A Gymnast, a Cursor and a Monkey Named Aurora

• May 17, 2011 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

Consider for a moment an athlete’s body, let’s say, a gymnast’s form. Not only does she have a highly trained musculature, but maybe more importantly, through her years of training, she has developed a greater ability to coordinate her physical movements. In the same way that her muscles have become stronger through physical training, her nervous system—via brain plasticity and the ability of the brain to grow and adapt based on stimuli—has likewise become more able to efficiently respond to the demands she is placing upon her mind and body.

For years, researchers have been investigating how the brain interfaces with the body in an effort to decipher the electrical language of mind. Research like that of Dr. Miguel Nicolelis at Duke University Medical Center has demonstrated that this language can be understood and harnessed to do things like power robotic prosthetics.

However controversial you might consider his work, Dr. Nicolelis’s discoveries are nothing short of—pardon the phrase—mind-bending, and are directly relevant to our talk about brain plasticity. In brief, Dr. Nicolelis’s recent research has focused on working with a rhesus monkey named Aurora. In short, through implants in her skull, Nicolelis was able to record Aurora’s motor nerve signals as she used a joystick to play a simple video game. He then used a computer algorithm to convert those signals into code to power a robotic arm. This led to two results.

First, as Aurora observed her own motions mimicked in the movements of the robotic arm, she began to be able to control the movements of the robot with her thoughts, and was able to use it to successfully manipulate the robotic arm to play the video game. What’s more, she figured out that she could control the robotic arm with her thoughts alone and without having to move her own arm and began to do so spontaneously. (See this article from Scientific American for detail, or read an excerpt about Aurora from Nicolelis’s book, Beyond Boundaries: The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines and How it Will Change Our Lives.)

Likewise, this same ability has been documented in humans. Researchers at the University of Washington mapped signals from the surface of human subjects’ brains and harnessed them to control the movement of a computer cursor on a screen. With only ten minutes of training, subjects were able to figure out how to move the cursor using their minds alone. Maybe more importantly, “brain signals from imagined movement became significantly stronger than when actually performing the physical motion.”^[i] According to Rajesh Rao, a UW associate professor of computer science and engineering, “the rapid augmentation of activity during this type of learning bears testimony to the remarkable plasticity of the brain as it learns to control a non-biological device.”^[ii]

Because of brain plasticity and the ability of the mind to quickly adapt to such situations and deliver stronger signals through such training, robotic prosthetics that directly respond to thought are almost in humanity’s grasp; we’re beyond the phase of discovery and are now into the fine tuning to make the innovation truly useful. While such developments may not allow a paraplegic to jump out of a wheelchair and turn summersaults next week like our gymnast, the simple ability that so many of us take for granted, such as walking across a room, might be available within our lifetime.

[i] Brain-Controlled Cursor Doubles as a Neural Workout. ScienceDaily. February 16, 2010.

[ii] Ibid.

For further reading:

• Brain Controlled Cursor Doubles as a Neural Workout. ScienceDaily. Feb. 16, 2010.
• Mindful Motion: Miguel Nicolelis and Mind-Powered Robots; and Creating Science Cities in Brazil and Beyond.Scientific American. January 16, 2008.
• Beyond Boundaries: The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines and How it Will Change Our Lives. Miguel Nicolelis. 2011. (Excerpt only.)

Related Reading:

Dr. Martha Burns on Brain Plasticity

3 Fun Brain Activities for Kids

Subscribe to this blog to get new blog posts right in your inbox and stay up to date on the science of learning!

Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Reading & Learning

Tags: brain plasticity, brain training, innovation, science

Bilingual Babies: Language Delay or Learning Advantage?

• May 3, 2011 by Cory Armes

Over the years, many people have speculated about the advantages and disadvantages of exposing an infant to a second language.  On one hand, it sounds great to think that children could be proficient in two languages by the time they go to school but, on the other hand, there is the concern that adding a second language could cause confusion and even delay language development in very young children. 

Fortunately, Janet Werker, a psychologist at Vancouver's University of British Columbia, and her colleagues discovered that learning two languages simultaneously does not cause confusion and, in fact, can give young children cognitive advantages over their monolingual peers.  It now appears that bilingual children develop enhanced visual sensitivity to language as well as the auditory sensitivity that we would expect.

