In "Findings" in the June, 2008 issue of Harper's Magazine, I read this:
Students exposed to subliminal Apple logos were found to answer questions more creatively than subjects exposed to subliminal IBM logos.
I was intrigued by this information. What research was this based on? What was the source of this statement? So I did a Google search with the whole line. WOW!!
I found the research! A research team of psychologists from Duke and the University of Waterloo had conducted the research which was published in Journal of Consumer Research. This study concurs with Apple which has been trying to link creativity to its logo and advertising. This is a fun study of subliminal thinking. We may remember how movie theaters many years ago used inserted clips of popcorn and soda in previews that subliminally influenced the movie goers to go and purchase items at the concession stand. In fact subliminal exposure was more powerful than overt exposure which is curious. The suggestion of this research means that print rich rooms can be a positive influence in class. What we post on our walls is important. So should we put the Apple logo on our walls in our classrooms?
Brain research has always been in and out of education. It is back again. We have been exploring it. So this research has some bearing on our pedagogy. I have always been aware of a print rich room. In fact, this year I began with bare walls. For the first month of school, the room was not vibrant. After the first month was over, I spent a Monday afternoon, with the doors closed decorating my room. The reaction the next day was phenomenal. See pictures at top and bottom of this page. So how do we as teachers tap into our teenage student's brains?
A teacher and I were talking and he was speaking about what he was studying in his graduate class was similar to what we were doing with Brain Research at our school. He was speaking about how the teenager's brain was in a different development stage then others. He showed me the book he was using in class. A new version is coming out in August, so I will wait to purchase it. So what does this research tell us that will inform our pedagogy?
Click image to see a gallery of teenage brain pictures.1. "Teenage Brain: A work in progress" National Institute of Mental Health. This study, by Dr Jay Giedd is interesting in that it confirms what all parents of teens already knew, "they are not easily understood." The reason may be in the fact that the brain is still developing. In early adolescence, the frontal lobe is not as active, but as the teen gets older the frontal lobe grows. By using the MRI, researchers examined the brains of teens over a period of time and noticed gray matter growth in the frontal lobe. Another interesting finding dealt with the idea "if you don't use it, you will lose it." This idea was the result of these MRI studies. The growth or lack of growth of the gray matter helped researches draw this conclusion. I relate this to language learning. Language is best acquired when one is young because the throat muscles are more pliable in young people. As we get older, our throat muscles are formed by the language or languages we speak, making alien sounds more difficult to speak. The most important suggestion for me is to allow our students to use the technology because the human brain does not stop growing and pruning. That their is a suggestion that there is a second growth spurt at the beginning of puberty is crucial for my work as a teacher. It is during this time frame I work with students. The discussion of growing gray matter and then the pruning of not used parts is fundamental in our use of Multiple Intelligences and allowing our students to use all parts of their brains in learning. Maybe it we are the problem if we don't present our material in a variety of ways and not do everything the same old way.
2. Inside the Teenage Brain, Frontline, PBS provides interviews with key scientists in this brain research and it uses video, instead of words to present its findings and arguments. Whereas the above report was simply verbal, this one employs video and audio, another way of presenting information.The major emphasis for me was again on the second activity of brain growth and pruning at the crucial teenage years. This is an important point as it helps explain many of the confusions and frustrations adults have with teenagers. What it tells me is that they should be making mistakes because they are still or once again learning and in the learning process we learn from our mistakes. It may be frustrating to us as parents and as teachers, but it is natural and wanted. It realigns my whole thinking of how we should teach. Whereas we may have thought of these teenagers as just being rebellious, they are in fact learning again and admitting new material and finding places for it and in fact creating whole new pockets for putting new information. It is a brave new world indeed and exciting to think that these teenagers are actually absorbing what we teach rather than thinking they reject it out of hand. It is and must be a more confusing time for them then we had formerly believed.It gives me a whole new respect for what must be going on for these young people in spite of what we as adults do to hinder this growth.
3. "Are Teens Just Wired That Way?" Washington Post. This article discusses the above research b y Jay Giedd. The importance of this article is how it stresses what we do with teens is crucial. For me, I am drawn more and more to the use of technology in the classroom to satiate all the needs not usually addressed in the non computer classroom. Computers are more effective in realizing what Gardner says about Multiple Intelligences (MI). This is an excellent assessment of the above research study.
Click image for a fun survey.An op-ed in June 27, 2008 New York Times: Your Brain Lies to You.
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