How Does the Teenage Brain Learn?

Carol LandaSept , 2012

Objectives• Identify

– Basic needs for learning– Role of brain structures in learning

• Describe– Learning through social interaction– Hierarchy of learning skills

Objectives

Identify:–Role of recognition, strategic and affective systems in learning–Eight neurodevelopmental constructs that interact to enable students to acquire knowledge, skills or to accomplish certain tasks–Possible strategies to cope with construct weaknesses (leveraging strengths and affinities)

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

D-needs

Deficit Needs

Cognitive Level(the more you learn, the more you

want to learn)

Exterior (Lobes)Interior (Brain Stem, Limbic System, Cerebrum,

Cerebellum)

Brain Structure

Brain Structure• Represents 2% of our body weight,

but consumes nearly 20% of our calories

• Four lobes on each side – Temporal– Occipital– Parietal– Frontal

Lobes of the brain

– Temporal• Sound, music, face/object recognition, parts of

LT memory

– Occipital• Visual

– Parietal• Spatial orientation, calculation, some types of

recognition

– Frontal• Executive Control Center, planning and thinking

Frontal Lobe

– Monitors Higher Order Thinking skills, directs problem solving, regulates “excess” emotion

• BUT

IT DOES NOT FULLY MATURE UNTIL MID 20s

Limbic System

• Limbic system generates emotions and processes emotional memories

Emotions Rule in Adolescent Brains

• Maslow’s 1st 4 levels are emotional and physiological – LIVE, SAFE, LOVE, RESPECT

• Adolescents are ruled by emotions due to “immaturity” of the frontal lobe – (high risk behaviors are seen too!)

FACT 1

What gets stored in long term memory is determined by the limbic (EMOTIONAL) not RATIONAL system

How Does Information Get to the Brain

• Your senses– Sight– Sound– Touch– Smell– Taste

Learning Requires “New Roads”

• Neurons (nerve cells) form information pathways by connecting to other neurons (synapses)

Neural Pathways

• Learning creates new pathways or strengthens existing ones.

Neural pathways can be prunedor become neural highways!

How many pathways?

When we learn, brain connections are thin and fragile. They must be “reused” or “revisited” to become strong and faster

Source: How the Brain Learns, David Sousa, p.15

Fact 2

100 Billion neuronsX 10,000 connections= 1 quadrillion (15 zeros)possible connections

Repeated use of the same pathways

myelin sheaths Superhighways

Synapse

Neurons only connect “chemically”

Building requires ENERGY!• The brain utilizes nearly 20% of the

calories we eat

• The more challenging the task, the more ATP is needed by the cells.

Breakfast (especially water and glucose) help the brain to function well.

8 oz of WATER for each 25 lbs of child PER DAY.

Water is needed for all chemical reactions in the body!

Source: How the Brain Learns, David Sousa, p.15

Fact 3

Sleep…enough?Learning occurs best:

• When degree of focus is high (8am -1 pm for high school students)

• When a student averages 8.5 hours of sleep per night

• When study is done immediately prior to sleep.

Inadequate sleep• Can be caused by

caffeine in soda

• Decreases ability to store information in the brain (decreased REM cycles)

• Increases irritability (emotion)

• Increases risk of errors

Source: Millman, 2005; Acebo, Wolfson,& Carskadon, 1997; Schacter, 1996

Students getting C's, D's and F's got about 25 minutes less sleep and went to bed about 40 minutes later than students who reported they were getting A's and B's.

Source: Mary A. Carskadon, PhD Brown University Medical School

Teens need AT LEAST 8.5 hours of sleep per night

Source: How the Brain Learns, David Sousa, p.15

Fact 4

Excess stress can inhibit brain growth Studies at University of

Wisconsin show that exposure to “intense and lasting stress” affected

short term spatial working memory.

It is unknown whether this effect is reversible.

Aerobic exercise increases memory and executive functioning

- Castelli, Hillman et al. 2007

Exercise improves classroom behavior and academic

performance

Exercise triggers the release of chemicals that improve

communication between neurons

Exercise can increase memory and executive functioning (when done in moderation)

Source: How the Brain Learns, David Sousa, p.15

Fact 5

A caution

• Organized competitive sports generally require huge amounts of energy (mentally and physically).

• A child who is “exhausted” cannot study with the same success as one who is “well-rested” (See BRAIN FUEL, SLEEP and STRESS on previous slides)

If physiological needs are met..

• Cognitive learning can begin!

So… how do teenagers learn?

