Hello Classmates and Instructor, Please find my journal reflection on the relationships between myself as an educator and the many hats I have worn and the disciplines of education, psychology and neuroscience. I also enjoyed sharing an example of how I have experienced these disciplines working together to guide environmental design and curriculum. Journal Prompt:
Brain-Compatible Learning in Professional Roles When we think about the interplay between psychology, neuroscience, and education which encompasses aspects of brain-compatible learning, what often comes to mind is:
Reflection The educational roles in my work have been child advocate, parental advocate, child educator, adult educator and environmental design as well as behavioral consults and classroom management consults, teacher trainer and mentor. Each of these roles required me to develop a strong foundation of understanding how psychology, education and neuroscience interact in providing information, research and guidance for tackling the challenges of providing learning experiences. With an understanding of the interrelated nature of the relationship between education, psychology and neuroscience, as an educator I am able to design effective learning environments to support the children they will serve. It is important to remember that understanding the brain is only one component to understanding how humans learn the other powerful understanding is that of the multifaceted influences of environment upon the individual. This brings to the conversation the very old educational debate of which is the most influential nature or nurture in human learning. In modern discourse the understanding is that this is no longer and either or debate but that “nature-nurture systems are large and complex beyond imagining, abounding with nonlinear interactions across analytic levels.” (Schneider, 2011, p. 29). “Probabilistic epigenesis” by Gottlieb reveals an interrelated process of genes contributing to neural structures that become active before maturity and how the activity of the interactions with the internal and external environment shapes the development. (Goswami, 2008, p. xviii) In my work based on the tenant of Dr. Montessori’s philosophy, the environment is thoughtfully prepared to offer the students it will serve the opportunities to engage in meaningful learning with tasks that present challenges and the environment that facilitates learning the skills and knowledge necessary to complete the task. Sousa and Tomlinson support this with the challenge to develop curriculum that is “highly relevant to students so as to enlist their motivation to learn” (p. 59). This means an educator can bring to the environment activities and experiences intended to elicit natural demands for tasks, skills, and knowledge to accomplish those tasks. An example of the collaboration of understanding the brain, development, psychology, education, and neuroscience is well demonstrated through language learning in the toddler environment. Designing an environment to support language development requires a thoughtful consideration of the children it will serve. Each developmental age/stage child will require a specially prepared environment to meet their unique developmental needs. The preschool child will require an environment that immerses them in support for independence and a natural motivation to use language and refine it for more effective use. Supporting language development in the preschool child is quite simple and well received by the child, as they are developmentally predisposed to attuning to and acquiring language and the skills of verbal and written communication. Rousseau, a Swiss philosopher and educationalist offered “Teach the child what is of use to a child, and you will find that it takes all his time” (Rousseau, 2013/1762, p. 169). A classroom environment that can support all of these elements of language for the preschool child is dynamic, engaging and enticing. Language is found in all aspects and domains of learning for the preschool child. The preschool children in this example and for which this environment will serve are in the midst of transitioning from non-verbal toddlers to language using preschoolers. Upon entering the environment there is a sense of beauty and order, calm and pleasing appeal to the senses. There are plants and child sized furnishings as well as supports for all domains of learning where language will serve as the constant companion of the child. The first area that captures the eye is the large sliding glass door that beckons the child to the outdoor environment, rich with many opportunities for learning and language. A study done in Finland discovered that poor reading and arithmetic skills are directly related to poor motor skills. (Bergland, 2013). This outdoor environment supports motor skills both gross and fine and promotes language through this vital connection as well as providing experiences that need a broader vocabulary. The outdoor environment provides opportunities for the children to engage in social conversations, sitting on one of the child sized benches, along the building, under the tree or at the child sized picnic table. Sitting in the shade of the tree or observing the communication styles and conflict resolution strategies of classmates provides important language engagement and modeling. There are gardening activities with the vocabulary expanding introductions to plant names, discussions about what plants need to thrive, the tools of gardening, the relationships between plants, insects, animals and humans along with the clothing such as hats, gloves, boots and handkerchiefs. There are opportunities for washing the windows, the glass of the doors, the tables and chairs, watering the plants, using the sand/water table. One can paint at an easel, engage in raking, stacking, composting, arranging rocks, caring for the garden, planting, weeding, refine problem solving skills, motor skills and social skills. There are games to create, classmates to recruit, discuss the rules of the game, resolve the conflicts that arise and help classmates accomplish tasks. There are climbing opportunities with the bale of hay and a climbing play structure, paved area for tricycles, wagons for loading, pulling, pushing and unloading. Within this vibrant and active environment language abounds as the great communicator, and being expanded with each new experience. Within an environment such as this, the role of neuroscience is to guide the understandings of how the brain develops and processes experiences, education provides the intentional exposure and experience with foundational skills that are precursors to later stage academic skills and psychology informs on the value of creating support for social interactions, self-efficacy and respectful and trusted relationships with the educator and classmates. In my work these ideas guide my practice and inform my actions. In our class resource text I found a sentiment of Diamond and Hopson’s to be familiar to Dr. Montessori’s push to create living communities in the classroom to serve the whole child; “How much better it would have been for us to have had these immersion-participation-application approaches, these apprenticeships, collaborative learning groups, and micro-communities!” (Jossey-Bass (Ed.), 2008, p. 88). References Bergland, C. (2013, Oct 28). Better motor skills linked to higher academic scores. Retrieved from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201310/better-motor-skills-linked-higher-academic-scores Garvey, B. (2005, June). Nature, Nurture and Why the Pendulum Still Swings. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 35(2), 309-330. Goswami, U. (2008). Cognitive deveopment: The learning brain. New York: Pyschology Press. Jossey-Bass (Ed.). (2008). The Jossey-Bass reader on: The brain and learning. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons. Rousseau, J.-J. (2013/1762). Emile. Courier Corporation. Retrieved 2015 Schneider, S. M. (2011). The bigger picture: Development, genes, evolution, and behavior analysis. Behavioral Developmental Bulletin, 17(1), 27-33. doi:10.1037/h0100599 Sousa, D. A., & Tomlinson, C. A. (2011). Differentiation and the brain. Bloomington: Solution Tree Press.
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Hello Classmates!
I have enjoyed researching the topics of critical periods and brain-based / brain-compatible education and pedagogues. Language is a particularly interesting domain of learning that lends itself to exploration for how the brain is structured, and the environmental influences that work in concert to exert the influences that build language acquisition. The TedTalk by Dr. Patricia Kuhl is informative and thought-provoking. I hope you enjoy it too! I also found this TedTalk to be quite interesting, discussing teaching strategies (for math in particular) but it extends to the wider contemplation of how teaching strategies, expectations and the goals of learning are invaluable to effective learning. Please enjoy! Hello Classmates and Instructor! I wanted to share some resources that I have enjoyed discovering and reading. I tried to be a little creative and get some practice with the Word 2016! Please enjoy! Feedback, insights and suggestions are always welcomed.
Hello Instructor and Classmates!
This is my first foray into creating a Blog . . . I look forward to your insights, tips, and suggestions for improvement and effective communication. Best of luck to everyone! |
Laveeta
Passionate about learning; nurturing others as well as my own. ArchivesCategories |