AMPing Up Our Teaching to Increase Intrinsic Student Motivation

• May 24, 2011 by Sherrelle Walker, M.A.

Think about this discussion on motivation presented in 2009 by Daniel Pink, career analyst, ex-speech writer for Al Gore, and author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.  He described how modern business management styles once motivated employees—the old “carrot and stick” or reward and punishment approach—actually works in direct conflict with what science has shown about human motivation.

When it comes to optimizing performance on creative tasks, Pink, drawing from the conclusions of numbers psychological studies, tells us that it comes down to three elements:

1)     Autonomy: people have the urge to direct their own lives.

2)     Mastery: people have an innate desire to improve in skills that matter.

3)     Purpose: people want to contribute to something larger than themselves.

Environments that cultivated these three conditions led to faster, better, more creative work.

Now, consider this idea applied to the classroom. We have a great opportunity to make our classrooms into places where students can experience learning based on the three principles above, autonomy, mastery and purpose (AMP). I would argue that we need to “AMP up” our teaching.

When I consider instilling self-motivation in students, Pink’s three elements give us a great framework upon which we can begin to construct our teaching strategies.

Now, giving up the carrot and the stick will be a tough one for many of us to stomach, especially because our educational system is so rooted in such thinking. Certainly, rewards can serve to get a student to finish his homework, clean up her desk or complete a project. But, incentivizing does not cultivate self-motivation, and as Pink describes, the research shows that it actually decreases creative capabilities.

So, what might an AMPed classroom look like?

• Autonomy: In such a classroom, students have clear goals to reach, but maybe they have the freedom to schedule their own time (within reason) and create their own strategies for how and when they will reach those goals.
• Mastery: Students need to understand why they are learning what they are learning. They need to understand the context around why these skills are so important. In an AMPed classroom, this information is integrated into instruction and students are encouraged to assimilate the “why” of their lessons just as much as the “what.”
• Purpose: In AMPed classrooms, lessons and projects are not hypothetical. They are based in the real-world and allow students to truly affect positive change in our classrooms, schools and communities.

In the end, if we look at these three ways of looking at motivation, we are simply shifting the motivators from external ones to internal ones. We are connecting our lessons directly to what is important to each individual student at a personal level. Through providing a way for the student to insert themselves into the material through the creative process and their own solution development, the learning becomes directly relevant to their lives and priorities.

Edward Deci, a premier researcher on motivation, wrote: “The proper question is not, 'how can people motivate others?' but rather, "how can people create the conditions within which others will motivate themselves?"^[i] Ultimately, our success as educators must lie in taking the long view of our students’ lives—beyond their lives as students to when they will put their educations to use as professionals. And with that long view, the future adult who is a self-motivated individual will certainly be more successful than the person who stands by waiting for others to move them.

Watch Daniel Pink’s 19-minute TED talk on the surprising science of motivation.

[i] Ferlazzo, Larry. “Helping Students Motivate Themselves.” Education Week Teacher, April 22, 2011. 

For further reading:

Self-Determination Theory: An Approach to Human Motivation and Personality, Edward Deci and Richard Ryan

Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers To Classroom Problems, Larry Ferlazzo, 2011

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Related Reading:

Teaching Creativity in the Classroom

Inspiring Students to Dream, Learn, and Grow

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Categories: Education Trends, Reading & Learning

Tags: creativity, how adults learn, how children learn, learning environment, motivating students, school leader effectiveness, student growth, teacher effectiveness, teacher impact

Adult and Family literacy in the US; limitations to our Nation’s success

• February 3, 2011 by Corey Fitzgerald

“Some people there are who, being grown; forget the horrible task of learning to read. It is perhaps the greatest single effort that the human undertakes, and he must do it as a child.” –John Steinbeck

But what about those who fail to become literate through traditional schooling?  Low literacy continues to be a persistent problem among adults in the United States.  Results from the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), available through the National Center for Education Statistics, found that 30 million adults have “below basic” literacy skills, with more than half of those scoring at this level not having a high school diploma or GED.  This translates to nearly 1 out of every 6 adults, age 25 and older, across the country.  This crisis has resulted in the following:  (findings from the Report of the National Commission on Adult Literacy)

• U.S. Scores Poorly Internationally. The U.S. is the only country among 30 OECD free-market countries where the current generation is less well educated than the previous one.
• High School Dropout Rates Are Staggering. Every year, one in three young adults—more than 1.2 million people—drop out of high school.
• Low Parent Learning Affects Children. One in four U.S. working families is low-income, and one in five children lives in poverty. Parents and caregivers in many of these households lack the education and skills to earn a family-sustaining wage.
• Low Literacy in Burgeoning Prison Population. One in every 100 U.S. adults 16 and older is in prison or jail in America.  About 43 percent do not have a high school diploma or equivalent, and 56 percent have very low literacy skills.
• Large and Growing English Language and Literacy Need. About 2 million immigrants come to the U.S. each year seeking jobs and better lives—the promise of America. About 50 percent of them have low literacy levels and lack high school education and English language skills, severely limiting their access to jobs and job training, college, and citizenship.

