each fMRI, all subjects were required to complete the same series of exercises where they had to push a button to show rhyming letters (where the name of the letter rhymed), matching letters, and matching lines.
Temple and her colleagues found that children with dyslexia, in contrast to their non-impaired peers, were not showing any activity in the left temporo-parietal cortex and little activity in the posterior tip of the left inferior frontal gyrus before their work with Fast ForWord, but after the remediation they noticed significant improvements. Since both the left temporo-parietal cortex and the posterior tip of the left inferior frontal gyrus play a vital role in the phonological process, it appeared that use of this remediation program helped, at least temporarily, to change the brain processes of children with dyslexia. (Temple, 2003)
Another study on the effects of intense phonological work with students with dyslexic had similar results. P.G. Simos and his colleagues in their Dyslexia-specific brain activation profile becomes normal following successful remedial training describe the process of how they used MSI (magnetic source imaging) scans to document brain activity during a phonological decoding task in eight children with dyslexia ages 7 – 17 before and after approximately 80 hours of one-to-one instruction in a two month period. They also scanned non-impaired children at the beginning and end of a two month period as a control group. The phonological decoding task required participants to look at pseudo-words and raise an index finger if the words rhymed.
They found that after the two months of interventions (some with the Phono-Graphix program and some with Lindamood Phonemic Sequencing program) that the dyslexic children went from the 3rd, 13th, and 18th percentile to an average range between the 38th and 60th percentile on the Woodcock–Johnson PsychoEducational Test III. They also noted that the dyslexic children before remediation showed little activity in the typical areas of the left hemisphere and a large amount of activity in the right hemisphere as compared to non-impaired readers, but after remediation they showed a more normalized brain activation profile, especially in the posterior portion of the left superior temporal gyrus. (Simos, 2002)
While further studies need to be done to evaluate the long term effect of Fast Forward and other such programs, it is promising that the brain’s plasticity has been shown to work even in cases of dyslexia. In the classroom, this has huge implications. If students are given intensive practice in phonics upwards of 60 hours, gains can be seen in testing, as well as in the brain. However, none of the studies found examined the long-term effects of these interventions. It is yet to be seen whether the gain made will continue in the brain without consistent, intensive practice.