Mind, Brain, and Education:How Cognitive & Neuro Science

Inform Educational Practice.Kurt W. Fischer, Harvard G.S. Education

! Relating Mind, Brain, & Education (MBE)< Need for Sound Science,

Not Mere Brain Claims< Brain Plasticity!

Using Cognitive & Neuro Science To InformEducational Practice.

< Different Pathways for Learning

! Research Schools:Studying Learning and Teaching in Schools

Barcelona, 26 Nov 2012

The Brain - is wider than the Sky -For - put them side by side -The one the other will containWith ease - and You - beside -

The Brain is deeper than the sea -For - hold them - Blue to BlueThe one the other will absorb -As Sponges - Buckets - do -

The Brain is just the weight of God -For - Heft them - Pound for PoundAnd they will differ - if they do -As syllable from Sound -

Emily Dickinson 1862

Brain: Most Complex Object in Universe

Minister ofEducation in aEuropeanCountry

Creating New Field of Mind, Brain, & Education

! International MBE Society & University Programs< Harvard U., Cambridge U., U. Texas at Arlington,

East China Normal University

! Journal & Books< Wiley-Blackwell, Cambridge U. Press, Guilford.....

! Collaboration withOther International Groups< OECD < Pontifical Academy of Sciences 400th< Learning & Brain< Japanese Baby Science

! Beyond the Fad to Build a Field< Building a Network of Research Schools

AAP Award

Neuroplasticity: The Adaptive Brain

• Learning experiences literally shape how neurons in the brain connect with one another.

• Connectivity patterns influence how the brain processes new information.

OECD, 2007

Dendrites

Axon

Cell body

Learning a New Skill Requires Growing a New Neural Network.

XWorldPlugInBrainBucketVTS_05_1.VOB.lnk

But School Is [Students Fill in].

BORING!Treating Students asDisembodied Brains into WhichWe Pump Knowledge!

Better Model: ActiveIntelligence –Grasping & Building with the Mind

C & M Suàrez-Orozco

XWorldPlugInBrainBucketVTS_05_1.VOB.lnk (Command Line)

Illegitimate Claims from Neuroscience

! Learning Involves Filling Our Brains withKnowledge – NOT.

! There Are Left-Brain and Right-Brain People –NOT.

! We Only Use Half (or Less) of Our Brains – NOT.

! Boys & Girls Have Fundamentally Different Brains– NOT.

Response to Seeing a WordFlashed

dog º

Visual Area

What Other RegionsParticipate in Network forSeeing a Word?

Front of Head

Parietal lobe:Touch,Spatial, etc.

Occipital lobe:Vision, etc.

Temporallobe:Hearing, etc.

Brain Stem,Cerebellum

Frontal lobe:Motor action,Executive,Emotion,etc.

Seeing Word

Speech: Broca’s Area & Wernicke’s Area

Shortcut to meg_word_readingSld20PoldrackVideoEHalgren.mpeg.lnk (Command Line)

Inflating the Brain Image (throughComputer Processing) to Make More

Areas Visible.Watch the Brain Activity Pattern Several Times.

Duration: Less Than a Second(Halgren, Poldrack)

Need for Research Schools:Research and Development for Schools

! Research and development are commonplace inmost industries and fields.< Cosmetics, Chemicals, Agriculture....< Traffic Safety: National Data Base< We Need Research and Development in Education!

! Educational theory should be tested by itsconsequences in action (Dewey, 1896, 1938).

! Research informs practice, and practice informsresearch.

Prime Example Is Sesame Street: Research on Practice Every Day

! Ongoing Assessment of Practice

! Tool for Improving Learning andTeaching.

! Gerald Lesser, Children andtelevision: Lessons from SesameStreet. Random House

Doing Research in Schools: Establishing Partnershipbetween Schools and Universities to Study Learning.

Educating All Children: Many Different Pathways to Learning.

Tower of Babel: Different Languages, Different LearningPieter Brughel the Elder

Educating 25% of Our Students SuccessfullyIs Not Good Enough!

Learning Pathways Involve Webs,Not Ladders.

Standard Model of ReadingWith an Alphabetic System:

3 Domains to Integrate

! 1. Meaning of Words (Definition)

! 2. Sound Analysis, especially Rhyme

! 3. Visual-Graphic (Letters Spell Words)

! Standard Model: Child Must Integrate TheseDomains to Read Effectively.

Developmental Webs, with Coordinationof Separate Domains

Meaning SoundAnalysis

Visual-Graphic

3 Domains to Coordinate

Study of Children Reading Single Words

Knight & Fischer, 1992

! Grades 1-3

! Full Range from Good to Poor Readers

! N = 120

! Words were from school curriculum. (16 words)

frogboatcakefishtrainstring......