Most people in other countries speak multiple languages and researchers have not found real evidence of language confusion in children who learn more than one language at a time.  Of course, infants and toddlers who grow up in bilingual homes often will mix the two languages and that ‘mixing’ even has a name: code-switching.  By the time these babies are three years of age, they will move back and forth between the languages but they also naturally learn to follow rules that govern that movement. For example, if one parent is not bilingual, they stick to the dominant language for that parent but will code-switch with the bilingual parent. 

The study[i] also tested visual-language discrimination with four, six and eight month-olds and found that at the two earlier ages, infants can distinguish between two spoken languages when looking at a video of a person speaking with the sound muted, even if they are only familiar with one of the languages.  By eight months of age, the babies’ brains can even discriminate between two unfamiliar languages simply by watching someone speak. Further studies will determine how long this ability is maintained in childhood but it does appear that there is a lasting influence from early exposure to additional languages. 

Research also indicates that babies growing up in a bilingual environment are better able to attend to perceptual cues such as a change in voice tone or facial expression, in both languages and can apply this ability to distinguish things in the world as well.  Additional research [ii] suggests that bilingual children also could have more flexibility in learning.  

So, if you speak two languages fluently, share them with your babies from day one.  Expanding infancy with a second language could provide stronger cognitive skills, more perceptive social skills and better learning in general.  Don’t worry about videos, flash cards or other fancy options for teaching babies a second language - just talk and read together!

Related Reading:

What Every Parent Should Know About Their Baby’s Developing Brain (Part 1)

Engaging Children in the World with Words

[i] Moskowitz, Clara. What Bilingual Babies Reveal About the Brain: Q&A with Psychologist Janet Werker. March 01, 2011.

[ii] Hsu, Jeremy. Bilingual Babies Get an Early Edge. April 13, 2009.

Subscribe to this blog to get new blog posts right in your inbox and stay up to date on the science of learning!

Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

Categories: Brain Research, Education Trends, Family Focus, Reading & Learning

Tags: auditory processing, brain development, brain plasticity, brain training, early learning, infant brain, language learning, oral language skills, processing, vocabulary

4 Ways to Celebrate Brain Awareness Week 2011

• March 14, 2011 by Carrie Gajowski

It’s Brain Awareness Week! Join us every day from March 14-20 as we share information about the brain, how the brain learns, and how educators can address some of the challenges in education today.

Need some ideas for how to celebrate Brain Awareness Week and honor this most important of organs?

1. Incorporate “Brain Awareness” Into Your Classroom
   Need some ideas on this one? For starters, download some of our educational Classroom Resources for Teachers, a variety of fun and informative worksheets and experiments on topics related to the brain.  (My favorite is the Grocery Store Game, which tests memory span and mnemonic strategies.) Then have your students try our free Scientific Learning® BrainApps™ games for a brain fitness challenge!
   
   
2. Catch Up On the Best Blog Posts About the Brain
   Whether you’re new to this blog or a long time reader, there are sure to be some great posts you haven’t yet explored.  In celebration of Brain Awareness Week, here are some of the most popular brain-related posts: Educating Kids about Nutrition and the Brain – learn how you can create the ultimate brain-health meal, the "Brainiac Blue Plate Combo!” The Adolescent Brain –find out what your adolescent is really thinking and how his or her developing brain works. Benefits of Music in Schools: The Effects of Music on the Brain – check out what the latest research says regarding the importance of music education and its benefits for learning. Dr. Norman Doidge on Brain Plasticity – discover the truth…old dogs can learn new tricks, all lifelong.
   
   
3. Tweet the Brain, Learn, and Win
   This week on Twitter, we will be testing your knowledge of the brain.  Play with us for a chance to win one of our “brain” goody bags each day!  Follow @brainfitness and join in the fun! 
   
   
4. Subscribe to Receive All of Our Brain Awareness Week Posts
   Subscribe to this blog (below) to have our blog posts show up in your inbox during Brain Awareness Week and beyond. Thanks for joining us for Brain Awareness Week!  All of The Science of Learning bloggers look forward to sharing it with you!

Subscribe to this blog to get new blog posts right in your inbox and stay up to date on the science of learning!

Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

Categories: Brain Fitness, Education Trends, Family Focus, Reading & Learning

Tags: brain plasticity, health and well being, high school learning, middle school learning, motivating students, musical training, nutrition, science, Scientific Learning events

Join Dr. Martha Burns and Sherrelle Walker for a Virtual Brain Fitness Seminar

• February 24, 2011 by Carrie Gajowski

Can’t attend one of our live Brain Fitness Seminars? Then join us for a Virtual Brain Fitness Seminar instead! These short, online sessions will review the new science of learning and how it can help schools close the achievement gap.

Register today for one of six exclusive upcoming sessions:

• Monday, 2/28/11 – 2 sessions: 8am or 1pm (PT)
  
• Wednesday, 3/9/11 – 2 sessions: 8am or 1pm (PT)
  
• Wednesday, 4/27/11 – 2 sessions: 8am or 1pm (PT)
  

Within the past seven years, researchers have discovered why some children struggle to learn math and reading skills. In general, studies show that the brain architecture—the pre-wired pathways for processing information—that children need to succeed in school is weak or underdeveloped in struggling learners. Studies have also proven that this architecture can be quickly and efficiently developed and fortified through brain fitness exercises that supplement curriculum. 

Presenters for these exclusive Scientific Learning webinars will be Dr. Martha S. Burns, Director of the Clinical Specialist Market, and Sherrelle Walker, Chief Education Officer. Each session will include district results presented by long-time Scientific Learning customers, as well as a designated period for presenters to respond to your questions and answers. 

Our agenda for each session will be as follows:

• 20 min. – Dr. Martha S. Burns, The New Science of Learning: Brain Fitness for all Ages
  What does the latest research tell us about how the brain learns? This session summarizes the latest neuroscience and developments from the field. Dr. Burns brings over 40 years of experience as a practicing speech and language pathologist. She has authored over 100 journal articles on the neuroscience of language and communication, as well as three books on language difficulties associated with neurological disorders. She is also the creator of the “Burns Brief Inventory of Communication and Cognition,” an evaluation of cognitive deficits resulting from neurological injury.
• 30 min. – Sherrelle Walker, Changing Lives through Application of Research
  During this information-packed half-hour, Ms. Walker will discuss concrete, useful strategies for integrating Brain Fitness into district instructional plans, with the goal of accelerating learning and delivering results. Walker brings more than 30 years experience in public education to her work as Chief Education Officer of Scientific Learning. In this capacity, she strives to expand awareness among educators nationwide about how Scientific Learning’s products and services have been proven capable of significantly improving student learning and achievement.
  
• 10 min. – Customer: District Results
  
• 5 min. – All: Questions and Answers

Space is limited, so register today! We look forward to meeting you online.

Related Reading:

What Makes Superman So Great? Closing the Achievement Gap

5 Insights from our Recent Brain Fitness Webinars

Subscribe to this blog to get new blog posts right in your inbox and stay up to date on the science of learning!

Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

Categories: Brain Fitness, Education Trends, Reading & Learning, Scientific Learning Research

Tags: academic success, accelerate learning, achievement gap, brain development, brain plasticity, brain training, child reading development, education conference, how children learn, math, Scientific Learning events, struggling readers, struggling students, technology in education, webinar

5 Insights from our Recent Brain Fitness Webinars

• January 6, 2011 by Carrie Gajowski

As we look ahead to the 2011 webinars and get ready to hear more experts in the field of brain fitness and education, I wanted to take a moment to review the 2010 webinars and share the top 5 points of the webinars that I am still thinking about today.

1. We have learned more about the brain in the last 10 years than in the previous 100 years (Eric Jensen, 7 Discoveries From Brain Research That Could Revolutionize Education).
2. The frequency of autism is increasing. It used to be 2 to 5 for every 10,000.  Now research suggests 1 in 110 live births with more cases of autism happening in boys (CDC Report in 2009) (Ann Osterling, Autism: What is the Latest Research?).
3. The repeated practice of texts helps build fluency.  Have students read poetry out loud, sing songs, and do cheers and chants.  (Dr. Timothy Rasinski, Teaching Fluency:  The Neglected Goal of the Reading Program).
4. Students today are part of a global community and need to prepare to be global researchers and global communicators (Alan November, Creating a New Culture of Teaching and Learning).
5. We used to be able to teach education as a top-down model. Education is not something to do to students but rather with students.  It is critical that we learn how to engage with students, listen to them and help them find their passion in life (Marc Prensky, Engage Me or Enrage Me: Educating Today's ‘Digital Native' Learners).