Yet despite the challenges, there is an incentive to overcome these obstructions.  A better educated more literate population will improve our standard of living and offer benefits in the following ways:

• Higher rates of employment and better jobs
• Increases in personal income and individual economic well being
• Increases in voter participation, volunteerism and civic engagement
• Better health and more effective healthcare
• A greater fiscal contribution to our economy at all government levels

And at the very heart of this is you, an influential role model and innovator whose evidence-based approach to education will boost our country back into a position of global leadership; because effective education is the best investment we can make!

Related Reading:

The 30 Million Word Gap in Language Experience Puts Kids At Risk

HABLA Program Helps Disadvantaged Early Learners Lay Foundations for Success

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Categories: Education Trends, Family Focus

Tags: academic problems, academic proficiency, academic success, at-risk, high school learning, how adults learn, literacy

Brain Plasticity: A New Frontier For Education and Learning

• November 11, 2010 by Carrie Gajowski

Dr. Norman Doidge is the author of the book The Brain That Changes Itself and in this book, he reveals a fascinating look at how the brain can literally rewire itself throughout the lifespan, even into old age.  He shows how the brain is “plastic” and can change at any age, based on the stimuli it is being given.  The brain is no longer thought of as “fixed” or “unchanging.”  You literally train it in everything you do during your daily life.   This is the concept of “neuroplasticity.”

Dr. Doidge researched this idea of “neuroplasticity” to find that miracles can and do occur as it relates to how the brain can function.  Brains can be “rewired” for success in school.  It has been found that functioning can be restored in brains that have either declined because of old age or because of an injury to the brain.   This is a fascinating new world to explore in the arena of human development and how people function in the world around them. 

Dr. Doidge participated in an interview last spring on the topic of brain plasticity, which you can listen to online.  Here are some of the discussion points from the interview:

• Part One: The concept of brain plasticity, what it means and how it works. 
• Part Two: How our brain learns, how technology plays a role in the learning process and how it affects our brain and brain development. 
• Part Three: An exploration of communication and the roles of computers, text messages and email messages today, including an interesting discussion of how we tend to keep information on technology outside of ourselves, rather than inside our heads. 
• Part Four: Who can benefit from the concept of brain plasticity and how can it help education today?

Brain plasticity is a newer idea and concept.  Whether you are already a fan of Dr. Norman Doidge or just hearing about brain plasticity for the first time, don’t miss this interview – it is wonderfully informative and eye-opening.  As more research continues to be done on the brain, it will be exciting to see what new things are learned about how the brain functions.  More importantly, it will be fascinating to see how brain plasticity can provide hope to people everywhere.

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Categories: Brain Research, Education Trends, Reading & Learning

Tags: brain development, brain training, how adults learn, how children learn

Creating Reading Intention to Improve Reading Comprehension Skills in Students

• October 26, 2010 by Terri Zezula

Most everyone can stand to improve reading comprehension, from early readers to adult professionals. An internet search for reading comprehension strategies to improve this skill yields a multitude of exercises and recommendations, but overall, they all seem to arrive at a singular idea: to improve reading comprehension skills, we must prime the brain through creating a framework that allows the reader to experience a text with intent.

Teaching our students (or just re-training ourselves) to enter into the reading experience with intent allows the reader to extract and retain the key elements of information. This is quite different from simply picking up a book, flipping to page one and jumping right into “Once upon a time...” A number of things can happen before that moment to frame the reader’s mindset and prime the brain to better comprehend the information it is about to delve into.

So, what are some ways of improving reading comprehension by creating that intent and priming the brain? Here are some examples of pre-reading activities and questions that we can offer students young and old to frame their reading for improved comprehension.

Before reading, take a look around. A book is much more than the words on its pages. What is the title? What do we see on the cover? Who is the author and what kinds of stories and books does this person create? When was the book written? By taking a few minutes to focus on these elements, we can set up expectations in our minds—like a loose outline—that we will later fill in with the details.

