Free Webinars on Brain Health and the Science of Learning – Register Today!

• May 17, 2012 by Carrie Gajowski

I’m pleased to announce two upcoming live webinars on learning and brain health.  As usual, there is no charge for these webinars, so please register today and join us to get the latest from the brain experts!

Brain Health Across the Lifespan

On June 6, you’re invited to learn about “Brain Health Across the Lifespan” with our returning guest, Dr. Paul Nussbaum.  While years of science maintained that neurogenesis does not occur in adult humans, current research indicates otherwise. If the human brain can generate new brain cells in adulthood, an entire new frontier of discovery and opportunity emerges.  This webinar is at 10am PT (1pm ET). 

Dr. Nussbaum is a board-certified clinical psychologist specializing in neuropsychology and a Fellow of the National Academy of Neuropsychology and American Academy of Clinical Psychology. 

The Science of Learning

On June 18, Dr. Burns will be back with “The Science of Learning,” a webinar about the potential of neuroscience to profoundly impact education. Educators are just beginning to discover how differences in brain organization underlie different learning capacities, and how altering the organization of the brain can dramatically increase the ability to learn.  The science of learning has guided the development of targeted neuroscience-based learning technologies to enhance underlying memory, attention, processing and sequencing abilities and proven to quickly and efficiently accelerate learning in many student populations at all grade levels.  This webinar is at 9am PT (12pm ET).

Dr. Burns is a neuroscientist who specializes in the development of language and the brain, current research on how the brain learns and factors affecting learning, and how understanding the science of learning can change our perceptions of what goes on in the classroom. She is Adjunct Associate Professor at Northwestern University and a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

 

Related Reading:

Modeling Healthy Choices: Three Habits for Optimal Brain Health

The Reading Brain: How Your Brain Helps You Read, and Why it Matters

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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: accelerate learning, attention, brain development, brain plasticity, brain training, cognitive skills, decision making, health and well being, how children learn, learning to read, memory, processing rate, Scientific Learning events, student growth, technology in education, webinar

No-Cost Education Webinars with Michael Horn and Dr. Virginia Mann – Register Today!

• May 3, 2012 by Carrie Gajowski

Join us this month for two no-cost, live webinars as we welcome back popular presenters Michael Horn and Dr. Virginia Mann!

Disrupting Class

On May 17, you are invited to “Disrupting Class” with Michael Horn, author of Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns and cofounder of Innosight Institute. The theory of disruptive innovation describes how products or services that offer simplicity, affordability, and convenience transform a market that was previously dominated by complicated, expensive, and inaccessible products or services.  In this webinar, Michael Horn will describe how online learning is disrupting our notion of a classroom and how it offers the possibility of moving toward a student-centric learning system that is much more focused on different people's distinct learning needs. This webinar is at 11am PST (2pm EST)

Reading English as a Second Language: Some Challenges and Solutions

On May 23, please join us for “Reading English as a Second Language: Some Challenges and Solutions” with Dr. Virginia Mann, professor of Cognitive Sciences at the School of Social Sciences, University of California, Irvine. Dr. Mann will discuss the differences between English and other writing systems, the need for early immersion in English if English language learning is going to be optimal, the importance of phoneme awareness and phonological processing, and the challenge of morphology.  Dr. Mann will also look at English Language Learners who have problems with reading and who suffer from some of the same phonological problems that English speakers do, showing how the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant products can help them succeed in school. This webinar will take place at 12pm PST (3pm EST).

 

 

Related Reading:

Language and the Reading Puzzle: 5 Steps Toward Fluent Reading

Why You Should Read With Your Child

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

Categories: Education Trends, English Language Learners, Reading & Learning

Tags: academic problems, academic success, at-risk, blended learning, child reading development, digital natives, innovation, language learning, learning environment, oral language skills, phonemic awareness, technology in education, webinar

3 Tips for Encouraging Verbal Communication in Young Learners

• May 1, 2012 by Carrie Gajowski

“It is now well accepted that the chief cause of the achievement gap between socioeconomic groups is a language gap.”

