Transcript Slide 1

Da Vinci, the Bauhaus Movement, Technology and the 21stCentury Educator
Morgan P. Appel
Director, Education Department
In ancient Egypt, when
humans were preserved
through mummification, the
brain was discarded--viewed
as a superfluous organ. It was
believed that the heart was
the center of all emotion and
learning.
Disaggregating and making
sense of the cognitive and
socio-affective
characteristics of gifted and
talented individuals
(ongoing)
Developing a practical
understanding of the
neuroscience of learning and
teaching and the reciprocal
integrated nature of all
disciplines (STEAM)
Creating integrated
opportunities for ‘flow,’
driven by choice, interest
and learning style
Understanding the changing
balance between formal and
informal learning as driven
by everyday technologies
Working collaboratively with
gifted and talented to
become critical producers
and consumers of
information
Providing increasingly
sophisticated opportunities
for engagement that extend
beyond the core
Moving beyond
differentiation and
toward
PERSONALIZATION
using technology and
strategies beyond
ability grouping
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Remembers answers and
needs about 6-8
repetitions to master
Alert and observant;
attentive and interested
Pleased with own
learning and gets high
marks
Works hard to achieve,
learns with ease
Is a technician with
expertise in his/her field,
responds with interest
and opinions
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Perf0rms at the top of
the group and absorbs
information
Is accurate and
complete, memorizes
well
Understands complex
humor
Enjoys company of age
peers
Completes assignments
on time, answers
questions in detail
Source: B. Kingore, 2003. High Achiever, Gifted Learner, Creative Learner. Understanding Our Gifted
Poses unforeseen
questions and is curious
 Knows without working
hard and is beyond the
group
 Needs 1-3 repetitions for
mastery
 Prefers company of
intellectual peers
 Ponders with depth and
multiple perspectives
 Is intellectual and
anticipates/relates
observations
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Infers and connects
concepts
Creates complex/abstract
humor and is intense
Initiates projects and
extensions of assignments
Enjoys self-directed
learning and is
original/continually
developing
Is an expert who abstracts
beyond the field; guesses
and infers well
Is self critical and may not
be motivated by grades
Source: B. Kingore, 2003. High Achiever, Gifted Learner, Creative Learner. Understanding Our Gifted
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Sees exceptions and
wonders
Plays with ideas and
concepts
Relishes wild, off-thewall humor
Comprehends in-depth
and complex ideas
Enjoys improvisation
and creating
Is his/her own group
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Questions the need for
mastery
Brainstorms
Intuitive
Inventor
Enjoys working alone,
but the company of
creative peers
Shares bizarre and
often conflicting
opinions
Source: B. Kingore, 2003. High Achiever, Gifted Learner, Creative Learner. Understanding Our Gifted
The Original
Renaissance Man
As every divided
kingdom falls,
so every mind
divided between
many studies
confounds and saps
itself.
Everything is
connected to
everything else.
Leonardo da Vinci
The brain learns through multiple senses and modalities
The brain thrives on process and making sense of new information
The brain works in context when processing new information
The brain uses patterns to make sense of information
The brain uses scaffolding to process new information
Neuroplasticity: the lifelong ability of the brain to reorganize neural
pathways based on new experiences
Physiologically, like a coin making an impression in clay—the clay must
change to hold the impression of the coin
Consider the old saw ‘Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man
to fish and he eats for a week’
The brain works in a very similar way: it thrives on making sense of
process!
