Kenneth Wesson Educational Consultant: Neuroscience San Jose, CA kenawesson@aol

Kenneth WessonEducational Consultant: Neuroscience

San Jose, CA [email protected]

Next Generation Success Will Be

By Innovation Only:

Learning For The Future, Not The Past

K. Wesson 7-2012

http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/common_cents/g.html

http://brainworldmagazine.com/the-aha-moment/

Conference Theme:

“Effective Leadership in

CHANGING TIMES”

CHANGING TIMES?

EVERY TIME WE WERE BEGINNING TO FORM UP INTO

TEAMS, WE WOULD BE REORGANIZED. I WAS TO

LEARN LATER IN LIFE THAT WE TEND TO MEET ANY

NEW SITUATION BY REORGANIZATION…… AND A

WONDERFUL METHOD IT CAN BE FOR CREATING

THE ILLUSION OF PROGRESS WHILE PRODUCING

CONFUSION, INEFFICIENCY AND DEMORALIZATION.

-- GAIUS PETRONIUS ARBITERDIED 66 A.D.

K. Wesson, July 2012

“Let me keep my mind on what matters,

which is my work, which is mostly

standing still and learning to be

astonished.”

-- “The Messenger” by Mary Oliver


Today’s Kindergartners…

• Will retire in the year 2072 (?) • In what ways are you preparing them for

success in the years between 2012 and

2072?

• What foundations for learning must we

establish for them?


1900 Workplace Demands

Highly skilled

Low skilled

• Avg. age to enter work force

• Avg. age to leave work force

14

47

• Life expectancy 47

2010 Workplace Demands

Highly skilled

Low skilled

• Avg. age to enter the workplace 21• Number of career changes 5-8• Est. Life expectancy in 2100 107 -124!

Did you see the man turn his face?

1. Focus your attention on his eye

2. Then shift your attention to his neck and chin area

By looking at things differently, we can see something new.

Creativity: approaching problems with a fresh perspective and multiple perspectives


Technology will not replace the

need to be literate. --Rebecca Alber, UCLA

“The 21st Century”


The Toolbox for Today’s Learning Professionals

1 Web browser 2 Social bookmarking tool 3 Blogging tool 4 RSS/Feed reader 5 Micro- blogging tool 6 Email 7 Instant Messaging 8 Personal productivity tool 9 Mind mapping

10 Presentation tool 11 Presentation sharing tool 12 Online office suite

13 Web conferencing 14 Course authoring tool 15 Screen Capture 16 Demo/Screencasting Tool 17 Web authoring 18 Wiki tool 19 Image/photo tools 20 Audio/podcasting tools 21 Video tools 22 Personal dashboard 23 Course management system 24 Social networking 25 Integrated social media platform

We don't need more information; we

need more effective strategies for

1. retrieving just what we want

(memory or technology)

2. understanding it

3. managing information


Learning for the 21st Century

– Learning to learn in order to learn more, and to re-learn several times during one’s lifetime (“information explosion”)

– Flexibility in thinking

– Abstract thinking

– Learning how to live with and work with a new sense of number and new technologies

– Creative and innovative thinking (visualization)


What Are Other Countries Doing?

The European Union designated 2009 as the European Year of Creativity and Innovation, holding conferences on

a. The neuroscience of creativityb. Financing teacher trainingc. Instituting PBL programs—curricula driven

by real-world inquiry—for children/adults.

China is reducing the practice of “drill-and-kill” through widespread teacher reform and PD.


• Many of history's most prominent scientists were quite accomplished in the arts.

• MacArthur “genius” Robert Root-Bernstein, in his book Sparks of Genius, details a startling finding.

• Researched the lives of 150+ renowned scientists from Pasteur to Einstein: A single common trait.

• Nearly all of the greatest scientists, inventors and innovators, were also musicians, artists, sculptors or poets.

Creative Minds and the Brain


skill

s/kn

ow

led

ge

Content

Learning on the Diagonal


The Creativity Index

The “Creativity Index” (the “Gold Standard” in creativity assessment )

Torrance’s “Creativity Index” predicted the creative accomplishments as adults.

