“Although the human brain is immensely complicated, we have known for some time that it carries out four basic functions: getting information (sensory cortex,) making meaning of information (back integrative cortex,) creating new ideas from these meanings, (front integrative cortex,) and acting on those ideas (motor cortex). From this I propose that there are four pillars of human learning: gathering, analyzing, creating, and acting. This isn't new, but its match with the structure of the brain seems not to have been noticed in the past. So I suggest that if we ask our students to do these four things, they will have a chance to use their whole brain.” —James Zull, Professor of Biology and Director of the University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education at Case Western Reserve University.
Brain science is changing my understanding of what rigor means in teaching and learning. I will never forget the first time I saw fMRI images; Sally and Bennett Shaywitz were speaking on dyslexia at a Learning and the Brain conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the spring of 2005. After seeing three brain areas lighting up when dyslexic students were reading, when one was lighting up for non-dyslexics, I changed the way I worked with the LD students in my classes, and others too. Never again have I disputed that dyslexic students need more time on assignments. Since then, I’ve typically assigned reading in my history electives by the amount of time rather than by the number of pages.
The Dynamic Brain Means Repeated, Challenging Practice Matters
In The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge establishes and discusses the understanding, now prevalent, that brains are plastic and dynamic, continue to evolve throughout life, and are never fixed. He reports on several scientists who contributed to our understanding of brain functions and highlights their work in helping people remedy various conditions from OCD to dyslexia to stroke. He discusses two key principles: “Neurons that fire together, wire together” and “Use it or lose it” in relation to building and strengthening synaptic systems.
He reports on Edward Taub’s work, which shows that shorter, intense periods of practicing increasingly challenging tasks with rapt attention helped stroke patients rebuild and rewire their brains more than one-hour sessions per day. These patients “massed practiced,” meaning they practiced for three to six hours per day for two weeks as opposed to going to rehab for an hour a day for six weeks. Likewise, Paula Tallal developed targeted computer-based exercises for dyslexic children. When these children practiced for an hour and 45 minutes a day, five days a week for several weeks, they showed more progress than students with less intensive regimens, and their brain scans showed signs of new networks. The research is clear: Repetitive, challenging tasks help lay basic structures for more creative tasks.
While plasticity is greatest in early life, it is just not true that any student’s brain is fixed or static. And it’s made me realize that my students can learn anything with intense, focused practice and repetition. Plasticity also underlines a practice of giving students opportunities to practice before assessments and re-do important assignments like essays or presentations for a better grade. Through practice and do-overs, they develop or strengthen key skills such as drawing conclusions from evidence. Rigor lies in making sure each student achieves the standards rather than in moving on to the next topic or skill before improvement happens.
Watson’s Workshops Share Techniques to Improve Working Memory and Long-Term Memory
Andrew Watson from Translate the Brain, which offers professional development presentations and workshops that explore and explain the practical teaching implications of brain science, has come to Dublin School (New Hampshire) over the past two years to address building long-term memory and understanding working memory. His talks focused on the efficacy of brain-based techniques such as blank-page review, interleaved instruction, his 3x3 studying technique (get it right three times the first night, then once each of three following nights), and the power of visual and narrative approaches. Watson has presented to students and parents as well.
His presentations establish a clear, high standard for rigor in learning. He relates the ways brain research shows that rigor centers on combining targeted presentation of material with carefully structured opportunities for students to improve their retention and comprehension of new material. The limits of working memory mean that students must master new material before undertaking creative applications or more complex problem-based assignments (although sometimes the goal of such assignments is not the internalization of new material). Rigor lies in the care with which the learning experience is structured rather than in swamping students or demanding that they perform at more advanced levels than their networks can sustain.
The research demonstrates that one must give extensive attention to acquiring and solidifying his or her knowledge base before creatively applying the new knowledge. Conscientious teachers have always known this, but much of the new pedagogy implies that these steps can be elided or compressed in ways Watson refutes. Rigor keeps the focus on students’ responsibility and authorship of their own neural networks. In other words, teachers can provide the opportunity and structure for students to learn, but only students can engage and manage their brains. (See Watson’s article in the Fall 2015 issue of Independent School magazine.)
How Dublin School Uses Brain Science to Help Students Prepare for Exams
At Dublin School, our understanding of brain science helps us guide students to prepare for exam week. For example, we advise them to use a range of traditional and non-traditional methods to study, those that will engage their learning style strengths and will help them grow new neurons. We recommend using large sheets of newsprint and colors to make posters, making Quizlet exercises and sharing them, studying alone and with friends, and setting material to music. We emphasize longer periods of intense focus, with intermittent forgetting breaks. We develop schedules with advisees and tutees that incorporate exercise, interleaved practice in blocks, thinking time, and sufficient sleep. Of course not every student changes her study habits completely, but over time, students add new techniques to their repertoires to build their knowledge and shape their brains.
Brain Research Gives Tremendous Weight to Personalized Instruction
Brain research also underscores the significance of an emerging trend in education: personalized instruction. Differentiation and varying methods of instruction, assimilation of material, and assessment have many good groundings in education (attention, motivation, success for different students), but increasingly we are realizing that each learner is distinct from every other, and each student will move at different paces with different material for different purposes. Each brain is physically unique, a reflection of the habits, background, tastes, and ambitions of the student.
Schooling must and will modulate to incorporate more brain science and more individualization. Rigor will mean the assiduous practice and independent management of education by each learner — not a teacher moving quickly through difficult material and expecting that all students will understand and retain it. Brain science makes practice and reflection by the learner the source of rigor, rather than the teacher-oriented syllabus. So as a teacher seeking to incorporate my new understanding of the growing brain, I am creating structures that engage my students in study, reflection, and self-evaluation, and realizing that each one is on a journey of her or his own. Brain science is informing my practice and Dublin School’s program as it helps us move the field of education into the future.
References
Norman Doidge. The Brain That Changes Itself. New York: Penguin Books 2007.
James E. Zull. "The Art of the Changing Brain." John Hopkins School of Education website, Johns Hopkins University, 2012. 20 July 2015.