BranchED OER Intersection of Neuroscience, Culture and Learning
Overview
This OER takes a look at the intersection of human growth and development from a trauma perspective, the neuroscience of learning, specifically how the concepts of survival and exercise influence the student learning process. How does Culturally Responsive Teaching support dependent learners to become Independent Learners and understanding the role of culture in student learning.
Unit 1 Introduction to the Course
Introduction
It is important for educators to develop a better understanding of how culture and school environments influence students of culturally diverse backgrounds to become either independent learners or dependent learners. The actions teacher’s make in the classroom can influence a student’s trajectory to become an independent learner. There are a lot of factors involved in this process including helping culturally diverse students learn how the concepts of habits of mind and using their own cognitive tools to influence personal development. Every teacher needs to strive to develop a solid foundation on the intersection of neuroscience and culturally responsive teaching and how they influence the development of independent learners. The goal of this module is to provided insight into critical components related to this topic, provide sample activities and assessments to gauge the users learning and action steps to put into practice knowledge gained as a result of completing this module.
Introduction to the course/unit:
This goal of this course is to introduce learners to the concepts of culturally responsive teaching, neuroscience of learning, specifically how the concepts of survival and exercise influence a students approach to the learning process, and the intersectionality of these concepts, and others, to gain a better understanding of developing students into independent learners.
Audience:
The intended audience of this course is adults, instructors and educators who work with adults, particularly in higher education or the K-12 environment.
Length of course:
This resource has been designed to supplement three weeks of a semester long course.
Unit-level outcomes:
While engaging with this unit, learners will:
Be able to identify aspects of and define Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT)
Be able to identify different cultural archetypes and their influence on pedagogy and student learning.
Be able to identify how the brain responds to different learning environments and cultural expectations.
Technology requirements:
Students will need access to a computer and the ability to connect to the Internet via a web browser.
Required textbooks for this module:
Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teachign and the brain. Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students.
Medina, J. (2008). Brain rules. 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school.
Unit 1: How culture and school environments influence students learning
Unit 1: How Culture and School Environments Influence Students
Introduction
The focus of this unit is to take a deeper dive into tangential aspects of the classroom composition- what are the key elements that constitute the make up of our learners? How does cutture play a part in how student approach learning? and how does the brain respond to different learning environments. Finally, is there a connection between the three? These questions and other concepts will be explored in this unit. During this journey, you will be presented with content, sometimes asked to be sefl reflective, participate in activites and challenge your personal learning growth by completing summative assessments to gauge your learning.
Unit Objectives:
Objective 1: Students will be able to identify aspects of and define Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT)
Objective 2: Students will be able to identify different cultural archetypes and their influence on pedagogy and student learning.
Objective 3: Students will be able to identify how the brain responds to different learning environments and cultural expectations.
Required readings for this module:
Chapters 1 and 2- Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain. Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students.
Chapter on Stress- Medina, J. (2008). Brain rules. 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school.
Know Yourself
One of the first things teachers and future teachers need to take into consideration is who arer their students and what is the make up of each student? What makes them excited? How do they tend to approach learning activities? What is their personal experience outside of the classroom that influences their in-class performance and approach? In order to develop an understanding of your current and/or future students, it is important to also develop a sense of self. In the table below, you will have the opportunity to engage in a variety of self-assessments to take a deeper dive into yourself from different lenses. Take the next section seriously and allow time to complete as many of the assessments as you can. Each assessment as a different focus.
Table- Different Self-Assessments
Multiple Intelligence Have you thought about multiple intelligences? Please take this quick survey to find out your preferneces. Multiple Intelligences survey. | Emotional Intelligence is one's abilty to interpret and express their emotions in a pro-social way. Click here to gain insight into your own personal emotional intelliegence. | Learning Style Are you aware of your preferred learning style? Please take this short survey to find out. |
The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACES) Asessment gives insight into the historical family lived experience of the individual. Scores on the ACES assessment correlate to different life factors including, obesity, smoking, drug use, chronic depression and suicide attempts. To find out your ACES score, please click here.
| Grit and Resilience are two facotrs that contribute to life long positive outcomes for individuals. Do you think you have a high level or low level of resilience? Want to find out? Click here to get a sense of your level of resilience. | Implicit Biases Are you aware of your implicit biases? Please click here and review the different surveys you can take to gain insight into your personal biases. While there are many to select from, I recommend completing either the Race IAT or the SKin-Tone IAT |
Funds of Knowledge
Funds of knowlege include the collection of information we develop through our own individual lived experience. Everyone develops their own funds of knowledge on a daily basis. Each individual's funds of knowledge will vary based on their culture, the environment they live in and their varied life experiences.
