Neuroeducation

A bit of a mouthful, but apparently very good for you.

We had a (VERY) short ProGro presentation yesterday by some staff who'd been on a course. I found it fascinating, because it linked in with what I already knew about VAK learning and Brain Gym.

VAK stands for Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic. Kids predominantly learn in one or tow of these three ways. As teachers, if we want to help our kids, we need to be teaching in such a way as to allow kinesthetic and visual learners to access the curriculum, because most teachers teach in a predominantly auditory way.

Brain Gym are little exercises that help both hemispheres in the brain to be working simultaneously (rather than alternately in isolation).

So - neuroeducation.... The basic idea behind it started with a desire to use modern MRI scans to try and identify whether there really is a biological difference in the way that boys' and girls' brains develop, and if so, whether there is a biological difference in the way they learn. Once established, implications for pedagogy have been explored and discussed. The answer is that yes, there are biological differences, and that (as a gross generalisation) most teaching methods are aimed at girls.

Here are some stats I found fascinating (as I'm doing this purely from memory, I hope I get them right!):

> girls hear 17% louder than boys
> girls have 15% more bloodflow to the brain than boys
> as a result, boys struggle to concentrate and are distracted more easily
> age = length of time during which knowledge can be embedded, i.e. 13 years old = 13 minutes (after which concentration is lost)
> boys cannot process auditory information as well as girls can, so in a long sentence, the boys will only 'get' the first part - the rest is simply a cacophony of noise (and if you speak softly as well, they lose even more)
> boys have bigger eyes than girls, so are more visual than girls
> as a result, boys will not focus on your face, but will rather focus on your hands that are waving around (or fiddling with a pen)
> boys needs a high level of dopamine in their brains to embed knowledge (girls don't) - dopamine levels are increased by physical activity

I can't remember the rest. Sorry. What I found fascinating though is that some schools in Cape Town have already cottoned on to this to the extent that their timetable is structured around exercise. One school has 45 mins of compulsory exercise for all learners timetabled in every morning before lessons start. Another has built a walking track around the entire school and lessons are structured so as to make use of the track, with learners stopping at various points around the track to take part in an activity. The first example I can see working. I just don't have the creativity to see how I could structure my lessons around a walking track.... not on a regular basis.

At the conclusion of the session, we were encouraged, as staff, to get our kids dancing every 20 minutes. A selection of songs was made available to us, and some Brain Gym type of movements were demonstrated. In those classes where this is already being done, the teachers commented that the impact on learning is immediate - the kids still more quietly, the focus is increased, and the learning is increased. I really love the idea, but I'm a bit nervous about doing it. Given that I'm a visual learner, maybe I need to see it in action first?!?!