Title: The Changing Brains of Students and the Impact on Learning for Elementary Schools
1The Changing Brains of Students and the Impact on
Learning for Elementary Schools
- With Lin Kuzmich, Senior Consultant
- International Center for
- Leadership in Education
- Winter Symposium in San Diego
- February 9, 2008
2Key Questions for Our Session
- How do the changes in young childrens visual
systems impact literacy and learning? - What types of technological literacy do young
students need today? - What are the myths around the brain and math in
young children and how do we change our system to
respond? - What are the power tools for this generation of
diverse elementary learners?
3Introduction
- Getting to know each other
- Introduce yourselves at your table
- Given that our brains are shaped by the world
around us, what has changed for our students in
the last 10 yearsin the last 5 years? - Sampling from groups
41. Highly Visual 21st Century Learners
- Speed of processing
- Size of the brain devoted to visual processing
- Association prior to meaning
520th Century Tools
621st Century Tools
721st Century Learners
Digital Native Learners
- Multitasking
- Multimedia learning
- Online social networking
- Online info searching
- Games, simulations creative expressions
821st Century Learning
New Learning about Learning
- Context Real-world learning
- Caring Intrinsic motivation
- Construction Mental, actual
- virtual
model-building - Competence Multiple intelligences,
- styles,
contribution - Community Learning socially in
groups teams
From National Research Council, Edited by
Bransford, Brown and Cocking
9The CNN Effect and Your Classroom
- The CNN screen and other media and
technology are numbing students visual systems
to subtle changes. - Advertisers know this and so do Hollywood
filmmakers. - What does it mean in the classroom?
- Attention and motivation factors
10Tools that Work for Highly Visual 21st Century
Learners
- Short video clips before, during and after
learning - Environmental Impacting unit by unit
- Use of technology
- Use of color coding, text coding, and cueing
- What else would you add?
112. Technological Literacy at the Elementary Level
- Searching
- Organizing
- Quality of Sources
- Usefulness of Sources
12Literacy for Student Growth in Grades K-6 A
Framework for Results
a. Functional Literacy Learning to read, write,
speak and listen c. Technological Literacy Using
reading, writing, speaking and listening in
multimedia venues to create products and
demonstrations of learning
b. Content Literacy Reading, writing, speaking
and listening to demonstrate content area
learning d. Innovative Literacy Reading,
writing, speaking and listening to do or solve
something complex, invent something unique or
produce something innovative
13Changes in Literacy for the 21st Century
- Increasing demands of non-prose text such as
websites, iPods, cell phones, charts, maps,
graphs, photos, composite devices, etc. - Changes in texts, newspapers, work documents
- The need for Quantitative Literacy
14Three Aspects of DTQ 21st Century Literacy
1. Previewing the Document or Source
2. Understanding the Task
Document, Technological, and Quantitative Litera
cy Skills
3. Completing the Process
These 3 aspects are comprised of 14 Core Skills
for DTQ Literacy
Adapted from Mosenthal, Kirsch,
Guthrie, deGeus, Reitman,
and Kuzmich
15Describe the Document Type, Similar Types and Uses
16Describe the Document Type, Similar Types and Uses
17Predict the Type of Prompts Or Questions
Write Your Own
18List Conventions of Organization, Search-ability
and Uses of the Conventions
List other non-prose formats in your content area
and the conventions and uses for the conventions.
19Uses for a Document or Source T-Charting
20K-W-L for Documents P-A-R (Purpose, Action,
Results)
21Tip for Locating Information in Print Documents
and Relating Content to The Real World
- Mail Treasure Hunt Directions
- Bring in a week worth of junk mail and newspapers
- Sort by similar items like catalogs, credit card
applications, sections of the newspaper (in math
class look for items involving finance and other
real world applications of math) - Assign students to groups by type of mail or
section of the newspaper - List similar conventions in labels, taglines,
organization between documents from multiple
companies - Each group develops rules on chart paper for
making searches easier and shares with others
this activity is like a jigsaw
22The Triple Venn
Travelocity
Expedia
Travel Websites
Orbitz
23Sequence Mapping
24Rules for Revising Your Search Plan
- I found some of the information, but not
all of it. - I reread the question or prompt, and I predict
the information is in this source - I reread the labels, title, taglines in the
document or source. - I re-evaluated my goal or question and it is
still valid.