Table: Different ways to read about Funds of Knowledge
| If you would prefer to watch a video regarding the concept of Funds of Knowledge, click here. |
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Cultural Responsive Teaching
According to Hammond, (2015) Culturally Responsive Teaching involves a framework that incorproates four different focus areas. These focus areas include awareness, learning partnerships, information processing, and community building. The first area, awareness, focuses on the teachers ability to understand where there students come from, understand their own personal biases, begin to develop a cultural perspective for all of their students, and to incorporate all of their contextual knowledge into how they engage and respond to their students during instruction.
The second area of focus: building partnerships, is an interative prcoess between the teacher and the students to develop a level of multual level of trust based on understanding of both pespectives. This "social-emotional" (p.19) bond between the teacher and the students will allow for openness towards deeper learning be leveraging the strength of the relationship to set high expectations while providing social-emotional support during the learning process.
The third area of practice centers on understanding the students cultural perspective as their approach to learning new information and providing support to the students to allow them to engage in deep learning. This is a primary factor for the teacher to utilize hihg-leverage pedagogical instructional techniques to support student learning.
The last area of practice focuses on community building. The teacher of the classroom is charged with understanding that their personal cultural perspective will prevail in the learning environment unless they make a conscious effort to infuse elements from multiple cultures into their classroom. This will help facilitate a "socially and intellectually safe space" (p.20). The teacher will foster their dependent learners to expand their learning process by establishing "rituals and routines" (p.20) that reinforce self-directed learning behaviors which will help redefine the students' personal 'academic identity'.
Please take the opportunity to learn more about Cultural Responsive Teaching. The table below offers a variety of methods to increase your personal knowledge about this concept. You have the opportunbity to select from reading an documents (article), to listening to podcasts, to viewing short videos on the concept. The aim is to help you develop a better understand of Culturally Responsive Teaching and help you incorporate these ideas into your current and/or future pedagogical teaching methods.
Table: Learn about CRT from Article or PPT or Video OR padcast
| Join me in reading the seminal article by Gloria Ladson-Billings and her article Gloria Ladson-Billings, "Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy" (PDF), American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 32, No. 3 , accessed January 2020. | Podcast |
Videos | ||
Five Essential Strategies to Embrace Culturally Responsive Practices
Read about Culturally Responsive Teaching in distance learning |
| Video about being a warm demander
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| Example of Culturally Responsive Teaching at a New Zealand School to address the cultural needs of the Maori students. | Reach Teach Talk Interview with Zaretta Hammond
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Different Cultural Archtypes
According to Hammnond (2015) there are two main cultural archtypes, Collectivism and Individualism. The concept of individualism is primarily previlant in several European cultures while the concept of collectivism is common among most other cultures in the world.
To gain greater insight into the concept of Individualism versus Collectivism, please select from the follwoing table.
| Article | Podcasts | Videos |
If you wish to read an article to gain greater insight into the differences between collectivism anbd Individualism, please read the following article Darwish, Dr. Abdel Fattah & Huber, Gunter. (2003). Individualism vs. Collectivism in Different Cultures: A cross-cultural study. Intercultural Education,. 14. 47-56 ( USA). 10.1080/1467598032000044647. | If you would prefer to listen to a podcast about the concepts of collectivism and individualism, please select from the follwoign podcasts: Individualism vs. Collectivism: The Positive Psychology Podcast For the Greater Good- In a Time of Crisis Who do we put first, ourselves or the greater good? | If you would prefer to watch a video to gain insight into the concepts of individualism vs. Collectivism please selct from the following: Understanding Individualism vs Collectivism Individualism vs. Collectivism: Why it matters in the classroom? Individualism vs. Collectivism The follwoign video looks at individualism vs collectivism from an economic perspective, however, there are classroom implications in this video. |
Brain and Different learning environments
Recently, there has been a great deal of discussion regarding the plasticity of the brain. This refers to the brains ability to re-wire itself as a result to internal and external stimuli (Mateos-Aparicio & Rodriguez-Moreno, 2019). Indicating that the brain and a person's intelligence is not fixed, but malleable. This is exciting new research into the brain's ability to increase neuron connections that influence memory and brain development has significant implications, especially in the field of education.
