GESS 2018Slides ©David Hodgson

for personal study use onlynot to be copied, sold or reproduced for commercial gain.

Recommended Research Papers:

• Neuroscience and education: myths and messages Howard-Jones, P. Dec 2014 (Nature Reviews Neuroscience)

• More evidence for three types of cognitive style: validating the object-spatial imagery and verbal questionnaire using eye tracking when learning with texts and picture Hoffler, T. 2017 (Applied Cognitive Psychology)

• The role of reward and reward uncertainty in episodic memory Mason, A et al Oct 2017 (Journal of Memory and Language)

• The episodic buffer: a new component of working memory Baddeley, A. Nov 2000 (Trends in Cognitive Science)

• A network neuroscience of human learning: potential to inform quantitative theories of brain and behaviour Bassett, D. 2017 (Trends in Cognitive Science)

• The functional profile of the human amygdala in affective processing: Insights from intracranial recordings Murray, R. J. et al 2014 (Cortex, 60)

• Sleep restriction worsens mood and emotion regulation in adolescents Baum, K. 2014 (Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry)

• How do we learn in a negative mood? Effects on transfer and learning Brand S. et al 2007 (Learning and Instruction)

• Repeated testing produces superior transfer of learning relative to repeated studying Butler, A. 2010 (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition)

• Genes linked to educational attainment expressed in the brain during prenatal developmentBenjamin, D. 2016 (Nature)

• Skills underlying mathematics: The role of executive function in the development of mathematics proficiency Cragg, L. 2014 (Trends in Neuroscience and Education)

• Smart drugs: A dose of intelligence Dance, A. 2016 (Nature)

• The amygdala: vigilance and emotion Davis, M. 2001 (Molecular Psychiatry)

• The consolidation and Transformation of Memory Dudai, Y. 2015 (Neuron)

ResourcesTed Talks:

Russell Foster The neuroscience of sleep TEDGlobal2013

Allan Jones A map of the brain TEDGlobal2011

Ed Boyden A light switch for neurons TED2011

Robert Stickgold Sleep, Memory and Dreams TEDxRiverCity2010

Steve Ramirez & Xu Lui How to manually change a memory TEDxBoston2013

Dr Nancy Chiaravalloti Techniques to Enhance Learning and Memory TEDxHerndon2016 (Youtube)

Elizabeth Amini Top 10 Tips to Keep Your Brain Young TEDxSoCal2011

Kelly McGonigal How to make stress your friend TEDGlobal2013

Dan Buettner How to live to be 100+ TedXTC 2009

Website:

Daniel Willingham

www.danielwillingham.com

Books:

‘Neuroscience for Teachers’, R. Churches et al, (Crown House Publishing, 2017)

‘Teacher-Led Research’, R. Churches & Eleanor Dommett, (Crown House Publishing, 2016)

‘Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning’, P. Brown et al, (Belknap Harvard, 2014)

‘Urban Myths about Learning and Education’, P. De Bruyckere, (Elsevier, 2015)

‘Why Don’t Students Like School?’, D. Willingham, (Jossey-Bass, 2009)

‘Seven Myths About Education’, D. Christodoulou, (The Curriculum Centre, Routledge, 2014)

‘Most Likely to Succeed’, T. Wagner & T. Dintersmith, (Simon & Schuster, 2015)

‘Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn’, J. Hattie & Gregory Yates, (Routledge, 2014)

‘Eyewitness Testimony: Civil & Criminal’ E. Loftus, (Lexis Law, 2008)

‘Thinking Fast and Slow’, D. Kahneman, (Penguin, 2012)

‘Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion’, R. Cialdini, (Harper Business, 2007)

‘Triumphs of Experience’, G. Valliant, (Harvard University Press, 2012)

‘Brain Imaging: Localisation of Brain Functions’, Y. Abdullaev, (Wiley, 2014)

‘On Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology’ Ebbinghaus, H. (New York Teachers College, 1913)

Building Global Citizens

‘Rapid advances in innovation are eliminating routine jobs from our economy. The critical skills young adults need for careers in this world are the very skills the school years eviscerate. The education policies to ‘fix’ schools only serve to harm students and disillusion teachers. Unless we completely reimagine school civil society will rip apart.’