Children with ↑ number of good ideas on Torrance’s tasks grew up to be entrepreneurs, inventors, college

presidents, authors, doctors, diplomats, and software developers.

Jonathan Plucker (Indiana U) reanalyzed Torrance’s data: The correlation of CQ to lifetime creative

accomplishment was three times+ stronger for childhood creativity than childhood IQ.



“But test scores are not measures of entrepreneurship or creativity. Not even scores on the intensely watched and universally worshiped Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, are good indicators of a nation's capacity for entrepreneurship and creativity. In the book World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students, Yong Zhao, the author found a significant negative relationship between PISA performance and indicators of entrepreneurship.”

Initiated in 1999, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, or GEM, is an annual assessment of entrepreneurial activities, aspirations, and attitudes of individuals in more than 50 countries. GEM has become the world's largest entrepreneurship study. Thirty-nine countries that participated in the 2011 GEM also participated in the 2009 PISA, and 23 out of the 54 countries in GEM are considered "innovation-driven" economies, which means developed countries.”

Yong Zhao, College of Education at the University of Oregon, is a professor of educational measurement, policy, and leadership. His latest book is World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students.

Test Scores vs. Entrepreneurship

Good thinking is a matter of making

connections, and knowing what kinds

of connections to make.

---David Perkins


Math

Engineering

ThematicInstruction

Art

Reading/LATechnology

Science


• Enrichment studies: Examine the effects of enrichment or deprivation on brain development, neurogenesis, neuronal growth and synaptogenesis.

• While neurons generally grew in size, measures of (a) increased dendritic density(b) increases in the number of glial cells(c) myelination of the axons (d) changes in brain weight and overall brain volume

• No toys or playmates all growth measures (impoverished)

• Playmates + a change of toys every other day (Enriched environments)

• Changing toys every hour: → similar neural connections in brain growth and development (your school day??)

Learning: When “More” Becomes “Less”


Obstacle:

Conceptual “holes” in a student’s thinking

caused by a lack of clear connections

and practice knowing (finding, seeing

and understanding) where the

connections are and what the

connection is.


The Hole Illusion

• Roll a sheet of paper lengthwise into a tube shapeapproximately 2 inches in diameter. • Hold the tube up to your left eye with your left hand.• Focus on an object 12-15 feet away with both eyes,

with the left eye still looking through the tube. • Hold right hand 8-10 inches in front of right eye -- with right hand open/palm facing towards you.• Move your right hand towards side of the paper tube

until your little finger touches the edge • With both eyes open you should see a strange sight. • What happened?


“A Hole in the Concept” - Instructions

1.Read the excerpt on the next slide at normal speed.

2. Do not skim or give up halfway (read through to the end.)

3. Once you've finished, ask yourself how do you feel about reading the paragraph.


“A Hole in the Concept”

A newspaper is better than a magazine. A seashore is better place

than the street. At first it is better to run than to walk. You may have

to try several times. It takes some skill, but it is easy to learn. Even

young children can enjoy it. Once successful, complications are

minimal. Birds seldom get too close. Rain, however soaks in very

fast. Too many people doing the same thing can also cause

problems. One needs lots of room. If there are no complications, it

can be very peaceful. A rock will serve as an anchor. If things

break loose from it, however, you will not get a second chance.

On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're NotRobert A. Burton, M.D.

Note what happens in your mind when a

title is added.

• Re-read the excerpt (knowing the title,

now with no change to the contents)

Was this paragraph comprehensible or

is it meaningless to you?

Making Connections


A newspaper is better than a magazine. A seashore is better

place than the street. At first it is better to run than to walk.

You may have to try several times. It takes some skill, but it is

easy to learn. Even young children can enjoy it. Once

successful, complications are minimal. Birds seldom get too

close. Rain, however soaks in very fast. Too many people

doing the same thing can also cause problems. One needs

lots of room. If there are no complications, it can be very

peaceful. A rock will serve as an anchor. If things break loose

from it, however, you will not get a second chance.