Children Learn …

Sometimes, it depends on time

Learning Occurs With Purposeful Interaction with

Others• Learning theories of Bronfenbrenner

and Vygotsky

Jay Giedd, NIH neuroscientist

“The brain is largely wired for social interaction and for bonding with caretakers”

“ Sometimes it's disappointing to people that, with all the science and all the advances, the best advice we can give is things that our grandmother could have told us generations ago…

to spend loving, quality time with our children.

Family

School

Community

Individual and Peers

UrieBronfenbrenner

Development and Learning DependsOn Interactionsand Experiences

Varied Life Experience Provides Links for New Learning

– Varied experiences gardening, going to the zoo, trips to the museumssummer campVolunteer workTravelling

• These provide a foundation to which students can “link” or associate new information.

Known

(Safety)

ZPD

Unknown(Danger)

The range of skill that can be developed with adult guidance

or peer collaboration exceeds what

can be attained alone.

Lev Vygotsky

(Risk)LEARNING

We learn through modeling

• Communication with any knowledgeable adult or peers helps to develop higher “cognitive” processes.

The brain exhibits plasticity. It changes with each experience.

Teenagers (and all children) who interact with others, and have a wide variety of experiences, have an easier time learning and developing higher order thinking skills

Source: How the Brain Learns, David Sousa, p.15

Fact 7

What thinking and analysis skills are needed by high school students or developed in high school?

AKA: I studied, butI got a C or… I couldn’t rememberwhen I got to the test.

Behaviors (skills) important in learning

Bloom’s Taxonomy

assemble, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, write

appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value, evaluate

appraise, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test

choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write

classify, describe, discuss, explain, identify, locate, recognize, report, select, translate, paraphrase

define, duplicate, list, memorize, recall, repeat, reproduce state

HIGH

SCHOOL

Bloom’s Taxonomy

• A set of learning objectives

• Increase in complexity. Learning at the higher levels is dependent upon mastery of the lower levels

• Students MUST study at a level of complexity that matches the level of the assessment!

Understanding, not memorization

• Many test questions involve analyzing and evaluating

• When your teenager studies for a test, he/she must learn and study at the same “level” that the question will be asked.

Moving up the skills ladder

• Parents/teachers must model the desired skill.

• Then they must be sure the skill is being done correctly

• Finally, student should independently utilize the skill, and be assessed.

How does your child study?

If “I studied” using these skills?

• I can– define, duplicate, list,

memorize, recall, repeat, reproduce state

• AND maybe– classify, describe, discuss,

explain, identify, locate, recognize, report, select, translate, paraphrase

• OR Perhaps– choose, demonstrate,

dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write

And test questions ask to:• assemble, construct, create,

design, develop, formulate, write

• appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value, evaluate

• appraise, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test

• choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write

How does your child study?

Massed practice (cramming)

• Can result in good test scores (within 24 hours)

• Provides little or no long term retention (you will need to relearn it for the final)

Practiced Learning over Time

• A “chunk” studied each night

• Results in better “pop quiz scores”

• Placed in long term memory due to repetitive practice over time.

Students must have successful practices to learn

“Meaningful chunks”Step-by-step modelingGuided PracticeIndependent PracticeFeedback

Source: How the Brain Learns, David Sousa, p.15

Fact 8

Whoever explains, learns!

When you study with your child ask open-ended questions that require your student to provide “linking” information to demonstrate relationships (providing the answers are “accurate”!)

Practice does not make perfect..practice makes PERMANENT.

Source: How the Brain Learns, David Sousa, p.15

Facts 9 and 10

You need to learn and study on the level that you will be assessed.

Be sure you practice at the level you will be tested.

Source: How the Brain Learns, David Sousa, p.15

Fact 11

Neuro networks

• Recently, (within the last 20 years) we have been able to do “active” brain studies (we watch changes in the brain, while someone is performing an activity)

• THREE networks have been identified that activate when learning occurs

Recognition networks:Specialized to sense; enable us to identify and understand (RECOGNIZE PATTERNS)

Strategic networks:Specialized to generate and oversee mental and motor patterns - plan, execute, and monitor (GENERATE PATTERNS)Affective networks:

Specialized to evaluate patterns and assign thememotional significance (PRIORITIZE)

(Source: CAST – “The Learning Brain”)

Three Steps to Learning

• We must recognize what is being presented to us.

• We must be given a goal for our strategic powers to automatically kick in.

• We absolutely must find at least some part of it interesting.

• ALL THREE NETWORKS ARE ENGAGED and the learning process is more meaningful.

Summary

• A teenager’s brain is “a work in progress” and learning is highly dependent on emotion.

• Chunking study times more long-term memory storage

• A human learns best with interaction.

• Modeling and practice at the appropriate level is critical for learning and the development of HOT skills