Check out our webinars page for recorded webinars and to learn how you can subscribe to a podcast.  Subscribe to this blog to receive the 2011 webinar schedule in your inbox, coming soon!

Subscribe to this blog to get new blog posts right in your inbox and stay up to date on the science of learning!

Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Education Trends, Reading & Learning

Tags: autism, brain plasticity, child reading development, digital natives, early learning, fluency, innovation, learning to read, motivating students, technology in education, webinar

Why Limit Screen Time? Scientific Research Explains

• November 18, 2010 by Sherrelle Walker, M.A.

This past September in a blog posting about the importance of physical exercise, I opened with a comment about the powerful pull that the video screen exerts on young brains. To be sure, this useful evolutionary adaptation has served us very well. Our instinctive ability to focus and concentrate on fast-moving, bright stimuli is a survival mechanism that allowed our ancestors to escape from many a tight spot. Even so, with the advent of modern technologies such as computers and television, we are now experiencing the down side of an endless flood of engaging electronic input. Research has shown that extensive screen time has the power to negatively affect our very chemistry and biology.

As we know from brain plasticity research, the stimuli we receive over time directly affect the development and wiring of the brain. Still, these effects are only the beginning of a long list of problems that screen time engenders. This past September, British psychologist and biologist Aric Sigman published an article in the British MailOnline that pulls together the conclusions of recent research from around the globe, painting a clear picture of the deleterious effects of screen time, and that picture is far from pretty. In fact, it is one that we, as parents, as teachers and as members of a national community, must not ignore.

While screen time has been shown to have negative psychological effects, I found Sigman's run-down of the chemical and biological effects to be of particular concern:

1. Suppression of melatonin release: Healthy levels of melatonin help regulate sleep, the immune system, and the onset of puberty. When children who watched an average amount of TV had all screen time removed, their melatonin levels went up by 30 percent after one week.
2. Increased chance of coronary heart disease: A study of 290 boys aged 15 showed that those who averaged over two hours of screen time a day had "elevated levels of chemical markers related to the development of coronary heart disease in later life." A different study out of Melbourne showed that for each hour an adult watches TV a day, there is an 18 percent increase in the likelihood that this adult will die from heart disease. Says Sigman, "Those who watched four or more hours were 80 percent more likely to suffer a fatal heart condition."
3. Changes in chemicals related to hunger and feeling satisfied: After 45 minutes of screen time, subjects consumed 230 calories more than those who had no screen time. Also, women who watched TV during a meal were more likely to snack later on.
4. Elevated blood cholesterol: Individuals between five and 15 who watched more than two hours a day were more likely to have raised blood cholesterol later in life.
5. Release of dopamine: Screen time causes the release of dopamine, a chemical that contributes to learning and concentration. As a result, our brains may become desensitized to the effects of normal levels of dopamine, making it hard to concentrate and focus on non-screen-based stimuli.

Taken in sum, these studies are sending us a clear message that we as parents and educators must take to heart: the more these screen-based technologies occupy time in our days, the more vigilant we must be about maintaining our own healthy habits, as well as educating our students to the risks so they can make their own smart decisions and lead long, healthy lives.

Learn more about the effects of screen time:

• Read more about Dr. Sigman and his work on his website, http://www.aricsigman.com/
• For an overview, read Dr. Sigman's complete article, Teletubbies is as bad for your child as a violent video game, says leading psychologist (MailOnline.com, September 11, 2010)

Get the details from Dr. Sigman's February 2007 article from Biologist, Visual voodoo: the biological impact of watching TV.

Subscribe to this blog to get new blog posts right in your inbox and stay up to date on the science of learning!

Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

Categories: Brain Fitness, Family Focus

Tags: brain plasticity, digital natives, health and well being, video

Listen: Don’t Ignore the Benefits of Music on the Brain

• November 4, 2010 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

Educators, researchers and education policy-makers have long discussed the benefits of structured music education. In today's environment of shrinking district resources, the arts are often early arrivals to the budgetary chopping block. Certainly, math, science, language arts and social studies are essential subjects, but we must also understand exactly what is lost when we cut arts programs. When we let go music education, we let rest layers upon layers of essential learning.

