The Brain and Learning

The Brain is for Learning

This week's lesson within my Learning Theories and Instruction course focusedron how the brain processes learning. This lesson taught me that it is important to understand how the brain operates so that one can develop effective classroom instruction. According to Ormrod,"Brain research can help us refine our theories of learning and cognition, but it can tell us little if anything about what to teach or how best to teach it." (Ormrod, 2009) I found resources that relate to the suject of brain function and learning processes.

The first resource is a website entitled, "Brain-based Learning", which provides useful information that caters to the needs of families, teachers and community. The website is http://www.eduscapes.com. This website provides project resources that could be used in the classroom such as Brain Connection which provides brain-compatible learning projects that can be used in the classroom.

Another resource that I located was an article on brainconnection.com that focusd on one's memory. This article provides information about different types of memory such as immediate, working, and long term. The article states, "We remember things more easily if we have been exposed to similar things before, so what we remember from the past has a lot to do with what we can learn in the future."
(http://brainconnection.positscience.com) Experiences in our lives is what helps to shape our memory. It seems that what a person already understands from experience helps them to remember new information that may have some relation.

These resources helped me come to the conclusion that the brain is very unique. There is not one brain that performs in the exact same way as another. Similar, maybe, but not exactly the same.

Ormrod, J., Schunk, D., & Gredler, M. (2009). Learning theories and instruction (Laureate custom edition). New York: Pearson.

http://www.eduscapes.com

http://brainconnection.positscience.com

IDT Topics

Many people are unaware of what IDT is and how it can be used in the traditioanl classroom , as well as, the untraditonal classroom such as online coursework. I have bookmarked three blogger sites that relate to instructional design and technology.

The first blogger site that I visted was Jeremy Hiebert's, http://headspacej.blogspot.com, blog. I found his site interesting because it referred to the No Child Left Behind Act, which has always interested me. The blog talked about how technology in the classroom is generally being used for students with special needs and why not for all kids? Due to the fact that we all have our own learning styles, we should all have the same access to technology learning tools.

The second blogger page that I bookmarked was by Tom Gram, http://performancexdesign.wordpress.com . This blog taked about how a good technology design should include science, art and craft. This blog touched on the fact that as a instructional designer, you will learn from experience as to what works and waht doesn't. But having analysis (science), vision (art) and craft (experience) would be the best solution to an effective learning design.

The third blogger that I bookmarked was Tony Karrer, http://elearningtech.blogspot.com . His blog is regarding the need for better web filters due to busy professionals. I feel that filters would be of great help when trying to locate information in a timely manner.