The Brain in Health and Disease

Objectives

"If you wanted to create an educational environment that was directly opposedto what the brain is good at doing, you would probably design something like a modern classroom." - John Medina

In his book and related website, Brain Rules author and molecular biologist John Medina has artfully demonstrated what many educators have known for a long time; that Equation A is the path that can make all the difference. We simply call it "best practices". Unfortunately, it is often the road not taken. However, new technologies are for the first time providing us with hard, scientific data to support what have in the past been only theories.

Instinctually, I agree with Pink and Kraft; my natural inclination is to teach with the intent of emphasizing connections and integrating creativity. Professionally, I am often conflicted and frustrated that even as the research increasingly validates these instincts, school districts do not. Topics are isolated from one another and the day in the elementary classroom is split into topical chunks; "MATH" "SCIENCE" "LUNCH", etc. with explicit timelines and designated tests. Consequently, I have decided to develop this unit in a way that will attempt to manage this contradiction. The three major goals of the unit are:

1. Improve students' understanding of the structure and function of the brain;
2. Use this understanding to develop students' metacognition and awareness of their own learning processes, thereby maximizing their learning potential;
3. Improve my knowledge and implementation of brain developing techniques in order to provide the best education for student learning.

The core content of this unit will be the structure and function of the brain as an extension of the fourth grade "Healthy Science" unit, which covers the major body systems, including the nervous system. This content is included in New Mexico Life Science standards as well as Science and Society standards (See Appendix A). I plan to teach the unit at the beginning of the school year to get the students started immediately considering their own metacognition and mental function so that they will begin to develop ownership of the learning process. I predict that this will maintain the longevity of the content knowledge.

This unit was created using the 4MAT system developed by Bernice McCarthy at About Learning, Inc. 4MAT is a framework for developing units that move students through a cycle of four main quadrants: Experiencing, Conceptualizing, Reflection, and Action. Interestingly, this model almost directly follows the recommendation of R.K. Greenleaf, who states that physiologically, the brain searches for Meaning, Pattern, Interconnectedness, Relevance, and Useful Application. ¹³ Likewise, John Medina's Brain Rules recommend structuring presentations around meaning and the big picture, supporting key ideas with details. These concepts are integral to the design of this system. The physical structure of the framework is a circle, and in advanced use can become a spiral, leading the students to start a new cycle of investigation based on their previous learning (See Appendix B).

Each 4MAT quadrant is split into two sections, one which engages with right-brain compatible strategies, and the other utilizing left-brain modes of teaching and learning. Some teaching strategies appropriate for stimulating each hemisphere are included in Appendix C. To extend this framework beyond left/right brain compatible techniques, I plan to include activities that engage different intelligences, as per Gardner. Learning preferences and strategies for Multiple Intelligences are outlined in Appendix D. To develop conscious habits in myself and my students, we will try new techniques that may fall outside of our comfort zones, as encouraged by Jensen and others in order to stimulate development of new neural connections. One of Medina's rules (which earned him a "Teacher of the Year" award) recommends that presentations be broken into ten-minute segments after which there is a shift in activity to alert the brain to an impending new topic. Therefore, each segment is composed of a variety of short activities that describe in more detail the overarching concept. Key vocabulary is designated by italics.

I hope to accomplish my goals through a series of lessons in which the content will be taught using instructional techniques that are most appropriate for each particular component of the brain's structure. Because this unit is written for a fourth grade population, and the workings of the brain can be incredibly complex, I have elected to include only the basic concepts and biological brain structures in order to make the content accessible for ten year old children.