Leslie Owen Wilson 2007, restrictions on usage
Contact Information:
Dr. Leslie Owen
Wilson, School of Education
Required Texts:
1.Sousa, David
A (2006) How the brain learns 3rd edition. Thousands Oaks, CA:
Corwin Press. ISBN 1-4129-3661-6
2. Brain Facts
- Society of Neuroscience
- The Society has been kind enough to give you
an outstanding free book on the brain. I have hard copies for you. If you would like additional copies, this book
can be downloaded from the site or sent for through the Society's website, and is
an exceptional compilation of facts about the brain and related
research.
Recommended
Books:
Introduction:
No water a real nightmare
In the summer
of 2007 I was awakened by a bad dream. I was in junior high and had
just walked a little over 2 miles to school and was rushing to get
to class for a test. I needed a drink of water badly, but every
fountain was blocked by these harpy-like creatures that pecked at my
hands and face when I tried to get to a drink. I was confused and
couldn't think and was desperately thirsty, plus I was very agitated
and anxious about taking a test of some sort. I woke up mad and
quite frustrated.
Obviously it
doesn't take Freud to analyze what was probably going on was that I was
thirsty and needed to wake up and get a drink. But as I gulped down
several glasses of cool water from my bathroom tap, it occurred to
me that this was not a just a fantasy nightmare, but rather
something born from the memory of a deeper truth. This was a
repressed memory of something that was a common occurrence during my
entire secondary school career -- limited or blocked access to water.
And yet we know now that adequate water is absolutely necessary to
maximize the electrical functions of the brain and that kids in schools need
to have drinks of water to perform at optimal levels. Boy, how things
have changed!
During this course some of you will find out that you are already doing brain-based education. If you are using things like learning styles, multi-modal learning, multiple intelligences, experiential learning, holistic learning, or melding head, hand, and heart then you are already using brain-based learning. If you are concerned with the effectiveness of the climate of your classroom, teaching your students to problem solve, or think at creative and critical levels, teaching the art of mindfulness or reflectivity, if you are offering students real choices, then you have a head start and this course should offer some reassure you that you are already a brain-friendly teacher. Leslie
Description and
Overview:
Presidential
Proclamation #6158 declared the 1990s as
The Decade of the Brain.
As such, an enormous amount of time, funding, and research were
dedicated to understanding how the brain works and to uncovering the
relationships between and connections to new advances to areas such
as behavior, clinical medicine, human-computer interaction and
interface, and education. Implications of recent advances in brain
studies can have a significant impact on how teachers teach by
understanding how the mind learns, organizes, stores, and retrieves,
and processes information.
Through this
course we aim to address the relevance and importance of brain
research to practicing, professional educators. Participants will
enter into the world of modern cognitive neuroscience by way of
readings, webquests, personal research, internet explorations,
activities, and discussions designed to provide educators
opportunities to consider the potential impact of this area of
active research to the practice of education of both mainstream and
special needs students.
Topics:
Participants
will be provided the opportunities to explore the following topics
in relation to the practice of professional education. The following
listings are not necessarily sequential. We will weave in and out of
these topics:
-
An Overview of Basic Brain Development
-
Hemispheric Functional Specialization
-
Information Processing in the Brain
-
Memory and Learning
-
Thinking Skills and Transfer
-
Understanding Gender Differences
-
Techniques and Classroom Applications
My teaching philosophy is driven by the following assumptions:
-
THAT LEARNING IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT.
-
That teaching is NOT telling.
-
That professional adults are capable of articulating their personal, professional and academic needs.
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That in order for learning to be meaningful, it must be relevant to the learner.
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That I cannot teach another person directly; I can only facilitate and help monitor his/her learning.
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That the ideas of "closure" or of "overriding universal truths" are becoming unheard of phenomena in an Information Age and should not be expected.
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That professional educators are capable of, not only being involved in the curriculum development process, but they can become innovators in curriculum planning and design.
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That professional educators are capable of academic and scholarly self-direction.
-
That everything except death and human dignity is negotiable.
Expectations
and Grades:
Please read the
following carefully. At the
end of the course, you will be asked to self-evaluate in light of the
following expectations.
An A graduate
student:
1. Willingly sets
his/her own goals and objectives.
2. Actively
participates and raises new questions, has insightful observations, and
discusses them intelligently.
3. Provides
evidence of having perused the assigned readings and readily shares
interpretations with the rest of the class.
4. Regularly checks
posts and e-mails.
5. Willingly
cooperates with the instructors and with the class interactive
experiences and discussions.
6. Hands in
assignments in a timely manner. Assignments, projects, and/or
presentations are expected to be professional, and demonstrate evidence
of original thought and the
ability to synthesize, analyze and evaluate.
7. Is responsible
for initiating personal requests for help or assistance, and for
devising alternative assignments that may be more personally meaningful.