6 Tasks for Each Word

! Word Definition (Meaning)

! Letter Identification (Visual-graphic)

! Rhyme Recognition (Sound)

! Rhyme Production (Sound)

! Reading Recognition (Integration)

! Reading Production (Integration)

ModalDevelopmental

Pathway:WORD DEFINITION

LETTERIDENTIFICATION

RHYMERECOGNITION

READINGRECOGNITION

RHYMEPRODUCTION

READINGPRODUCTION

Integration ofDomains Leads toSingle Sequenceof Tasks instead ofBranching.

Integration ofRead & Rhyme

Standard and Simple Model of Reading

Dendrogram for Tasks

For Entire Sample, including High & Low Readers

! Based on Partially Ordered Scaling technique(POSI)

! which does Guttman Scaling that allowsBranching.

! Many studies use techniques analyzing orderingsof all pairs of items. < Today Rasch scaling is widely used.

Profiles of 6 Tasks for Main Developmental Pathway

WordDefinition

Step LetterIdentification

RhymeProduction

ReadingRecognition

RhymeRecognition

ReadingProduction

1 + - - - - -0 - - - - - -

2a + + - - - -2b + - + - - -3 + + + - - -4 + + + + - -5 + + + + + -6 + + + + + +

Total Sample =120 Childrenin Grades 1-3

Dendrogramfrom POSI

ModalDevelopmental

PathwayWORD DEFINITION

LETTERIDENTIFICATION

RHYMERECOGNITION

READINGRECOGNITION

RHYMEPRODUCTION

READINGPRODUCTION

.11

.11

.17

.17

.44

.28

What about Poor Readers? What about Hard Words?

Does This Integration Model Capture the Whole Story?

Are There Several Pathways HiddenHere?

! Based on Pattern Analysis of Profiles of 6 Tasksfor Each of 16 Words,

! There Are Two Additional Pathways Besides theModal One.< Every Student Fit One of These Pathways!

P It Is Rare to Successfully Characterize All Subjects in a Study.

SecondDevelopmental

Pathway:Read & Rhyme

Independent

WORD DEFINITION

LETTERIDENTIFICATION

RHYMERECOGNITION

READINGRECOGNITION

RHYMEPRODUCTION

READINGPRODUCTION

Read, Rhyme, &Letter

IdentificationIndependent

WORD DEFINITION

LETTERIDENTIFICATION

RHYMERECOGNITION

READINGRECOGNITION

RHYMEPRODUCTION

READINGPRODUCTION

ThirdDevelopmental

Pathway:

Bruno della Chiesa

The Centrality of CultureCultural Assumptions:

Which Direction Do You Read? Right to Left, or Left to Right?

Assumption by Advertiser

Cultural Assumptions:Right to Left

Differences in Pathwaysfor Visual Talents in People with Dyslexia

! New Research on Visual Talents in DyslexicScientists< Matt Schneps, Todd Rose, and Kurt Fischer,

in journal Mind, Brain, and Education:P Plus 7 new articles in press or submitted.

! Development of Visual Fields in Dyslexics andNormal Readers< Escher Figures< Geiger & Lettvin, Winner & von Karolyi< Visual Scanning Fields

Distribution of Sensitivity in Visual Field Differs in Dyslexics.

Development: MoreSensitivity in Periphery,Less in Fovea.

Result: Greater Capacityfor Detecting Patternsacross Wide Areas ofVisual Fields, e.g.Astronomers

(But More Distractability)

Task for the Future:Describing These Talents& Limits.

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dyslexialinked to visual talents?

dyslexia over-represented in art

schools by a factor of 2

chuck close

Wolff, U. and I. Lundberg (2002). "The prevalence of dyslexia among art students."Dyslexia 8(1): 34-42.

•l lv•l lv

impossible figures

People with dyslexia are 50% faster at distinguishing possible

and impossible figures.

Talents for Holistic Integrationacross the Visual Field

Example: Star Fields and Astrophysicists

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ddd www

Geiger, G. and J. Y. Lettvin (1987). New England Journal of Medicine 316(20): 1238-1243.

enhanced peripheral ability

vary eccentricity

very quick flash ~15 ms

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Geiger, G. and J. Y. Lettvin (1987). New England Journal of Medicine 316(20): 1238-1243.

•l lv•l lv

Geiger, G. and J. Y. Lettvin (1987). New England Journal of Medicine 316(20): 1238-1243.

•l lv•l lv

black hole detection

•l lv•l lvfinding black holes

detection is often difficult

Scientists with Dyslexia Excel at Peripheral Detection.

Dyslexia Advantagein Black Hole Detection

Compare Normal? Students (Harvard)with Landmark College Students

(Dyslexic)

With Image Blurred, Harvard Students Not Able to Detect Letters in Photos.

Landmark Students Did Learn!

Memory Target Is Letter on Tire.