Flying a Kite


• After seeing the word "kite," we quickly go back and test

each sentence against this single connecting piece

of new information.

• What created your shift from not knowing to knowing?

• When did that “shift” take place for you as you re-

read the paragraph?

• At what point did you make a “cognitive leap” from

confused (emotionally unsettling) to “knowing”?

• How often does this happen to our students, but

they never are allowed to make the connection?

Making Connections


Science

Technology

Engineering

Mathematics

Reading/Language Arts (Standards)

Art

Drawing/diagramming, visual spatial thinking, imagery, inferential

thinking, 2/3-dimensional modeling, symbolic models, interpreting visual evidence, visual representations -

illustrations, charts, etc.

Visual Literacy

S.T2.R.E.A.M.

Reading, writing, discourse, argumentation, vocabulary development, comprehension, journals, note-booking,

lab reports, summaries, oral presentations, recording interpreting and

critiquing data and information

Convergent and IntegrativeK. Wesson, July 2012

We “hook” students on learning by “hooking” together our curriculum (PBL) and by integrating ideas across the disciplines (ideas, concepts and content are seen as relevant in multiple contexts).

Doing so prepares students for 1. The real-world (relevant to my life beyond the

lesson, the classroom, and the school)2. Increasingly complex and abstract concepts that

require background knowledge from multiple fields of study (relevant and connected to each other)

3. Higher education, graduate work, and careers in the 21st century workplace


• Brain spurts: Increases in the volume of the human cranium that coincided with impressive advances in cognitive, emotional, communicative and social capabilities.

1. Upright walking (bipedalism): (4.3M to 2M years ago): Hominid cranium 1/3 of present day - Australopithecus fossils

• Tool usage: (2.4M years ago): The ability to ascertain the tool-potential in objects and tool-making ability (problem-solving) - Homo Habilis: Oldowan tools are the oldest known, appearing first in the Gona and Omo Basins in Ethiopia about.

Advances Prompting Brain Changes


The Heritage of theHuman Brain

Homo habilis began an exponential brain growth (enlarging the cerebral cortex and expanding the cranium to

encase/protect the new large brain).

Within 2M years, the Homo sapiens brain →2X to 1350 cm2. The most distinguishing features -- cognitive abilities

1. to create tools and technology2. to reason and plan3. to imagine and build speculative plans based on

invented mental scenarios


3. Art, artifacts and symbolism:

∙ Objects with irresistibly striking visual (representational) properties, “manuports”

∙ Ornamental jewelry (shells, bones, stones, beads, etc.) ∙ Engraved objects 300K years old

∙ Wall paintings 60- 40K years old∙ Cognition and representational skills (thinking: building bridges between symbols, experiences and ideas) the foundations for language development and abstractions.

4. Complex social structure and relationships ∙ Cro-Magnon man (40-10K years ago) ∙ Large-group living ∙ Communication: Nonverbal gestures, hand movements,

Broca’s Area, limited oral language.

Advances Prompting Brain Changes



…increasingly relied upon patterns and relationships in nature to plan their future actions/responses (behavior) accordingly in an environment that was subject to change at a moment’s notice.

Daily, these early “scientist-explorers” devoted time to (1)making those connections(2)storing accurate memory records(3)visualizing appropriate responses.

Matters relevant to the danger-opportunity continuum warranted visualization and memorization.


5. Oral language:

∙ Fostered the ability to preserve and transmit information and

ideas from one generation to another (oral tradition).

6. Language, symbols and the printing press (570 years ago):

∙ Symbolic usage of language: Representational advancements

∙ Opened a new dimension in the brain for the long-term

recording of communications and other information.

∙ Trans-generational learning and communications were made

possible (culture, religion, literature) in the absence of the

“history-keeper.” Increased the shared sense of reality

among members of a social group.• Replaced the need for “oral tradition”


7. Technology: ∙ Tools designed to extend the normal ranges of human sensory

systems, memory systems and communications (telescope, microscope, telephone, radio, TV, etc.)

