Could the Brain be the Key to Better Education? by Makayla Guild

             

           Often times as we grow up we tend to forget or think that we are too cool for a lot of very important lessons about how to treat our mind and body. John Medina author of the book, Brain Rules, explains that because our brains are so complex, our capacity for functioning and learning is beyond that of many other species. As educators it is very important to not only to explain these rules to your students but it is also important that you create a classroom that focuses and takes into account these specific brain rules, in order to ensure that your students have awake and active brains so that they have an opportunity for success. This week our class seminar was about John Medina’s rules 7-12. As aspiring educators we spent a lot of our time talking about varying ways to implement each of the specific rules in our future classrooms. The three rules that our class had strong opinions about in the discussions on were, Rule #7: Sleep well, think well, Rule #8 Stressed Brains don’t learn the same way, and Rule #11 Male and Female Brains are different.   

           

Rule #7: Sleep well, think well.

 This clip of George from Seinfeld who trying to make a napping spot in his office is one that many of us may think about inventing everyday. We all know what it feels like to start our day off with not enough sleep. The entire day feels like it is in slow motion, some people may feel like their brain can’t even do the simple things that it could do yesterday, and no matter how much coffee and sugar consumed nothing seems to get done. For many students feeling tired can be a regular occurrence, with such jammed packed schedules, from school, to homework, to sports, to family, and friends the time to devote to sleep is often the first to go. According to Medina, “Loss of sleep hurts attention, executive function, working memory, mood, quantitative skills, logical reasoning, and even motor dexterity.” (Medina, 168) It is clear that when we have students who are tired that last thing on their mind is mathematics but rather where is the closest pillow.

Much of our discussion was centered on the concept of our responsibility as educators in ensuring our students are getting the accurate amount of sleep to perform well in school. While most of us agreed that the scientific evidence proves that naps will actually improve our student’s academic performance it seems like a daunting task for many to fight the school system on allowing nap time again. In an article written in the American School Board Journal called, “ Good-bye to nap time: Spurred by NCLB, elementary schools get serious” by Glenn Cook, Cook explains that many schools now feel pressure to eliminate nap time in pre-k and kindergarten classrooms because of the No Child Left Behind Act. Although times are hopefully changing with the new common core standards, most teachers still feel a lot of pressure to beat the clock. In our seminar it was discussed that the best way to help our students succeed when there is no time for naps in the classroom is to become nap advocates, “Maybe creating lesson plans on the importance of sleep will at least help our students understand the importance of attempting to go to bed on time, it will give them the resources to have some control over their performance”. Education on the scientific evidence of sleep is one that is not only important to teach our students but it is one that we as educators can use to persuade bringing back naps to the classroom.

Rule #8: Stressed Brains don’t learn the same way

           

            Being stressed is one that most American’s encounter at sometime in their life. Stress as we all know can be a constant stream of worry for many adults but it is also important to realize that many children also experience stress. John Medina author of the book, Brain Rules, explains that studies show that children who experience a lot of stress in their home such as divorce tend to have poorer grades, “Teachers find many children emotionally distracted, so upset and preoccupied by the explosive drama of their own family lives that they are unable to concentrate on such mundane matters as multiplication tables.” (Medina, 185) Our biggest concern and focus during our seminar on stress was how can we help our students relax and focus when it seems out of place, rude, or even counter productive for a teacher tell already stressed parents that they are stressing their child out. 

