Our group made a survey to collect information and receive accurate data. In our survey we had each person write their name, their gender and circle which learning technique they thought was the best for them. The techniques they had to choose from were memorization/reading, lecture/notes, visual aids, hands on, or technology. When we looked through all of the answered surveys we found that most people did not pick technology as their best technique to learn. Most people picked either lecture/notes, hands on, or visual aids. From our results from our survey we learned that most of the students in our school like to be taught and use hands on activities rather than use technology based activities. One conclusion that we came to about why this occurred is that technology is very unreliable and can be extremely frustrating to work with.
Throughout our survey we evaluated five pieces of information from our data. We first learned that most students do not like the use of technology when learning. We concluded that they do not like this because of how unreliable technology can be. Also with working in it in school it can become very frustrating when something such as the internet connection can turn your learning experience into a pain. This is why in our lesson plan we did not include any technology in it, instead we used more hands on activities. Next we learned that many students like to see visuals to help them gain a concept. We included a video about neuroscience in our lesson plan. This was to capture the viewer’s attention, but still have them learning at the same time. After this we decided to have notes and a discussion since the next most popular learning technique among students were notes. We will have a lecture on neuroscience and have the students take a couple notes and we will ask them questions. Once they are done answering them we will turn it into a class discussion to improve the student’s knowledge about neuroscience. Following the class discussion and the notes, we are having the students make a poster explaining neuroscience in their own words. We learned from our survey that students like to interact and do hands on activities to help learn the material better. With making a poster in a small group of people, the students can really test their understanding of neuroscience. Overall throughout the research and survey’s that we conducted we learned that students like to be taught by a teacher and given the information to process rather than have to teach themselves. Students would rather a lecture and a class discussion over reading a textbook or doing activities on the computers. However we could have made our survey more accurate by asking each person what their average GPA was each quarter. This would have helped us get an understanding of how the student is doing in school. It would have told us if the learning techniques that they are using are actually helping them learn better. (Ashley Simmons)
For our learning strategy, we found it potent to use learning techniques similar to the ones that students in our survey expressed to be the ones that helped them learn the best. After surveying 60 people, we found that very close to half of the surveyed students found lectures and notes the best way that they learn. The next best learning strategy expressed by the students was hands on learning, then visual aides and memorization. What was evident from our survey was that basically no one found technology to be the most effective learning strategy. With that in mind, we strayed along the lines of lecture and notes strategies with a bit of hands on and reading. What our group came up with was this: First the student would watch a video (or two in our case). During and after the video, the student would be asked to take notes on what they learned and what they were wondering about the video and neuroscience. After the video they would be asked to answer simple recall questions as well as expand on their questions about neuroscience. Furthermore, the class would then hold a discussion about the video and about their further questions. Lastly, the student’s assignment would be to create a model of the brain for presentation. The catch to this assignment was that they would have to present real-world examples that coincide with each part of the brain for a life application.
Throughout our survey we evaluated five pieces of information from our data. We first learned that most students do not like the use of technology when learning. We concluded that they do not like this because of how unreliable technology can be. Also with working in it in school it can become very frustrating when something such as the internet connection can turn your learning experience into a pain. This is why in our lesson plan we did not include any technology in it, instead we used more hands on activities. Next we learned that many students like to see visuals to help them gain a concept. We included a video about neuroscience in our lesson plan. This was to capture the viewer’s attention, but still have them learning at the same time. After this we decided to have notes and a discussion since the next most popular learning technique among students were notes. We will have a lecture on neuroscience and have the students take a couple notes and we will ask them questions. Once they are done answering them we will turn it into a class discussion to improve the student’s knowledge about neuroscience. Following the class discussion and the notes, we are having the students make a poster explaining neuroscience in their own words. We learned from our survey that students like to interact and do hands on activities to help learn the material better. With making a poster in a small group of people, the students can really test their understanding of neuroscience. Overall throughout the research and survey’s that we conducted we learned that students like to be taught by a teacher and given the information to process rather than have to teach themselves. Students would rather a lecture and a class discussion over reading a textbook or doing activities on the computers. However we could have made our survey more accurate by asking each person what their average GPA was each quarter. This would have helped us get an understanding of how the student is doing in school. It would have told us if the learning techniques that they are using are actually helping them learn better. (Ashley Simmons)
For our learning strategy, we found it potent to use learning techniques similar to the ones that students in our survey expressed to be the ones that helped them learn the best. After surveying 60 people, we found that very close to half of the surveyed students found lectures and notes the best way that they learn. The next best learning strategy expressed by the students was hands on learning, then visual aides and memorization. What was evident from our survey was that basically no one found technology to be the most effective learning strategy. With that in mind, we strayed along the lines of lecture and notes strategies with a bit of hands on and reading. What our group came up with was this: First the student would watch a video (or two in our case). During and after the video, the student would be asked to take notes on what they learned and what they were wondering about the video and neuroscience. After the video they would be asked to answer simple recall questions as well as expand on their questions about neuroscience. Furthermore, the class would then hold a discussion about the video and about their further questions. Lastly, the student’s assignment would be to create a model of the brain for presentation. The catch to this assignment was that they would have to present real-world examples that coincide with each part of the brain for a life application.