∙ Advanced technology: Computers, Internet, DVD simulations

∙ Virtual reality/virtual sensory experiences: Experience anything in the world from virtually anywhere in the world. Travel to other lands, outer space, beneath the sea, death-defying, etc.

∙ Obliterating the limitations of time/place, which had governed all previous interactions for generations of human

beings. Asynchronous, not occurring at the same time, and asyntopic, not occurring in the same physical place.

Advances Prompting Changes in the Human Brain


Is our species on the verge of experiencing another neurological “Brain spurt”?

Our evolutionary history would suggest an answer in the affirmative.

Advances Prompting Changes in the Human Brain


Why Is the Human Brain “Folded”?

• More than 3.5 million years ago…

Walk upright

Reliance vision (enemies, mates, etc.) on smell

Cognitive activities: decision-making

Use of language, tools, nomadic existence, navigating complex social arrangements/hierarchies (“socialized mind”).

• Evolutionary problem

Brain’s versatility increased brain growth 4X (2.5 sq. ft.)

Larger cranial vault

Back began to support the body’s entire weight

Thicker pelvis to accommodate the additional weight

The thickening of the pelvis narrowing of the birth canal



• Birth canal was decreasing while the brain was

increasing in size to 102-105% the size of the

cervix

• CPD: “cephalopelvic disproportion” or IC:

“incompetent cervix” (Geometry, Obstetrics,

Physics and Economics)



The evolutionary “corrections” –

Human infants would be born extremely early during their development (prenatal)

A significantly larger percentage of a parent’s life would be devoted to child-rearing

Humans would experience the longest period of postnatal helplessness in the animal kingdom.

Parenting lasts for ____ years?


We were never “born to read.”

We Were Born to Learn


The Heritage of the Human Brain

• Human beings have always been naturally explorers/scientists and have been so inclined for the last 4.5 to 5M years.

• In their quest to respond to danger and opportunities, and the most important of all cognitive tasks -- survival.


Our ancestors’ survival was determined by…

• Discovering patterns to understand/predict the

ever- changing world around them

• We became the only animal on the planet that looks

for problems and invents problems to solve.

We even practice solving imaginary problems in

school -- preparation for adulthood.

• Scientists estimate that 99.99% of all species that

have ever lived on earth are extinct today.

Practicing for real and imagined problems has

played a vital role in our long term survivalK. Wesson, July 2012

The Human Brain Evolved As…

1. An emotional2. A pattern-seeking device 3. Finely tuned to solve problems in the context

of the real-world4. While moving about outdoors 5. In largely unpredictable conditions in order to

survive to the next day or beyond. (brain-compatible schools?)

1. Lived → passed on the genes that carried those successful adaptation strategies.

2. Failed → a “final” exam



Early man learned to visualize future possibilities by using imaginationasking the right questionsmaking observationsclassifying objects and eventsmaking predictionsthoughtfully conducting tests and experimenting

operating on “best-guesses” and hunchesframing explanations based on evidence

communicating ideasusing trial-and-error strategiesrevising their thinking as-needed → “making sense”


Innovation

We teach children that “Columbus sailed the ocean blueIn fourteen hundred and ninety-two.”

1. But why 1492?

2. What made it the “right time” for Columbus’ transatlantic journey?

3. What were some of the innovations in technology surfacing at the time?


Technological Advances

1. The design of a new ship, “caravels” made them faster and easier to navigate than other ships at that time. Time requirements for transatlantic travel was cut

to “do-able.”



2. Inventions like the astrolabe and

The mariner's compass made

long difficult trips feasible.



• Cartography ↑ the accuracy of map-making (↑detail ↑ accuracy).

• The European techniques for printing had taken on a new ↑ dimension (Gutenberg)

• ↑ mathematical procedures for estimating the earth’s circumference → greater accuracy in estimating Europe ↔ the New World


Early Brain Surgery

In 1865, an archeologist found a skull in southern France with a large hole in the cranium. “The area around the hole had been polished expressly made for the application of the lips” in order to drink from the

skull (gruesome drinking vessel).