Today’s youth live in a world brimming with opportunity. Some will create, catalyse and capitalise in a dynamic world hungry for innovation. We need smart creatives (google) not knowledge workers.

The Qualities of Great Leaders

School Leadership Cycle

There is a natural cycle in all jobs. Experienced leaders could consider the cycle described by Professor Tim Brighouse as a four-stage, eight year cycle of initiation, development,

stall and decline.

How Successful Head Teachers Survive and Thrive, T. Brighouse (RM, 2007).

INITIATION

Establishing a community of stakeholders

Unite around a common vision

DEVELOPMENT

Building a strong team Making the most of the strengths of key staff. Setting – and reaching – tough and measurable targets

STALL

Autopilot Complacency

Bad habits start to creep in

DECLINE Some original key staff move on, and new staff are not made aware of the school’s vision Disparate sense of purpose

Change of leadership

The Monkey Business Illusion

Belief in self, staff & school

1. Confident

2. Curious

3. Courageous

4. Sociable

5. Flexible.

6. Able to reason,

analyse & evaluate

Lessons in Leadership

The Power of Words Elizabeth Loftus Professor Psychology & Law

Research Findings:

Words can lead/mislead

At what speed were the cars going when they hit (34) smashed in to each other (41)

Would you operate if the operation had a 90% chance of success? 10% chance of failure?

2. Know Your Strengths

How Successful Head Teachers Survive and Thrive:

Which of these are you?

( T. Brighouse, How Successful Head Teachers Survive and Thrive.)

1. Energy creator Generating a passion for success Spreading optimism across the whole school and in stakeholders Building a ‘what if?’ rather than a ‘this is why we can’t’ approach

2. Skills Builder Building capacity and skills of the SLT Fostering a ‘we’ rather than a ‘them and us’ environment

3. Vision builder Uniting everyone around a shared vision Identifying obstacles and dealing with them quickly

4. Environment builder Ensuring all supplies and equipment are fit for purpose Making the environment a positive and pleasant place to be

5. Staff leader Seeking and leading improvement Comparative benchmarking Appreciative enquiry

6. Extending the vision Adapting and tweaking the vision to suit the journey of the school and the stakeholders Being aware of external threats and opportunities

Have a Plan/Vision

Vision linked to people and placeSix Signature StrengthsMartin Seligman

We express our identity by living through one of more of these.

Which of these six appeal to you?

1. WISDOM (curiosity, love of learning, judgement, ingenuity, emotional intelligence, perspective)

2. COURAGE (valour, perseverance, integrity)

3. HUMANITY (kindness, loving)

4. JUSTICE (citizenship, fairness, leadership)

5. TEMPERANCE (self-control, prudence, humility)

6. TRANSCENDENCE (gratitude, hope, spirituality, forgiveness, humour, zest, aestheticism)

Positive Attitude/Right Risk‘A ship in harbour is safe but that’s not what ships are made for.’ William Shed

When to Go for it or Wait

Sweet roulette

Like being pecked to deathby a duck?

Fixed Mindset

Blame Frame Questions

What’s wrong?

Why do I have this problem?

How does it limit me?

Whose fault is it?

What does this problem prevent …..me from doing?

Growth Mindset

Outcome Frame Questions

What do I want?

How will I know when I have it?

What resources do I have available to help me?

What else will improve when I get what I want?

What am I going to do now to move me forward?

Building Strong Children

Can we incorporate the best ideas from fields including student well-being, resilience, grit, mindfulness, growth mindset, neuroscience and positive psychology to ensure our children thrive in the classroom and beyond?

David will review the evidence for and against these ideas and present practical classroom applications.

Case For: Brain Plasticity exists!Sign your name 6 times with wrong hand…(we are learners)

Brain Plasticity in ActionRichard Gray (Horizon 5/2/2018 BBC TV )

Change Your Mind Brain Scan Before and After Learning!

Research: Brain Development

Researchers Holland et al have compared brain sizes.

Brain grows 1% per day (up to 90 days) then 0.4 %

64% bigger at 90 days than birth!