- E.D. Hirsch, 2003

Research shows that children from rich language environments start off their academic career with a definite advantage over their peers.  In one study with 280 1^st grade students, results indicated a strong connection between language skills and later academic performance.^[i]   Another study found that “children who are provided a wide variety of experiences and opportunities to talk, tell stories, read storybooks, draw, and write are generally successful in learning to read and write.”^[ii]

How can parents enhance the home language environment to help their children succeed?

Here are a few simple ways: 

1. Talk, talk, and talk to children.  Engage them in meaningful conversation, and help them “use their words” to interact with other children.  Help build their vocabulary by using words they may not recognize.  Adding unfamiliar words to conversations can pique a child’s interest in learning additional words and discovering how to use them in conversation. 
2. Read to young learners.  Regularly reading a variety of texts to children—stories, poems, factual books about animals and the natural world—can expose them to countless new words.  It is even more fun by taking turns.  If your child has started to read, one day you can read to him; the next day, he can read to you.  Pre-readers can “read” a picture book out loud.
3. Teach your young students the joys of music!  Through learning new songs and singing, children can have fun while learning new vocabulary.  The rhythm of music provides cues that can help children pronounce multisyllabic words more easily, and because young children don’t have to worry about pronouncing every new word correctly when singing with others, they can build their confidence.

It’s never too early to help children appreciate the usefulness of language, the power of communicating effectively with others, and the joy of words.  Every word spoken and every word read is truly a gift to a young child.  

 

 

References:

[i] Elements Comprising the Colorado Literacy Framework:  III. Communication Skills, Including Oral and Written Language. (2010). Colorado Literacy Framework. Retrieved April 26, 2012.

[ii]  Kastner JW, May W, Hildman L. Relationship between language skills and academic achievement in first grade.  Percept Mot Skills. 2001 Apr;92(2):381-90.PMID: 11361297 

Related Reading:

Adding ten minutes of reading time dramatically changes levels of print exposure (PDF)

The Speech and Language Connection: The Nursery Rhyme Effect
 

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

Categories: Family Focus, Reading & Learning, Reading Assistant

Tags: academic success, child reading development, early learning, emotions in learning, how children learn, improving reading skills, language learning, learning environment, learning through play, learning to read, oral language skills, toddler, vocabulary

Teaching with Poverty in Mind: How to Help At-Risk Students Succeed

• April 24, 2012 by Carrie Gajowski

It’s clear that children from poverty are often at a disadvantage in school, and educators can find it challenging to help such students become positively engaged in their own learning. In a recent webinar for Scientific Learning, author and educator Eric Jensen (Teaching with Poverty in Mind), provides invaluable guidance for teachers who work with at-risk and low-income youth.

Jensen identifies a number of ways in which children living in poverty may differ from other children in terms of learning, and asserts that it is the responsibility of teachers to help bring about positive changes in students' developing brains to improve their learning ability.  He provides a number of powerful observations and suggestions for purposeful teaching aimed at improving brainpower for learners from poverty:

Build relationships. 

At-risk learners are often lacking long-lasting, stable relationships in their lives.  They may also require more assistance in developing the full emotional range to respond well to various kinds of stimulation. He states that "discipline" issues sometimes emerge when teachers expect more than what students are currently capable of, on an emotional level. Jensen suggests that classroom teachers help students develop a healthy range of emotional responses in order to build healthy, stable, trusting relationships as a foundation for learning.

Understand and control stress.

Jensen defines stress as "a physiological response to a perception of a lack of control over an aversive situation or person", and notes that at-risk students are likely to have more stress in their lives than other students. Teachers can help increase students’ perception of control by encouraging activities like peer mentoring and student jobs in the classroom, as well as offering more opportunities for students to make their own choices throughout the school day.

Develop a growth mindset.