25Technological Literacy and Information Amount
- From Lynne Anderson-Inman Electronic Text
Literacy Medium of the Future - Modifiable
- Enhanceable
- Programmable
- Linkable
- Searchable
- Collapsible
- Collaborative
More factors may give you more utility, however,
more factors make the site increasingly complex.
26Bring the Real World into the Classroom Great
Websites to Use
- www.fedstats.gov
- www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/vsus/vsus.htm
- www.census.gov
- http//nces.ed.gov
- www.bls.gove
- http//fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/h
istcensus/
273. Mathematical Learning And Quantitative Literacy
- Babies have a concept of counting called
numerosity - Numbers have meaning for us just like music or
words - Number sense emerges in babies as well
- The ability to compare the sizes of two
collections shown simultaneously - The ability to remember numbers of objects
presented successively in time - Many animals have numerosity
28Developmental Nature of Math
- Piaget was wrong in saying children do not
develop conceptual understanding of arithmetic
until they are seven or eight - Piaget influenced educators since the early
1950s and we have been slow to change - Many of Piagets constructivist theories have
been disproved since the mid 1990s with better
brain technologythe earlier we work on
mathematical ideas the better - Infants develop numerosity in the first year
- Toddlers develop early number sense prior to age
3 - Sousa, 2007
29Early Number Sense
- Recognizing the number of objects in a small
collection is part of innate number sense and
requires no counting this is called subitizing
(from the Latin word for sudden) - When the number in a collection exceeds the
limits of subitizing, counting becomes necessary - Clements (1999) describes two types of
subitizing - Perceptual subitizing involves recognizing a
number without using other mathematical processes - Conceptual subitizing allows one to know the
number of a collection by recognizing a familiar
pattern, such as the spatial arrangement of dots
on dice or fingers on a hand
30Subitizing
Perceptual Subitizing
Conceptual Subitizing
31Young Children
- At 30 months, most children are exposed to
counting and numbers - These toddlers know that we can count sounds and
other imagery - They already have the foundations of conceptual
math - By the age of three, most children know there are
separate words to describe a number of things and
can answer the question of how many? - They get the order in which to say numbersthree
large dogs rather than large three dogs - One to one correspondence is in place (if we are
still teaching this in Kindergarten it is very
late)
32Easier Languages, Easier Math
- Chinese and Japanese children learn number words
and correspondence faster - American and British children can repeat back 7
numbers, but Oriental Languages allow children
and adults to remember 10
33Say These Out Loud
34Repeat As Many Back as Possible
35Why?
- English words make learning arithmetic harder
- We have base 10 in common with other countries
(think fingers) - Chinese and Japanese have easier and shorter
words with simple syntax and decimal based logic - One through three yi, er, san
- Eleven is shi yi, twelve is shi er
- Chinese and Japanese children learn to count
earlier and to higher numerals, learn place value
with ease and base 10 structure - All Latin based languages have disadvantages in
mathematical linguistics - By age 4, Chinese children routinely count to 40
and American children can barely get to 15 - Early mathematical thinking and language are tied
together in several ways this impacts test
score comparisons as well
36Mental Numberlines
- We are born with the capacity for mental
numberlines. - Mental numberlines are essential to number sense.
