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Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011
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Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Mar 26, 2015

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Page 1: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning

2011

Page 2: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

What the best Teachers do:What the best Teachers do:

Motivating StudentsMotivating Students

Page 3: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

What is Motivation?

Motivation is defined as the “purposeful engagement in classroom tasks & study to master concepts”

How do you know when your students are motivated?

Page 4: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Motivation – Question 1

Think about & jot down answer:

Remember a class or workshop that you attended where you were provoked, interested, or motivated.

Why were you provoked, interested or motivated?

Page 5: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Motivation – Question 2

Think about & jot down answer:

Remember a class or workshop that you attended where you were

bored, uninterested, or unmotivated.

Why were you bored, uninterested, or unmotivated?

Page 6: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Motivation – What We Know

What do we know already about why we are provoked, interested, or motivated?

What do we know already about why we are NOT motivated?

Is this applicable to our students?

Page 7: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

What Most Teachers Do

Most teachers motivate by Rewards or

Punishments

Page 8: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

8

Motivation by Rewards

Rewards are based on needsStudent are motivated to earn the reward

(the “A”), if the student “needs” the grade

Have you ever “coasted” through a class, not caring about your grade as long as it was passing?

Page 9: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

9

Motivation – Why Rewards Do Not Always Work

Success AchieversMotivated to Succeed

Low Fear of Failure

Over-StriversMotivated to Succeed

High Fear of Failure

Failure AvoidersIndifferent to success

High Fear of Failure

Failure AcceptorsNot Motivated to

Succeed

High Fear of Failure

Page 10: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

10

How do the “Best College Teachers” Motivate?

Students learn best (because they were motivated) when:Student were actively engaging their brains

(a.k.a., active learning)

How do the “Best” do this? . . .

Page 11: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

How Do We Motivate?

Tap into student values What students think is

important Focus on:

Tasks that are challenging

Tasks that are interesting

Tasks that meet a goal

Tap into student expectations

What students think they can accomplish

Focus on: Ability to learn is

controllable Effort is controllable Professor expects

success

Page 12: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Natural Critical Learning Environment

1. Students confront a problem 2. The students find the problem interesting or

important3. The environment is challenging yet supportive, &

students have a sense of control4. Students collaborate on the problem5. Students know their work will be considered fairly

and honestly6. Students know they can try, fail, and receive

feedback before grades

Create a lesson using these steps

Page 13: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Other Motivation Tips

1. Get your students’ attention, and keep it!

2. Start with the students, not your discipline

3. Seek commitments4. Help students learn outside class5. Engage students in disciplinary thinking6. Create diverse learning experiences

Page 14: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

What is learning?

CHANGING the structure & actions of NEURONS so

they HOLD INFORMATION in LONG TERM MEMORY inTEMPORAL & PARIETAL

LOBES of the CORTEX

Page 15: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.
Page 16: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

LEARNING requires NEURONS to CHANGE

Page 17: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Learning requires MANYneuron changes

BUT two major changes are1 Changing the amounts of neurotransmitters that neurons produce

2 Changing the connections between neurons

Page 18: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

(1) Learning requires neurons to make MORE & LESS & DIFFERENT transmitters

Page 19: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

(2) Learning requires neurons to make NEW LINKS & DELETE EXISTING LINKS with other neurons

Page 20: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

+ & -

Bad News & Good News for Teachers

in Current Neuroscience Findings

Page 21: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

4 important negative findings from neuroscience

5 important positive findings from neuroscience

4 NEGATIVES & 5 POSITIVES

Page 22: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Bad news finding # 1

WE HAVE NO INTRINSIC

MOTIVATION TO LEARN

ACADEMIC MATERIAL

Page 23: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

We are motivated to LEARNLEARN to get 4 PRIMARY BODY REWARDS:

Food Water Sex

Drugs of Abuse

Page 24: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

And we are motivated to LEARNLEARN to get 5 Primary Social Rewards

Feel pleasant touch (Rolls et al. 2003)

See attractive faces (Aharon et al. 2001)

Hear positive words (Hamann & Mao 2002)

Interact with others (Rilling et al. 2002)

Gain social status (Tooby & Cosmides, 2002)

Page 25: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Human motivation system

Rewarding experiences trigger amygdala activity trigger dopamine release trigger frontal lobe activity

Page 26: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

AMYGDALA

Computes Emotional intensity of an experience

Degree of negative or positive emotion

Page 27: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Increased Dopamine ISIS the Reward

Page 28: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

FRONTAL LOBE

Stores the reward value of experience

Activates behaviors leading to the most rewarded outcome

Page 29: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

All other complex experiences are conditioned with primary rewards

$ $ USE OF MONEY

WORKING

LEARNING

FOLLOWING RULES

Page 30: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Motivation to Learn School Subjects is Conditioned