Children who are raised in a poverty-stricken environment often need help developing a "growth mindset," which places more importance on attitude, effort, and strategy than on luck, genetics, and socioeconomic status. Since developing a growth mindset is teachable and free, Jensen challenges educators to rise to the responsibility of this important part of teaching.

Build executive function.

Working memory, the ability to retain fresh information long enough to do something with it, is a component of executive function—a term which generally refers to a collection of cognitive processes of the brain. According to data presented in the webinar, working memory at age 5 is a far greater predictor of student success at age 11 than IQ. It is also a more reliable predictor than reading scores, motivation level, math scores, or attitude. Jensen advises that if educators focus on building their students’ working memory, they will get significant improvements across the board.

Boost engagement.

Students from poverty often need more help engaging in the classroom. To help students become truly engaged, he suggests the use of physical activity, music, drama, social work (cooperative groups, teams, partners, etc.) and positive affirmations.

Above all, Jensen advises educators to avoid giving up on “difficult” students by deciding that certain kids “can’t be taught,” and provides powerful examples of at-risk children succeeding in large numbers in supportive environments.  He also admonishes, "If you don't teach it, don't punish kids for not being good at it!”  
 

 

Related Reading:

Building a Foundation for School Readiness for Low Income Children

Changing the Culture of Poverty by doing Whatever it Takes

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

Categories: Reading & Learning

Tags: academic success, at-risk, emotions in learning, learning environment, motivating students, school leader effectiveness, teacher effectiveness, teacher impact

Language and the Reading Puzzle: Morphemes and Memory

• April 10, 2012 by Carrie Gajowski

In the recent Scientific Learning webinar "Language and the Reading Puzzle Part 2:  Morpheme Awareness and Working Memory," cognitive scientist Dr. Virginia Mann continues the conversation she began in Part 1, this time focusing on the importance of developing working memory and morpheme awareness skills in order to attain the goal of fluent reading (the ability to read at the right speed with no mistakes and good expression). 

Morpheme awareness is the ability to recognize and contextualize the basic semantic building blocks of the English language.  Here’s an example of how it works:

Can you fill in the blank with the most appropriate fictional word from the multiple-choice list below?

She is very __________.
a) lorialize
b) lorial 
c) lorify
d) lorialism

Most experienced English speakers will be able to select the nonsense word "lorial" (choice b) to complete the sentence above, as it is the only adjective on the list. Completing this exercise also requires working memory, the ability to temporarily retain information long enough to complete a new task.

MORPHEMES

In her presentation, Dr. Mann compares morphemes to Legos, the interlocking toy building-block system, describing morphemes as vocabulary-building roots for language. One example she gives of a morpheme is the root word “play,” which can morph into the words “plays”, “played,” “playpen,”  “replay,” and “unplayfully,” (to name a few) with the help of prefixes and suffixes.

In the webinar, Dr. Mann refers to a study which showed that normally developing children between the ages of 4 and 5 already understand this kind of morphological activity and are able to build new words in this manner. Research has also shown that young readers who do not develop strong morpheme awareness skills can sometimes end up with "frozen" reading skills, typically around the 3rd grade, just before morpheme awareness become central to a student's journey towards fluent reading.

WORKING MEMORY

Working memory is also explored in-depth in this webinar. Dr. Mann connects the dots between the importance of working memory and oral comprehension difficulties in school, and clearly identifies the kinds of classroom challenges (e.g., difficulty following directions, problems with multiple choice tests) students with poor working memory skills eventually face.

“If you can’t retain what is said, you can’t comprehend it,” Dr. Mann succinctly states, demonstrating the very real connection between poor working memory skills and diminished comprehension, which are common barriers to fluent reading.

All parents and educators can benefit from a deeper knowledge of morphemes and working memory (even if you selected the correct word in our little pop quiz above). Click here to view the full webinar.

 

Dr. Mann has collaborated with Scientific Learning on our learning acceleration products since the year 2000, playing a crucial role in the development of the Fast ForWord READING series.

