"To enhance public awareness of the benefits to be derived from brain research," Congress designated the 1990s as the Decade of the Brain. Now, Education World takes a look at the results of some of the decade's brain research and explores the implications for you and your students.
According to Ronald Kotulak, the author of Learning
How to Use the Brain, scientists learned more about the brain during
the last decade than they learned during the entire century preceding
it. So if you've been out of school for even five or ten years, chances
are that much of what you learned about how the brain develops and functions
is obsolete. Does it matter? Take a look at some of the latest research
and find out.
According to brain researchers, the human brain contains billions of
nerve cells, or neurons, that receive, process, and transmit information.
Dendrites, tentacle-like branches of the nerve cells, provide the receptive
surfaces of those cells, creating connections between neurons and transmitting
information from one to another.
For many years, most scientists believed that each person was born with
a certain number of brain cells and, therefore, a genetically predetermined
intellectual capacity. The most recent research, however, appears to refute some of
those assumptions. Brain
Research and Education: Neuroscience Research Has Impact for Education
Policy, an Education Commission of the States (ECS) report, states,
"Research shows [that] much of the "wiring" of the brain's neurons
comes after birth and depends on the experiences infants and children
have." In other words, the brain is formed, at least in part, by the environment.
Marian Diamond, a neuroscientist at the University of California at
Berkeley, conducted experiments on rats to learn about the effects
of environment on neurons, dendrites, and intelligence. She found the
following:
- Rats raised in an enriched environment with opportunities for socialization
and many sensory experiences grew more dendrites in the cerebral cortex
-- the part of the brain where higher thinking occurs -- and demonstrated
greater ability to negotiate mazes than did rats raised in an impoverished
environment.
- Rats that could observe but not participate in an enriched environment
developed fewer changes in the cerebral cortex and demonstrated less
intelligence than did the rats that actively participated.
- Rats that were provided with a great number of enrichment experiences
at the same time became overstimulated and developed fewer changes in
the cerebral cortex than did rats that experienced an enrichment environment
spread out over time.
Diamond's experiments, and similar experiments by other scientists,
indicate that brains are not rigid at birth, but plastic -- "having the
ability to change structure and chemistry in response to the environment."
That plasticity, researchers say, means that intelligence is at least
partially determined by environment, and by other factors, such as nutrition,
prior learning, life experiences, and even beliefs and values. Although
scientists still believe that (for the most part) humans cannot grow new
neurons, they now believe that the brain can and does grow new dendrites
-- the connections between neurons that create memory and learning. The
number and efficiency of dendrites, neuroscientists say, determine how
much -- and how well -- the brain receives, processes, and retains information.
"Intelligence," said Diamond, "depends on the connections among the nerve
cells." And those connections depend, at least in part, on the quality
of the educational environment.
So what part of the research can be applied to your students and your
classroom? Educators who follow and interpret brain research at the North
Coast Professional Development Consortium have developed The
Twelve Principles for Brain-Based Learning to help teachers organize
and make sense of the data. The principles follow:
- The brain is a parallel processor in which thoughts, experiences,
and emotions operate simultaneously.
- Learning engages the entire physiology.
- The search for meaning is innate.
- The search for meaning occurs through patterning.
- Emotions are critical to patterning.
- Every brain simultaneously perceives and creates wholes and parts.
- Learning involves both focused attention and peripheral perception.
- Learning always involves conscious and unconscious processes.
- The brain uses at least two types of memory -- a spatial memory and
a set of systems for rote learning.
- The brain understands and remembers best when facts and skills are
embedded in natural spatial memory.
- Learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat.
- Each brain is unique.
In Is
the Fuss About Brain Research Justified?, David Sousa, an educational
consultant, presented an interpretation of how the latest brain research
might influence educational practice. He provides the following recommendations
based on research.
- A stimulating environment creates more connections in the brain, so
teachers must take advantage of the windows of opportunity that occur
in children between the ages of 2 and 11 by providing an enriched and
challenging educational environment. Windows of opportunity are
critical periods in the brain's development, when the brain is most
susceptible to input and most receptive to establishing neural connections
that foster memory and learning.
- The brain makes the most neural connections when it is actively involved
in learning, therefore, learning should be multisensory and interactive.
- Activities that involve emotion trigger the release of chemicals in
the brain that strengthen memory, so learning must be made meaningful
to each student.
- The human brain strives to create connections or patterns, so learning
should build on prior knowledge.
- The brain's hierarchy of tasks starts with physical survival, moves
to emotional survival, and only then turns to thinking and learning;
students must feel physically safe and emotionally secure before they
can learn.
- The brains of today's students are accustomed to rapidly changing
environmental stimuli, therefore, short learning periods are more effective
than long ones.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember, however, is that the research
shows that each brain is unique. The most effective teachers, therefore,
provide many opportunities for enrichment and implement a variety of instructional
strategies. Those strategies are most relevant and most successful when
teachers base their efforts on what researchers have discovered about the
brain. Sousa, a strong advocate for the educational application of brain
research, believes that school administrators have a responsibility to provide
educators with opportunities for studying and assessing that research. "Educators,"
he said, "must acquire a more scientific understanding of the brain before
they can determine the educational applications of the research." Sousa
added: "We need programs that give all prospective and current teachers
a working knowledge of brain growth and development and that include frequent
contacts with cognitive researchers to keep abreast of relevant research
findings. With such a long-term commitment, teachers will have the competence
to determine which classroom strategies are more compatible with the current
understanding of today's brain."
Enrichment
Is Key to Children's Intelligence and Creativity ...
This press release from the University of California at Berkeley describes
Magic Trees of the Mind: How to Nurture Your Child's Intelligence,
Creativity, and Healthy Emotions from Birth through Adolescence (E.
P. Dutton, 1998). This book, by Marian Diamond and Janet Hopson, is based
on their research and interviews with other brain and behavioral scientists.
How
Julie's Brain Learns
This article discusses the impact of a variety of educational practices
on the brain of a typical student with individual experiences, abilities,
and needs.
Making
Connections: Teaching and the Human Brain
This book provides discussion of the special characteristics of the brains
of today's students and how schools can adapt.
The
Brain . . . Use It or Lose It
This article by Marian Diamond describes how enriched educational environments
can affect brain growth and intelligence.
The
Significance of Enrichment
In this article by Marian Diamond, the brain scientists describes how
enriched educational environments can affect brain growth and intelligence.
What
"Whole Brain" Means: Why Wholeness Matters
This article discusses the factors that affect the brain.
The
Human Brain: A Learning Tool
This tutorial on the anatomy of the brain is from the Psychology Department
at Marymount College.
Brain
Research
These resources from the Mining Company include links to articles and
activities about the brain and education.
The
Whole Brain Atlas
This site provides more than you might ever want to know about the anatomy
of the brain and nervous system.
Walter McKenzie's
Multiple Intelligences Page
This site provides lots of links to articles, information, and activities
involving every kind of intelligence.
BEEMNET, the Brain Exchange
Electronic Mentorship Network
This research-oriented educational organization connects elementary-school
children and their teachers with research neuroscientists.
Embryological
Development of the Human Brain
A thorough discussion of the physical development of the brain.
Article by Linda Starr
Education World®
Copyright © 2005 Education World
Originally published 05/17/1999
Links last updated 02/07/2005
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