Part II gives specific suggestions about
what teachers should do to produce physical change in the networks in the
brain. Prior knowledge is key!
Part III revisits the major parts of the
cerebral cortex. The only way to
get information in the brain is through the senses – seeing, hearing, touching,
smelling, and tasting. The brain
reflects on those concrete experiences and then must act on it.
Okay!
So when I start my car I don’t really care about the engine and how it
works. I just want to get where I
need to go. Here are some specific
ways Zull suggests teachers can change brains (page 129):
- Watch
for inherent networks (natural talents) and encourage their practice.
- Repeat,
repeat, repeat!
- Arrange
for “firing together.”
Associated things should happen together.
- Focus
on sensory input that is “errorless.”
- Don’t
stress mistakes. Don’t
reinforce neuronal networks that aren’t useful.
- Try
to understand existing networks and build on them. Nothing is new.
- Misconnected
networks are most often just incomplete. Try to add to them.
- Be
careful about resurrecting old networks; error dies hard.
- Construct
metaphors and insist that your students build their own metaphors.
- Use
analogies and similes, too.
As I reflect on this book I realize once
again that “good teaching is good teaching.” Thousands of years ago, hundreds of years ago, and in years
to come teachers will look in children’s eyes and when they see that twinkle
they will know that something special is going on in the brain!