Related Reading:

Language and the Reading Puzzle: 5 Steps Toward Fluent Reading

Why You Should Read With Your Child

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

Categories: Brain Fitness, Reading & Learning

Tags: child reading development, early learning, fluency, improving reading skills, language learning, learning to read, literacy, memory, oral language skills, reading comprehension, struggling readers, vocabulary, webinar

Language and the Reading Puzzle: 5 Steps Towards Fluent Reading

• April 3, 2012 by Carrie Gajowski

Dr. Virginia Mann's recent Scientific Learning webinar, "Language and the Reading Puzzle – Part 1" focused on the way families, schools, researchers, and technology can work together to create a "circuit for success" by helping students attain the goal of fluent reading (reading at the right speed, with few or no mistakes and good expression).  The information in Dr. Mann's webinar is extensive, covering both the research data on the barriers to fluent reading and the various solutions parents and educators can employ to demonstrably improve reading readiness and fluency.

Here are five steps that can help steer beginning readers and struggling readers of all ages towards fluent reading:

1.   Identify barriers.

Most readers begin as "hearers" of language, and written language is fundamentally a transcription of spoken language.  Dr. Mann identifies poor oral/spoken language skills as a common barrier to fluent reading, a barrier that involves a lack of phoneme awareness and morpheme awareness (the subject of a separate webinar to be covered in a future post).  She also dispels any lingering belief in the myth that visual "reversals" in writing or reading (e.g., mistaking a b for a d, confusing bad with dad) are a predictor or cause of poor reading skills in any way. Identifying the real barriers to fluent reading is the first step in determining how to best assist struggling readers.

2.  Build phoneme awareness. 

The data Dr. Mann presents in this webinar tell us that phoneme awareness, which develops with age and exposure, is directly related to reading ability. Activities which promote phoneme awareness include learning the ABCs (especially the letter sounds), matching and sorting words by phonemes (e.g., noting that the beginning sounds of cat and cup match, while the beginning sounds of cat and dog do not match), and manipulating phonemes (e.g., substituting an s for the c in cat to create a new word with a new beginning sound—sat). Understanding how the letters c-a-t spell the aural word cat takes a kind of “mental surgery” which can only occur with strong phoneme awareness.

3. Enrich vocabulary exposure and oral language skills.

Research shows us that students with weak oral language skills in kindergarten have a substantially more difficult time learning to read or reaching the appropriate reading level for their age group. A difference of 5.2 years between age and reading level is not uncommon in young people who begin kindergarten with deficient oral language experience. A great way to support and build on a strong foundation of phoneme awareness is through cumulative oral language experiences, which provide new and struggling readers with incremental exposure to letter sounds and vocabulary, laying the groundwork for better language comprehension and reading.

4.  Encourage literacy activities.

A powerful example of a literacy-oriented activity that can boost phoneme awareness and reading readiness is dialogic reading, a practice that encourages interactivity over passive listening when engaging with the written word. The main technique when practicing dialogic reading is the "PEER Sequence," which asks the adult reader to:

• Prompt the child to comment about the book
• Evaluate the child's response in some way
• Expand the child's response by adding new information
• Repeat the prompt to reinforce what has been learned

Dialogic reading is an active, dynamic workout for hearing, speaking, critical thinking, and working memory skills, which all play a part in building a better reader.

5.  Use technology.

In the fast-moving 21st century, technology has an important role to play. Today, cutting-edge educational tools can help accelerate reading acquisition, with enormous benefits for learners and busy educators. Educators will benefit by embracing the available technology that produces better readers who can learn more effectively in the classroom.

Fluent reading is a significant goal: a challenge for beginners, and a persistent problem for some struggling students. These five steps are really just a glimpse of what Dr. Mann covers in her presentation. Click here to view the full webinar!

