Information Please...

Synapses firing in the brain. Source: Wikimedia

My particular areas of focus in IDT are math and music education.

In my math experience, which was the topic of my thesis, so much of the difficulty for me and so many others similar to the "rote" and "shallow" learning Daniel Willingham talks about in his article. As I read and view the material, I am looking back at my own experiences as a student and as a teacher. I’m remembering these experiences, but reframing them for a closer reading, associating the information from both classes, but also very much sensing the fluidity of this evolving field of instructional design, as I sense, often, that there are new paths to forge in learning and teaching. This is exciting, and, constructivist in the metacognitive sense, as I am learning about learning by learning there is more to learn about learning.

I am looking intently at the material Dr. Knapp has chosen for our module. I’m a big fan of Chomsky, and there is no shortage of opportunities to cite him in anything to do about language and learning.

Some insights that come to mind in our module on information processing relate to how the brain functions, or, rather, how little we still understand about how the brain functions. We are learning more about the infinitely sophisticated processes at work in the brain and how it learns.

There is a growing awareness of the impact passive activities have on the delivery of information that can result in longer-term, explicit understanding of a topic. From my own research on this subject I can cite renowned math reformist Jo Boaler,“Synapses fire when learning happens, but learning does not happen only in classrooms or when reading books; synapses fire when we have conversations, play games, or build with toys, and in the course of many, many other experiences” (Boaler, as cited by Melendez, 2016, p.70).

Another recent source from my research on the brain and understanding brain states comes from Dr. David Eagleman. In his book, The Brain: The Story of You which he followed up with a video series by the same name, Eagleman presents a number of compelling demonstrations of brain function, many of which seem to illustrate the information processing phases we’re discussing in this week’s module.

David Eagleman, The Brain: The Story of You, 2014. SOURCE: YouTube

Our brains appear to process what is familiar, aggregates, or “chunks” this information and stores it in the long-term memory (LTM), which, as the video demonstrates, “frees” or quiets the brain activity read by the EEG. Lower brain wave states such as the theta state are the highly suggestible brain states sought in meditations and hypnosis. As our module illustrates, the brain has the most limited memory while it is registering content, and unlimited capacity for information in the long-term memory where familiar registries are “packaged.”

Marketers use methods that reach into the unconscious minds of their audiences while they are engaged in banal activities or while they are enjoying content to influence some behavior or illicit some action. Hypnotherapists use these un-aroused brain states to influence or change a behavior in a patient. Using media, video, audio or video games can take similar advantage of these same un-aroused states of the brain while it is engaged in familiar activities like watching films or playing video games to introduce information deeper into the subconscious of the viewer. Edutainment and gamification principles appear to function, at least partly, on this principle.

This process also seems to benefit from being unfettered by the high arousal states of processing new content or under circumstances to which the viewer has been conditioned to be in a hyper-alert response state of performance. Such conditions, I believe, lead to the problems that result in inert knowledge many encounter in subjects like mathematics.

SOURCES:

Boaler, J. (2015). Mathematical mindsets: unleashing students' potential through creative math, inspiring messages and innovative teaching. John Wiley & Sons.

Melendez, E. (2016). "Math as Text, Rhetoric as Reason: Can the Humanities Save Math Education?" (2016). Honors College Capstonesand Theses. Paper 2.