HOW DOES THE BRAIN WORK IN THE CLASSROOM? LI JINGCHUN May 20, 2007

The teacher should know: ◆ how the brain works. ◆ how the brain develops. ◆ how the brain changes. ◆ how the brain works better in the classroom.

Rich environments make the brain healthy (Healy, 1990) Rich language Arts Exciting situations Human telationship Actions Deep thinking Problem-solving in real life Day-dream Important events Music

The critical periods: The best time children starts L2 (Diamond and Hopson, 1998) Sports Emotional control Vocabulary Language Logic Musical instruments

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Sports 0 - 6 Emotion 0.1 – 2.6 Vocabulary 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Sports 0 - 6 Emotion 0.1 – 2.6 Vocabulary 0.8 – 2.6 Language 0 - 10 Logic 1 - 4 Music 3 - 10

The Emotional Brain (Joseph LeDoux, 1996) The brain does not always work by reasoning. When the brain works emotionally, it may work much more efficently. When the brain works emotionally, some chemical changes take place and it develops. But “bad” emotions are bad for the brain development Joy and excitement help a lot.

What are “bad” emotions? When we are told too much but do little, … When something with no situation is repeated many times, … When something without meaning is repeated many times, … When we feel too nervous, … When we feel too tired, … When we face a person we dislike, … When we fail in work, …

What does timing mean in the classroom? Mental time does not go the way physical time does Seconds are sometime more important than hours. Feelings may change in a few seconds and then everything changes. Some important time comes unexpectedly. Planning does not always work well. Timing is just like farming.

We should not: plan everything before class. let Ss listen without actions. tell Ss too much in each class. treat Ss in the same way. make Ss read sentences only. believe that Ss can remember everything in the text. go too fast with our textbook.

We should : allow Ss to learn in different ways. make Ss excited in different ways. let Ss plan their learning for themselves. activate Ss before we present something new. wait before we make sure Ss can follow. show Ss how experts do and think. let Ss know how to think aloud. give real problems, which are hard enough, for Ss to solve instruct Ss to communicate in groups encourage Ss to imagine and create.

Thank you !