Related Reading:

The Essential Nature of Developing Oral Reading Fluency

Students Who Struggle in the Mainstream: What Their Homework Patterns May Tell You

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

Categories: Education Trends, Reading & Learning

Tags: academic success, achievement gap, child reading development, early learning, how children learn, language learning, learning to read, literacy, memory, oral language skills, phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, vocabulary

5 Reasons Why Every Parent Should Be Familiar with Executive Function

• March 20, 2012 by Carrie Gajowski

The brain's executive function is a kind of internal "air traffic control system" that is a a group of skills that helps us to focus on multiple streams of information at the same time, monitor errors, make decisions in light of available information, revise plans as necessary and resist the urge to let frustration lead to hasty actions.  The development of solid executive function is one of the key learning tasks of early childhood, and a significant contributor to later success in life.

In his recent webinar on the topic, Scientific Learning Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder Dr. William Jenkins dug deep into the three interrelated skills which comprise this air traffic control system: working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive/mental flexibility. These three skills help us keep information in mind, master our impulses, and remain flexible in the face of change—and are crucial building blocks for the development of both cognitive and social interaction skills in young children.

Dr. Jenkins outlined a number of reasons that parent should take an interest in helping their children develop sound executive function skills in early childhood:

1. Strong executive function skills provide the best possible foundation for school readiness.

In many ways, executive function skills could be called the "biological foundation" for school readiness. It has been shown that children with strong working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive/mental flexibility skills make greater gains in academic areas than peers with weaker executive function skills.  Coming to school with these foundational skills well-developed is just as important, if not more important, than fluency with letters and numbers.

2. Executive function skills begin at home.

Executive function skills are not automatic. These skills are built over time through practice, and can be observed in infants as early as six months, when some infants can understand and obey a simple directive such as "don't touch that plate." Parents can support (or "scaffold") the development of these skills from early childhood by teaching and reinforcing common concepts such as taking turns and using "inside" and "outside" voices. In addition to the home, executive function skills continue to be developed in childcare programs, pre-schools, elementary school classrooms, and other social settings, into adolescence.

3. Understanding executive function helps parents collaborate with educators.

As Dr. Jenkins notes in the webinar, elementary school teachers are keenly aware of the importance of executive function. Parents who are actively, consciously participating in the development of their child’s executive function skills will have a richer understanding of the importance of all activities and expectations revolving around classroom life, from the way one lines up for lunch to the way one studies for a spelling  test.  This has the potential for a dynamic, integrated educational experience for the student, teacher, and parents, working together to build a better brain for each child.

4. Executive function skills help lay the foundation for the kind of student, citizen, and social being a child will become.

Ultimately, the skills that cohere into executive function are the skills we use to navigate family, school, and work settings for our entire lives: retaining and using information, filtering thoughts and impulses, focusing on a task at hand, recognizing errors, changing plans, and understanding how different rules apply in different settings are all skills that require stewardship from birth to adulthood. Parents armed with this knowledge are more apt to take an active part in the development of these skills from an early age. 

5. Understanding executive function gives parents a fuller understanding of a child who is struggling.

It is a mistake to immediately brand a child who struggles with things like inhibitory control as a "bad kid". Understanding the concepts behind executive function gives parents a fuller picture of what is happening with their child when he or she is having difficulty controlling impulses, focusing on a given task, or understanding that different rules may apply at different times. This will help parents decide if outside help may be needed to help their child (studies show there is at least short-term effectiveness in interventions that support executive function development).

Interested in learning more?  Listen to Dr. Jenkins’ webinar here for more in-depth information on all aspects of executive function and its importance in early childhood development and brain fitness.

Related Reading:

The Curious Mind: Interest, Drive, and the Road to Academic Success

5 Things Every Parent and Educator Should Know About Early Childhood Brain Development

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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, Reading & Learning

Tags: brain development, cognitive skills, early learning, executive function

One Short Month, Five Great Education Webinars—Register Today!

