1. Axon Neuron Ends Cell Body Dendrites Myelin Sheath Working Memory Prefrontal Cortex Taking Control of Our Brains

2. Axon Neuron Ends Cell Body Dendrites Myelin Sheath Learning: growing new dendrites. 1st Fact: In order to understand and learn anything, new learning must interconnect with what the learner already knows. If this occurs, learning also occurs and new dendrites grow.

3. Axon Neuron Ends Cell Body Dendrites Myelin Sheath Learning: strengthening newly grown dendrites. 2nd Fact: Re-exposure to new learning strengthens the newly grown dendrites. If they are not strengthened, they will be reabsorbed - forgetting.

4. Axon Neuron Ends Cell Body Dendrites Myelin Sheath Learning: speeding up the transmission of newly learned information 3rd Fact: The yellow fat around the axon is insulation. Every time the learner re-exposes themselves to the newly learned information, the myelin gets thicker and the speed of transmission can get over 300 times faster with re-exposure.

5. Prefrontal Cortex Learning: It makes a difference where new information is stored in the brain. 4th Fact: Newly learned information must be stored in the prefrontal cortex if it is to become useful. When encountering new information that needs to be learned, it is imperative that the learner stop and reflect on what they are learning.

6. Prefrontal Cortex Learning: Reflection is important for later critical thinking: Making info useful. 5th Fact: Reflection isn’t just looking back at the information; it is having and internal conversation or dialogue with ourself about what is being learned.

7. Axon Neuron Ends Cell Body Dendrites Myelin Sheath Prefrontal Cortex 6th Fact: Reflection not only moves the information to the prefrontal cortex where it becomes useful, it also taps a lot of prior knowledge from all over the brain building neural networks of interrelated information. Learning: Building neural networks of related information.

8. Working Memory Learning: Working memory is a system in the brain for holding & manipulating what is in conscious awareness while reading. 7th Fact: As the learner is reading, working memory only holds 4 unrelated items for about 20 secs before it starts to forget.

9. Axon Neuron Ends Cell Body Dendrites Myelin Sheath Working Memory Learning: Neural networks of interrelated information developed while reflecting can all be brought to working memory greatly expanding what can be manipulated while learning. 8th Fact: Building neural networks by reflecting increases what can be brought to working memory.

10. Summing Up Facts 1-8, 1st Fact: In order to understand and learn anything, new learning must interconnect with what the learner already knows. If this occurs, learning also occurs and new dendrites grow. 2nd Fact: Re-exposure to new learning strengthens the newly grown dendrites. If they are not strengthened, they will be reabsorbed - forgetting. 3rd Fact: The yellow fat around the axon is insulation. Every time the learner re- exposes themselves to the newly learned information, the myelin gets thicker and the speed of transmission can get over 300 times faster with re-exposure. 4th Fact: Newly learned information must be stored in the prefrontal cortex if it is to become useful. When encountering new information that needs to be learned, it is imperative that the learner stop and reflect on what they are learning.

11. What does it take for a learner to learn new information when reading in ways that will enable the learner to transfer what they are learning to new situations and make later learning easier? It’s called developing competence in the subject matter. Developing competence requires the learner to develop a deep foundation of factual knowledge, understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application. (Bransford)

12. Summing Up Facts 1-8, 5th Fact: Reflection isn’t just looking back at the information; it is having and internal conversation or dialogue with ourself about what is being learned. 6th Fact: Reflection not only moves the information to the prefrontal cortex where it becomes useful, it also taps a lot of prior knowledge from all over the brain building neural networks of interrelated information. 7th Fact: As the learner is reading, working memory only holds 4 unrelated items for about 20 secs before it starts to forget. 8th Fact: Building neural networks by reflecting increases what can be brought to working memory.

13. Contrary to popular belief, learning basic facts is not a prerequisite for creative thinking and problem solving -- it's the other way around. Once you grasp the big concepts around a subject, good thinking will lead you to the important facts. (John Bransford)

14. Psychological Disorders What makes behavior “abnormal”? (reflect) The American Psychiatric Association (2001, 2006) defines abnormal behavior in medical terms: (reflect) a mental illness that affects or is manifested in a person’s brain and can affect the way the individual thinks, behaves, and interacts with with others. (reflect) Three criteria help distinguish normal from abnormal behavior (reflect): Abnormal behavior is deviant, maladaptive, or personally distressful over a long period of time. (reflect) Abnormal Behavior thinking behavior social interaction Reflection is re-exposure with elaboration - internal dialogue or writing to learn. Question to ask: Do I understand? What do I already know? Where is this going? Can I explain this in my own words?

