Mano a Mano 3Phase II

Week Three Topic Two

The Brain: Structure, Development, and Implications for Teaching Young Children

Drs. Ellen Marshall and Cathy McAuliffe

Objectives

To reinforce the idea that the early years are critical to brain development

To explore how YOU as an early childhood professional are impacting those early years

To make connections about how your curriculum and interactions with your students influence brain development

To understand how neuroscience can and should inform educational practices

Connecting brain research and teaching… Read the following article http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/

file/200807/BTJPrimaryInterest.pdf

Choose one idea or concept from this article that you can implement immediately

Post your idea!

The Amazing Brain

New imaging technologies provide a gateway to the structures of the brain…watch these videos to see how our brains develop and how they look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XyGV-j7Y8w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li5nMsXg1Lk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BiRs544smw

Quotes to Ponder…

“Three principles from brain research – emotional safety, appropriate challenge and self-constructed meaning – suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach to classroom teaching is ineffective for most students and harmful to some.”

–Carol Ann Tomlinson and M. Layne Kalbfleisch, "Teach Me, Teach My Brain: A Call for Differentiated Classrooms.”

Quotes to Ponder…

“The brain takes in data only through the sensory perceptions that enter through the windows of the body's five senses.”

– Lawrence Lowery, “How New Science Curriculums Reflect Brain Research.”

Quotes to Ponder…

“From fine-tuning muscular systems to integrating emotion and logic, the arts have important biological value…Emotion and attention (which are central to all activity in the arts) often lead us to important rational behaviors that wouldn't have emerged if we hadn't walked through that arts-enhanced doorway. Emotion drives attention, and attention drives learning, problem solving, behavior, and just about everything else.”– Robert Sylwester, “Art for the Brain's Sake.”

Quotes to Ponder…

“New brain research shows not only that music is fun, but also that it improves our brain development and even enhances skills in other subjects such as reading and math…Music has the ability to facilitate language acquisition, reading readiness, and general intellectual development; to foster positive attitudes and to lower truancy in middle and high school; to enhance creativity; and to promote social development, personality adjustment and self-worth.”

– Norman M. Weinberger, “The Music in Our Minds.”

Quotes to Ponder…

“Research shows that students who talk about how they and others think become better learners. The theory of mind that children acquire in the preschool years provides the conceptual foundation for the metacognitive skills they require in school.”

– Janet Wilde Astington, “Theory of Mind Goes to School.”

Beyond preschool

Many times, when we talk about developmentally appropriate practices, we assume this concept applies to infant, toddler, preschool, and kindergarten environments only

However, we must remember that early childhood extends to age eight

Early elementary classrooms should also reflect what we have learned from current brain research

T 5-3

Dimensions of Quality Early Education

Provides for children’s needs and interests at each developmental stage

Provides an appropriate and safe environment

Maintains a teacher-child ratio that is sufficient to give children the individual care and attention they need

Provides a developmentally appropriate program with a developmentally based curricula for meeting the needs of children

George S. MorrisonFundamentals of Early Childhood Education, Fourth EditionCopyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 All rights reserved.

Dimensions of Quality Early Education

Provides family education and support

Provides an ongoing program of quality staff training and development

Seeks program accreditation

The New Classroom: Grades 1 – 3

Based on information in George S. Morrison, Fundamentals of Early Childhood Education, Fourth Edition, 2006, PPearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 A

The teacher understands and implements DAP

The teacher understands that the younger children in these grades are probably still in the pre-operational stage of cognitive development

The teacher understands that the older children in these grades are entering the concrete operations stage of cognitive development

The New Classroom: Grades 1 – 3 continued…

All subject areas are integrated; they are not taught as separate subjects

Children spend much of the day in small groups, not sitting in lines of desks

Teachers use authentic assessment to determine each child’s progress

Each child’s progress is documented in many ways, including the use of portfolios

An in-depth understanding of multiculturalism and diversity are evident in the environment and in teacher-child relationships

The New Classroom: Grades 1 – 3 continued…

Character education is taken seriously and is planned for and implemented throughout the curriculum

Teachers focus on teaching children to think critically and creatively, not to just memorize facts that can be regurgitated for a standard exam

The focus of the literacy program is to create readers who will be life-long readers and who see reading as a pleasure, not as a chore

The New Classroom: Grades 1 – 3 continued…

The math program “emphasize hands-on activities, problem-solving, group work and teamwork”

The math program “emphasizes application and use of mathematical ideas and principles to real-life events”

The New Classroom: Grades 1 – 3 continued…

Utilizes the concept of “looping”

http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/instrctn/in5lk10.htm

Back to Multiple Intelligences

Last week we introduced Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences

Dr. Gardner’s theory is based on brain research

Let’s review what the multiple intelligences are…(next slide)…

Theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI)

Multiple Intelligences in Action…

Follow this link to read one first grade teacher’s implementation of multiple intelligences in relation to community helpers; it’s written by a teacher in Argentina:

http://www.newhorizons.org/trans/

international/ribot.htm

What are your thoughts after reading this article? Post a comment.

One more video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lahaS6CzNgc

After viewing this short video related to declarative knowledge, describe how you can use this simple concept with your students!

Post your response

And finally…

Our brains impact all areas of development: cognitive, language, physical, and social-emotional.

That’s why you need a research-based (valid and reliable) instrument that tells you what children are capable of doing at different ages

Learning standards should be informed by research Check out the Illinois Pre-K learning standards:

http://illinoisearlylearning.org/standards/index.htm What do you use to determine what your early

childhood children are capable of learning? Post your answer.