• February 7, 2012 by Carrie Gajowski

As the coordinator of the webinars here at Scientific Learning, I am excited to announce our February webinar schedule!

Our webinars this month focus on three important topics: early childhood development, funding sources for K-12 schools, and how educators can ensure that students are maximally benefitting from the time they spend reading.

Early Childhood Development

February 13^th at 8am Pacific: Dr. Martha S. Burns will take us on a journey to learn more about the first years of a child’s life in her presentation on ‘The New Science of Early Childhood Development.’ Dr. Burns will discuss new research on how early childhood skills develop and what you as an educator or parent can do to support and augment your children’s development.

February 29^th at 1pm Pacific: Dr. William Jenkins will present his webinar titled:  ‘The Development of Executive Functions: Building the Brain’s “Air Traffic Control” System.’ Dr. Jenkins will review the three dimensions of executive functions often highlighted by scientists—working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility—and examine the development of these functions during childhood. 

Funding Sources for K-12 Schools

February 9 at 1pm Pacific: Dr. Joseph Noble will cover the basics of the 21^st Century Community Learning Centers grant and how it can be used to support the development of your students’ reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension using our Reading Assistant program during extended hours. 

February 16^th at 1pm Pacific: Dr. Noble will present a webinar on the federal Department of Education’s Race to the Top:  Early Learning Challenge grant.  Webinar attendees will learn how to prepare Pre-K students to succeed in school with Scientific Learning’s early learning software products.

Maximizing the Benefit of Time Spent Reading

February 23^rd at noon Pacific: Cory Armes will join us with her session titled ‘Make Every Minute Count.’  During this informative session, Ms. Armes will discuss how the Reading Assistant™ program can supplement classroom instruction by providing a personal reading tutor for each student through patented speech-recognition technology.

Register now to join us for any or all of these webinars, and stay tuned for our March and April webinar schedule!

Related Reading:

How Oral Reading Practice Helps Reading Comprehension

Toddler Vocabulary Development: Shopping With Your Child

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

Categories: Education Funding, Grants, and Stimulus, Family Focus, Reading & Learning, Reading Assistant

Tags: brain development, brain training, child reading development, cognitive skills, learning to read, Scientific Learning events, technology in education, webinar

Bringing Learning to Life in the Classroom: Technology for 21st Century Schools

• December 22, 2011 by Carrie Gajowski

Dim the lights and listen.  Rumbling and stomping fills the classroom.  First grade students sit up and lean forward in their seats, readied with excitement and anticipation as their science lesson comes to life. A Tyrannosaurus Rex lurches into the room, right in front of their eyes. Students observe the mighty carnivore as it tromps through the classroom, taking note of its activities, its eating habits and its demeanor.

This scene heralds a new age of interactivity for 21^st century classrooms throughout the country.   The vivid, clear and extraordinary images provided by today’s 3D technologies dramatically expand the possibilities for classroom learning.  Teachers understand the impact this type of technology has on students and are harnessing its power to bring the classroom to life and help students more easily grasp difficult concepts.

The possibilities for 3D-enhanced student learning experiences are limitless. No longer is learning based simply on textbooks or computer-based tools. Rather, 3D technology is being used to supplement and enhance the standard curriculum, giving students the opportunity to observe and explore phenomena up close in their own classroom via “3D field trips,” without the hassle of leaving the school grounds. 

For the study of science, this is particularly exciting.  Students can explore the solar system, taking extra time to observe the topography of Mars. They can fly along with a bee to learn about the hive, pollination and the important role bees play in the sustainability of our food chain and environment.  With 3D modeling, students don special 3D glasses to immerse themselves in an experience such as looking inside the human body to observe how the brain works, or watching how a dissected frog’s internal organs function in real time.

As “digital natives,” younger generations are primed to respond to technology-based teaching techniques in the classroom.  But with scarce education dollars at stake, what evidence is there that 3D technologies can positively impact learning outcomes? 