Get a 30,000 foot view. Delving in a bit deeper, what can we learn about the story by reading the table of contents and flipping quickly through the pages? Tables of contents offer huge amounts of information to help readers further develop expectations and outlines.

Make it personal. Our brains are more likely to absorb information when it is directly applicable or related to our interests and our lives. Thinking about the information we have just accessed by answering the above questions, what aspects of this book grab our interest on a personal level? What features of the book relate directly to our lives?

Write it down. Now that we have a framework of expectations around what we are about to read, write down questions that have arisen about the story and its characters, and make some predictions about how the story might unfold.

All of these pre-reading activities help the reader to create a mental framework that will later hold the details of the text. Readers can then use these notes during and after reading to see where predictions were on target or where they might have gone off course.

Regardless of their simplicity—or maybe because of it—the reading comprehension strategies above help create the reading intention to improve reading comprehension skills. Your own internet search will yield countless additional helpful hints and resources, but don’t underestimate your own creativity. How many ways can you think of to engage students in thinking about a text prior to turning to page one?

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Categories: Reading & Learning

Tags: academic success, child reading development, early learning, elementary learning, elementary school learning, high school learning, how adults learn, how children learn, improving reading skills, learning to read, reading comprehension, struggling readers

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.

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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

The Brain Gets Better at What it Does: Dr. Martha Burns on Brain Plasticity

• May 21, 2010 by Norene Wiesen

In March, Dr. Martha Burns visited Australia to present the latest findings on how the brain learns.  Dr. Burns is an extremely knowledgeable and highly sought after speaker, so I'm pleased to let you know that an interview she gave on brain plasticity while there is now available online at nouspod.com.

The recording is presented in two parts, totaling about 20 minutes listening time.  If you don't have time to listen to both parts of the interview at once, either part works well alone.  But remember to come back later and listen to the other part of the interview--because the whole thing is too good to be missed! 

These are the points addressed in each part:

Dr. Martha Burns Explains Neuroplasticity 1:

• What is neuroplasticity, in simple terms?
• What are the differences in brain plasticity between younger and older people?
• What are neurotransmitters and what role do they play in neuroplasticity?
• What are neuromodulators and how do they influence learning?
• How do rewards and novelty influence learning?
• How does Ritalin affect the brain?
• What are the unique brain benefits of exercise?
• What is the role of brain plasticity in anxiety and depression?

Dr. Martha Burns Explains Neuroplasticity 2:

• Can brain plasticity influence intelligence?
• How important are grades vs. effort?
• What behaviors should teachers reward in their students?
• What role should technology play in schools?
• How can educators invite students to participate in class more?

These recordings are also a great source of brain information to share with your students in the classroom!

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Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Reading & Learning

Tags: academic success, brain plasticity, effort, emotions in learning, health and well being, how adults learn, how children learn, intelligence, learning environment, learning through play, motivating students, novelty, teacher impact, technology in education

In a Rut? Give Your Brain a Workout

• May 20, 2010 by Sherrelle Walker, M.A.

When was the last time you got stuck—I mean really STUCK—on a problem? Instead of being able to bring your mental muscles to bear on the challenge, did your mind feel tired or fatigued or just plain empty?

As it turns out, our brains function more like muscles than we realize. Consider a well-trained athlete: she might be able to trot six or eight miles in a stint and feel absolutely fabulous. But take that same athlete and have her run those same six miles backwards. The next day, everything will be sore from that buildup of lactic acid in those muscle groups that rarely get such activity.

The brain works in much the same way. While it is most certainly not a muscle, it behaves like one in that the more we work it and the more varied the challenges we can bring it, the more it will function at optimal levels when we most need it.

We regularly get our brains to perform repeat tasks through establishing patterns. Everything from speech to doing mathematics to driving a car to enjoying music is based on learning and using patterns. Problems that don’t fit our established patterns of thinking represent the greatest challenges. They also demand our greatest creative thinking.

So, how can we train our brains to more effectively and creatively address the unexpected? Try looking at some of your established patterns and changing them to work your brain:

• Brush your teeth, write the grocery list or dial the phone with the OTHER hand.
• Look up a new word and use it in conversation at least once each day.
• Listen to a new piece of music—really listen to it—from beginning to end without interruption.
• Do a puzzle; crossword, Sudoku and the good old Rubik’s Cube® are like brain pushups—the more, the better.
• Select a poem and memorize it. For more of a mental marathon, try a Shakespearean soliloquy.

For a more long-term commitment to brain fitness, try an activity that represents learning a whole new set of patterns for your brain, such as taking up a martial art or yoga. If you’re not that physical, you might give photography or cooking a try. Aside from the benefits of adding new experience and dimension to life, activities and hobbies like these, in time, result in better brain function.