Most cultures condition children

with 3 primary rewards for successful learning using foodteacher & parent approvalincreased peer social status

Page 31: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Bad news finding # 2

THERE IS NO EVIDENCE

FOR LEARNING TRANSFER

Page 32: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Reviews of research show no evidence for learning transfer

Barnett & Ceci (2002 )Clement & Lecoutre (2004)

Dixon & Dohn (2003) Mayer (2004)

Page 33: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

No transfer means no free lunch

NO SPECIFIC TRANSFER means Learning to add DOES NOT make

learning to divide easierNO GENERAL TRANSFER meansLearning math DOES NOT make

you a better learner “in general”

Page 34: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Bad news finding # 3

THERE IS NO EVIDENCE

FOR MULTIPLE

INTELLIGENCES

Page 35: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Gardner’s 11 Total Intelligences

Linguistic, Musical, Logical-mathematical, Spatial,Bodily-kinesthetic, Personal, Naturalistic, Spiritual,

Existential,Mental Searchlight, Laser

Page 36: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Gardner’s Newest Intelligences

Existential = feeling at one with the cosmos

Mental Searchlight = people with high IQ test scores scan widely

Laser = artists and artisans “who generate the advances (as well as the catastrophes) of society”

Page 37: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Gardner Admits No Supporting Data Exists for Multiple Intelligences

Allix (2000) no evidenceJie-Qi Chen (2004) no evidenceGardner (2004) no evidenceGardner and Connell (2000, p.

292) conceded that “there is little hard evidence for Multiple Intelligences theory” (2000, p. 292)

Page 38: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH REFUTES MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

There is consistent significant evidence for a general intelligence factor G that appears to be working memory —this stands against Multiple Intelligences(Colom et al. 2004)

There is consistent significant evidence that brain systems for cognitive functions are overlapping —this stands against Multiple Intelligences (Lieberman, 2002)

Page 39: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH REFUTES MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES, cont.

There is evidence for specific innate cognition modules (Gallistel, 2003)

1 Fast-mapping of word to object2 Person recognition of face, voice,

clothes3 Obligation computation of what we

owe others and what they owe us4 Imitation of all aspects of the behavior

of others

Page 40: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

ADAPTED COGNITION MODULES STAND AGAINST MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

Each adapted cognition module is supported by evidence of its neural operations (MI intelligences are not).

A given adapted cognition module, like Mirror Neuron Tissue, operates using our vision, hearing, speaking, gesturing, social awareness—this combines parts of 4 of Gardner’s intelligences—thus negating their individual existences

Page 41: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Bad news finding # 4

EVERY SINGLE MEMORY WE HAVE

IS COMPLETELY UNSTABLE

Page 42: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Heraclitus was right

Page 43: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

You cannot step into the same river twice

EVERY TIME YOU REMEMBER SOMETHING, IT IS A

DIFFERENT MEMORY, BECAUSE THE ACT OF

RECALL IS A RECONSTRUCTION

Page 44: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

RECALL TRANSFORMS RECALL TRANSFORMS OUR MEMORIES OUR MEMORIES

When we remember our braintakes the memory

apart, updates the memory, brings the memory to

consciousnessrhen makes new

proteins for a new structure for the memory as it goes back into long-term storage.

Page 45: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Good news findings # 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Neuroscience research has found 5 promoter mechanisms whereby short term learning changes into long

term learning

Page 46: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

5 major promoters of learning =

INNATE LEARNING PROGRAMS (Gallistel, 2003)

REPETITION of INFORMATION(Squire and Kandel, 2000)

EXCITEMENT at the time of learning (Cahill & Gorski, 2003; LeDoux, 2002)

EATING CARBOHYDRATES at time of learning (Korol, 2002)

8-9 HOURS OF SLEEP after learning (Kuriyama, Stickgold, & Walker, 2004)\

Page 47: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

The first promoters are innate learning programs called ADAPTED COGNITION MODULES

SPECIALIZED BRAIN MODULES EVOLVED TO COMPUTE SPECIFIC INFORMATION OUTSIDE OUR CONSCIOUSNESS IN ORDER TO MAKE THAT PROCESS EASIER AND FASTER BECAUSE THOSE COMPUTATIONS HAVE BEEN IMPORTANT FOR OUR SURVIVAL

Page 48: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

INNATE PROGRAMS = Adapted Cognition Modules are very specific computation systems

Adapted cognition modules promote quick and easy learning of certain types of information:

