Transcript How Children Learn

How Children Learn
Jason Carr
Lucy Hill
Laura Rosencrans
Ashley Martin
Recipe
• 23 chex squares
• 15 raisins
• 8 peanuts
• 13 pretzels
• 21 M&M’s
• 5 bagel chips
Place ingredients in a plastic bag and shake.
Then pour in a big bowl and enjoy!
Learning Styles
Cognitive Styles
• Over 80 methods
• Myers Briggs Type Indicator
• Howard Gardner's Multiple
Intelligence Model
• Jackson’s Learning Styles Profiler
(LSP)
• Most commonly known model:
Visual, Audio, Kinesthetic
(VAK and VARK)
• Visual Learners: 30%
May use terms such as:
See how this works
I can’t quiet picture it
I never forget a face.
• Audio Learners: 25%
May use terms such as:
That sounds about right
It’s coming through loud and clear
That’s music to my ears
• Kinesthetic Learners: 40%
May use terms such as:
Stay in touch
That doesn’t sit right with me
I have a good feeling about this
What type of learner
are you?
•Assessment Instruments
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Questionnaires
• http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/il
sweb.html
Importance
• For Students:
Learning style influence the way that
you learn.
• Instructors:
Use the way that each student learns
and models their teaching accordingly.
Themes in Learning
• Children think in qualitatively
different ways at different ages.
– Saying the phrase “Your eyes are bigger
than your stomach.”
– Conservation (demonstration)
Themes in Learning
• Children actively construct their
knowledge.
– children are not passive learners, but
actively construct and build their
knowledge.
Themes in Learning
• Development builds upon prior
understanding
– Children use what they know to help
them acquire more complex
understanding.
– Assimilation– Accommodation-
Learning Theorists
• Piaget- cognitive development theory
• Vygotsky- social cognitive theory
• Gardner's- multiple Intelligence
theory
Piaget- Cognitive
Development Theory
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Sensorimotor stage (birth until 2 yrs)
Preoperational stage (2-6yrs)
Concrete operations stage (7-12yrs)
Formal Operations stage (11 yrs
through adulthood)
In Middle Childhood Children are in the
Concrete Operations stage.
Concrete Operational Stage
• Children’s thought processes gradually
become more organized.
• Children can understand that their own
thoughts and feelings are not always
shared by others, but reflect personal
opinions.
• Show understanding of conservation
• Capable of multiple classification
• Deductive reasoning
Vygotsky Social Learning
Theory
• The child and the social environment collaborate
to mold cognition.
• Language development allows children to
participate in more dialogues with more
knowledgeable individuals.
• Children involve themselves in “private speech” as
well, which enhances their thinking and their
ability to control their own behaviors.
• Classrooms- Promote assisted discovery and peer
collaboration
• “zone of proximal development”
Intelligence
• IQ Scores
• Intelligence tests
– Measuring Intelligence
– Scores and limitations
Gardner’s Theory of
Multiple Intelligences
• Defines intelligence in terms of distinct
sets of processing operations that permit
individuals to engage in a wide range of
culturally valued activities.
• Gardner proposes at least eight
independent intelligences
• linguistic, logico- mathematical, musical,
spatial, bodily- kinesthetic, naturalist,
interpersonal, and intrapersonal
Brain Development
Key terms
• Myelinization
• Synapses Pruning
• Lateralization
The Effects of TV on the
Brain
• “1 - Watching TV puts the viewer into a highly suggestible
sleep like hypnotic state. This provides easy access to the
subconscious.
• 2 - When you watch TV, brain activity switches from the
left side of your brain (responsible for logical thought and
critical analysis) to the right side.
• This is significant because the right side of the brain does
not critically analyze incoming information, instead it uses
an emotional response. This means there is little or no
analysis of incoming information.”
The Effects of TV on the
Brain
• “3 - Right brain activity causes the body to release
chemicals which make it feel good (these are called
endorphins, a natural sedative with similar properties to
heroin). It is therefore not only possible, but probable, to
become physically addicted to TV. This ensures constant
daily exposure, a critical factor needed to program the
mind.
• 4 - Reduces higher brain activity, promoting activity in
lower brain regions. In other words it makes you less
intelligent and behave more like an animal.
• You may think that TV does no harm because you know it’s
not real, but did you know that your subconscious believes
it to be real? (this is why your heart beats faster while
watching horror films).”
TV And The Army
• After the 2nd World War, the US Army recognized the
need to create a soldier that was more willing to kill. This
came after reports that many soldiers would purposely miss
or aim low when shooting the enemy. Soldiers did not want
to kill and when they did kill would feel lots of remorse.
• To remedy this, one method that was used was to watch
violent images on screen, especially before going into battle.
The effect was to desensitize the solider to violence,
thereby making them more willing to kill.
The Effects of TV on the Brain
• On average people watch 5-6 hours
of TV a day. This amount of TV will
make it almost impossible to
reprogram your own mind (unless
viewing is eliminated or reduced).
Make sure you are
programming the brain and
not your TV!
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“If you want to program your subconscious for success then you
must make sure that you are doing the programming not someone
else.
Memory storage and cognitive function in the human brain includes
mainly the right and left cerebral hemispheres. Memory loss may
range from normal to a mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, or to a
more severe disturbance, such as dementia. People age 55 to 90
years may have forgetfulness characterized by MCI, but may not
be clinically diagnosed as having Parkinson's or Alzheimer's
disease.
Memory loss may be characterized as the difficulty or failure for
immediate or delayed recall. One type of memory loss relates to
the failure to recall, within a few seconds, a specific object.
What is the Brain?
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"The brain is a complex adaptive system."
"The brain is a social brain."
"The search for meaning occurs through patterning."
"Emotions are critical to patterning."
"The brain processes parts and wholes simultaneously."
"Learning involves both focused attention and peripheral
perception."
"Learning always involves conscious and unconscious processes."
"We have at least two different types of memory: a spatial
memory system and a set of systems for rote learning."
"We understand and remember best when facts and skills are
embedded in natural, spatial memory."
"Learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat."
Memory
In Middle Childhood
Memory
• The ability to store and access information
that has been acquired through
experience.
• Memory is a critical component of
practically all aspects of human thinking,
including perception, learning, language,
and problem solving.
Memory
• Improvement in memory strategy
use, is seen during middle
childhood.
• Strategy use contributes to more
effective information processing.
Short Term Memory
• As its name suggests, this only lasts
for a short period. It involves an
increase in the efficiency with which
nerve impulses pass across synapses.
Long-Term Memory
• This lasts for a long period. It
involves the formation of new
synaptic connections.
Grouping related items
• Grouping related items
helps children learn,
through recall.
• Recall- A type of memory
that involves something
without perceptual support.
Elaboration
• A memory strategy that involves
creating a relationship, between two
or more pieces of information that
are not related or members of the
same category.
Culture and Memory
• Memory is a natural byproduct of
daily activities and routine.
• Many memory strategies are related
to western school activities.
• Memory is also influenced by task
demands and cultural circumstances.
References
• Berk, Laura E. (2008) Infants and Children: Prenatal
through Middle childhood 6th edition. Pearson
• Bolhuis, J. (2000). Brain, perception, memory: advances in
cognitive neuroscience. Oxford University Press.
• Berk, Laura E. Development Through the Lifespan. Boston:
Pearson Education, 2007.
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References
http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_styles
Educational Psychology Ninth Edition, Anita Woolfolk,
Allyn & Bacon
Publishing, pg. 109-113.
http://surfaquarium.com/MI/overview.htm