To continue this further, our first technique, watching videos, is a technique that has been used for a long time as a way to learn (as long as TVs have been around). It simply involves students engaging their mind upon the screen as they learn. Videos are effective because they are a source of lecture, but with a bit more flare (keep in mind it is not considered technology because it is a sort of lecture). Since we learned that lectures are a very important part of a students learning, a lecture with a bit more to it than a teacher standing up in front of the class should be very effective. Overall, our video has proved to be a very good learning source because our participant was able to memorize and retain the song and its words very well. Also, since neuroscience is very much memorization and not the process of analyzing, videos help sort this information neatly inside our heads.
Moreover, our second step to our learning process, taking notes and thinking further about questions, is a very potent step in the comprehension of information. This step gives students an opportunity to think for themselves about neuroscience and put information into their own pattern. I think that the idea of students creating their own questions is a rather new concept to learning. Throughout history, it seems that students have only been blatantly given information. Giving students the chance to think for themselves is effective because every person sorts ideas in their heads differently and there are many applications to topics. Giving the student the chance to take their own notes is important to neuroscience because there is so much information to obtain and comprehend that students need to sort it out and have it written down for extra retention.
Our third step is a discussion based on the notes. This is important because it combines lecture and notes into something that everyone feels comfortable with. To have this discussion, each student would get out their notes and the class would circle up to have an open discussion. Throughout history, I believe this has always been a potent way to learn. What is different now though is that students are able to express their ideas more freely. This strategy is effective because students can now hear other people’s response to neuroscience as well as expand on their own ideas. This is a good strategy to build upon neuroscience because neuroscience is a very difficult subject to pick up and if students can share with each other information, it makes it all the easier.
Lastly, our students would be assigned a small project. This project would require them to build a creative model of the brain that includes labeled parts and explanations as well as real life examples for each part. The students have the ability to get creative and design the brain with anything they want. They also have the ability to apply the examples to their personal life. This is an effective strategy because besides the extra repetition of learning the parts of the brain, students are able to link the information to their personal lives which should help the information stick. We thought this would be a good idea because it is a hands on learning experience and we did have many people say that hands on projects helped them learn a lot. Throughout history, I believe that hands on projects like this have always been helpful because repetition and application of information is an important part of learning. In conclusion, this hands on assignment is important to neuroscience because there is a lot to do with the brain that is labeling and since it is part of our body that we can not see, putting it out in front of us as a visual aide can be very memorable. Our whole learning strategy together provides a unique way to capture the essence of neuroscience! - Megan Johnson
Our test-run was quite effective. My younger sister participated in the lesson and was able to retain a majority of the information presented to her on neuroscience. After watching the first movie my sister answered the questions on the topics presented in the movie just through her own recall. She only replayed a brief section of the movie once to find one of the answers. To me, this showed that watching this movie was a good learning source because it made the lesson more interesting than if I were to lecture her. Next, she watched another movie; however, this movie was a lot more fun than the first. The first movie was a lot more fact-based. The second clip was an enjoyable way to demonstrate information pertaining to neuroscience. The song made a memorable impact on my sister, to the extent that she was singing it multiple days after watching it. Thus, our learning strategy was quite effective.