Process reinvigorates the brain through re-establishing neural networks
1. The brain is a complex adaptive system.
2. The brain is a social brain.
3. The search for meaning is innate.
4. The search for meaning occurs through patterning.
5. Emotions are critical to patterning.
6. Every brain simultaneously perceives and creates parts and wholes.
7. Learning involves both focused attention and peripheral attention.
8. Learning always involves conscious and unconscious processes.
9. We have at least two ways of organizing memory.
10. Learning is developmental.
11. Complex learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat.
12. Every brain is uniquely organized.
Source: Caine and Caine (1997)
Functional Magnetic
Resonance Imaging
(fMRIs) show ‘brain on
fire’ in gifted
individuals
Gifted individuals are
multimodal thinkers
Great integrators and
organizers of multiple
senses and modalities
“Hypersensitive”
brains
Source: newhorizons.org
Enhanced sensory
awareness that can be
further cultivated
through experience
and training
Both initial
impressions and later
recollections are
unusually vivid
Increased memory
efficiency and capacity
Multimodality: making
connections that
others do not
Source: newhorizons.org
• Associational thinking;
organizational skills;
analytical thinking
However:
Sensory, emotional and
memory overload
Personal
disorganization
Distractibility
Mental fatigue
“Analysis Paralysis”
Source: newhorizons.org
Gifted pupils learn with
less repetition and fewer
explanations (may be
modality specific)
Enhanced sensitivity
may lead to distractibility
and to incorrect
assumptions about
ADHD
Distractibility should be
balanced with a degree
of task persistence
(otherwise evaluate and
diagnose)
Source: newhorizons.org
Incidental learning
“Cognitive Flypaper”
Information wealthy—need
resources to facilitate
thinking processes (the
brain thrives on process) –
not an abundance of
information
Metacognitive training,
rumination and reflection
Practical application
Source: newhorizons.org
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What does it really mean to
S.T.E.A.M?
 What is not the big idea
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(perchance, to dream)?
See both forest and trees
Understand the porous nature
that is the interconnectivity
within and across disciplines
Metacognition, collaboration
and leadership versus pure
content knowledge
Celebrate mistakes
Production is tangible, tacit
and meaningful—where hard
science meets and is
interpreted through the arts
 Thinking like a multi-
disciplinarian/ Language of the
multi-disciplinarian
 JITL: Not knowing everything,
but where to get it and when to
use it (metacognitive
contingencies of knowledge
use)
 Using multiple perspectives
and lenses to address and make
sense of challenges,
opportunities and
circumstances
 The brain is an aesthetic
organ—creativity and problem
solving should produce
enjoyment
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Importance of patterns
and integration
Solving complex problems
using multiple data and
strategies
Interpreting through a
variety of lenses and
moving beyond the ‘sum
of parts’
Engaging the ‘gifted brain’
and working with socioaffective characteristics of
giftedness and talent
Need motivation
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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1975, 1990)/positive psychology
A Zen-like, intensive state in which an individual becomes
completely emerged in an experience
“In the groove,” OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE, “In the zone”
Time stops (almost a meditative state) or flies
“Seeing the seams of the baseball” or “seeing the Matrix”
Losing oneself so that one is so focused, s/he is unaware of
distractions, even bodily needs
A universal and cross-cultural experience
Connectivity between emotion, motivation and
internalization
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Balance between individual’s ability and level of
difficulty in the challenge (cannot be too easy or
difficult or flow cannot occur).
Goals should be clear. Expectations are foreseen
and goals are attainable.
High degree of concentration in a limited field of
attention—person should be able to focus and
become deeply engaged in the activity.
A loss of self-consciousness is experienced
(unaware of self and what the self is doing).
Sense of time transcendence (subjective
experience of time is altered—passes
quickly/slowly/slow motion)
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Direct and immediate feedback should be available
so behavior can be adjusted (merging action and
awareness)
Empowerment/sense of personal control over the
situation or activity
Effortless of action brought about by absorption in
the activity
Lack of awareness of bodily needs (hunger/fatigue)
In education, ‘feeling’ the lesson and using smaller,
highly engaging holistic assignments that counteract
boredom and feelings of being overwhelmed
Clear set of goals related to the activity, adding
direction and structure (ambiguity threatens
Flow)
 Balance between ability and challenge
 Enjoying something in the long term requires
that tasks increase in complexity
 Some tasks must have immediate
results/feedback (success breeds
success/making corrections)
 Flow cannot be environmentally manipulated or
forced (but can be encouraged)
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From the Bauhaus
Movement
Only work which is
the product of inner
compulsion can
have spiritual
meaning.