The following links provide insight into the concept of neuroplasticity and the brain in relation to student learning. Please take this opportunity to increase your personal knowledge in this area.
References
Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teachign and the brain. Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students.
Mateos-Aparicio P and Rodríguez-Moreno A (2019) The Impact of Studying Brain Plasticity. Front. Cell. Neurosci. 13:66. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2019.00066
Medina, J. (2008). Brain rules. 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school.
Unit 1 Activities
Activities
Take the following quiz about Funds of Knowledge to gauge your learning (please complete).
Please select at least one of the following activites to complete. These activities will allow you to incorporate your new leanrings into your prior knowledge and help you develop a personal connection to these newly learned concepts.
Activity #1- Pause and Reflect
If you took the opportunity to engage with these self-assessments, you have collected a great deal of data about yourself. Take the next few moments to write a reflection regarding the information you obtained. When reviewing the data, ask yourself the following questions:
How accurate was the information obtained in comparison to your initial perception of yourself?
Did the data present any Ah-ha moments that surprised you? If there were no surprises, what components of your personal life can you contribute the stability or self-awareness to?
How will processing through this information influence your ability to getting to know your students and the assets they bring into the classroom on a daily basis?
Activity #2 - Draw your colorful classroom. Create a visual picture of all the students in your classroom. If you teach multiple sections (periods) select one period to draw. After you color your classroom, consider the following questions- Who is represented? Is anyone missing? What do you know about the students in your picture? Finally, what was your inspiration for drawing this classroom composition?
Activity #3 - How does the information yu0ou gained through watching the variety of videos about neuroplasticity and the brain in this module provide insight into the approach some of your students act during the instructional day?
Activity #4- Why is affect so important to the learning process? Why is it important to allow yourself a break during the teaching year?
Unit 1 Assessment
Assessment
Please select at least one of the following assessments to complete.
Option #1-
Why is it important to understand about the plasticity of the brain and how teachers can positively affect the students brain growth in new and different areas? As a future educator, where do you feel your strengths and weaknesses lie in this area? For this option, you can write a traditional 2-3 page paper, or create a voice over presentation or you can create a podcast with an accompanied outline of topics for the listerner to use while enjoyiong your podcast.
Option #2-
As a result of viewing the following resources, First, take some time to create a chart that identifies common themes that align with a Individualism framework and a collecivist framework. (5-10 Minutes). Second, consider the group of students you will be teaching and imagine the ratio of students who align with a individualistic vs. a collectivist perspective. What is that ratio? 20/80? 50/50? 70/30? Please make sure to define what numbers are aligned with the cultural archetype. Then, consider your personal anchor into which archetype you align with- individualism or collectivism. Now that you understand your perspective, you will also have an idea on your bias as well. Now is the time to reflect on how you will honor both cultural archetypes in your classroom as you begin teaching your academic subject. The next part of your activity will be to create some preliminary supports either in the directions you provide, the way you have your students engage with the material, or the way they demonstrate their knowledge that allows both archetypes to be represented and supported during the lesson.
Unit 2: The intersection of neuroscience and culturally responsive teaching and how they influence the development of independent learners.
Unit 2: The intersection of neuroscience and culturally responsive teaching and how they influence the development of independent learners.
Unit Two Objectives:
Objective 1: Students will be able to operationally define and identify how the concept of survival influences the student-learning process.
Objective 2: Students will be able to operationally define and identify how the concept of exercise influences the student-learning process.
Objective 3: Students will connect the concepts of survival and exercise to different pedagogical models that support student learning.
Required readings for this module:
Chapters 3 and 4- Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teachign and the brain. Promoting authentic engagement and rigor aomng culturally and linguistically diverse students.
Chapters on Survival and Exercise- Medina, J. (2008). Brain rules. 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school.
