Accelerated Learning

Using Brain Research in the Classroom

A Graduate Course

Course Description

The purpose of this course is to make the advances in the field of brain research more accessible to educators. The techniques and strategies of Accelerated Learning will accelerate learning across the curriculum and improve student curiosity and satisfaction with the learning process. Beginning with the neurons, the building blocks of the brain, the focus will be on identifying, assessing and connecting connections between those neurons (neuronal networks). If educators engage pre-existing neuronal networks in different areas of the brain, then learning is accelerated faster than through traditional lecture or even hands-on instruction alone (Zull, 2002).

The Accelerated Learning course will help educators assess the overall classroom environment and possible roadblocks to the cortex from subtle or overt ‘fight or flight’ responses (Jones, 2000). The course offers insight into the relationship of sensory input and memory including emphasis on the core information the brain receives from the eyes, ears and touch (Wolfe, 2001).

This course examines the unique relationship between the body and the brain (Hart, 1998), and between students and teachers. It does not represent a new or brain-based curriculum. This course is based on current brain research and emphasizes and creates opportunities for a balanced approach between traditional teaching approaches and new approaches. A working knowledge of the brain is essential. This course is not weighted with complex terminology because the course rationale advocates and uses learning built upon existing knowledge and understanding. Students who have completed the Teacher Education Institute’s Whole Brain Learning class will benefit from this course; however it is not necessary to have completed WBL to enroll in the Accelerated Learning.

Objectives

• Examine the development of neural networks in the brain as they relate to the learning process.
• Identify and assess student’s existing neural networks based on understanding and prior knowledge.
• Become aware of how the ‘fight or flight’ response affects students and teachers and the overall classroom environment.
• Identify the physical basis of learning and the mind-body connection.
• Discover methods that create opportunities for non-conscious learning in the classroom.
• Identify the process of how procedural and movement-based memory is stored and retrieved.
• Increase understanding of the verbal, auditory, tactile and visual learning.
• Discover the balance between hands-on teaching approaches and the lecture method.
•   Identify teaching strategies that can build onto existing neural networks.

Curriculum Design & Time Requirements
There are a series of major brain-based concepts systematically presented by the instructor using the Socratic or Instructional Conversation method. Each concept acts a building block to form a basic understanding that teachers can weave into their own classroom strategies and best practices to accelerate the learning of their students.

This is a forty-five hour graduate level course taught in the classroom and online.

Course Materials
The required text for this course is Brain Matters: Translating Research into Classroom Practice by Patricia Wolfe. The course text begins with brain physiology: neurons and sub-cortical structures, and then examines how neurons communicate. It then describes how the brain encodes (sensory memory), manipulates (working memory) and stores information (long term memory). The text describes applications and brain-compatible teaching strategies from lower elementary to high school by making the curriculum meaningful through problems, projects and simulations. The text explains how the visual and auditory senses enhance learning. The text also provides a toolkit of brain-compatible strategies and a glossary of terms. In addition, students will receive a student guide.

Session Outline

Session One: Brain Imaging, Neurons and Sub-Cortical Structures

1.      Introduction to Accelerated Learning

2.      Paradigm shifts for thinking about education

3.      How brain imaging technology works

4.      Interpreting brain imaging for educational purposes

5.      Exploring neuron, synapse and sub-cortical anatomy

6.      Examining myelination and neural plasticity

7.      Synaptic pruning: the case for neural networks

8.      How neurons communicate within the brain and body

9.      How the brain organizes information and implications for teachers

Session Two: Exploring the Central Nervous System (CNS)

1.      The active testing of new ideas

2.      Characteristics of the Spinal Cord and the Brain Stem

3.      The seat of power in the brain: The Cerebellum

4.      Gateway to the cortex: the thalamus and hypothalamus

5.      The brain’s alarm system: the amygdala

6.      Remembering your immediate past: the hippocampus

Session Three: The Cerebral Cortex

1.      The visual cortex (the occipital lobes)

2.      The auditory and the sensory/motor cortexes (the temporal lobes)

3.      The sensory cortex

4.      The frontal lobes: the conscious decision-makers

5.      The developing sensory cortex

6.      The role of the pre-frontal cortex and adolescent brains

7.      Left vs. right and front vs. back cortex  

Session Four: How Neurons Communicate

1.      Our neurons have action potential

2.      The synapse and neurotransmitters

3.      Peptides and the mind-body connection

4.      Understanding addiction and the brain

5.      Neural networks and prior knowledge

6.      How neural networks grow

7.      Errorless learning as a means to build upon existing neural networks  

Session Five: Making sense of Sensory Memory

1.      Introduction to sensory memory

2.      Children and ADHD

3.      From sensory signals to perception

4.      Visual learning strategies

5.      Auditory senses and language

6.      The kinesthetics of writing

7.      Experiential learning and the senses

8.      From perception to attention

9.      Emotions and attention

10.  Emotions and motivation  

Session Six: Working Memory

1.      Introduction to working memory

2.      Personal meaning and memory

3.      The multi-tasking myth

4.      Memory tools part one

5.      Memory tools part two

6.      Teacher feedback and working memory

7.      Working within the limits of short-term memory transfer  

Session Seven: Long Term Memory

1.      Introduction to different types of long term memory

2.      The what and how of implicit memory

3.      Procedural memory

4.      The facts and figures of explicit memory

5.      Semantic and episodic memory  

6.      Lesson Planning using Implicit and Explicit Memory

7.      Consolidation and reflection  

Session Eight: The Levels of Learning

1.      Concrete experience

2.      The physical modality for learning

3.      Representational or symbolic learning

4.      Language and images

5.      Involving students in problem solving

6.      Problem solving from the teacher’s perspective  

Session Nine: The Future of Brain-Based Learning and Brain-Friendly Schools

1.      The future of brain-based learning

2.      Brain-based learning and the concept of change

3.      Brain-friendly schools

4.      Transforming your teaching and your school

5.      Review for final exam  

Session Ten: Final Projects and Final Exam

1.      Review

2.      Final project presentations

3.      Final exam

4.      Evaluation

Student Academic Integrity
Participants guarantee that all academic class work is original. Any academic dishonesty or plagiarism (to take ideas, writings, etc. from another and offer them as one's own), is a violation of student academic behavior standards as outlined by our partnering colleges and universities and is subject to academic disciplinary action.