Guided Response: Review several of your classmates' posts. Respond to at least two of your classmates. Challenge your classmates by asking a question that may cause them to reevaluate or confirm their understanding of the stimuli or strategy they have chosen. Extend their learning by making a suggestion for an additional strategy/or stimuli that would help to make learning more effective.
CLASSMATE 1: Danielle
Sensorimotor Integration
It is important to integrate sensory stimulation in lesson design and planning because our attention filter is what allows us to focus in on our surroundings. Knowing that we also know that what actually gets our attention has to do with our senses. If we hear a loud noise or smell a bold smell that sensory stimulation now has our attention. If we, as teachers, want our students to pay attention to what we are teaching we need to gain and keep their attention. And using sensory stimulation is a great way to get it. However we also need to make sure we get through to the reticular activating system (RAS), which is where sensory information is passed on to other parts of the brain for processing. The RAS decides what is worth paying attention to.
An example would be if was teaching a unit on volcanos, I could have students walk into a classroom where I had a model volcano erupting and sounds of a real volcano erupting playing. Students would be likely to pay attention because there is sound in the classroom that is not usually there and a volcano erupting that they can see. I would be acquiring the attention of their RAS and it would be passing the information to the occipital lobe for visual processing and to the temporal lobe for auditory processing, both are located in the cerebral cortex. I would have grabbed student attention for bottom-up processing meaning that students would begin to process the information from the bottom levels of the brain to the top. This would have students interested in what they will be learning and curious what might come next in the lesson. This is part of brain-based learning because it is gaining the interest of the student using how the brain interprets information. Knowing that information must be interesting and attention grabbing to get past the RAS to begin making learning interesting and fun. Students need to be interested in what they are learning or they will tune out.
Resource
Willis, J., & Mitchell, G. (2014). The neuroscience of learning: Principles and applications for educators. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.
CLASSMATE 2: Elsie
We are bombarded with all sorts of aggressive stimulants on a day-to-day basis so it isn't a surprise that many advertisements today are often termed scandalous or inappropriate. We are simply not aroused by the same stimuli as in the past. The brain needs to process stimuli at a heightened speed and thus it is the duty of the Reticular Activating System (RAS) to select the sensory information that will reach the upper areas of the brain.
Students must filter attention in order to achieve sustained focus. While top-down processing where the brain actively selects where to focus attention is preferred, given the sensory overload in today's environment, it is often bottom-down processing that is seen more often. Teachers must capture a student's attention by breaking expected patterns. Willis and Mitchell (2014) state, "Finding ways to play off of the instinctual tendencies of our RAS-that is, to find ways to break from some of the classroom patterns that students have come to expect-is central to getting and keeping their attention". Once the patterns are broken and the interest arises, it is much easier for students to actively direct and sustain their attention.
When it comes to using strategies and stimuli to enhance learning in the classroom, I am an advocate of using novelty and curiosity to draw attention. However, with everything that is new and different there is threat, fear and worry of the unknown. Willis and Mitchell (2014) state, "Educators in the classroom need to reduce the perception of threat so that the intake filter does not persist in giving priority to the prime directive in order to protect the student from harm". For this reason, strategies must be divergent, but must still conform to familiar patterns.
For instance, a teacher that tends to use an authoritarian teaching approach, is serious and rarely smiles, might seem suspicious if suddenly wants to play a game with the students. However, a teacher that is always energetic, smiles and is charismatic might be more successful in teaching with games, music or movement. In both cases, it will likely capture the students' attention but only in the latter they will be relaxed and comfortable in the situation. In the first scenario, students might feel uneasy and worried and thus might not learn at all with the activity.
References
Willis, J., & Mitchell, G. (2014). The neuroscience of learning: Principles and applications for educators. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.