The following tables provide opportunities to gain greater insight into several concepts that play a role in the student's learning process. These concepts include Brain Rules: Survival; Brain Rules Exercise; and insight into the concept of Cognitive Load Theory. Each of these concepts have an effect on learning. Take a moment to process through these links to gain greater insight into what these concepts are and how they play a significant role in how individual access and process information. While you are reviewing each video and podcast, keep in mind, or even better, jot down notes as to how you might be able to incorporate any new ideas into your pedagogy. You will be able to use your notes for the activity section. If you are interested in reading the seminal artlce on Cognitive Load Theory and learning, please check out the link to Cognitive Load during problem solving: Effects on Learning (1988) by John Sweller who is a pioneer in this field.
| Video- The Performance Enhancement- Brain Rules | Video- Brain Rules: Survival | Podcast: |
| Watch this vide on the concept of excercise and the brain | How to keep your brain healthy through exercise | How morning exercfise can help your brain through the day. |
Unit 2 Activities
Activities
Please select at least one of the following activites to complete. These activities will allow you to incorporate your new leanrings into your prior knowledge and help you develop a personal connection to these newly learned concepts.
Option #1
Activity- How have you seen the concept of survival expressed in the classroom? Pull from your own personal experience and the experience of your peers and students you have observed in the classroom. What does this look like in the classroom? In what ways do students exhibit behavior that aligns with the concept of survival in the learning environment? As a future teacher, what will you do to adress students expressing signs of survival in the classroom?
Option #2
Activity- Write a letter about your most influential teacher. Share what made that teacher so influential in your life and what possibly they did as a teacher that inspired you to become a teacher. What elements we have reviewed so far were part of their teaching repitorie?
Option #3
Activity- Using the principles of cognitive load theory, create an infographic that expresses your understanding of how the concepts of survival and exercise play a role in student learning. Please also provide a one paragraph narrative describing your infographic.
Unit 2 Assessment
Assessment
Please select at least one of the following assessments to complete.
Option #1- How can we help our students to recognize their own thoughts and anxiety during instruction? What self monitoring strategies can we teach our students to use when they start to experience sensory warning signs? Develop a self-monitoring plan with decision steps and action steps that will provide a pathway for a student to take when they experience thoughts and emotions during a lesson that will help them stay focused on the task at hand.
Option #2- After reviewing the previous information, how can you incorporate the concepts of exercise into your daily teaching schedule? Work with a small group to discuss the different ways you can embed purposeful movement into your lessons and identify the connection to the brain regions that will benefit.
Option #3- For this assessment option, you will need access to a lesson plan. Either one you have developed yourself or one that you have access to. Using the principles of cognitive load theory and it's implicaitons on learning, how would you incorporate these principles into the pedaogy you would use to teach this lesson? What specific actions, decisions, and supports would you incorporate into your lesson design and application to the learning process?
Unit 3: Supporting Dependent Learners to become Independent Learners and Understanding the role of culture in student learning.
Unit 3: Supporting Dependent Learners to become Independent Learners and Understanding the role of culture in student learning.
Unit Three Objectives:
Objective 1: Students will be able to differentiate the difference between an independent and dependent learner.
Objective 2: Students will be able to identify habits of mind and cognitive tools to help student’s transition to become an independent learner.
Objective 3: Students will be able to understanding how neuroscience, student’s motivation, and pedagogy and learning theories relate to social emotional development and their implications and application for instructional design for all students.
Required readings for this module:
Chapter 8- Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teachign and the brain. Promoting authentic engagement and rigor aomng culturally and linguistically diverse students.
Chapter on Wiring- Medina, J. (2008). Brain rules. 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school.
As you process through the follwoign links to learn more about how independent learners are cultivated in the learning environment; how do the Habits of Mind play a role in student learning; taking a deeper dive into neuroscience and learning; and finally how does trauma play a role in the students learning process, I want you to think about the student's social emotional intelligence and how that is influential within each of these components in the acquisition of information. It is encouraged that you develop a visual diagram to record notes of the key concepts and phrases that you read and/or listen to as you process through the following links.