• Consistent with 19th century thinking – “barbarous savages” drinking from one another’s skulls.

•The “polish” was actually the re-growth of bone tissue after cutting a hole in the skull. A cut but bone surface reveals tiny pores that are easily visible to the naked eye. When bones heal, tissue builds up blocking the pores causing a smooth appearance (Prof. Paul Broca – Paris).


Early Brain Surgery

Trepanation or trephination – a recognized surgical practice performed throughout the world (crainoplasty) to relieve pressure on the brain (e.g., hydrocephaly), tumors, for individuals with severe/ incurable headaches, as well as for severe head trauma (battle casualties)

• The Incas of Peru• Burial sites in prehistoric Europe• 4K year-old skull found in Crichel Down, England• Palestinians goals of 6th century BC• Some skulls have been found with more than one completely healed (polished) hole indicating multiple successful operations for these patients.


Early Brain Surgery


• Some guiding principles for creativity

and innovation are needed for

schools. Without them, the genuine

excitement of creative problem- solving

instead becomes a tunnel of

confusion and frustration for both

students and teachers.

Creative Thought Models



SolutionProblem

Ask questionsDefine the precise problem

Analyze assumptionsAnalyze answers/available data

What is generic, specific and relatedCall on relevant prior knowledge

Consult (people/references)Plan investigation

Generate new questionsUse imagination/seek creative solutions

Repeat steps wherever necessary


Linda Nieman, founder of Creativity At Work: “If you have ideas and don’t act on them, then you are imaginative, but not creative.”

Creativity: involves interactive instructional resources or hands-on learning, where students learn by applying creative thinking processes by experimenting in problem solving using realistic exercises and situations in varying levels of complexity (emphasized by the new Common Core State Standards at all grade levels)


Creativity: Inventions 1.The necessity of human ingenuity is undisputed.

Early inventors had to:• Imagine (envision the final product and that

product in use)• Illustrate, draw or design their product• Build prototypes (model) • Test their model• Refine the design of their prototype and revise

the model if necessary• Produce a final product in order to use it


To solve (real or perceived) needs, we…

• generate ideas for products

• design (invent) products

• bring finished products to market to sell

• create advertisements to sell products (solutions)

• salesman sell those products using logic,

argumentation, emotions, social skills, etc.

• enhance existing products ("new and improved",

i-Pad, i-Pad2, i-Pad3, etc.) based on new

perceived customer “needs”)


Balance

= washers

Table 2 inches

1 inch

= 12 inch ruler

2020

2012

4

1 inch

Balance and Engineering: The Cantilever Bridge Challenge

The cantilever bridge will extend 28+ inches from the edge of the table with no hinges

6 more rulers =21 in total


Superintendent’s ConferenceBismarck, ND (June 2012):

27 rulers/28 inchesK. Wesson, July 2012

Searcy, AR (July 25, 2012):

39 rulers/40 inches!K. Wesson, July 2012

Counter-weight(grams)

Distance

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

4000

3800

3600

3400

3200

3000

2800

2600

2400

2200

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1400

1200

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600

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200


Guest Editorial: “Minds, Maps and Models”by K. Wesson

Sept. 2011

June 5, 2012 NSTA Announcement

Association of Educational Publishers 2011 Distinguished Achievement Award:

The Best One-theme Issue for an Education Journal


We want to known best as the innovation nation

instead of a high-stakes testing nation,

where two-thirds of the hours in a school year

should not be devoted to prepping students

for tests leaving no time for building

richness and experiencing creativity

through engaging and relevant learning.


“I’m Just a Teacher”

What do you make?

Every day you fight for what is and what is most important to our next

generation of creative minds.

“I make a difference!”


Contact Information:

Kenneth Wesson(408) 323-1498 (office)(408) 826-9595 (cell)

San Jose, CA [email protected]

Next Generation Success Will Be By Innovation Only:

Learning For The Future, Not The Past


http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/common_cents/g.html

Documents

Kenneth Wesson Educational Consultant: Neuroscience San Jose, CA kenawesson@aol