Want Students to “Pay Attention”? Make Their Brains Curious!
By Dr. Judy Willis, M.D., M.Ed.
Dr Willis will co-present a 4-hour institute with Jay McTighe at the 2011 NESA Fall Leadership Conference, October 20-23 in Athens, Greece
Plato Under a Brain Scanner
A few thousand years ago, in 360 B.C., Plato advised against force-feeding of facts to students. "Elements of instruction...should be presented to the mind in childhood; not, however, under any notion of forcing education. A freeman ought not to be a slave in the acquisition of knowledge of any kind. Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind."
We now have neuroscience of learning research to support these recommendations to avoid forced instruction and provide children with the best environment and experiences for joyful learning. We have come to literally see how stress restricts and curiosity increases which sensory input is given entry to our highest cognitive neural networks.
We used to believe that genius was limited by genetics. Microbiology research now demonstrates that emotions, environment, and experiences turn on or off portions of some genes (alleles) that determine how that gene will be expressed. Neuroplasticity research reveals that intelligence can be changed and guides us to educational strategies are neuro-logical to promote positive changes.
Students’ Brains Are Always Paying Attention – but Not Necessarily to Classroom Instruction
The information selected by the brain’s information intake filter for entry into the higher brain is not under voluntary control. This intake filter (Reticular Activating System or RAS) is like the bouncer for getting into an exclusive nightclub where only those who stand out are selected. Once inside, another brain gatekeeper (the amygdala, an emotional filter) determines what makes the cut to enter the upper VIP lounge in the prefrontal cortex - that valuable 20% of cerebral architecture where our highest cognition and emotional reflection takes place.
The brain evolved to promote the survival of the animal and the species. That means giving priority to potential threat. Every second, of the millions of bits of sensory information from the eyes, ears, internal organs, skin, muscles, taste and smell receptors that are at the entry gate, only a few thousand make the cut. The system that determines what gets in - what the brain attends to is the Reticular Activating System or RAS. This primitive network of cells in the lower brainstem, through which all sensory input must pass to reach any higher regions of the brain, is essentially the same in dogs, cats, children, and you.
The RAS favors intake of sights, sounds, smells, and tactile sensations that are most critical to survival of the animal and species. Admission through this filter is highest to sensory information about CHANGES in an animal or human's environment - with first priority given to change perceived as possible threat. When threat is perceived, the RAS automatically selects related sensory input and directs it to the lower brain where the involuntary response is not to think, but to react - fight, flight, or freeze.
Force Feeding Won't Work Even on a Hungry Brain
The RAS is a virtual editor that grants attention and admission to a small fraction of all the sights, sounds, and tactile sensations available at any moment. This survival-directed filter is critical for animals in the wild, but because it has not changed significantly as man evolved, the implications for the classroom are profound.
When children's brains perceive threat, (punishment or embarrassment in front of classmates for not doing homework, fear that they will be picked last for a kickball game, or anxiety that they will make an obvious error because they are not fluent in English) the RAS lets in only what is perceived as relevant to the threat. Unless the perception of threat is reduced, the attention filter persists in doing its primary job - protecting the human or animal from harm. The neural activity on brain scans during fear, sadness, anger, or other stressful emotions is evident. In these stressed states "attention" is not under voluntary control and the brain activity drops way down in the thinking brain (prefrontal cortex). This highest, reflective, cognitive region of the brain does not receive the sensory input when stress directs the flow of information into and out of the lower, reactive brain. Classroom instruction literally falls on deaf ears – the sensory input of a teacher’s voice is not selected for attentive focus when a student is stressed by fear, boredom, frustration, confusion, or anxiety about making a mistake in front of classmates.
Students are criticized for not paying attention, but we now know that failure to focus on classroom instruction does not mean the student’s brain is inattentive. Their RAS is paying attention to (letting in) sensory input, just not the sensory input being taught at the time.
Now What?
One of the great gifts of neuroimaging research is information about which sensory input gets through the RAS when threat is not perceived. When not under high stress alert, the RAS is particularly receptive to novelty and change that arouse curiosity. That is the key to the gate - the brain seeks input about the new, the curious, the colorful, musical, moving, aromatic sensations that are selected for intake when perceived or imagined threat is not blocking the way. When students are curious about something, they seek an explanation. This motivates them to persevere in seeking the information. The brain needs to pursue things that make it curious. Activating curiosity in students sets them up to WANT to learn what they need to be taught.
Knowing about the RAS means we can promote classroom communities where students feel safe, where they can count onf the adults in charge to enforce the rules that protect their bodies, property, and feeling. Our increasing knowledge of what gains access through the RAS, once threat is reduced, offers clues to strategies that promote attentive focus to instruction.
Curiouser and Curiouser
You can build novelty into teaching new information. Changes in voice, appearance, marking key points in color, variation in font size, hats, movement, lessons outdoors, music, curious photos, unexpected objects (a radish on each desk when students enter the classroom) get the RAS attentive to admit the accompanying sensory input of lessons that relates to the curious sensory input!
