There are so many interesting questions that I want to pursue, based on ideas and discussion from this course, that I want to record some of them here so I don't lose them. They include:
How can a student's response to a teacher's efforts to create a positive emotional climate (BT-1) best be measured? How do we know if a student feels safe, encouraged, and positive? And can we use those measures to evaluate our efforts and gauge progress as teachers?
To what extent does background knowledge influence/change the activation of neural patterns during reading. For students lacking background knowledge in a subject, does the activation of neural pathways differ versus students who have relevant background knowledge to apply? (And what about those who apply irrelevant background knowledge?)
Can differences in math facts automaticity (fluency) explain differences in later math achievement in specific areas? (This builds from my Week 10 post.)
To what extent are efforts to teach children to filter out less important inputs (effortful control) counter to efforts to teach children to think divergently or creatively? Can both be achieved? Or are they two ends of a spectrum? Are less inhibition-able children more divergent and creative thinkers?
To what extent are attention struggles in the early years root causes of future academic struggles? For example, evidence from reading research suggests that lack of reading experiences may lead to differences in brain development and activation patterns. (An example is that white matter reductions in corpus callosum may be an effect rather than a cause of dyslexia, as suggested by Carreiras, et al, 2009.) Consider identifying groups of students at ages 4-5 with identified attention struggles and with identified reading struggles and track their progress over the next 4 years in reading. Compare progress of those who received attention-related interventions -- at any point -- and those who did not. Will students who receive intervention for attention progress more appropriately/effectively as readers?
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As you can see, my questions are broad-ranging and not well-defined enough for research yet! But this course has helped me better embrace the potential for cognitive neuroscience and behavioral research to help address important questions that influence how learning is structured in the classroom.
In particular I am most fascinated right now by the idea that the way we use our brain influences its structure and function. The reading research for my literature review (How Reading Changes the Reading-Ready Brain) deepened my thinking about the role that our past experiences and habits play in shaping the tool with which we sense, interpret, and understand any future experiences. As we learn we are building our learning tool in very specific ways.
Caution is needed -- this kind of thinking can lead to very unscientific journeys very quickly -- and that's not where I want to go. However, the idea that in the classroom we are helping students construct the neural tool that will mediate their future interactions with ideas -- and which may possibly limit how they are able to interact with ideas -- is a daunting one.
It clearly leaves behind those early behaviorist "black box" models we began the course with. Education is not about pouring knowledge into brain. Constructivist views took us to a place where we recognized that what is added to one's...mind...has to fit with what is already there, and students -- perhaps optimally in social interactions -- actively construct the new knowledge and understanding. But I sense that this newer thinking goes a bit beyond that...it's the idea that students aren't only constructing their understanding, but constructing their very means of understanding.
How tragic for those who don't build a quality tool. How vital that teachers understand what is needed to ensure that a quality tool is built.
Carreiras, M., Seghier, M. L., Baquero, S., Estevez, A., Lozano, A., Devlin, J.T., & Price, C.J. (2009). An anatomical signature for literacy. Nature, 461, 983-986.
