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http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001BzSpco40hNBVflCPHC7bQnk4wJTL3Pm-Cp6fjJgq71VD9U8w3PBUQjzOKIK8J4eH1UKwULreLR03uc6jdHAd2jX126ycMypOzNlM70MIBuuimIi3VXlUBw== This is a professional learning community to explore what neuroscience tells us about learning. This online community studies the brain and shares information on latest research on the brain and how we may use this information to improve best practice in the classroom for all students. The Brain and Learning is a community where you may post questions, start discussions, and get feedback from researchers and educators.

Web seminar Five Myths About Learning: What Neuroscience Tells Us Wednesday, September 12th at 6pm ET Register here; http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001BzSpco40hNDMFXBRa8aGdvLf_nMWSG_PrV2QQ66OoTCAIM_aAko1aIQP5XtuvlvTWja_bbSvA5G5v_-Okc73c1VL5OMC0oo1T-d5W9lqOQZcS_un0rPX_gkzViUzN5FjM2b0tqsKEkS5tcdo0Uzhlg== Is it wise to delay a child's entrance to kindergarten? Is there such a thing as a 'learning style?' Is IQ the best predictor of student achievement? Is ADHD a permanent problem? Is autism really on the rise? The above are questions posed and addressed in the web seminar.

Thank you for posting the link. I have signed up for more information, and I look forward to engaging in additional discussion here on the topic.

Hi,
Mark your calendar for edWeb.net's next webinar:
Using the Neuroscience of Memory to Optimize Teaching and Learning
Presenter: Sandra Aamodt, Neuroscientist, Science Editor for BeingHuman.org and Co-author of the book Welcome to Your Child’s Brain.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012- 6pm / Eastern Time
Carolyn

Thanks Carolyn

Thank you so much for the "Heads up" on the edWeb seminar. I signed up for it and joined the network. Brain research into how we learn has been providing many successful tips to use when teaching. I'm glad to find that there is a group that is providing people like me the opportunity to find out more about this interesting subject.

This is very cool stuff! One of my favorite classes in college was Educational Psychology. We used the book "The Art of Changing the Brain" (Zull) throughout the course. The book discusses how when learning occurs we are constructing physical connections in our brains! I love this kind of stuff :) Has anyone else read Zull?

Hi Andrew,
Would you recommend purchasing the Zull text?
There is an archived webinar about Understanding the Brain, that some readers/posters might be interested in. It aired on March 24, 2011, so it is fairly recent. I also enjoyed the external resource called Brainwaves available in the NSTA Learning Center.
Carolyn

Absolutley I would recommend Zull! I was facinated by the content of the book. What really hit home for me is that when we learn we are making physical connections in our brain! To me this is such an amazing concept. It also helped to discuss the book over an entire trimester. I felt our professor did a great job of having students analyze the contents of Zull's text.

I find the kindergarten retention issues most interesting as such retention is thought to promote success. However, from personal acquaintances I know of one child who was thought to need retention at this level. The parent refused and wisely so. Before long that same child made it Summa cum Laude on scholarships from a well-known state university (reputed to be academically challenging) and then graduated from law school passing the bar the first time out. What might the outcome have been had the child been retained? Doubtful college admissions might have known, but the teachers all the way down the road would have stereotyped that student. A second example also comes to mind about a physically handicapped child being viewed with the same type of scrutiny, possibly because of the perception of this condition affecting their capabilities. Now that same child grew up to finish graduate school in a very prestigious university in one year- without repeating kindergarten. That same challenged kindergartener now makes more than that teacher who would hold him back in his first year. Sometimes kindergarten teachers will just call it wrong, and kindergarten may just be one of the places this can happen more often.

Brainwave sarafi offers webinar on neurosciecne of learning http://www.mybrainware.com/webinars They also archive past webinars. I really like the site