Use the following links to learn more about independent vs dependent learners.
| Helping students become independent learners | Developing students to become independent learners | Are you an independent Learner? Take this short quiz and find out. |
Use the following links to learn more Habits of Mind.
| Watch this video to learn more about Habits of the Mind | Here is a another resource video regarding the concept of Habits of Mind |
Use the following links to learn more about the neuroscinece of learning.
| Video on neuroscience of learning | Video Lecture on The Neuroscience of Learning. The Heart-Brain Connection: The Neuroscience of social, emotional learning | Podcast- How the brain learns |
Use the following links to learn more about trauma and the learning process.
| Video on Childhood Drama and Brain development | Video on Trauma and Brain | Video on Trauma Informed Practices |
| Video on Three Trauma Informed Practices by Science | Video on Trauma Informed School Practices |
Use the following links to learn more about the concept of Growth Mindset.
| Article- Growth Mindset | Podcast- Growth Mindset | The Power You can Improve |
Let's have some fun. Before you process on to the activities of this module, take a moment and find out if you have a growth mindset or not. Each of the links below provide and oppoprtunity for you to take a quiz that will give you insight into the concept of self-growth mindset. Before you take your first quiz, write down your personal prediction on whether you think you have a growth mindset or not. Then, take one or all of the quizes. (This will help significantly if you choose to complete Activity option #2).
| Take a Growth Mindset Quiz | Take a different growth mindset quiz | How about a third growth mindset quiz? |
Unit 3 Activities
Activities
Please slect from the following activities to put into practice the knowledge you have gained as a result of completing this module. These activities will allow you to incorporate your new leanrings into your prior knowledge and help you develop a personal connection to these newly learned concepts.
Activity #1-Describe at least three different ways to incorporate the Habits of Mind you have learned into your lessons. Please share why you fopcused on these habits of mind? How do they relate to your personal approach to learning? How do they relate to your cultural archetype? Consider what bind spots you may have in incorporating these habits of mind into your lesson.
Activity # 2 - As a result of completing each of the three growth mindset quizzes, did you notice any changes in your results? Did you begin to learn how to answer a question for a preferred response? If so, which time you took the assessment do you feel is the real evaluation of your personal growth mindset?
Activity #3- As a result of completing this module, describe five (5) new learning ideas you acquired as a result of completing this module. Relate the 5 new learning to your prior experiences. Finally, provide a window of how you will incorporate these five nmew learning ideas into your future pedagogy and connect the expected student learning outcomes as a result of the infusion of your new knowledge.
Unit 3 Assessment
Assessment
The overall purpose for this module was to investigate several concepts that influence student learning in the classroom setting. These concepts have included Funds of Knowledge, Social Emotional Learning, Culturally Responsive Teaching, Cultural Archtypes, Habits of Mind, Truama Based Instruction, Independent and Dependent Learners, Barin Rules concepts of Exercise and Survival and Growth Mindset to name a few. As a future educator, it is your charge to mediate various concepts and learning theories in the development of your lessons and the pedagogyyou use to implement your teaching objectives.
Please select at least one of the following assessments to complete.
Assessment:
Option #1
Given the different elements of the traditional seven-step lesson plan (see below) review the major concepts learned throughout this module (Funds of knowledge, cultural archetypes, concepts of survival and exercise; culturally responsive teaching; trauma based instruction; growth mindset, and dependent and independent learners, connection each of these concepts to a specific part of the seven-step lesson plan and provide a rationale as to why the concept you identified is addressed at that point of the lesson and the affect it will have on student learning. You can complete this overall assessment in one of three ways: a written reflection, a presentation with voice over slides, or through flipgrid or a podcast.
Objectives:
Set (The hook)
Standards and Expectations
Teaching: Input; Modleing/ Demonstration; Direction giving; Checking for Understanding
Guided Practice
Closure
Independent Practice
Option #2
Create a visual graphic that infuses at least 5 concepts you feel are the most important to support student learning that you learned about through this module. The visuakl graphic needs to include the image of a student. You will determine the demographic characteristics of the student (age, race, ethnicity and gender, for example). The graphic will also need to show how the 5 concepts are infused into the learning environment. The image of the student needs to be somewhere within the learning environment. As a result of someone looking at your visual graphic, they shoudl get a complete sense of the message you are trying to convey. You will need to also create a short paragraph description of the visual graphic.
Option #3
Create a Job Aid that incorporates all of the main concetps that you have learned about during this module and the purpose behind the concepts and how you can implement them into your pedagogical model you use during instruction. You are in a sense creating a prompting guide for yourself to refer to during instruction to provide self-created prompts to help you ask, inquire about, or process through during instruction.