At birth brain= third of adult size, 55% at 90 days,

Cerebellum (movement) more connections than

hippocampus (memory)

Adult size at age 8-9yrs

Premature babies’ brains grow faster but don’t

catch up at 90 days

Source: JAMA Neurology 2014 D. Holland et al

Adolescent brain

During adolescence brain grows connections, heightened plasticity, overproduce connections (adapting to environment) synaptic pruning occurs later (we keep strategies that work for us and strengthen these, adults less flexible but more focus and speed, (myelin and connective fibres)

‘Teenagers like to rebel and conform at the same time, so they rebel against their parents and copy their peers.’

Quentin Crisp

‘The children now love luxury, they have bad manners, contempt for authority, they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in the place of exercise.’ Socrates

(Source: Infinite Monkey Cage, BBC Radio Four, 29/1/2019)

Adolescent brain

Risk taking in Class (gamification, safe risks, ring bell, roll dice)

Teenage mice drink

more alcohol when

peers present.

Teenage game players take more risks when peers present, not so in adults.

(Source: Infinite Monkey Cage, BBC Radio Four, 29/1/2019)

Six Strategies That Work

1) Help students take in information through auditory and visual modalities

2) Link abstract concepts to concrete representations

3) Pose probing Questions

4) Alternate between problems with solutions and problems for students to solve

5) Use distributed practice

6)Assess to boost retention

(Coe: Sutton Trust)

Should We Praise Performance/Effort Goal or Learning Goal?

• Feedback impacts attitude

• Puzzle> Praise> Invite to try same or harder puzzle

• Those praised for effort 90% chose harder

• Those praised for being smart <50% chose harder

• And performance

• Students offered puzzles by Bill (can’t be solved) and Tom (solved with effort) Then praised for effort or smart. Then all given solvable puzzles by Bill and Tom. Those praised for smart didn’t solve puzzles from Bill

• ‘Make It Stick’ Peter Brown, 2014)

The Barnes PrincipleEnglish PrizeHT Lindy Barclay

Marshmallow Test (real purpose)

• I worry less about the damage of neuromyths than the missed opportunities of implementing research based strategies in the classroom to help students learn more efficiently.

• Daniel Willingham (speaking on sciencefriday.com 09/01/2017)

Evidence against:

• Not theories, difficult to measure impact, compare to alternatives/control group,

• New therefore long-term impact studies not there

• allows snake oil sales (Mozart Effect, Brain Gym) Waste classroom time that can’t be recovered

• Requires more research in classrooms and labs, yet only 26% psych research repeatable results!

We read research and then have to decide how to respond in school….

Researchers scanned the brains of more than 1000 children (age 3 to 20). The surface area of the cerebral cortex was typically 6% larger in children from families with an income greater than $150,000, when compared to families earning $25,000 or less. The parents’ education had an impact on their children’s brain structure too, with scans revealing a larger hippocampus in children from more educated families. The hippocampus plays a pivotal role in short term memory and spatial navigation.

Family income, parental education and brain structure in children and adolescents,

K. Noble: Nature Neuroscience 18, 773–778 (2015

Impact on classroom performance Sutton Trust Higgins Durham University

Metacognition Early Effective Feedback Intervention

Peer Tutoring

Homework AFL 1 to 1 tutoring

Parental Involvement ICT

Sport

Summer Schools

Ability Grouping After School Clubs Lower Class

Size

Uniforms Performance Pay Teaching Assts

QUICK QUIZ How many do you use?Meta Cognition & Self Regulation Toolkitwww.educationfoundation.org.uk 2017

What should I consider?

Before you implement this strategy in your learning environment, consider the following:

1. Teaching approaches which encourage learners to plan, monitor and evaluate their learning have very high potential, but require careful implementation.

2. Have you taught pupils explicit strategies on how to plan, monitor and evaluate specific aspects of their learning? Have you given them opportunities to use them with support and then independently?

3. Teaching how to plan: Have you asked pupils to identify the different ways that they could plan (general strategies) and then how best to approach a particular task (specific technique)?