Here are a few references for further reading:

• This article on Ehow offers five simple steps on how to strengthen your brain.
• If you are an educator, Dr. Kathie Nunley helps make connections between the latest research and classroom practice at www.brains.org.

Posit Science offers a complete Brain Fitness Program including software and games developed by Dr. Michael Merzenich.

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Categories: Brain Fitness

Tags: brain plasticity, creativity, how adults learn, how children learn, novelty

Brain Fitness Is Not A Game

• April 30, 2010 by Terri Zezula

A recent study on brain video games is causing discussions worldwide on the benefits of brain training and programs developed to improve brain functioning. The study, published in Nature and summarized on Nature News, titled “No Gain From Brain Training,” was conducted with adults, average age 39, who practiced a series of online tasks for a minimum of ten minutes a day, three times a week, for six weeks.

These tasks, focused on reasoning, planning and problem-solving abilities, were tests and not exercises intended to improve cognitive skills. While the outcome of the study brings the concept of brain training to the forefront of online discussion sites, it’s important to note that the clarification of brain video games, brain training programs and brain fitness programs and the origins of the research behind the development of these products are critical to the discussions. 

What differentiates the Scientific Learning products from those advertised as “brain video games” or “brain training programs” is the science: decades of research into how students learn preceded the development of our products. For more than 30 years, neuroscientists at Scientific Learning have studied the way the brain learns.

The expertise and collaboration of Drs. Michael Merzenich, William Jenkins, Paula Tallal, and Steven Miller, the founders of Scientific Learning, along with several other cognitive neuroscientists, resulted in the development of a research-based series of products. The Fast ForWord® software is based on the science of how the brain learns and retains information. It utilizes the principles of neuroscience and learning to exercise and develop the brain's processing efficiency, essential for academic learning and reading success.

Brain plasticity research demonstrates that completing learning tasks in a frequent, intense timeframe accelerates learning. Just as exercise promotes physical fitness, exercising our brain improves brain fitness in four critical areas: memory, attention, processing and sequencing.

In addition, the research is recognized and supported by other scientists in peer reviews from Stanford University, Cornell University, UCSF Medical Center & Rutgers University, and many other top Universities, including a recent study by Dr. Nadine Gaab of Children’s Hospital Boston ((Gaab, N., Gabrieli, J.D.E., Deutsch, G.K., Tallal, P., & Temple, E. (2007). Neural correlates of rapid auditory processing are disrupted in children with developmental dyslexia and ameliorated with training: An fMRI study. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, 25, 295-310.)).

Finding the right product to improve cognitive skills can be overwhelming for the consumer. Numerous articles and research studies can be found online that address the interest and concern in this popular field of learning and brain development. In fact, a Google search on “brain video games” resulted in more than 32million hits! Members of the education community, parents and teachers alike, who are looking for programs for their students, should be cognizant of the importance of scientific research.

If a product is touted as “research-based,” what are the origins, extent and validity of that research? Are the products intended to test or improve cognitive skills? According to Dr. William Jenkins, Scientific Learning's Chief Scientific Officer, “a program that is designed to improve cognitive, reading or language skills and build brain fitness is adaptive to the student’s abilities; critical tasks are practiced at an appropriate frequency and intensity; multiple skills are cross-trained at the same time for lasting improvement; and rewards are built into the program for maximum motivation as the student progresses.”

In the study referenced above, “No Gain From Brain Training,” researchers believe that none of the groups who participated in the study boosted their performance on tests measuring general cognitive abilities such as memory, reasoning and learning. Participants in the study were volunteers who were viewers of a popular BBC game show, “Bang Goes the Theory.” The study required the participants to complete tasks for only 10 minutes a day, 3 times a week.

While the study concluded that there is no evidence of “any generalized improvements in cognitive function following brain training in a large sample of healthy adults,” it is a study that leads to more questions than answers. Were the tasks measures of current cognitive skills or were they designed to build upon these skills? The study leads the reader to conclude that these were tests of cognitive ability, not exercises to improve skills. So the conclusion that the programs did not improve cognitive function is baffling. Were the tasks adaptive, motivating, and practiced with intensity and frequency? Was there cross-training on multiple tasks to build cognitive skills? How comprehensive is a study conducted on participants who complete tasks for only a few minutes a week?