- Our mental numberline runs in the direction we
read as demonstrated with Arabic and Hebrew
readers versus English readers.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
37Speed and Numeric Comparison Matters for
Intuitive Numeric Sense
- The speed with which we compare two numbers
depends not just on the distance between them,
but on their size as well. It takes far longer
to decide that 9 is bigger than 8 than to decide
that 2 is larger than 1. For numbers of equal
distance apart on our mental numberline, large
numbers are more difficult to compare than
smaller ones. - It takes much longer to decide on the larger of
two numbers that are a small distance apart than
to decide on the larger of two numbers that are a
greater distance apart. It is easier to
recognize that 74 is larger than 37 than to
decide that 74 is larger than 73. - Speed and accuracy with which we carry out
calculations decrease as the numbers get larger - A mental numberline helps us be more intuitive
mathematically - Dehaene and Cohen, 1986
- Sousa, 2007
38Operations Rote versus Language Centers
- Research shows that addition and multiplication
can be learned by rote, addition far easier than
multiplication - However, subtraction and division are learned by
quantitative intuition tied to our innate
numberline sense and require contextual thinking
and symbolic representation in our brains - On terms of rate of recall, in quantitative
individuals, the differences between rote and
intuition based on numberline are minimal, in
most of us the mad minute applied to each of
the 4 operations does not work well with recent
brain research - The basal ganglia part of the brain is needed for
addition and multiplication, other language areas
are needed for subtraction and division - Subtraction and division require more meaning and
relevance - How does that impact education and even specific
math courses? - P. S. Dehaene believes in calculators as the
basis of math instruction and not an add on,
based on this research with stroke victims and
those whole lost functioning in various parts of
the brain. Less drill and kill, more relevance
is the key. - Dehaene and Cohen, 1986
39Symbols versus Words
- The brain processes numerals in a different part
of the brain than number words - The brain processes numeric symbols as
quantities, not words - This is hard wired in the intuitive number module
in the left parietal lobe. - Ordinary number words get initially processed in
Brocas area where we process written words
40Number Sense
- Number sense is a prerequisite for calculation
and mathematical thinking just as phonics is a
prerequisite for reading and comprehending - The core of number sense becomes connected to
other cognitive systems as a consequence of both
cognitive development and education - Berch, 2005
415 Levels of Number Sense in Young Children
- Level One Children have not yet developed number
sense beyond their innate notions of numerosity
(babies). - Level Two Children are starting to acquire
number sense. They understand lots of, six, and
beginning to get less than and more than
(toddlers, by age 3). - Level Three Children fully get less than and
more than and have a concept of calculation using
figures or objects to solve problems (early
childhood). - Level Four Children are now relying on the count
up or counting on process instead of the counting
all. They get the conceptual reality of numbers
in that they do not have to count to five to know
that five exists (early childhood). - Level Five Children demonstrate retrieval
strategies for solving problems. They have
already automated the addition facts and are
acquiring basic subtraction facts (age 5 and 6). - Bersten and Chard, 1999
- Sousa, 2007
42Teaching Number Sense at ALL Grade Levels is
Critical
- Use number charts
- Introduce materials that involve numbers or
number representations in the real world - Read literature that involves numbers
- Create magic number squares (practice finding the
missing numbers) - Manipulate different representations of the same
quantity - Explore very large numbers and their
representations - Collect and chart data
- Compare number presentations in other cultures
- Set up spreadsheets
- Gurganus, 2004
- Pair numbers with meaningful objects
- Use language to gradually match numbers with
objects and symbols as in real life problems - Incorporate counting activities
- Provide experiences with numberlines
- Plan meaningful estimation experiences
- Measure and make measurement estimates
- Solve problems and consider the reasonableness of
the solution - Find everyday, functional uses of numbers
- Model the enjoyment of numbers and number patterns
43Math and Anxiety
- Math anxiety takes up so much of the brains
activity that it makes it hard to focus enough on
math instruction and get skillful enough to
overcome the anxiety - It is a vicious cycle that needs to be prevented
in the first place - Far less research has been done on helping
students with math learning disabilities than
reading, most studies relate to this cycle - Teachers and parents who share math horror
stories dont help - We need to make math fun and relevant and give
students feedback for creativity and unique
solutions rather than doing math in a prescribe
way that the teacher learned - Bower, 2006
444. Learning Power Tools for 21st Century Learners
- Conversing Sharing
- Searching Exploring
- Collecting Organizing
- Modeling Simulating
- Creating Constructing
From National Research Council, Edited by
Bransford, Brown and Cocking
45Activating Learning
- Learning takes place when multiple neurons fire
from numerous places in the brain, and these new
memories can be retrieved over a period of time. - Learning must be connected and relevant to be
remembered. - We only remember things that have meaning for us.
The Brain Responding to Visual Stimuli Image
courtesy of R. Clay Reid
46ICLE Philosophy The 3 Rs21st Century Learning
and Skills
- RELATIONSHIPS
- RIGOR
- RELEVANCE
47Rigor/Relevance Framework
Rigor
Relevance
From the International Center for Leadership in
Education
48Changing Brains of Students and the Impact on
Learning Key Examples from Todays Learning
49International Center for Leadership in
Education 1587 Route 146 Rexford, NY 12148 Phone
(518) 399-2776 www.LeaderEd.com
info_at_LeaderEd.com