4. Teaching how to monitor: Have you asked pupils to consider where the task might go wrong? Have you asked the pupils to identify the key steps for keeping the task on track?

5. Teaching how to evaluate: Have you asked pupils to consider how they would improve their approach to the task if they completed it again?

Mood MovingBe in the right mood for whatever it is you’re about to do.

• Nerves, Fear

• Boredom, Hesitation

• Curious, Go For It! Buzzing

Right Mood

Do you consciously enter the right mood before:

1. A sporting activity (you’re good at) 90-100%

2. An Exam/test 10-25% (-25%)

3. Homework/Revision 0-10% (-50%)

4. Every Lesson 0%

Curiosity is king

Para-sympathetic system (healing soup of endorphins, oxytocin, dopamine for neural connections)

High Power (2 mins)

Cortisol (+stress-relaxed)-10%

Testosterone (+dominance-passive)+25%

Mood demonstration

Residential before SATS!

Fear

Sympathetic system

Amygdala (cortisol, adrenelin, butterflies in tummy, steroids)

Low Power (2 mins)

Cortisol +15%

Testosterone -20%

Source: Amy Cuddy Ted Talk

Are We Ready For The New World?

Education prepares children to be successful scholars, citizens and workers. David will explore how we can incorporate the core skills (confidence, curiosity and communication) in schools.

The knowledge doubling curve

Buckminster Fuller estimated that

Human knowledge doubled every

Century until 1900. Today it doubles

every year. Soon it could be

every 12 hours.

What are schools for?

• To develop children

• Academic Cognitive Success

• Citizens to fit in/shape society

• Workers

• Social mobility

Seven Survival Skills1. Critical Thinking and

Problem Solving

2. Collaboration across networks and leading by example

3. Agility and Adaptability

4. Initiative and Entrepreneurship

5. Effective oral, written and multimedia communication

6. Accessing and analysinginformation

7. Curiosity and imagination

‘Most Likely To Succeed’

Tony Wagner

New Educational ParadigmsGeelong Grammar School Australia

• Education should focus on the good life, the meaningful life and the engaged life.

• It should not focus on anxiety, conformity, competition and testing. It is about the future.

• ‘The World Book of Happiness’ Leo Bormans, (Marshall Cavendish, 2012)

Clip of robot opening door

A changing world…

‘Every technological revolution mercilessly destroys jobs, livelihoods and identities before the new ones emerge. It’s okay for the famous or fortunate but not for the frustrated or frightened.’

Mark Carney Speech, September 2016

Experts

‘Professional weather forecasters are vastly more accurate forecasters than social science geneticists ever will be.’

Daniel Benjamin, Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment, Nature: 2016

15 countries, 300,000 people

+9 weeks, 0.43-1% of educational performance.

Education Top 10 Tony Wagner: ‘Most Likely To Succeed’, 2015.

1. Learning how to learn

2. Communicating effectively

3. Collaborating productively and efficiently with others

4. Creative problem solving

5. Managing failure

6. Effecting change in organisations and society

7. Making sound decisions (using maths, values, ethics)

8. Managing projects

9. Achieving goals

10. Leveraging your passions and talents to make your world better.

Top 3 from Victor Frankl

Why not commit suicide?

1. Love for someone

2. A talent to be used

3. Lingering memories worth

preserving

‘To weave these slender threads of

a broken life in to a yarn,

a pattern of meaning.’

Six Key Hormones

• Serotonin

• Endorphins

• Cortisol

• Oxytocin

• Dopamine

• Testosterone

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Training FleasCore skills: Confidence, Communication and Curiosity.

What children say to each other online…

Key Hormones

SerotoninEndorphinsCortisolOxytocinDopamineTestosterone

John Ratey, ‘Spark’persistence hunting, brain derived neurotrophic factor, miracle-gro for the brain, creates new neurons

Endorphins

Feel good now

mask physical pain

Laughter (belly hurts eventually)

Block cell entry for virus

Dopamine

Addictive, reward/anticipate reward, goal focus.

Number of receptors increase during puberty (pruned later)*

Short-term benefits in classroom, use in short regular bursts.

*Sisk, C. L. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, 26 (2005).

