Week Two Learning Resources

This week in class, my classmates and I studied the brain’s anatomy and the Cognitive Information Processing Theory.  For the weekly blog assignment I searched both the internet and electronic databases to find resources that related to this week’s teachings.  One surprise during my research is that there seems to be an imbalance in the supply of resources for children’s education compared to adult education, with adult education resources in the lacking.  With the advancement of e-learning for adults, I hope to see this ratio balance out. 

One web page that parallels this week’s teachings is Understanding How the Brain Learns which is located on the site National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities.  The page can be found at: http://nichcy.org/schoolage/effective-practices/brain101.  The page is full of helpful resources that are listed in four different categories:

1.       The ABCs of the Brain

2.       What Learning Does to Your Brain

3.       Applying Brain Research to Education

4.       Brain Research and Disability

What I like about this page is that the resources link you to pages that not only explain the relationship of learning and the brain, but also pages that include best practices to take into the classroom.  

Through the Walden University Library, I located the article Improving Classroom Practices Using our Knowledge of How the Brain Works by O. Abiola and H. Dhindsa.  The article makes references to students in the Asian nation of Brunei, showing that Information Processing Theory is not a theory unique to the United States.  The article placed special focus on neuroplasticity as a key component of retaining information.  Neuroplasticity explains how the structure of the brain is shaped and reshaped during learning.  Basically, neural pathways are strengthened or weakened depending on how well information is learned.  Although the article is not an amazing resource it did introduce me to a couple of interesting concepts:

1.       Blood flow aids the growth and development of new brain cells.  Physical activity increases blood flow, meaning both adults and children not only keep their body in shape, but also their brain in shape through regular exercise. 

2.       As children go through school, definitions or concepts they are taught change as the learning becomes more abstract. As the definitions and concepts change, so do the neural pathways in the brain that access the previously learned concepts.  The article suggests that to maximize learning, focus should be placed on teaching definitions and concepts that do not have to be modified over time.  If the information remains constant and relevant, then the neural pathways strengthen rather than having to be consistently rebuilt.  “For example if we mix 50 ml of water and 50 ml of ethyl alcohol, the total volume is less than 100 ml. The usual explanation assumes that smaller molecules take position in gaps created by larges molecules: the analogy used is mixing sand and marbles. Obviously this analogy is good to explain a decrease in volume however it does not explain an increase in volume. As the students advance into higher grades, they would need to learn how to explain an increase in volume when two liquids are mixed…The above example can be explained thus ‘there is a force of attraction between molecules of water and similarly in the molecules of alcohol; when they are mixed another force acts between a molecule of water and that of alcohol, if this force is stronger then the two molecules will come closer and the total volume will be lower; however if this force is weaker then the molecules will be wider apart and the volume will greater than the sum total; if identical force exists between them no change in volume should be observed.” (O. Abiola & H. Dhindsa, 2012)

Abiola, O. O., & Dhindsa, H. S. (2012). Improving Classroom Practices Using Our Knowledge of How the Brain Works. International Journal Of Environmental And Science Education, 7(1), 71-81.

National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities. (2013, April 13). Understanding How The Brain Learns. Retrieved from http://nichcy.org/schoolage/effective-practices/brain101