EDU270: Lesson 2

Lesson 2 Participation Assignments

1. Vision. Go to the Web site Changing Brains: Effects of Experience on Human Brain Development and select Watch Online. When that link opens, view the video titled Vision. After watching the video, answer the following:
Describe the warning signs of visual problems and give an overview of why early visual stimulation is important.

The video stressed the importance of getting eyes checked as early as possible. In fact, unchecked eyes for infants with cataracts can damage the brains perception of vision and patterns at a gradually worse rate after 6 weeks old. According to The Optometrist's Network (one of the provided resources on the webpage), 12 in every 100 children are affected by binocular vision disabilities. According to the video, "Sooner is better than later because the brain can adapt better in early life."

Some of the things that we as educators need to be on the lookout for include: one eye drifts or aims in a different direction (even if it's only when that student is tired); turns or tilts head to see, squinting or closing one eye, particularly while reading; headaches or eye strain; and double vision.

While viewing the same Web site, click on RESOURCES on the left navigation bar. Go through each resource under the heading titled Vision. Then answer the following:

1. Describe something new you learned that you did not already know. 

 I didn't realize that poor eyesight in young learners isn't so much about sight so much as it is about the brain losing plasticity in moments of sensitive periods. For instance, if a baby's cataracts aren't corrected within 6 weeks of birth, the baby dramatically loses a chance to get caught up neurologically. That's terrifying! It also makes an impression on me regarding the nature of getting these eyes checked as early as possible. While I teach at the high school level, brains still aren't done developing until 23 or 25 (depending on the learner) which means there can still be time to fix those eye problems.

1. Indicate how this information will help you in the classroom.

I reviewed the checklist for parents on The Optometrist's Network and this was very helpful to me. I think I may have a student who has trouble with his sight, and this checklist inspired me to get his mom involved on getting his eyes checked.

1. Hearing. Go to the Web site Changing Brains: Effects of Experience on Human Brain Development and select Watch Online. When that link opens, view the video titled Hearing. After watching the video, answer the following:
Explain what a teacher can do to stimulate hearing.

This video helped to reinforce an article I read in Neurology and Law about how many recidivist criminals come from poor socioeconomic backgrounds where these criminals as children grew up in projects or in poor living situations where they heard gunshots, shouting, and other aggressive or violent sounds. The video says loud sounds lead to poor organization of auditory processing, which effects the children in the long run and thus leads to stunted learners who become recidivist criminals. This is great information to review so I can be aware not only of children who come from poor socioeconomic backgrounds, but also more affluent students who are prone to videogame activities on a regular basis.

To stimulate hearing, it's important that teachers properly enunciate words. The video's example differentiated big and pig. An instructor's ability to speak clearly and to enunciate consonants helps with this. The other grand help is for instructors and administers to monitor hearing and correct any hearing loss. Rhyming and music a great options, especially for high schoolers.

While viewing the same Web site, click on RESOURCES on the left navigation bar. Go through each resource under Hearing. Then answer these questions:

1. Describe something new you learned that you did not already know. 

 Many of this outside resources provided on the links page actually coincide with a podcast I listed to today, coincidentally enough. The podcast was on On Being Human from WNYC, and featured a composer who as he got older lost his hearing. The podcast went into great detail about what a coclear implant sounds like to someone who gets it as an adult and why this particular composer would rather be deaf than to have an implant. This composer also got the ball rolling on being part of a clinical trial where scientists are trying a form of medication to help regrow the hair follicle cells in the inner ear that help stimulate electrical impulses from sound (in the video, these were the green brush-looking cells). At the last minute, the composer backed out of the trial, nervous. These outside resources --particularly from the Center for Disease Control and The National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders-- helped reinforce, confirm, and solidify information I heard on the podcast. What I didn't realize before today was that those small hairs in the inner ear are so crucial (or even that we had small hairs in the inner ear). It's fascinating to me that according to this clinical trial, they made chickens progressively deaf so that they could try this medication to regrow those cells, which did happen. Who knew chickens could show us so much about our own hearing?

1. Indicate how this information will help you in the classroom.

I didn't realize that noises from an airport were considered noises loud enough to interfere with "poor organization of auditory processing." What's especially disconcerting is my school is built right next to the airport. It's been funny to reference the sound of helicopters when we read something like 1984 or Fahrenheit 451, but I didn't realize it posed a threat beyond distraction.

I also think the use of repetition in literature is a great way to reinforce these concepts. For a high school English teacher, I can use repetition in lessons of poetry, especially for those American Romantic poets who force-rhyme or skip-rhyme: the student can identify that this sounds different than the other natural rhymes. This is related to the poet's intention as well because usually the forced or skipped rhyme brings attention to the word that "shouldn't" be there.

1. After reading Chapters 10 and 11 in the textbook, answer each of the following questions:
• What effect does taste have on learning?  

Perhaps the most interesting and fascinating thing to taste while learning is water. I remember being a high school student and having my teacher tell me to drink water while testing because it helped to hydrate my brain and to get me ready for learning. I didn't realize that old advice was sage, that the brain contains the highest amount of water than the rest of the human body, or that the reason water works so well is because it fuels the neurotransmitters that are crucial to learning and processing.

• What effect does smell have on learning? 

I loved learning about this because I have always had the suspicion that students in a boring, smelly room don't receive information well. Logically, no one is relaxed in a smelly room: learners are on a kind of defense mode and are so focused on the bad smell that they can't focus on their studies. Part of that same method of learning is to beware not to have a room buzzing with bad lights/electricity, not to have a room that is too sterile, etc. At the beginning of the school year, I put a couch in the back of my classroom, funny English-related posters, and painted one accent wall purple. A lamp in the corner of the room is a paper cylinder from IKEA: kids say that my room looks like a living room or a bedroom and that they feel comfortable in it. I also like to open the windows for good air circulation (when it makes sense with the weather) and I often spray Thieves Oil when the room smells bad. Not only does Thieves Oil smell good (a combination of cinnamon, clove, eucalyptus, rosemary, and lemon), but it kills germs and is basically Lysol without that overpowering, chemical odor. The kids love to come into my room and remark that it smells like chai tea, and that, "You should tell Mr. Sullins about your oil because his room is warm and smells like butt." I don't want anyone to be uncomfortable with the smell of my room, and now I know from this book that it can impact a student's learning.