The test-run was overall quite sound due to the impressive results my sister was able to draw from the material that was presented to her. When asked to watch the movie, answer questions, and then create her own questions regarding to any gray areas or further inquiries she had about a topic, she handled it all extremely well. She watched the movies intently and was able to respond to the stated questions without difficulty. In many cases her answers were close to word for word from what the movie had stated. Throughout watching the first movie, she asked many intelligent questions that not only went beyond the material covered in the movie, but were also expanding the connection of psychology and neuroscience to the processes of the body. One aspect of our test-run that was extremely successful was that of the second movie. My sister thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie. Yet, what was fantastic was that even though this movie was enjoyable, it was factual as well. Our activity that built upon the video made the clip even more effective. By asking our student to identify five parts of the brain, and then research their functions, we pushed her to go beyond the immediate resource and explore for herself with some guidance when needed. This made her learning the parts of the brain not just memorization, but learning. Furthermore, another aspect of our test-run that was beneficial was creating a poster of the brain that not only identified the parts of the brain and their functions, but also presented real-life examples. This was another way of how we helped our student to learn. One thing that could have been modified would be creating another video for her that would have discussed even more information about neuroscience. Otherwise, our test-run ran exceptionally well.
Our strategy entailed numerous ways to expose our student to all of the depth of neuroscience. We were able to have our student learn through watching a movie and answering questions and also by doing research when asked to define certain parts of the brain. My sister used thinking when she was asked to create her own questions. This caused her mind to process all of the information she had learned and try to build upon it to better her knowledge. Her questions were built upon during a discussion after the lesson as well. Memory was used when she watched the movies and she was asked to recall certain information. It was apparent that her memory was used after watching the second clip because after her first view, she was able to recite a good portion of the song. Finally, language was used in the question that asked her to relate neuroscience to psychology in her life. This presented her an opportunity to express in her own words what she had learned and apply it to herself. All in all, our test run went fantastic because we were able to teach someone something they had never been exposed to before, and they were still able to recall, without memorization, the information about the subject matter. – Paige Barbour
Over the process of the midterm project it has been proved that learning, thinking, memory and language are all crucial to our understanding of neuroscience. Learning is the relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience. Over the process of the project it is evident that in order to understand neuroscience, one needs to have to attitude and change in their behavior to be ready and willing to learn. As for thinking, one needs to be able to think and understand all of the subtopics and topics involved in neuroscience and then think and learn to produce a real life example. Memory is crucial to learning neuroscience because without it you could not remember the information that is neuroscience. We have all learned that language is super important because the way that you talk and approach a group is very important. The way that we combine, write and or speak words are all a combination of our language and how everyone in the world communicates, so without language there would be no communication and if there is no communication there would be no learning.
Understanding all of these ideas can help us grow as learners and better understand the processes we go through on a daily basis because we are learning in numerous ways such as videos, self questioning, discussions and hands on projects. It helps us to learn to work with others, and remember psychology in different ways all of which can be applied to anyone’s life. Each day we all go through the process of using our brain to collect, understand and remember information that we have read or heard.
This knowledge can help us to not only learn neuroscience but other aspects of psychology because we now understand how the brain works and we can use that to our advantage when trying to study for a test or teach someone something. Other aspects of psychology can benefit from this knowledge because it helps everyone to know how we learn and what way works best for everyone because not everyone learns the same way. Due to that fact that everyone is different our concepts vary and cover all aspects of learning so all types of learners can learn at the same time.
Our groups learning strategy consisted of a movie, self asked questions, class discussion, questions based off the discussion as well as a project of working in groups to create a poster of the brain. Once the test run was completed it was evident that our group’s strategy was successful. All of the worksheets were competed correctly showing evidence that the student had an idea what they were talking/learning about. Also, the person created her own questions based off the movies which mean she was paying attention and was trying to comprehend neuroscience. By the end of the lesson it was obvious that she had learned about neuroscience and had internalized it for times to come. Our learning strategy is the best way for everyone to learn because it incorporates all types of learners including hands on, notes, and lecture all in one.
In order to make our learning strategy successful we simply took the information that we found in the survey and applied it to schooling. This meant that we were not going to include technology because all of the students who took the survey disliked technology. Next, we took into consideration that fact that hands on, lecture and notes were all the most popular choices on the survey and we created a learning strategy that included all of them. Overall our learning strategy was very lenient and flexible because regardless of how you learn, you could learn neuroscience from our strategy because it included so many options. Despite only testing the strategy on one person, we know that it can apply to everyone and that in the end our strategy is the best way for everyone to learn in an effective way that is right for them. – Lauren Lountzis
