Hello Classmates and Instructor! This week's assignment really connected the many ideas and information we have been exploring in this course. I chose to explore lessons that could be modified to follow brain compatible strategies and transformed into an after school activity. The concept inspiration was to engage in an activity that could span the entire after school program periods, provide interactive, hands on experiences, relate to daily life and include outdoor, and movement. I found this in the lesson Let's Grow from the Scholastic website. I hope you find it interesting and inspiring. I look forward to your feedback, suggestions and insights. The comments for the Activity below do not show up in the format below, I am attaching the document for you to review the comments.
Images for Blog
Seed Sprouting: http://www.ihidrousa.com/blog/Great-Results-growing-seedlings-indoors-windowsill-vs-a-Grow-Light/ Seedling: http://eyeonlifemag.com/a-lovely-garden/designing-and-creating-a-childrens-garden Red Coat Gardner: https://www.entangledharmony.com/garden-journal-for-children/ Gardners in a group: https://www.pinterest.com/glofontana/children-s-vegetable-garden/
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Hello Classmates and Instructor! This weeks’ research into games, the video game model and creating a game with BrainRush was a lot of fun and offered an immense amount of information and learning. I was pleasantly surprised to find the philosophy of Dr. Maria Montessori deeply ingrained into the conversation about the video game model and its benefits. The elements and implementation was quite natural and easy for me to envision within a learning environment. I chose to present a sorting game based on phonics and the challenges I see my young readers facing each day with discrimination and solid symbol to sound associations. The letters /b/, /d/, /p/ and /q/ look very similar and the variation of what they represent is determined by the orientation of the symbol in relation to the other letters in the structure of writing words. Writing is a strong foundation for reading and in my experiences, it precedes reading. For the young child to endeavor to express their own ideas using the symbols of sound to create the written language is relevant personally to the child and the motivation comes from within, the desire to express themselves, share what they are thinking and what they know. In the Montessori environment, even before the child has mastery with a pencil for producing the letters on paper, there is a moveable alphabet that allows the child to place formed letters together to form sounds, into words, into sentences, into ideas and stories. The four letters above often get chosen from their boxes and flipped or turned to meet the need or used interchangeably early on. Refinements I would make to my game would be to add the ability to click on the sound bucket and produce the sound of the letter it represents. I would also include the ability to click on the picture and have it named, with the first sound emphasized, such as “Penguin, /p/, /p/, Penguin”. Just a quick note, I was unable to find a way to give credit for the images I used, however I did endeavor to use pictures from the public domain, I believe I accomplished that goal. However, I would like to share the images and their sources here as well. BrainRush Sound Buckets Game
Address: http://www.brainrush.com/lesson/sound-buckets Images: All images except those noted below are from: http://pngimg.com/img/insects/bug Dress:https://clipartfest.com/categories/view/cf7425c1dabd5ab19dbe168af0f25f3ce38e9ca0/dress-clipart-png.html Quarter: http://www.clipartkid.com/quarter-dollar-cliparts/ Quilt: https://www.pinterest.com/explore/crib-quilts/ Queen: http://tumundografico.com/clipart/queen-clipart.html Quail: http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-quail/ Q-tip: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/05/05/medical-minute-cleaning-ears-with-cotton-swab/ Bucket: http://www.mopedarmy.com/forums/read.php?6,3659888 Hello Classmates and Instructor, The assignment for this week was incredibly fascinating and provided many hours of reading and processing of the information. Reading has been a topic of interest from my earliest professional experiences as one of my children is dyslexic. The road to reading was challenging, but we were are among the lucky ones having access and opportunity for targeted intervention, supportive and invested educators and administrators at our small school. Dr. Dahaene offered incredible insights for learning to read and validated the intervention my child received. Images:
Reading brain: http://www.return2health.net/articles/brain-care/ Graphogame images: http://info.graphogame.com Dahaene Image: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25GI3-kiLdo Hoop games: http://www.learnplayimagine.com/2013/06/gross-motor-activity-hula-hoop-games.html Hoops & obstacle course: http://www.daisykins.co.uk/daisykins-news/energetic-sports-day/ Boy on log: Personal picture by LMS Hello Classmates and Instructor! This activity of building an activity plan that implements the elements of the information processing model of learning brought much reading and contemplation. The age group I focused the activity plan for included toddlers through kindergarten. The activity intends to assist a child in gaining and refining the foundational skills for executive functions such as memory, self-regulation, inhibitory control, attention and concentration. Movement, specifically gross motor and fine motor control, for the young child is a foundation that builds and refines the integration of neurological and cognitive processes in response to the stimuli and information. As I shared in my classroom post: Neuroscience has revealed that the interaction between our brains, the stimuli and the environment shape, grow and develop the neurological pathways of information exchange and use in our brains. Each time stimuli are received they change the architecture of our brains, shape our next perceptions