15. Abnormal behavior is deviant. (reflect) Abnormal behavior is certainly atypical or statistically unusual. (reflect) For example, Oprah Winfrey, LeBron James, and Steve Jobs are atypical in many of their behaviors - and yet we do not categorize them as as abnormal We do often consider atypical behavior abnormal, though, when it deviates from what is acceptable in a culture. A women who washes her hands three or four times an hour and takes seven showers a day is abnormal because her behavior deviates from what we see as acceptable. (reflect) Abnormal behavior is maladaptive. (reflect) Maladaptive behavior interferes with one’s ability to function effectively in the world. (reflect) A man who believes that he can endanger others through his breathing may go to great lengths to isolate himself fro people for what he believes is their own good. His belief negatively affects his everyday functioning: thus, his behavior is maladaptive. Behavior that presents a danger to the person or those around him or her is also considered maladaptive (reflect) (and abnormal). Abnormal behavior involves personal distress over a long period of time. (reflect) The person engaging in the behavior finds it troubling. A woman who secretly makes herself vomit after every meal may never be seen by others as deviant (because they do not know about it), but this pattern of behavior may cause her to fee intense shame, guilt, and despair. (reflect) Three criteria help distinguish normal from abnormal behavior: Criteria deviant maladaptive personally distressful long time atypical interferes affective function danger to others

16. Psychological Disorders: Psychology is about how the brain affects behavior. Abnormal Behavior mental illness-affects: thinking behavior social interaction Criteria abnormal behavior deviant maladaptive personally distressful long time atypical interferes affective function danger to others Conceptual Framework: Big Picture

17. Anxiety Disorders (reflect) Think about how you felt before a make-or-break exam or a big presentation (reflect)– or perhaps as you noticed police lights flashing behind your speeding car. (reflect) Did you feel jittery and nervous and experience tightness in your stomach? (reflect) These are the feelings of a normal anxiety, an unpleasant feeling of fear and dread. (reflect) (can you explain normal anxiety?) In contrast, (reflect) anxiety disorders involve fears that are uncontrollable, (reflect) disproportionate to the actual danger the person might be in, (reflect) and disruptive of ordinary life. (reflect) They feature motor tension (jumpiness, trembling), (reflect) hyperactivity (dizziness, a racing heart), () and apprehensive expectations and thoughts. (reflect) (can you explain abnormal anxiety in the context of the three criteria that distinguishes normal fro abnormal behavior?) Generalized Anxiety Disorder (reflect) When you are worrying about getting a speeding ticket, you know why you are anxious; there is a specific cause. (reflect) (what makes the anxiety here normal anxiety?) Generalized Anxiety disorder is different from such everyday feelings of anxiety in that suffers experience persistent anxiety for at least 6 months (reflect) and are unable to specify the reasons for the anxiety (reflect) (Kendler & Others, 2007). People with generalized anxiety disorder are nervous most of the time. () They may worry about their work relationships, or health. (reflect) That worry can take on a physical tool and cause fatigue, muscle tension, stomach problems, and difficulty sleeping. (reflect) (can you explain generalized anxiety in the context of the three criteria that distinguishes normal fro abnormal behavior?) What does the learner who has developed a conceptual framework before reading about specific psychological disorders already know? They know that (1)psychology is about how the brain affects behavior. That a psychological disorder is about (2)abnormal behavior and that there are (3)three criteria for determining if a behavior is normal or abnormal and they know those criteria. They know that the criteria (4) distinguishes between normal and abnormal behavior.They have a systematically organized set of concepts (prior knowledge) that will make learning easier. They only need to figure out how the details of anxiety disorders and generalized anxiety disorder fit in the context of the overarching conceptual framework.

18. Panic Disorder “Much like everyone else, you might sometimes have a specific experience that sends you into a panic. For example, you work all night on a paper, only to have your computer crash before you saved your last changes or you are about to dash across a street when you see a large truck coming right at you. Your heart races, your hands shake, and you might break into a sweat. In panic disorder, however, a person experiences recurrent, sudden onsets of intense terror, often without warning and with not specific cause.” Note: “In panic disorder, however,...” tells the learner a contrast is coming. “...person experiences recurrent, sudden onsets of intense terror...” should alert the learner that to compare this information with the criteria for abnormal behavior. If successful the learner will recognize the connection with the criteria of personally distressfu l over a long period of time Patterns of Organization The following excerpts of specific psychological disorders take a look at Comparing and Contrasting organization.

19. Phobic Disorder “Many people are afraid of spiders and snakes, indeed, thinking about letting a tarantula crawl over one’s face is likely to give anyone the willies. It is not uncommon to be afraid of particular objects or specific environments such as extreme heights. For most of us, these fears do not interfere with daily life. Some of us, however, have an irrational, overwhelming, persistent fear of a particular object or situation - and anxiety disorder called a phobic disorder (phobia). Whereas generalized anxiety disorder cannot pinpoint the cause of their nervous feelings. Individuals with phobias can.” Note: In setting up a comparison/contrast pattern between a fear of objects or situations and phobias, the author makes a connection with criteria of abnormal behavior ( personal distress over a long period of time ) - “For most of us, these fears do not interfere with daily life.” The author further makes a comparison with “For most of us, these fears do not interfere with daily life...”, and at the same time taps into the criteria for abnormal behavior with “Some of us, however, have a an irrational, overwhelming, persistent fear of a particular object or situation - and anxiety disorder called a phobic disorder (phobia).” The learner needs to make a connection with “ irrational ” being atypical, “ overwhelming ” with maladaptive - interferes with effective functioning, and “ persistent fear ” with personally distressful over a long period of time. Then the author ends with a comparison between general anxiety disorder and phobic disorder.

20. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder “Just before leaving on a a long road trip, you find yourself checking to be sure locked the front door. As you pull away in your car, you are stricken with the thought that you forgot to turn off the coffeemaker. This kind of checking behavior is normal. In contrast, the anxiety disorder known a obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) features anxiety provoking thoughts that will not go away and/or urges to perform repetitive, ritualistic behaviors to prevent or produce some future situation.” Notes: In the first paragraph, the author provides a number of checking behaviors and lets the learner know that these checking behaviors are normal. In the second paragraph, the author begins by alerting the learner know that a contrast (“In contrast,...”) is coming to normal checking behavior. The author then defines the disorder and it is at this point that the learner should be checking the definition or examples against the conceptual framework of the criteria of abnormal behavior ( deviant, maladaptive, and/or personally distressful (ex. “will not go away”) - personally distressful over a long period of time.

21. The Rules of Consolidation Rule One: Re-expose yourself to the information. Rule Two: Re-expose yourself to the information with elaboration. You are elaborating when you redraw the pictures by using one of the most powerful elaboration strategies for storing information in long-term memory – Saying what you have just learned in your own words. (Anything you do to interconnect what you are learning to what you already know is an elaboration.) Writing to learn (see below) is very powerful for helping clarify, organize and construct meaning as one surveys. Rule Three: Re-expose oneself to the information within the conceptual framework using fixed timed intervals.

22. The First Rule: Deliberately re-expose yourself to the information if you want to retrieve it later. It is a simple fact, the more exposure a learner has to new information they want to learn the greater the likelihood that the new information will move from short term memory (working memory) to long-term memory. From the Research “The typical human brain can hold about 4 pieces of information for less than 30 seconds. If something does not happen in that short stretch of time, the information becomes lost. If you want to extend the 30 seconds to, say, a few minutes, or even an hour or two, you will need to consistently re-expose yourself to the information. This type of repetition is sometimes called maintenance rehearsal. We know that “maintenance rehearsal” is mostly good for keeping things in working memory – that is for short periods of time” (Medina, 2008).

23. The Second Rule: Deliberately re-expose yourself to the information more elaborately if you want the retrieval to be of higher quality. “ More elaborately ” means thinking, talking or writing about what was just read. Any mental activity in which the reader slows down and mentally tries to connect what they are reading to what they already know is elaboration. This means for the reader that he or she must slow down and have a conversation (reading, writing or talking) about what they are reading and wanting to learn in order for that information to be of a high quality. “High quality” means the information will be useable in the future for thinking reasoning or apply to new situations From the Research “We know that there is a better way to push information into long-term memory. That way is called “elaborative rehearsal” and it’s the type of repetition shown to be most effective for the most robust retrieval. A great deal of research shows that “thinking or talking” about an event immediately after it has occurred enhances memory for the event.” (Medina, 2008). The same is true for the information you are reading in a textbook.

24. The Third Rule: Deliberately re-expose yourself to the information more elaborately, and in fixed intervals, if you want the retrieval to be the most vivid it can be. Forgetting occurs very rapidly if something is not done to strengthen new dendrites (learning). Research show us that a learner (reader) must not only re-expose themselves to new information they want to learn, but hat they also must think or talk about that information if they want to remember the information. Research further shows that there are specific times for re-exposing ourselves to the information and elaborating on the information. We will go over the most important ones now: Fixed Time Intervals for Re-exposing and Elaborating - As the reader identifies what is important while reading, stop re-expose yourself to the information and elaborate on the it (have an internal dialogue, what do you already know about what you are reading, write about it (take notes in your own words), explain it to yourself out loud. - When you have read a new topic or paragraph, explain to yourself what you have just read; this is re-exposure to the information. - When you finish studying, take a few minutes to re-expose yourself to the information and elaborate. - Within 90 minutes to 2 hours, re-expose yourself to the information and elaborate. - Review again the next day as soon as you can. From the Research “When a reader reads nonstop, new information is subject to being confused with other information. “The probability of confusion is increased when content is delivered in unstoppable, unrepeated waves. This causes newly encoded information to reshape (interference) and wear away previously existing traces. Such interference does not occur if the information is delivered in deliberately spaced repetition cycles. (This is where the reader can take control of learning.) Repeated exposure to information in specifically timed intervals provides the most powerful way to fix memory into the brain. When the electrical representations of information to be learned are built up slowly over many repetitions, the neural networks recruited for storage gradually remodel the overall representation and do not interfere with neural networks previously recruited to store similarly learned information. This idea suggests that continuous repetition cycles create experiences capable of adding to the knowledge base, rather then interfering with existing knowledge base” (Medina, 2008).