Advertising a coming unit with curiosity provoking posters or adding clues or puzzle pieces each day invests curiosity as children predict what lesson might be coming and the RAS is primed to "select" the sensory input of that lesson when it is revealed. Playing a song when students enter the room can also promote curiosity; hence focus, if they know that there will be a link between some words in the song and something in the lesson. If a teacher is walking backwards at the beginning of class, the RAS is primed by curiosity to follow along when a number line is unrolled on the floor to start instruction about negative numbers. Even a suspenseful pause before saying something particularly important builds anticipation as the students wonder what will come next.
To further alert the RAS, increase curiosity, and the subsequent memory of the information (learning) that explains the curious phenomenon, have children make PREDICTIONS. The predictions can be written down, shared with a partner, or held up on individual white boards at any point during a lesson. Instead of cutting off the curiosity by confirming or denying a prediction, maintain student attention by responding with a nod of acknowledgment or a "thank you" to predictions so the other students will continue to predict. The brain actually learns based on a system of predictions and feedback as neuroplasticity strengthens neural networks used to make correct predictions and corrects memory networks used to make incorrect predictions. (This is why timely corrective feedback is important so those faulty circuits can be replaced with accurate information.)
Children Who Actually Get Excited When Asked, "What did you do in school today?"
Recall how, as a child, you felt about radishes as garnish on your plate. Now, imagine walking into your childhood classroom and finding a radish on all the desks. Students' RAS will be curious about this mundane object because it on THEIR desks in a classroom, and not on a dinner plate. Now their attention is alerted to the novelty and curiosity so the RAS admits sensory input "clues" to the puzzle of the novel object on their desks. They are engaged and motivated to discover the reason the radishes are there. Now they are attentive and their brains are engaged.
Younger students learning the names and characteristics of shapes might have the opportunity to develop a concept of roundness and evaluate what qualities make some radishes have greater "roundness" than others. The lesson for older students might address as analysis of similarities and differences. The RAS will respond to the color, novelty, peer interaction of evaluating these objects that are usually disdained when found in their salads as they develop their skill of observation, comparison, contrast, and even prediction as to why the radishes that seemed so similar at first, become unique as students become detectives using magnifying glasses. Students' stress levels remain low as they use their individual learning strengths to sketch, describe, or take notes about what the radishes in their group have in common and how the differ.
As the survival tool, the RAS alerts to curiosity and remembers the resolution of the brain's prediction. This serves animals’ needs to learn and repeat behaviors that are fulfill survival needs, such as eating tasty food or following the scent of a potential mate. In animals these prediction (choice) results become reinforced, strong, long-term memories. This promotes their survival because accurate predictions will become the guiding prior knowledge for future similar choices. As students enjoy the investigation with the radishes, the required lesson content follows the open gateway to reach the higher, cognitive brain where it is consolidated into relevant neural networks of related information – available for transfer to apply to future predictions (choices, answers, creative problem solving – academic, social, and emotional).
The novel experience of a simple radish, when used to promote curiosity and prediction, is likely to do more than carry the learning experiences into long-term memory. When children are asked that evening, "What did you learn in school today?" they will further strengthen the memory and their positive mindset about school as they describe both the radish AND the day's lesson to parents giving them the additional positive feedback of attentive listening.
About the author, Dr. Judy Willis, M.D. M.Ed.
Dr. Judy Willis is an authority on brain research regarding learning and the brain. With the unique background as both a neurologist and classroom teacher, she writes extensively for professional educational journals and has written six books about applying the mind, brain, and education research to classroom teaching strategies. The Association of Educational Publishers honored Dr. Willis as a 2007 finalist for the Distinguished Achievement Award for her educational writing.
After graduating Phi Beta Kappa as the first woman graduate from Williams College, Willis attended UCLA School of Medicine where she was awarded her medical degree. She remained at UCLA and completed a medical residency and neurology residency, including chief residency. She practiced neurology for 15 years before returning to university to obtain her teaching credential and master's of education from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She then taught in elementary and middle school for 10 years and currently is on the adjunct faculty of the Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Dr. Willis is a presenter at educational conferences and conducts professional development workshops nationally and internationally about educational strategies correlated with neuroscience research. Presentations include Distinguished and Featured Presentations at ASCD national and international conferences. Her books include Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning, Brain-Friendly Strategies for the Inclusion Classroom, Teaching the Brain to Read, Inspiring Middle School Minds, How Your Child Learns Best, Learning to Love Math, and Current Impact of Neuroscience in Teaching and Learning a chapter in Mind, Brain and Education (ed. Sousa).
A research consultant and member of the board of directors for the Hawn Foundation, Dr. Willis collaborated with Goldie Hawn, and the educational research team, she assembled to participate in the writing of the MindUp Curriculum published by Scholastic 2011. Dr. Willis contributed the neurolinks that provide young child friendly explanation about the brain’s structure and function related to the different stress reducing and focus enhancing activities.
In 2010, Dr. Willis was recognized by the American Academy of Neurology as “Spotlighted Neurologist” for her work to increase educator access to the neuroscience research applicable to learning. Her contributions were featured in the cover story of their journal, Neurology Now. She was honored in 2011 by Edutopia, as the most recent addition to their video library of interviews with, “Big Thinkers on Education”.
Website www.RADTeach.com