and influence the way new information will be compared, stored and utilized. (Wolfe, 2010) The activity I propose offers the child an opportunity to focus their attention on an active exploration of movement, balance, control and coordination. These skills require the child to engage with intentional choices to move, stop, balance, push, bend and re-balance in each move. The extensions move toward the child designing and implementing patterns and challenges for the movements as they gain mastery of each step from simple movement and demands to complex balance, movement, positioning and repetition. The intrinsic nature of movement for the young child stimulates their interest, engaging the movements in a series of specific movements progressing from simple two-foot balancing toward complex single foot balanced movement reflects the models concept of learning as a continuous growth in a gradual manner with performance as a demonstration of the acquisition of the skill or knowledge. “Attention is a critical component of processing of information in memory” (Whitman, 2011, p. 171). With the demands for attentiveness to coordinating the body, moving or inhibiting movement the young child engages in concentrative efforts, building the focus that regulates the consolidation of information into long term memory. The relevance of the information and integration of the movement directly serves the child and is useful to them. The motor refinement assists the child in gaining control and integration. “Typical infant growth and development proceeds from the head downward and from the center of the body outward” (CMS- Florida State Gov, 2012). Bilateral fine motor movement coordination of the hands is present prior to those of the legs and feet. The rope and hoop activity will support this child in gaining more refined bi-lateral gross motor coordination of their lower body. Fine motor hand and finger coordination is demonstrated through several activities such as using a utensil for scooping, eating, pouring, cutting shapes with scissors, threading beads and tying laces. Activities that support continued refinement of the upper body bi-lateral gross and fine motor control would offer further support for this child to make progress in gaining lower control. Through the continued practice, focus and refinement of the gross and fine motor movements the child will build the skills necessary for application to later skill demands such as planning, concentration, self-regulation, attentional set shifting, inhibitory control and decision making. “Exercise training programs may prove to be simple, yet important, methods of enhancing aspects of children’s mental functioning that are central to cognitive and social development” (Tomporowski, Davis, Miller, & Naglieri, 2008, p. 14) Resources: CMS- Florida State Gov. (2012). Infant Toddler Development Training. Retrieved from Children's Medical Services:http://www.floridahealth.gov/AlternateSites/CMS-kids/providers/early_steps/training/itds/module1/lesson1_3.html Tomporowski, P. D., Davis, C. L., Miller, P. H., & Naglieri, J. A. (2008). Exercise and children’s intelligence, cognition, and academic achievement. Educ Psychol Rev / NIH Public Access, 20(2), 111-131. doi:0.1007/s10648-007-9057-0 Whitman, D. R. (2011). Cognition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Wolfe, P. (2010). Brain matters: Translating research into classroom practice (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Hello Classmates and Instructor . . . This week has brought a flurry of research and exploration of articles about neurotransmitters, their roles and the role of nutrition and movement in the production or inhibition of neurotransmitters and their functions. The conversation and research about serotonin, 5-HT and the role it regulates in mood, motivation and cognition has been fascinating to read about. Being new to a blog, I am uncertain of how to sustain it, my thought has been to share the explorations inspired by the course and my classmate’s discussion posts. The knowledge that serotonin is produced in our gut was a mind-expanding idea for me. Recently my husband and I have been discussing a book he has been reading about behavioral economics, and how the human being makes decisions. An interesting aspect to this book has been the discovery that despite having access to reliable and strong statistical support for decisions, it was noted that humans still relied on their ‘gut’ when making decisions over the data or guidelines designed to enhance the accuracy of the decision process and outcomes. The ‘gut’ reference in the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that influences mood, perception and motivation resonated with the idea that intelligent, competent individuals relied on this internal feeling over statistically supported choices when making decisions. Continuing from this new perspective was the exploration that nutrition, what we eat can contribute or inhibit the production of this neurotransmitter. Our classmate discussed an activity of nutritional journaling and reflection on the resulting mood and emotional states with changes in the diet. This dietary aspect sparked a search for the ‘culprits’ in the gut and how to feed them. Lactobacillus Rhamnosus plays a salient role and interestingly is fed by fermented foods such as sauerkraut, yogurts and aged cheeses. We are truly a system of interrelated processes and supports that create a whole that seems to be more than its parts. Thank you so much for these fascinating contemplations and ‘rabbit holes’ to explore! Oh the book was The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis. Hello Classmates and Instructor! This week's activity of creating a mind map of the brain and the functions was interesting and informative. Taking the time to think about each structure, their function and then place them physically on the map and connect them was a powerful multi-sensory (multi-perspective) experience. |
Laveeta
Passionate about learning; nurturing others as well as my own. ArchivesCategories |