Date Taken: Summer 2011 | Grade: A- | GPA: 3.67
Highlighted Class Work:
Course Readings:
UVM Description:
Society, Stress and the Brain (EDCI 200) familiarizes students with brain development and the learning process in the context of complex social conditions such as poverty, instability, and fear. Throughout this course, students study the effects of stress on the learning process and consider methods of instruction and interaction that address the various developmental needs of children in diverse
contexts (i.e. schools, families, and discursive contexts). This course is particularly relevant to those invested in the fields of education, counseling, psychology, and sociology as we explore different methods of interaction and discourse that relate to locus of control and agency.
ID: ECI 200L4
Instructor: Haley Jiron
Syllabus: Link
What? So What? Now What? Reflection Script:
My name is Bjorn Behrendt and this is my course reflection for UVM’s Society, Stress & the Brain class took the Summer of 2011.
Before I start I want everyone to do 5 jumping jacks. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Now look around are you comfortable, temperature right? good lighting? did you get enough sleep? These may seem like trivial things but they effect your learning greatly. This class looks at brain-based learning and how factors such as comfort, misconceptions, and emotional connections effect student learning.
Learning happens by making physical connections inside the brain. The goal of brain-based learning is to build on those connections. Therefore learning about your students can help your teaching greatly. Emotion is a large factor in learning. Finding a way a student can connect past events to current teaching is a great way for them to gain understanding. Another important concept is idea of misconceptions. Student may have a pre-conceived notion that unless changed will impede their grasping a new concept.
So by applying brain-based learning to your classroom it means that you are adapting your teaching to the physical way students learn. Doing so will allows students to build on the connections they have previously made and gain a quicker and better understanding of the subject.
To bring brain-based learning into the classroom, you the teacher, might start offering more pre-tests, which many teachers have adopted the method of creating what is called a KWL chart. KWL stands for What we Know, What we want to know, what we learned. These pretests allow you to find those emotional connections and misconceptions that you can then use during the lesson. Another way to apply Brain-Based Learning to your classroom is to be extra conscious of comfort and to exercise. As the brain learns best when it is not distracted and when stimulated by exercise.
Which reminds me did you do the jumping jacks I asked? It was a very important part of getting your brain focused on listening to this podcast.
Thank you very much and have a good day.