Dopamine

• Anticipation of reward key

• Brain is a pattern recognition system, identifies new info (STM > 24hr LTM/forget) known (move on) Temporal Difference Model

• This is why gamification in the classroom works

Sutton, R.S. ‘Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction’ 1998, (MIT Press)

Key Hormones

Serotonin

Endorphins

Cortisol

Oxytocin

Dopamine

Testosterone

• Serotonin

• Boosts social bonds, pride and confidence

• Oxytocin

• Cuddle chemical, Inhibits addiction, calms, relaxes, increases creativity, low levels associated with eating disorders

• Brains of social species (20-100 individuals) of dolphins/whales biggest

Key Hormones

Serotonin

Endorphins

Cortisol

Oxytocin

Dopamine

Testosterone

Cortisol

Stress, fight/flight, hyper alert, paranoid, shuts down immune system/growth, increased heart rate,

Mood spreads (survival benefit)

Testosterone

Power Control

Aids focus and retrieval of key facts, negative impact in long-term

Social GenomicsProfessors John Cacioppo & Steve Cole

Loneliness is measurable as a gene expression in our blood. Triggers sympathetic nervous system Loneliness is as damaging as smoking or obesity.

“Our bodies are programmed to turn misery in to death”.

Communication Style and behavioural flexibility Games to Develop both…

Eddy

I think out loudI prefer variety and actionI like to act quicklyI’m a good talkerI like to give my opinion

Ian

I think before I speakI prefer quietI like to be carefulI’m a good listenerI keep my thoughts to myself

Should We Praise Performance/Effort Goal or Learning Goal?

• Feedback impacts attitude

• Puzzle> Praise> Invite to try same or harder puzzle

• Those praised for effort 90% chose harder

• Those praised for being smart <50% chose harder

• And performance

• Students offered puzzles by Bill (can’t be solved) and Tom (solved with effort) Then praised for effort or smart. Then all given solvable puzzles by Bill and Tom. Those praised for smart didn’t solve puzzles from Bill

• ‘Make It Stick’ Peter Brown, 2014)

Creativity in the Classroom

What is creativity? Can it be taught?

David will introduce ideas for the classroom that help children learn to unleash their natural creativity and never think ‘I’m not creative’.

What is this?

• 60-100 billion neurons, 300,000 on a pin head, 4 times around the world

• ‘The Teenage Brain’ F.E. Jensen, 2015 (Harper Collins)

Change Your Mind Brain Scan Before and After Learning!

Creativity as we age

• NASA Creative Genius Test

• 1600 4-5 yr olds 98%

• 10yrs 30%

• Adults 2%

• Younger Brains lack experience so seek novel solutions and lack self-doubt

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

Creativity in Jazz

Features of Jazz Improvisation:

1. Provocative Competence (deliberate efforts to interrupt habit patterns)

2. Embrace errors as source of learning

3. Shared orientation toward minimal structures that allow maximum flexibility

4. Distributed task continual negotiation and dialogue toward dynamic synchronisation

5. Reliance on retrospective sense-making (review later not during)

6. Hanging out in a community of practice

7. Taking turns (soloing and supporting)

Frank Barrett: Coda-creativity and Improvisation in Jazz and Organisations,

Organisation Science 9 (5), 2014.

Examples in Classroom:

1. Add in random word to guide direction of story. Start with a number and use random maths concepts to change it, challenge a student to move from one random number to another using mathematical concepts, link plot theme of play to a random object. Two subjects collide.

3. Draw something in sections, or with only one colour.

Creativity: When random ideas collide.

• Sport

• Music

• History

• Science

• Maths

• Drama

• Random objects from purse

• River Erosion with perfume

• The electro-magnetic spectrum

• Climate Change

• River Erosion

Concep Tests (Mazur, Harvard 87% 48%)

• Can a triangle have two angles of 90 degrees?