One person during our seminar suggested that they may feel uncomfortable telling a parent that they need to figure out how to make the home less stressful without having suggestions ready. One suggestion provided was, “I would explain that the child seems stressed and ask what kind of activities that their child does in their free time, and perhaps suggest yoga as a form of stress management.” This idea took on a kind of tangent in our discussions because we then started to discuss ways that we could implement yoga or meditation into the classroom as a morning ritual for all students to start the day off less stressed. In an article called, “Yoga in Schools: A Non-Traditional From of Program Support”, author Gillis who is a middle school teacher at Riverside Education Centre in Milford Nova Scotia, spends her time doing just this. Part of Gillis job in the school is to provide yoga classes to children who need help in, “anxiety-related needs, social interaction, anger-management, or to a student who simply needs a physical activity break.” (Gillis, 2012) According to Gillis the school has found much success as a result has taught the students great stress management skills. This article is really uplifting because some schools have started to become proactive in implementing stress management in the form of yoga. While many schools in the state of California cannot afford to have a yoga teacher, it is still important to create a classroom that can be a safe zone for children. The web site: http://www.stressfreekids.com/ is a great resource for educators to explore many resources available to educate your students on stress and provide opportunities for relaxation in the classroom. This web site also sells a book by Lori Lite that teaches children about stress and how to relax. This video will give you a short preview of the book. In conclusion it is our hopes that all educators will reflect on the effects of stress on their life and how they may be able to provide a safe and stress free classroom to their students.

Rule #11: Male and Female Brains are different

           

            Equality in schools in recent years has been a women’s rights movement to ensure that both genders have the same opportunity for success. This has been a large reason for the integration of both genders into public school classrooms. This has been the way of life in the American education system for several decades. But recent research on the difference between the brains and learning styles of males and females has led to a revolution to the same-sex public schools. According to Medina, “Men and women respond differently to acute stress: women activate the left hemisphere’s amygdala and remember the emotional details. Men use the right amygdala and get the gist.” (Medina, 260) This concept of different ways of processing became a debate in our seminar, about the implementation of same-sex classrooms in order to ensure that both sexes are understood and taught in a way that works with the processing of their brain. This video from the Today show gives you a good sneak peak into the debate.

            Much of our conversation about the topic of boys and girls was on how to ensure that we create an environment in the classroom that will allow for the success of both genders. Many expressed concerns about how to make sure that one gender is not favored over the other. One of the males in our  

seminar expressed concern for the lack of male role models for boys in the education system. He felt that perhaps this lack of role model could cause some boys to struggle to be understood and thus perform poorly in the classroom. According to Nancy Gropper author of the article, “Helping Young Boys Be Successful Learners in Today’s Early Childhood Classrooms.” Many classrooms are no longer equipped to help our young boys learn, “Many room arrangements and schedules are so focused on promoting academic learning that they do not attend to the developmental capacities and needs of young children, particularly young boys.” Perhaps by having more male teachers in the classroom their would be built in advocates for our boys. (Gropper, 2011) While it is not possible to fill every classroom with male and female role models at the moment or to have all same-sex classrooms, Gropper recommends that our schools system incorporate more play to help engage our boys, “Play not only provides a physical outlet for boys and helps to decrease instances of acting out, but it also allows boys to express themselves through dramatic play and learn how to negotiate social-emotional challenges”. (Gropper, 2011) The theme of play based education has been a theme through out our semester and while we have many battles to take on as future educators perhaps by attempting to include more play in our classrooms we are taking the first step towards offering a better education to our students.

Conclusion

            In being an educator during this period of time in American history, it can seem daunting, especially after reading John Medina’s “12 Brain Rules”. It is clear that our education system has a lot of growth ahead to have classrooms that scientifically allow for the success of our children. My hopes are that collaboration and seminars will allow for a flow of ideas, conversations, and debates on how to make a difference in our education system. Whether it be having single-sex classrooms, more play based lessons, yoga classes, or nap times no educator can go wrong in backing up their reasoning with John Medina’s Brain rules.

   

Works Cited

"Are Same-Sex Classrooms Good for Kids Education.com.flv." YouTube. YouTube, 24 May 2010.              Web. 14 Apr. 2014.<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3MSJZu45iQ>.

"Children Reduce Stress, Decrease Anxiety, Eliminate Anger." Children Reduce Stress, Decrease                    Anxiety, Eliminate Anger. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.                                                                         <http://www.stressfreekids.com/>.

Cook, Glenn. “Good-bye to Nap Time: Spurred by NCLB, Elementary Schools Get Serious.”                          American School Board Journal, 191.5 (2004): 6-8.