●We learn people’s faces, typical movements, voices, clothing, odors very easily because we have FACE RECOGNITION TISSUE in our temporal lobes

● We learn speech and tool use motor skills more easily because we have special MIRROR NEURONS in our frontal lobes that copy the speech and movements of others

Page 49: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

ADAPTED COGNITION MODULES ALSO INCLUDE

COMPUTING FREQUENCIESBASIC COUNTING SKILLSCOMPUTING WHAT OTHERS OWE

US AND WHAT WE OWE THEMFAST MAPPING OF WORD LABEL TO

OBJECTS AND SITUATIONSCOMPUTING SOCIAL STATUS AND

INSULTS TO SOCIAL STATUS

Page 50: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

The 2nd Learning Promoter is REPETITION

Squire & Kandel (2000) Reviewed neurobiology of

learning Brain forms long term memories

depending on “the number of times the event

or fact is repeated”

Page 51: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

REPETITION

Squire & Kandel (2000) Reviewed neurobiology of

learning Brain forms long term

memories depending on “the number of times the

event or fact is repeated”

Page 52: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Repetition causes neurons to make MORE and LESS neurotransmitter

Page 53: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Repetition causes neurons to make MORE and FEWER CONNECTIONS with other neurons

Page 54: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

ORIGIN OF TEACHING IS REPETITION

We all unconsciously repeat important information in conversations

All cultures teach important stories by verbal repetition

Chinese teachers were taught to say everything TWICE…

Most teachers discover that repetition is valuable

Page 55: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

The 3rd learning promoter is EXCITEMENT

LeDoux has studied the brain for 30 years & reported (2002) that “we remember particularly well…those things that arouse our emotions”

Page 56: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Cahill & Gorski (2003) research

Page 57: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Excitement automatically increases certain neurotransmitters

Page 58: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Excitement sets NEURON CONNECTIONS in the “ON” position

Page 59: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

The 4th learning promoter is EATING CARBOHYDRATES

Greenwood and Winocur (2001) research: high-fat diet impairs brain glucose metabolism needed to form long term memory

Korol (2002) research: eating carbohydrates enhanced memory

(Smith, 2003) research: lack of breakfast impairs learning

Page 60: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Eating carbohydrates gives the brain glucose to organize new synapse locations

Page 61: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Eating carbohydrates provides glucose to make glycoproteins that bind neurons to one another

Page 62: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

EXTREME DIETING IMPAIRS LEARNING

A majority of young women age 12 to 30 yrs in the US are on fad diets.

During periods of dieting, their learning will be significantly slowed and it will be harder for them to retain information.

Page 63: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

The 5th learning promoter is 8-9 HOURS OF SLEEP

SPECIAL ISSUE of the journal Learning and Memory (2004 V11, N6) reports a wide range of evidence for consolidation of learning during sleep

Page 64: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Macbeth (2.2.46-51)

Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care,

The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,

Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,

Chief nourisher in life’s feast.

Page 65: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

SLEEP IS A FREE LEARNING TOOL

DREAMING SLEEP promotes differential strengthening of neurons in networks holding learned information

NON-DREAMING SLEEP activates calcium channels that biologically repeat the neural path of learning to force long term storage

Page 66: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

DREAMING SLEEP causes differential strengthening by altering neurotransmitters

Page 67: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

NON-DREAMING sleep causes new neuron CONNECTIONS to be automatically repeated

Page 68: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Research shows that TOO LITTLE SLEEP or IMPAIRED SLEEP = IMPAIRED LEARNING

Alcohol ingested after a day of learning inhibits dreaming sleep and impairs memory storage of the day’s information

Drugs of abuse used after learning have similar bad effects on sleep and the day’s learning

A majority of teens, college students and working adults in the US are sleep-deprived

Page 69: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

Of the 5 major learning promoters

INNATE LEARNING PROGRAMS (Gallistel, 2002)

REPETITION of INFORMATION(Squire and Kandel, 2000)

EXCITEMENT at the time of learning (Cahill & Gorski, 2003; LeDoux, 2002)

EATING CARBOHYDRATES at time of learning (Korol, 2002)

8-9 HOURS OF SLEEP after learning (Kuriyama, Stickgold, & Walker, 2004)\

Page 70: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

TEACHERS CAN CONTROL ONLY 2 PROMOTERS

Repetition &

Excitement

Page 71: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.

BUT TEACHERS CAN ALSO

PERMIT AND ENCOURAGE

HEALTHY CARBOHYDRATE

SNACKING AND

TALK TO STUDENTS AND PARENTS ABOUT THE

IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP

DR LYNN WATERHOUSE
Page 72: Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning 2011. What the best Teachers do: Motivating Students.