• If you evenly heat a square metal plate with a circle cut out of the middle, would the circle size become:

• A) smaller

• B) larger

• C) stay the same

River erosion with Perfume

1. Spray Perfume on wrist

2. Rub wrists together

3. Molecules of perfume small and round travel to nose creating strong smell.

4. Smell of perfume fades as molecules dissolve in air.

1. Hydraulic action: water hits rock, like perfume on wrist, sting could damage rock/bank.

2. Abrasion: rocks/sediment rub on river bed causing hollows.

3. Attrition rocks collide, become smoother and smaller as they travel down stream.

4. Solution co2 dissolves in water, weak acid esp limestone and chalk

Margaret Boden: Three Approaches to Creativity

• Learn rules and sequence and follow accurately (rules of writing a poem or song) 95%

• Learn rules and sequence and follow accurately but make one or more changes (blend 2 genres of music or film making) 5%

• Invent a new set of rules! Very rare, every 5000 years or so! paradigm shift (aeroplanes, cars, antibiotics, AI)

(interview on Life Scientific BBC Radio 4)

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

The Surprising Habits of Creatives

1. They are Slow Starters They allow ideas to incubate. They lie between J and P procrastination is a vice for productivity and a virtue for creativity.

2. They have doubts and fears. Their fear of failing to try is greater than their fear of failure and they have idea doubt rather than self doubt.

‘The surprising habits of original thinkers’ Adam Grant, Organisational Psychologist, Ted2016

J.K. Rowling and creativity…

Betty Edwards: ‘Drawing on the Right Side of The Brain’

1. Are you a learner?2. Can you draw/write your name?

3. Can you draw/right 10385?

If yes to all three then people who can draw tell me that you can draw just about anything,

Though I don’t doubt your doubt, as you’re a learner, a better belief is only about 5 minutes away...

Internal dialogue

1) Reciting (National Anthem, Nursery Rhymes, one loop)

2) Remembering (What do I say Next?

3) Debating (choice between existing options)

4)Formulating (New idea introduced: Why are you a teacher?)

5) Posing (Who am I? Mythogenicself)

6) Construction (put words to an experience to understand/explain it)

7)Wondering (Creative dreaming, when we’re listening, quietly

8) Absorbing, assimilating new ideas, beliefs )

Source: Eric Robbie NLP Researcher

The Disney Creativity StrategyFour Places for a perfect Classroom

1. The dreamer/Visionary

creative idea starts with a dream full of energy and curiosity. Disassociated from the now.

The dreamer looks forward to futures like Da Vinci staring in to the flames of a fire or Einstein on long walks.

• What’s the best, the ideal solution?

2. The realist

The logical planning style. Take ideas from step 1 and fill in the details. Constructive.

• How can we make each idea happen?

• SMART objectives

3. The Critic

List problems, questions to be addressed for each option in the real world. Consider costs.

• What would opponents say?

• What are the faults in the plan?

4. Conclusion

A final plan is agreed assessing each potential outcome. A board meeting in Lincoln’s head.

• What are the overall conclusions?

• Comparative SWOT analysis

• Preferred option, recommendations

How We Really Learn

David share the latest on his model of how we learn which can help every student improve their performance across all subjects. The session is packed with games and activities that immediately boost our capacity to learn more efficiently.

Efficient v Effective

A Learning Map

MOODACTIONPRACTICE

A Learning Map

MOOD

Biology or American History?

Flow Quiz

• Did you feel ‘this is the real me’?

• Were you excited?

• Where you disappointed when you’d finished?

• Did you feel energised not exhausted?

• Did you lose track of time?

• Did you think of ways you could apply this in other areas of your life?

A Learning Map

ACTION

What can you see?

A Cow

10,000-100,000* Pictures

Remembering Position of Pieces on BoardExpert Club Novice

Real Game 16 9 5 Random 3 3 2 (Simon & Gilmartin: 1973)*infinity

Electro-Magnetic Spectrum Room

• Red door

• Radio waves

• Microwaves

• Infrared

• Visible light

2. Active LearningThe Cortical Homunculus

It’s not all about the brain

‘All learning happens

through the senses.’

John Comenius,

1648

Spelling Strategy

(=Learning Strategy) ‘Learning is a treasure that accompanies its owner everywhere.’Chinese proverb

Picture word (pictures).

Say it, syllable by syllable (words).

Check ‘Feeling’ (feelings).