Based on the intensive studies done on proven brain training or brain fitness products already on the market that follow the basic principles of clinical trial studies (i.e Posit Science, a brain fitness program for adults), this study is not a strong indicator of the results that can be realized with a true research-based program. Whether programs are defined as brain training or brain video games or tasks designed to test cognitive skills, they don’t necessarily have the intensive scientific research that is the foundation of a proven brain fitness program.

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Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Fast ForWord, Scientific Learning Research

Tags: academic success, accelerate learning, adaptivity, attention, brain plasticity, brain training, cognitive skills, crosstraining, frequency, how adults learn, intensity, learning through play, memory, motivating students, processing, processing rate, sequencing, technology in education

Lifelong Learning and the Plastic Brain

• April 23, 2010 by Sherrelle Walker, M.A.

travel.

Remember the old saying, "You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?"  Well, we are actually finding out that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks. Decades of research tell us that the brain has the capacity to continually grow and re-wire itself. 

The ability of the brain to change itself is termed brain plasticity or neuroplasticity. A good question is "how do we translate this knowledge of neuroplasticity into success for all learners?"

First, we need to understand what "learner" means. According to TheFreeDictionary.com, "learn" is defined as "to gain knowledge, information, comprehension, or skill."  Lifelong learning is described as learning in which a person of any age keeps the mind and body engaged by actively pursuing knowledge and experience. 

Dr. Michael Merzenich, a leader in the field of neuroplasticity research, claims that we can constantly change the structure of the brain and increase its capacity to learn. His research shows that if the brain is not challenged with new learning, the brain's function can gradually erode over time, leading to decreased memory and cognitive function. Collaborative experiments by Merzenich and William Jenkins, Ph.D showed the adult brain demonstrated change and adaptation in response to stimuli.¹

Lifelong learning is not confined to childhood and has extended beyond the traditional classroom environment. Learning takes place in Tai Chi classes for senior citizens or in sandboxes where children can create the future. Many community education programs include lifelong learning courses on a variety of topics, including photography and naturopathic medicine. These activities offer new opportunities for the learner to experience new things, learn new concepts and stimulate the brain in a new way, thus keeping the brain "plastic." 

Educators are learning that brain fitness for students is just as important as physical fitness. Adults, especially Baby Boomers, are embracing lifelong learning as way to keep the mind and body healthy. Some are even looking at voluntourism (combining volunteer work with vacationing) or educational travel (combining lectures, explorations and leisure time) as a way of pursuing lifelong learning.

So, try learning a new language or playing a new musical instrument, teach reading in Romania, or maybe even learn how to do magic. You really can teach an old dog new tricks and you should!

For more information on lifelong learning and neuroplasticity, refer to Norman Doidge's book, "The Brain That Changes Itself" or the video, The New Science of Learning: Brain Fitness for Kids.

¹ Jenkins, W. M., Merzenich, M. M., & Recanzone, G. (1990). Neocortical representational dynamics in adult primates: Implications for neuropsychology. Neuropsychologia, 28(6), 573-84.

 

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Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Reading & Learning

Tags: cognitive skills, how adults learn, how children learn, lifelong learning

Educational Video Games

• February 25, 2010 by Sherrelle Walker, M.A.

Video games in the classroom? Yes, indeed according to Jim Brazell who recently gave the keynote speech at the Florida Education Technology Conference. Video games can be effective learning and teaching tools, not just entertainment.

We all know that mammals learn best through play. Video games have learning embedded in playing. They are very motivating with their interesting graphics, sounds and strategies. They have built in reward systems where players move up a level after achieving certain results.

Students in a new class called "Videogames & Learning," offered at the University of Michigan, are exploring how video games can be used in the classroom and are looking at the connection between video game technology and social science research in education. Traditional educational video games have been used to teach hand-eye coordination and drill skills such as spelling or math. One student, a junior in the class, points out that video games that are typically used solely for entertainment can be used to teach many different skills and concepts from time management to forward thinking and planning.

The military is at the forefront of using technology for teaching, using simulators and virtual experiences to present situations that cannot be recreated live. In the classroom, video games can incorporate tremendous amounts of data giving the students an opportunity to make decisions and apply knowledge in very complex environments that integrate virtual, physical and imaginary realities. This level of complexity cannot be achieved with other classroom teaching tools. Brazell has used video games and gaming technology for career simulation with K-12 students.

He has noted a tremendous amount of interest by teachers in using gaming in the classroom. His recommendation? Start by determining what it is you want the students to learn. "Never start with the idea that you're going to use a video game (as a teaching tool). Decide what you want to teach and then find the right application."

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Categories: Education Trends, Reading & Learning

Tags: how adults learn, how children learn, innovation, learning through play, motivating students, technology in education