Thus far, schools that have adopted these new tools have reported good results. Student attention has increased—especially among learners who have tended to be disruptive or inattentive during more traditional instruction.  All types of learners are more engaged in creative thinking and actively participating in the lessons and discussions, with ELL students and gifted students particularly benefiting.   Learners have been shown to grasp and retain information more effectively than their peers who learn the same material without 3D technology, and have shown significant increases in academic achievement.

Some say today’s 3D tools are just the beginning, and have started to imagine an enriched instructional world in which students will use yet-to-be-developed tools to visit historic sites, see how regrouping is done in subtraction, and tour a variety of ecosystems.  An ultimate goal would be for 3D technologies to stimulate higher-order thinking in ways that 2D tools can’t, confronting students with experiences that they must consider and respond to in novel and creative ways.

The possibilities of 3D tools are promising, but how viable are they long-term?  Can schools afford them?  Will the supply of fresh 3D content become more readily available across subject areas?  Will students step in, as some have predicted, creating content to fill current gaps—and will the content they create have the same type of positive impact on student learning outcomes that some early adopters have seen? Can 3D technology help schools produce more active and informed citizens?  Can it help produce more highly skilled, tech-savvy, innovative workers to compete in the global marketplace?

There is no doubt that 3D technology has awakened classrooms with a new energy and new potential for richer, deeper learning.  It has the power to turn our learners into explorers, their curiosity awakened and their skills and senses “switched on.”  Now don your 3D glasses, because the rest remains to be seen.

References:

Discover the advantages of teaching in 3D

Related Reading:

Video Games: A New Perspective on Learning Content and Skills

10 Big Benefits of Using iPads in Schools

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

Categories: Education Trends, Reading & Learning

Tags: creativity, curriculum, digital natives, innovation, school leader effectiveness, science, teacher impact, technology in education

5 Paths To Brain Health: Tips From Dr. Paul Nussbaum

• July 5, 2011 by Carrie Gajowski

As the webinar coordinator here at Scientific Learning, I hosted yet another fascinating webinar about brain health with Dr. Paul Nussbaum in early May called “Brain Health Across the Lifespan”.  Dr. Nussbaum combined humor with interesting facts about the brain and the webinar ended up being one of our best sessions to date.  He provided a simple yet comprehensive look at the brain and how it functions. 

One interesting story Dr. Nussbaum shared was about the development and eventual delaying of the onset of Alzheimer’s disease based on lifestyle choices.  He cited research that has been done at autopsy that shows that there can be evidence of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain that has never manifested in memory problems during a person’s life.   

Dr. Nussbaum concluded that if you look at the individual’s life, you might find that they had a higher education level or more demanding occupation or participated in complex and varied activities throughout life, building up a stronger and more “fit” brain and delaying the onset of the disease.

He then covered 5 important aspects to brain health and suggested some activities that can keep your brain fit and healthy throughout your lifetime:

1. Nutrition:  Eat more “good” fats including Omega-3 fatty acids, more fruits and vegetables, and fewer “bad” fats and processed foods. 
2. Socialization:  Stay involved with life and develop a personal mission and hobbies along with building networks of family and friendships.
3. Physical Activity: Be mobile and active.  Walk, play, run, garden, exercise, bike, hike.  These activities can help reduce the risk of dementia later on in life.
4. Mental Stimulation:  Learn a second language, learn sign language, travel, play board games, and either play or listen to music.
5. Spirituality:  Slow down, meditate, and learn relaxation procedures.  Identify what your stressors are and how they affect you and then identify ways to handle them.

To find out more about Brain Health, watch our previously recorded webinar or visit Dr. Nussbaum’s website.

Related Reading:

Lifelong Leaning and the Plastic Brain

Educating Kids about Nutrition and the Brain

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

Categories: Brain Fitness, Reading & Learning

Tags: brain training, cognitive skills, effort, exercise, health and well being, language learning, memory, musical training, play, Scientific Learning events, webinar