• We lose the cultural understanding and historical knowledge that accompanies such training.
• We remove an environment and a medium that is highly conducive to the acquisition and honing of essential skills for workplace success such as collaboration and creativity.
• We lose proven benefits to learning and brain function. Through the mechanisms of brain plasticity, music contributes to the development of listening and cognitive skills essential for language.

While all of these losses are arguably of equal importance, I wish to focus on the last. In their August 2010 article Music Training for the Development of Auditory Skills, Nina Kraus and Bharath Chandrasekaran present the neuroscience research demonstrating that music training, in the same way that physical exercise impacts body fitness, "tones the brain for auditory fitness." Specifically, Kraus and Chandrasekaran examine three specific areas of brain function where music training positively affects function:

• Transfer of cognitive skills: Music has been shown to affect how the brain processes pitch, timing and timbre. Along with describing music, these are also key elements of speech and language—that are positively affected by musical training.
• Fine tuning of auditory skills: "Musicians, compared with non-musicians, more effectively represent the most meaningful, information-bearing elements in sounds — for example, the segment of a baby's cry that signals emotional meaning, the upper note of a musical chord or the portion of the Mandarin Chinese pitch contour that corresponds to a note along the diatonic musical scale." While music does not appear to affect visual memory or attention, research shows that it does affect auditory verbal memory and auditory attention.
• Better recognition of "regularities": The human brain is wired to filter regular predictable patterns out from the noise surrounding us (e.g., we can pick out a friend's voice in a room filled with many other sounds and voices.) Musical training enhances this cognitive ability.

Based on this information, Kraus and Chandresekaran argue "that active engagement with music promotes an adaptive auditory system that is crucial for the development of listening skills. An adaptive auditory system that continuously regulates its activity based on contextual demands is crucial for processing information during everyday listening tasks."

Kraus and Chandresekaran end their article with a discussion of the implications for education. All of the skills and abilities discussed above clearly have the potential to impact student success and achievement "by improving learning skills and listening ability, especially in challenging listening environments."  Whether considered as content, as skills or as brain processing exercise, the benefits of music should be carefully weighed as we evaluate its place in the school day.

For additional reading on the positive effects of music education, check out:

• This article about the benefits of music education at the Children's Music Workshop.
• The NAMM Foundation Supports Music (and this PowerPoint presentation of the research on the positive effects of music education)

 

Subscribe to this blog to get new blog posts right in your inbox and stay up to date on the science of learning!

Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Education Trends, Reading & Learning

Tags: academic success, arts, brain plasticity, cognitive skills, creativity, musical training

Adolescence: What’s the Brain Got to Do with It?

• September 21, 2010 by Sherry Francis, Ed.D

Last week I was sitting in a fast-food drive-thru when I noticed the car in front of me held what appeared to be an under-age driver and friend. They placed their order and pulled forward barely able to see over the steering wheel and dashboard. I am thinking, oh dear, do the parents know they have taken the car? As their order was handed out of the drive-thru window both seats popped up simultaneously revealing two teenage boys. I guess it’s cool to go through the fast-food drive-thru with the car seats fully reclined!

How do you explain adolescent behavior? This, of course, is the million dollar question that has been asked by adults for a long time. A question that finally has some answers coming out of brain research. So, you may ask, what does the brain have to do with adolescent behavior? Well, actually everything!

One very important factor to note is the adolescent brain is still under construction; something we tend to forget when we look at these “young adults.” Instead of thinking of the adolescent brain as a house that is completely built and only needs to have furnishings added, we need to think of the adolescent brain as a house that is only framed and still needs walls, wiring and a roof. (1, p167)

Sheryl G. Feinstein, author of Secrets of the Teenage Brain: Research-Based Strategies for Reaching and Teaching Today’s Adolescents, Second Edition, discusses the many aspects of the adolescent brain giving rise to an understanding it is a whirlwind of complexities and contradictions. She notes in the chapter on cognition and learning the adolescent brain is particularly susceptible to novelty, overcomplicates problems, idealizes the world, and has one saying one thing while doing another. In looking at the social brain and communication, Feinstein points out, because the adolescent brain relies more on the amygdala (an area of the brain that processes and remembers emotions) than on the frontal lobes (the part of the brain that is involved in decision making, language, problem solving, planning and controlling sense of self) adolescents experience emotions before they can verbally articulate them, thus setting the stage for emotional outbursts. In addition, adolescent emotions can easily cement lifelong memories or form powerful learning blocks.