Gillis, Kaelin. “Yoga in Schools: A Non-Traditional Form of Program Support.” Physical & Health                 Education Journal, 78.1 (2012): 12-37.

Gropper, Nancy, Blythe Hinitz, Barbara Sprung, and merle Froschl. “Helping Young Boys Be                        Successful Learners in Today’s Early Childhood Classrooms.” Young Children, 66.1 (2011):                 34-41.

Lite, Lori. "Children Lower Anxiety, Stress and Fear/Stress Free Kids." YouTube. YouTube, 20 Dec.              2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJu6jUeHjY8>.

Medina, John Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School.                     Seattle, Wash.: Pear Press, 2009.

"Seinfeld - George Sleeping under His Desk." YouTube. YouTube, 09 June 2009. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.             <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W__qCFWi1KA>.

Brain Rules 1-6

On April 1, 2014 a few of my classmates and I had a discussion about the reading we had previously read before class. We read the first 6 rules out of 12 in the book Brain Rules written by John Medina. The first six rules listed were Exercise, Survival, Wiring, Attention, Short-Term Memory, and Long-Term Memory. These are all very important rules to help you understand how the brain works and why it works that way. When knowing this information, it can help you incorporate things in your classroom to help your students to succeed. 

RULE #1: Exercise boosts brainpower

 We all know exercise is good for the body. But it's extremely good for the brain, too. Exercise kills harmful stress chemicals. It boosts problem solving, planning and attention. John Medina made it very clear that exercise helps children to do better in the classroom. “Physically fit children identify visual stimuli much faster than sedentary ones. They appear to concentrate better” (Medina 18). He stated that brains develop while working out, not lounging around. Researchers did a study and found that exercisers outperform couch potatoes in tests that measure long-term memory, reasoning, attention, problem-solving, and fluid-intelligence tasks. He also mentioned that if you do aerobic exercise for 30 minutes two or three times a week, then you would gain cognitive benefit.

In this section of the reading Medina thought of an out of the box idea that, what if during a lesson, the children were not sitting at a desk but walking 1 to 2 miles per hour on a treadmill. He then asked if it would change their academic performance? During our discussion I asked the group what they had thought of that idea. First off they mentioned that it wouldn’t be productive to be walking that slow, because Medina noted that aerobic exercise is what benefits the brain, and walking isn’t an aerobic exercise. They then mentioned that maybe if they sped it up that it may work, but then it would just turn into a distraction and ware the students out to where the children would lose focus. My group thought that instead of walking on a treadmill to maybe have the children sit on a fitness ball, it gives them better posture and the opportunity to move a little without being distracting. Ashley had mentioned that she likes to do her homework on an exercise ball, it helps her focus more, and when she starts to lose her concentration she gets up, takes a walk and gathers herself back to get her work done. In a previous discussion we had also mentioned to have the students stand at their desks during a lesson instead of sitting, and that may also help the students to stay focused.

To keep the children active throughout the long school day, we came up with possibly switching seats after a lesson, or moving around before continuing the next task. For example maybe having the students all get up from their seats and lead them through some stretches, or let them wiggle their bodies, or even have them go take a lap outside and come back in quietly.

RULE #2: The human brain evolved, too

The brain is a survival organ, its job is to keep us alive long enough to pass on our genes. 

Our brains became much bigger than our evolutionary counterparts'. It takes more brainpower to solve complicated problems.

 

Our brain is designed to:

·      Solve problems

·      Related to surviving

·      In an unstable outdoor environment

·      To do so in nearly constant motion

Brains are adapted this way simply as a survival strategy, to help us live long enough to pass our genes on to the next generation.

RULE #3: Every brain is wired differently

What you do in life physically changes what your brain looks like. You can wire and rewire yourself with the simple choice of which musical instrument or professional sport you play. The human brain, only partially constructed at birth, won’t be fully assembled for years to come. Every given brain is wired differently; what you do and learn in life physically changes what your brain looks like – it literally rewires it. Various regions of the brain develop at different rates in different people. No two people’s brains store the same information in the same way in the same place, not even twins.

