“The Brains of the Bunch: Concepts in Learning”

Glen Dawursk, Jr. – www.yuthguy.com -- Updated 12/03

The First Step: “Types of Learning”

There are three types of learning behaviors: Kinesthetic, Auditory,
Visual or a combination often called multi-sensory.

· Kinesthetic: learns better by physically _______________ it (hands-on)

· Auditory: learns better by ____________ or reading it (hearing in his head)

· Visual: learns better by ____________ it or by viewing displays and presentations.

· Multi-sensory: learns most effectively by use of a ______________ of kinesthetic, auditory and visual.

How do you learn best?

How would you normally teach a Sunday school lesson or Youth Bible class? For example, the lesson is on forgiveness and the Bible story is about the Prodigal son. Give an example of what you could do for each learning method.

Kinesthetic: ______________________________________

Auditory: ________________________________________

Visual: __________________________________________

Multi-sensory: _____________________________________

The Second Step: “Problems with Learning”

30% of all children have some sort of learning disability.
One of the most frequently diagnosed is ADD.

Core symptoms for most LD situations is:

· Distractibility

· Restlessness

· Impulsive

Suggested learning devices for LD children:
___________________	· – Don’t be totally structured - “They may not go over the hill, they might go around it!”
___________________	· – Keep all the distractions and tangents leading toward the same goal or topic; Use distractions to your benefit.
___________________	· – Provide more opportunities to ask or answer questions.
___________________	· – Let them choose what they want.

ALSO:

· Physical exercise causes the brains glucose to flow faster,
which seems to help the thought process.

· Encourage verbal processing by pairing youth.

The Third Step: “Understanding Learning”

Everyone has TWO brains (not two sides of one).

Left-Brain: Sees the pieces	Right-Brain: Sees the whole (not good at details)
þ Analysis	þ Creativity
þ Logic	þ Imagination
þ Numbers	þ Dimension
þ Math	þ Images/Forms
þ Language	þ Music
þ Linearity	þ Rhythm/Rhyme
þ Sequence	þ Color

By the time you were three years old; did your parents pass out vocabulary lists, rules of syntax and grammar? Yet by five years old, you knew almost the entire language. Why?

______________________________________________________

Effects of Learning	Child	Student
Environment	Unstructured	Structured
Knowledge Base	Low	High
Effort Expended	Low	High/Work
Retention Rate	Lifetime	A few Years
Fluency	High	Low to None
Learning Style	Global	Sequential

Combining music with learning seems to improve learning
because it uses both the left and the right-brains.

	With Music	Without Music
Method Used	Assimilation	Rote Memorization
Effort	Low	High
Repetitions	Few	Many
Difficulty	Low	High/Work
Retention	Long Term	Short Term

Does the Left-Brain really slow us down? YES NO
(Check out Glen’s Screen Activities.)

G______________ Learning is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together without looking at the box.

It is the incremental accumulation of steps that become more difficult.

S______________ Learning exposes the whole product as one and the student assimilates as much as possible and fills in the rest later.

Russia’s “French Language” Experiment

· Showed no fatigue

· Had better sentence usage, flow, and syntax

· More confident

Learner Paralysis is caused by:

1. The ________________ classroom environment

2. Viewing learning as a _____________ (carry over from
regular school and typical educational system)

3. Believing some concepts are more ______________ than others

Offsets:

1. Create a ______________, fun environment

2. Keep structure ________________ (informal sessions, modified classroom setup)

3. Watch your ________________
(Avoid: “difficult,” “advanced,” “review” and don’t imply “steps” or difficulty problems)

How to Stimulate the Right Brain

· View everything at once

· Use color freely

· Use scent

· Play class related games or use toys

· Play and/or sing music

· Use rhythm, rhyme or mnemonics

· Relax your students

· Provide a quick run through (demonstrate everything you will cover that day)

· Possibly use music behind a lesson (see next section)

·

·

MUSIC Can Help!

** There are four types of brain waves:

þ Beta – full consciousness, highly analytical

þ Alpha – relaxed, alert, creative, fast facts

þ Theta – deep meditation

þ Delta – deep, dreamless sleep

Certain types of music cause Alpha waves to be more active.

Baroque Music: -Composed between 1700-1750

-Bach, Handel, Mozart, Vivaldi, etc.

-Promotes alpha waves

-Promotes both brain learning

-Beats at the same rate as the human heart when at rest (50-70bpm)

The Fourth Step: “Applying Learning Concepts”

With an understanding on how people think, we can see that using the global method with it’s multi-sensory approach is more effective for the both LD and non-LD students. This is the goal of any Sunday school teacher or Youth Bible study leader: to reach as many students as possible!

Now… Can we think of activities or approaches that encourage global learning in our classroom?

1. Write the memory verse on the board and like a game, erase words from the verse until it is totally memorized.

2. ________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

4. ________________________________________________________________

5. ________________________________________________________________

6. ________________________________________________________________

7. ________________________________________________________________

8. ________________________________________________________________

9. ________________________________________________________________

10. ________________________________________________________________