Anyone who has worked with adolescents knows how up and down they can be from day to day – some days they appear to be with it and other days you wonder if they are even on this planet. What we now know is adolescence is a time of great fluctuation in the levels of neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers in the brain that excite and inhibit behaviors. When levels of these chemicals go awry adolescents face a variety of mental upheavals that can lead to depression, eating disorders, and shifts in sleep habits.

And, let us not forget the risk-taking behavior adolescents’ exhibit that has adults shaking their heads in despair and wondering if they have a brain at all. Actually, it is the brain that is heavily involved in this risky behavior. Adolescents are very susceptible to the dopamine rushes (a chemical in the brain associated with pleasure) that comes with risk taking. Again, because they rely on the emotional amygdala more than the rational frontal lobes, adolescents have trouble foreseeing the consequences of risky behavior, and giving them the sense of invincibility. Maybe this sense of invincibility is one of the reasons they so closely relate to our fictional “super heroes.”

So, the next time an adolescent turns to you and says “WHAT are you looking at?” you know that is not an alien being from another planet, but rather someone who is “going through startling growth and streamlining in the brain; an intelligent creature not yet accustomed to their (unevenly) burgeoning mental strengths and capabilities.” (1, p167)

For anyone who works with, lives with, or even knows an adolescent, I encourage you to read the latest research and literature on the adolescent brain. There is a wealth of new information and insight into that enigma called “teenager.” Here are some good reads to get you started:

Secrets of the Teenage Brain: Research-Based Strategies for Reaching and Teaching Today’s Adolescents, Second Edition, Sheryl G. Feinstein, Corwin Press (2009)

Unleashing the Potential of the Teenage Brain: 10 Powerful Ideas, Barry Corbin, Corwin Press (2008)

The Teen Brain Book: Who & What Are You?, Dale Carlson, Brick Publishing House (2004)

The Adolescent Brain: Reaching for Autonomy, Robert Sylwester, Corwin Press (2007)

References

1. Feinstein, S.G. (2009) Secrets of the Teenage Brain: Research-Based Strategies for Reaching and Teaching Today’s Adolescents, Second Edition, Corwin Press.

Subscribe to this blog to get new blog posts right in your inbox and stay up to date on the science of learning!

Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research

Tags: adolescence, behavior, brain development, brain plasticity, decision making

Register Today for our Fall Webinar Series!

• September 16, 2010 by Carrie Gajowski

Alan November, Eric Jensen and Bill Daggett will be joining Scientific Learning for the Fall Webinar Series starting on Wednesday, September 22^nd. The webinar series is designed to help educators understand how the latest developments in educational technology and neuroscience can inform teaching, accelerate learning and improve student achievement.

The webinars will begin on Wednesday, September 22^nd with Alan November, a speaker, author, educator and leader in educational technology. His session is titled, “Creating a New Culture of Teaching and Learning.” During this live session, Alan November will show how a powerful new culture of empowered teaching and fearless learning is emerging and how access to more timely information and communication tools can empower educators to focus on the individual learning needs of their students.

Eric Jensen, an educator, author and expert in connecting neuroscience research with practical classroom applications, leads the second webinar on Tuesday, September 28^th. Titled “7 Discoveries from Brain Research That Could Revolutionize Education,” this session will explore cutting-edge discoveries in brain research that have real-world implications for educators. Jensen will describe specific strategies on reinventing the learning process and connecting games and tools, which educators can use to improve student achievement.

The fall webinars will conclude in December with a presentation by Dr. Willard Daggett, CEO of the International Center for Leadership in Education and an expert on school improvement initiatives. His session is titled, “Our Changing Education Landscape.” Additional details will be available in early October.

The webinars are provided free of charge. For more information and to register for the sessions, please go to: www.scilearn.com/webinars.

Subscribe to this blog to get new blog posts right in your inbox and stay up to date on the science of learning!

Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Education Trends

Tags: academic success, accelerate learning, Alan November, ayp, brain plasticity, brain training, cognitive skills, Eric Jensen, how adults learn, how children learn, innovation, science, technology in education

You Unplugged: Finding Balance with Extended Reading, Writing and Thinking Time

• September 9, 2010 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

For this blog post, I offer two challenges, one for me and one for you:

• My challenge: I’m going to write without providing you any links to outside references until the end of this blog. My goal is to create a self-contained message free of distractions so you can read with a focused mind from start to finish.
• Your challenge: As you read through this blog, check how many times you are distracted by outside stimuli, such as answering phones and e-mails, clicking on other links or windows on your computer, or talking with other people. Keep your attention on reading this message the way it was intended to be read: from start to finish.

Ready? Have you taken a breath and found your focus? On we go.

The brain is constantly changing and rewiring itself based on the stimulus it receives; in neuroscience, we call this "brain plasticity." As you read each word of this blog, the neural networks of your brain are active in response to the words, as well as the white noise of the air conditioning, the voices next door, the tempting smell of that banana, and the countless other stimuli in the room around you. Especially in the Internet-connected workplace, we are barraged with such stimuli, and we react in an effort to take advantage of every moment and every opportunity. (Have you gotten a "you've got mail" message since you started reading? That’s an opportunity! Don't give in. Stay focused. Keep reading.) While today’s world rewards speedy and often unfocused multitasking, we must still set time aside to "unplug" and reap the benefits of slowing down and engaging in deep, extended reading, writing and thinking.

How is today’s world of fragmented information affecting our brains? Think back (if you are old enough) to the days before the online information explosion. Consider the simple act of focused, quiet reading. In his book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, Nicholas Carr describes "deep reading" as a "sustained, unbroken attention to a single, static object" that allows the reader to make "their own associations, draw their own inferences and analogies."

In contrast, think of how you read at your computer. In the June 6, 2010 New York Times article, "Your Brain on Computers: Hook on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price," Matt Ritchel reports on research that has shown how the constant incoming flow of information changes how we think and behave. Where is your focus as you read on your computer, clicking back and forth between your e-mail, your Facebook page, your Twitter feeds, the three blogs you follow and back to your e-mail? Ritchel cites research showing that computer users at work change windows or check e-mail or other programs nearly 37 times an hour. That means that in the computerized workplace, tasks receive on average less than two continuous minutes of focus.

(Have you been reading this for over two minutes without giving in to check your e-mail? If so, congratulations, you're above average for staying on-task. Keep it up.)

According to Carr’s report of the research, "when we go online, we enter an environment that promotes cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning."

Why do we allow ourselves to be drawn into such a state? Our human brains are programmed to respond to immediate opportunities and threats with a squirt of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with motivation and reward. Each new piece of information, every e-mail and tweet, is an opportunity that our brains evaluate. In essence, we are awash with stimuli that are constantly influencing brain plasticity. Added to that, research has shown dopamine to be addictive. Put those together, and the conclusion is undeniable: we are actively conditioning our brains away from the ability to maintain an extended focus on individual tasks.

Is it the fate of a technology-enabled humanity to be fragmented and frazzled? No, but I suggest that we need to intentionally set aside time for the deep reading, writing and thinking Carr describes. This is even more necessary if we are "plugged in" most of the day. We can and should for our own good turn off the computer and devote thirty minutes a day to focused, uninterrupted activities like reading a book, writing in a journal, playing a musical instrument or sketching a picture. While the technologies available to us to "plug in" for work and entertainment continue to bombard our days, we must bear in mind that such stimuli do have an effect on the ongoing development of our neural wiring, and that there are great benefits to be reaped from experiencing the world unplugged.

Now, were you able to read from beginning to end with no distractions? If not, don’t worry. This was a challenge designed to demonstrate how distractible the mind can be. On the other hand, if you were able to focus and read this entire message start to finish without giving into the pull of your e-mail or your Facebook friends, congratulations! Well done.

As promised, here are some links to continue your own reading on brain plasticity:

• Your Brain on Computers: Hook on Gadgets and Paying a Mental Price (New York Times, June 6, 2010)
• An NPR review of Carr’s book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains
• Nicholas Carr’s blog, Rough Type

And how distracted are you? How well can you multitask?

• Test your mental focus here.
• Test how fast you juggle tasks here.

Subscribe to this blog to get new blog posts right in your inbox and stay up to date on the science of learning!

Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research

Tags: attention, behavior, brain development, brain plasticity, brain training, cognitive skills, digital natives, technology in education