A modern, harmonic
and lively architecture
is the visible sign
of an authentic
democracy.
Walter Gropius
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“House of Construction” –
Germany, early 20th century
Intellectual and practical
harmony, with form following
function
Innovation, emphasizing
freedom, process, fun and flow
Professed unity among the
arts and the sciences,
emphasizing the importance
of aesthetics
Importance of design and
mass production with ‘spirit’
Multisensory,
multidimensional, multimodal
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Process should be
enjoyable and transcend
boundaries
Challenge begats flow
which begats engagement
Solving complex problems
requires moving beyond
differentiation (does not
exclude group work,
however)
Personalization=more
intensive connections and
acuity—bridging to true
experiential learning/self
discovery
Soliloquy From Blade
Runner (1982)
I've... seen things you
people wouldn't believe...
[laughs] Attack ships on fire
off the shoulder of Orion. I
watched c-beams glitter in
the dark near the
Tannhäuser Gate. All
those... moments...
will be lost in time,
like [coughs] tears...
in... rain. Time... to die...
Replicant Roy Batty
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Internet searches, metacognition and neuroplasticity (exercising
the brain)
Enhanced learning capacity; higher processing rates;
automaticity; improved memory and recall; enhanced ability to
pay/sustain attention; reduction in impulsive responses; among
others [Critical Consumer]
Promotes opportunities for novelty and personalization, as well as
infusion of choice for advanced learners
Moving beyond formal learning resources and organizing to fit the
needs of a more self-guided learning experience [Personalization]
Engagement, empowerment and interest
Opportunities to ‘live’ the curriculum in an active, involved and
communal way [STEAM]
LITTLE THINGS go a very long way—they hold your attention!
Long story short, when used correctly, technology promotes
Flow.
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Formal Resources: Courses; textbooks;
trainings; literature and other media; official
websites; television; radio; among others
Informal Resources: Networks; YouTube;
Facebook; LinkedIn; Flickr; Google; Itunes;
Netflix; Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
Balance is Tantamount —based on your
resource preferences and learning styles. What
technology tools do you use? For what
purposes? How do you organize learning? How
do you map it out?
‘Buffets for the Brain’
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Customizing sets of online/offline resources (content;
presentation; navigation support; and educational services) to
address the unique learning styles, profiles and interests of the
individual user
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Benefits:
 Engages students as creators (versus strict consumers) of education
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and information
Promotes ownership of knowledge and participation in assessment
Offers choice and autonomy, values dimensions beyond cognitive
Real-life connections and creativity
Promotes critical thinking and sound habits of mind
Opportunities to share ideas and processes in an integrated way
Interdependence and mutual respect between teacher and student
Enhances tiering, grouping and scaffolding
EXAMPLES
MORE
EXAMPLES
From daVinci, we learn that all things are integrated
and that we must challenge the way education has
been undertaken since the dawn of the industrial
age—lest we sap our creative energies
 From the Bauhaus, we learn that these undertakings
can benefit from a free-spirited collaboration and
that the whole is often greater than the sum of its
parts. We must transcend traditional ways of
teaching and learning to move forward
 STEAM offers a unique opportunity to engage in
multidisciplinary problem solving that challenges and
engages the cognitive and affective
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Personalization, choice and use of
technologies stimulate ‘flow’ and offer
multiple opportunities for creatives and
gifted to become critical consumers and
producers of information
Personalization, choice and use of
technologies offer occasion for creatives and
gifted to hone metacognitive processing and
organizational skills, as well as to work
collaboratively in a variety of contexts
Morgan Appel, Director
Education Department
UC San Diego Extension
9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0170-N
La Jolla, California 92093-0170
[email protected]
858-534-9273
extension.ucsd.edu/education