If it feels right it is right, stop (F+).

If it feels wrong go back to step one (F-).

ANGLES & Big table collaboration?

Shoe box memory palace

A Learning Map

PRACTICE

3. Right Practice

Six Strategies That Work

1) Help students take in information through auditory and visual modalities

2) Link abstract concepts to concrete representations

3) Pose probing Questions

4) Alternate between problems with solutions and problems for students to solve

5) Use distributed practice

6)Assess to boost retention

(Coe: Sutton Trust)

Making MemoriesRegister, Retain, Recall & Review

60 billion neurons, 300,000 on a pin head, 4 times around the world‘The Teenage Brain’ F.E. Jensen, 2015 (Harper Collins)

‘I worry less about the damage of neuromyths than the missed opportunities of implementing research based strategies in the classroom to help students learn more efficiently.’

Daniel Willingham (speaking on sciencefriday.com 09/01/2017)

Steps to LearningStage as Brain

Student

• Register

• Retain

• Review

• Recall

TeacherRegisterWhat does the student need to know?RetainHow can I best embed the knowledge so it sticks?ReviewHow can I help student place knowledge in context, link it, manipulate it?RecallHow can I ensure the student can access the knowledge in an exam?

Spaced LearningKelley, P. et al ‘Making long-term memories in minutes’ Frontiers in Neuroscience (2013)

1. Control 23 hours over 4 months

2. One hour spaced learning (3 repeated with distractor activity)

3. Both 1 & 2

Score in test

Time studied

Test points per hour of study

Honey Bees stimulated at intervals. STM better 30 sec, LTM 10 mins repetition

30sec =80% 30mins 20% 3 days cp

10min=<80% to nearly 100%

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Category 1 Category 2 Category 3

Impact of spaced Learning

Spaced Learning Lesson

• Essential content repeated 3 times (with slight variations) each punctuated by 10 minute activity (juggling, clay modelling, physical activity)

• Teacher Feedback

• + fun, different, positive experience for teacher and student

• - doubt neuroscience evidence, increased teacher workload, lesson didn’t match inspection criteria

What will improve a student’s memory?

How can I commit things to memory?

We don’t consciously control what we remember. Memory is the residue of thought. What we REALLY think about is what we remember. We need to think about what we need to remember.

Tips: Student ask Why? After each sentence/para/chapter (Michael Pressley) or Why would that be true? Look for 3 key points in chapter and elaborate with 3 for each or Rewrite/Reorder the chapter/topic in different format/modality. SQ3R (Survey first, generate Questions as you Read answer them Recite key info and Review). Quiz/Test start and end. Teach it (I know it when you explain it Miss but then forget) Highlighter pens and rereading creates an illusion of learning.

How can I avoid forgetting the memories?

Memories are lost due to ambiguous or missing cues.

Tips: Create strong retrieval cues (doors/windows) study little and often, in chains/sequences (mnemonics, stories) Here’s the £20 I owe you V Remember when we were shopping last month…

What will improve a student’s memory?

How do I know I have remembered them?

Do you know the capital of Nigeria? You feel yes or no. We overestimate what we think we know and don’t study long enough..

Tips: Test yourself, create a deck of flashcards.

Refs:

Willingham, D. Ask The Cognitive Scientist: What Will Improve a Student’s Memory? (American Educator, 2008-9)

Presley, ‘Memory Strategy Instruction that Promotes Good Information Processing’ (Journal of Educational Psychology, 1990)

Six Strategies That Work

1) Help students take in information through auditory and visual modalities

2) Link abstract concepts to concrete representations

3) Pose probing Questions

4) Alternate between problems with solutions and problems for students to solve

5) Use distributed practice

6)Assess to boost retention

(Coe: Sutton Trust)

Daniel Willingham on modality theoryAsk a cognitive scientist: Do V,A and K Learners need V,A and K instruction?

Children do differ in their abilities with different modalities but teaching to it doesn’t affect achievement. Teaching to use all 3 can!

Students remember what they think about. Some memories stored in one modality but many stored as meaning. Which is darker green: a frozen pea or a pine needle? Who has a deeper voice: Shrek or Donkey? Teach students to choose best modality sequence to process and store meaning.