Here are a few viideo lectures through youtube A lecture by UM College of Arts and Sciences Dean and Professor Chris Comer, followed by a panel discussion. This was the sixth and final event of the 2011 Community Lecture Series at The University of Montana titled "The Beauty of the Brain." The series featured six lectures by five outstanding UM faculty members who will examine the science and evolution of learning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-bZidebHmA This is an entire class from the Annenberg Foubndation http://www.learner.org/resources/series214.html A video course for grades K-12 teachers and school counselors. 42 video modules of varying lengths, course guide, online text and Web site. Exciting developments in the field of neuroscience are leading to a new understanding of how the brain works that is beginning to transform teaching in the classroom. Neuroscience & the Classroom: Making Connections brings together researchers and educators in a dialog about how insights into brain function can be harnessed by teachers for use in their own classrooms to address their own particular challenges. Course components include 42 video segments interwoven with an online text and other useful resources on a comprehensive Web site. The Web also includes interactive simulations of neuroscience research tools, glossary, and course guide for teachers to use all the materials for sustained professional development. McCandliss carries out research that seeks to connect our understanding about changes in children's brain structure and function to specific aspects of education. This work asks questions such as how educational learning experiences reshape the brain networks that support a child's basic cognitive skills such as paying attention, reading and mathematics. He is well known for his basic laboratory-based research on the brain mechanisms of attention and studies of how specific learning experiences can change brain activity patterns related to reading skills, yet also for carrying out educational research in school-based studies to investigate the impact of these ideas in "real-world" educational interventions. His research with children and adults include several ways of looking at brain function and structure, including fMRI, ERP and DTI studies of the brain mechanisms that help explain individual differences in basic cognitive skills, including those with special needs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxcyt5UqiCA Dr Paul Howard-Jones, a leading expert on the role of neuroscience in educational practice and policy with a particular interest in how gaming engages the brain and the application of this knowledge in education. Paul discusses the findings of his recent research that reviews the potential effects of video games and social media on the brain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKFjoF-YO20

Here are a few viideo lectures through youtube A lecture by UM College of Arts and Sciences Dean and Professor Chris Comer, followed by a panel discussion. This was the sixth and final event of the 2011 Community Lecture Series at The University of Montana titled "The Beauty of the Brain." The series featured six lectures by five outstanding UM faculty members who will examine the science and evolution of learning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-bZidebHmA This is an entire class from the Annenberg Foubndation http://www.learner.org/resources/series214.html A video course for grades K-12 teachers and school counselors. 42 video modules of varying lengths, course guide, online text and Web site. Exciting developments in the field of neuroscience are leading to a new understanding of how the brain works that is beginning to transform teaching in the classroom. Neuroscience & the Classroom: Making Connections brings together researchers and educators in a dialog about how insights into brain function can be harnessed by teachers for use in their own classrooms to address their own particular challenges. Course components include 42 video segments interwoven with an online text and other useful resources on a comprehensive Web site. The Web also includes interactive simulations of neuroscience research tools, glossary, and course guide for teachers to use all the materials for sustained professional development. McCandliss carries out research that seeks to connect our understanding about changes in children's brain structure and function to specific aspects of education. This work asks questions such as how educational learning experiences reshape the brain networks that support a child's basic cognitive skills such as paying attention, reading and mathematics. He is well known for his basic laboratory-based research on the brain mechanisms of attention and studies of how specific learning experiences can change brain activity patterns related to reading skills, yet also for carrying out educational research in school-based studies to investigate the impact of these ideas in "real-world" educational interventions. His research with children and adults include several ways of looking at brain function and structure, including fMRI, ERP and DTI studies of the brain mechanisms that help explain individual differences in basic cognitive skills, including those with special needs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxcyt5UqiCA Dr Paul Howard-Jones, a leading expert on the role of neuroscience in educational practice and policy with a particular interest in how gaming engages the brain and the application of this knowledge in education. Paul discusses the findings of his recent research that reviews the potential effects of video games and social media on the brain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKFjoF-YO20

I can see how teachers - especially science teachers - would flock to this sort of product. We have studied science and most of use have made it our life's work to promote it. You might say we believe in science. It only makes sense that knowing the brain would help with teaching. The brain is where learning happens, after all. Unfortunately, research about the brain is only preliminary. Scientists are starting find specific conditions that promote learning, but they have not gotten to the point where it is applicable in the classroom. You can learn some of the details in this NSTA article: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/4/tst09_076_02_10 This article is free to members and $0.99 for non-members. Heather B.

Heather, Thank you so much for your timely input on bane based research and being a practitioner in the classroom. You sharing of this article leads me to search for additional resources. ~patty

Thanks for posting! Just joined and can't wait to dive in. :)

Hi Kendra, Chime in and add your voice to this thread. We all have so much to explore and to learn as the research on how the brain works proceeds and especially on how the pathways in the brain affect learning in our science classrooms. ~patty

Patty, Thanks for the link. I just signed up. The upcoming webinar The Impact of Technology on Our Brains looks to be interesting. I often wonder what the impact of all of this technology is having on our student's brain development. They have some interesting books listed, too

Thanks Pamela! You are amazing!!! These links are just what I need to help my content knowledge. For a new teacher like me, it makes all the difference when it comes to finding motivation and excitement to continue teaching.

Patty, I know that you have had a strong interest in gaming and perhaps logic development. What have you observed among your students during the past few years as they have interacted with more technology and virtual learning devices? Sharing your insights would be very appreciated by many of us. Thanks a bunch, Patty