Education

1. A.    How students’ prior experiences, interests, and thought processes can influence the learning of current content area concepts

The link between past experiences, student interest, and present learning

Prior experiences are an essential tool that can be deployed in mentoring the students since they always attach a new meaning to it, while the student interest should be taken into consideration for the students to learn what they want. An integration of student interest and prior experiences plays a significant role in determining present learning. It is notable that student interest and prior learning are elements of student-centered learning, implying that students are part of their own education; this is in concurrence with John Dewey’s views regarding education and learning (Lefrancois, 1997). Dewey argued that learning should not be centered too much on the pupil; rather, it should be balanced through the development of an educational curriculum that balances between the aspect of knowledge delivery and student experiences (Lefrancois, 1997). All of these are ultimately influenced by nature and nurture. There is evidence from studies that supports the proposition that the learning environment should be designed in such a manner that it serves to help students to reflect on their own previous learning and experiences. In case where the teacher fails to engage the student’s interest, there is likely hood that, the student will not engage in the lesson content because of boredom (Hardiman, 2003). Past experiences, student interest and present learning should be incorporated when designing lesson plans. Past experiences can be incorporated in the development of lesson plans through the use the daily activities that the student encounter while undertaking the daily routines. Student interest can be implemented in lesson plans by developing learning approaches that take into account what interests the students most. These assessments can facilitate the development of lesson plans with the main objective of activating the prior knowledge of the student and involving their core interests

1. B.     Brain-based learning

Brain-based learning is administered depending on the structure and functionality of the brain, and is based on the premise that learning usually takes place provided the brain is not barred from performing its usual functions. Meaningful learning is an important aspect of brain-based learning whereby the learned knowledge is wholly understood by the learner and that he/she knows the relationship between the learned knowledge and other facts that have been stored in one’s brain. When meaningful learning takes place, knowledge is usually stored in the brain in a relational manner, this is say that information is stored together because they are somewhat related, resulting a concept called spread of activation, whereby an attempt to recall one fact recalls all the other facts that are related to it (Lefrancois, 1997).

Knowledge background

Research studies have reported that prior learning and experience poses significant impacts on student learning. With this regard, learning is considered most efficient when it is connected to prior knowledge and experience. Numerous approaches can be deployed when accessing the prior knowledge and experience of a student. These assessments can facilitate the development of lesson plans with the main objective of activating the prior knowledge of the student and involving their core interests. Hardiman (2001) argues that prior knowledge is an integral element of the learner’s neural history, which incorporates aspects such as character, the learning context, peers and the past experiences.

Activating prior knowledge

Enough research has been undertaken regarding prior knowledge and the activation of this knowledge. In addition, it has been established that understanding of content can be enhanced if there is activation of prior knowledge through which new content can be added on to the previous knowledge. The teacher should have the capability to evaluate the level of prior knowledge and offer the required interventions in case prior knowledge lacks and offer a familiar learning environment for the learners (Lefrancois, 1997). There are diverse strategies that can be deployed in order to activate prior knowledge. Introducing new content material in itself can serve to stimulate prior knowledge. Prior knowledge can also be activated by offering a review of the specific concepts that will be required. The classroom diversity in the present day learning implies that teachers have to be cautions and take into consideration the fact that not every student will comprehend the review of concepts. For example, the title “Green cars”, not all the students would have knowledge that green is more than just a color (Hardiman, 2003).

Levels of processing

Brain-based research has facilitated the identification of the levels of natural processing in the process of learning and the underlying factors that affect learning. It is notable that emotions and stress are core factors that influence learning. When a student is under immense stress, there is excretion of chemicals that have an influence on neural processing, which in turn plays a significant role in blocking the pathways and limits processing in the emotion center of the brain since they restrict access to the frontal lobes. It is during such times that the student is not prepared to learn. Brain-based learning research has also established that student learning takes place both centrally and peripherally within the brain. Factors that are not related to the content or the classroom context can also influence the student learning (Hardiman, 2003). This implies that problems that are experiences outside the classroom setting are likely to affect the level of processing and ultimately understanding. In case where the teacher fails to engage the student’s interest, there is likely hood that, the student will not engage in the lesson content because of boredom. Brain-based research has also established that learning also takes place when an individual sleeps, whereby an individual’s mind organizes knowledge from the previous days and categorizes it as meaningful or not. Meaningful information is then incorporated into the neural networks, contrary to information that is not meaningful, which is the ignored.

 

Development of neural connections

According to neuroscience, new content helps in the creation of new neural connection. This implies that the present connections can be subject to extension, modification and reinforcement in case the new content is linked to previous knowledge. Feedback can be considered an important tool for reinforcement of neural connection development, meaning that it should be done on a timely and regular basis (Hardiman, 2003).

Relevance

With regard to relevance, students usually have a short span of attention. In order to maintain the attention of the student, it is important to make sure that the content is relevant. Research studies have reported that relevant content material and student interests can be deployed in the activation of prior knowledge (Hardiman, 2003).

 

References

Hardiman, M. (2003). Connecting the Brain Research with the Dimensions of Learning.    Educational Leadership , 52-55.

Lefrancois, G. (1997). Psychology for teaching. Belmont, CA: Wadswork Publishing.

 

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