Teachers should focus on the content’s best modality, not throwing in all three as a token. Modality matters in the same way for all students.

Researchers: Kavale and Fornessmeta-study: no impact, Dunn meta-study: pro modality theory.

• References: www.aft.org/ae/summer2005/willingham

www.danielwillingham.com

Concentration Span

We remember first and last not middle

More A than B?

Revise for 90 mins, remember first and last 10 minutes wasting 70 minutes!

3 X 30 mins

1 minute mood +

20 min work +

5 minute review +

Connect +

4 minute break.

Move Place

Waste 15 mins!

Revision Techniques

Positive:

Flash Cards (include active learning, cortical homunculus, spaced repetition)

Sleep Well (relaxation, positive self-talk)

No Evidence:

Music

Lucky Pants (RISK IT SWEETS)

Negative:

Highlighter Pens

Rewriting notes

Impact on student outcomes

1. Content knowledge (teacher knows their subject inside out)

2. Quality of instruction (questioning, assessment, model responses, practice time)

3. Classroom climate (interactions, grit, challenge, safe)

4. Classroom management (efficient use of time, clear rules)

5. Teacher beliefs

6. Professional behaviours

• Strong evidence

• Moderate evidence

• Some evidence

(Coe, Sutton Trust 2014)

A Teenager Survival Kit

Based on his research with teenage brain cancer survivors,

David will share their thoughts on the seven essentials for living rather than surviving.

The seven suggestions could form the basis of a school mission statement or guide to living well.

7 Essentials

1. Find meaning/purpose

My Natural Skills(Multiple Intelligences Howard Gardner)

7 Essentials

2. Connect

The Dunbar Number

• 6-150 friends

• Grooming > specialisation>

• Success

• Laughter is remote grooming

• Rats tickled live longer

• You can’t laugh on all fours

• How many humans does it take to make a cup of coffee?

Loneliness is measurable as a gene expression in our blood. Triggers sympathetic nervous system Loneliness is as damaging as smoking or obesity.

“Our bodies are programmed to turn misery in to death”.

7 Essentials

3. Hope

Of own mind and body, understand it, work with it, ups and downs

• ‘It’s important not to become angry, no matter how difficult life may seem because you lose all hope if you can’t laugh at yourself and life in general.’

• Stephen Hawking (speaking on his 76th

birthday earlier this month)

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

7 Essentials

4. Take Control

7 Essentials

5. Sleep and eat Well (most of the time!)

7 Essentials

6. Doubt idea don’t doubt self

The Surprising Habits of Creatives

1. They are Slow Starters They allow ideas to incubate. They lie between J and P procrastination is a vice for productivity and a virtue for creativity.

2. They have doubts and fears. Their fear of failing to try is greater than their fear of failure and they have idea doubt rather than self doubt.

‘The surprising habits of original thinkers’ Adam Grant, Organisational Psychologist, Ted2016

Norma, Norman & the Jagged Principle

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• Dr Robert L Dickinson

7 Essentials

7. Be in the right mood

Why work hard at School?Most common answers

• Away from something bad

• “I know I can do well so I’d feel awful if I messed up.”

• “I’d let other people down if I failed.”

• “So I don’t end up in a dead-end job.”

• Toward something good

• “Because I enjoy my subject/s, the challenge of learning.”

• To get a great job/career I’ll enjoy”

• “To be the best (bigger house, car, more £ than everyone else)”

GESS Dubai 2018

9781845909987 9781781351130 9781845902933

9781845901363

9781845906856

9781845903947

David also recommends:

Available at:Kinokuniya Dubai

The Dubai Mall, Level 2, SF-098, Financial Centre Road, Downtown Burj Khalifa, P.O.Box 283578

Dubai, UAE (2nd Floor, opposite the Metro link)

Tel: +971 4 4340111Website: uae.kinokuniya.com

Author David Hodgson

9781845907419

9781785830150

9781785831836

New:

Visit David’s author page at: www.crownhouse.co.uk/authors/david-hodgson

to download the slides from his presentation after the show.