Medina talks about smaller class sizes, he states, “Students comprehend complex knowledge at different times and different depths. Because a teacher can keep track of only so may minds, there must be a limit on the number of students in a class-the smaller-the better." Lauren was wondering, “If small class sizes are beneficial, why don't more schools have smaller class sizes?” The answer our group came up with is because of money. Unfortunately, schools don’t have enough money to afford to pay more teachers. We then came up with a way to make the classroom itself feel like it is smaller so that students can get the attention they would get if they were to be in a smaller classroom. We said that if classrooms had aids or parent help we could split the group into two or three to make it seem a little smaller so that those who are afraid to speak up and ask for help may now come forward and ask because there are less eyes focused on that student. We also decided that working in stations was a really good idea so that the teacher could work with a group of five or six and then rotate stations every ten minutes or so, so that everyone is getting as close to one-on-one help that they can get.

Rule #4: We don’t pay attention to boring things

Better attention always equals better learning. The brain’s attentional “spotlight” can focus on only one thing at a time: no multitasking. Emotional arousal helps the brain learn. You must do something emotionally relevant at each 10-minute mark to regain attention. Audiences check out after 10 minutes, but you can keep grabbing them back by telling narratives or creating events rich in emotion.

Multitasking = more errors

You make three times more errors on a task when interrupted. 

Makayla had asked a great question that led into a good discussion topic, she said, “According to Medina, A hook is very important in gaining the attention of students. Many of us know and refer to a, "hook" as a way of grabbing the attention of a reader in our writing. How might we as educators gain the attention of our students using a, "hook", when ever attention seems to be lacking?”

Our group decided that presenters, or teachers need to use exciting voices, lots of emotion, and/or humor every ten minutes to hook their audience or students and to keep them hooked. We also thought that including them in the discussion would be very helpful, for example maybe asking them questions applied to real life or how they felt about the topic. Another way to keep them engaged was to incorporate games throughout the lesson, which also may refer back to Rule #1 where it states that physical activity increases attention, so if we were to incorporate games then they would be focused and learning in a fun environment.

RULE #5: Repeat to remember

There are many types of memory, from autobiographical to declarative to motor memory. Brain Rules focuses on declarative memory (things you can declare, like "2+2=4"). The brain has many types of memory systems. There are four stages of processing: encoding, storing, retrieving, and forgetting. Your brain can hold about seven pieces of information for 30 seconds. It must be repeated or it disappears. That neuron is waiting for a repeat signal of the information; without it, it resets itself. The more elaborately we encode a memory during its initial moments, the stronger it will be. You can improve your chances in remembering something if you reproduce the environment in which you first put it into your brain.

On page 132 Medina says that repetition is in fact a viable way to increase a person's memory. In our discussion we were trying to find the balance between when is a good time to repeat things and when not to. We came to conclusion that it would be a good idea to teach a topic, move on, and come back to it later. For example if your students are learning their times tables, as they move on to the higher numbers review the ones they have learned before, so that they don’t forget the previous numbers as they move on. As we were discussing the topic repetition the saying practice makes perfect popped into my head, where I then came up with repetition makes perfection. For example people who play sports practice the same thing over and over again on the daily to make themselves better, so in the school setting repetition is also a good thing, because the more you do something the more it comes natural to the person.

RULE #6: Remember to repeat

The way to make long-term memory more reliable is to incorporate new information gradually and repeat it in timed intervals. Missing one piece of information hurts a student's ability to understand new information related to it. That's why repetition in the classroom is crucial. The more elaborately something is encoded when learning is occurring, the more likely it is to be retained. The more something is repeated, the more likely it is to be remembered.

Works Cited

Medina, John. Brain rules: 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school. Seattle, WA: Pear Press, 2008. Print.

Vulliemoz, Serge, Olivier Raineteau, and Denis Jabaudon. "Reaching beyond the midline: why are human brains cross wired?." The Lancet Neurology 4.2 (2005): 87-99. Print.