Teaching With the Brain in Mind

Teaching with the Brain in Mind
FIGURE 10.1
Meaning-Making Occurs in Many Areas of the
Brain
Frontal Lobe:
optimism,
patternmaking,
& context
Parietal Lobe:
insights,
inspiration
"felt" meaning,
satisfaction, &
pleasure
Temporal Lobe:
relevance, links
with the past
Cerebellum:
motion &
novelty
Occipital
Lobe:
patterndiscovery
& spatial
order
Posner. If it’s a more spiritual meaning, it’s probably
a parietal lobe activity, says V.I. Ramachandran
at the University of California at San Diego. If it’s
an emotionally felt meaning, it may show activity
in the frontal, occipital, and mid-brain areas, says
University of Iowa’s Antonio Damasio. If it’s an
“Ah-ha!” type of meaning, it is more likely a left
frontal lobe activity. These diverse areas of location
suggest that the concept of meaning also may be
diverse (see fig. 10.1).
In short, meaning is complex. We know the
correlations, but we don’t have causal relationships.
Evidence suggests these factors are likely:
relevance, emotions, and context and pattern making.
Relevance is a function of the brain’s making a
connection from existing neural sites. Emotions are
triggered by the brain’s chemistry, and context triggers
pattern making that may be related to the formation
or activation of larger neural fields. All
meaning has at least one of those three ingredients,
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but the reverse is not true. Something could be
relevant and still be meaningless at the same time.
Eating a nutritionally sound diet is very relevant.
It might also have little meaning to most students.
The Importance of Relevance
What’s the biology of relevance? It’s one of the
easiest, most commonly made, types of meaning. It
happens on a simple cellular level. An already existing
neuron simply “connects” with a nearby neuron.
If the content is irrelevant, it’s unlikely a connection
will be made. While neurons are constantly firing,
much of the time it’s an inaudible chatter. Relevant
connections are made more often, and that strengthens
them. Every thought you think increases the
chances of your thinking that thought again.
Some thoughts activate entire neural fields that
may cross cell and axon boundaries. The greater
the number of links and associations that your
brain creates, the more neural territories involved
and the more firmly the information is woven in
neurologically. Conversations were so rich with
Nobel laureate Buckminster Fuller because he
could make so many associations that nearly everything
reminded him of nearly everything else. A
conversation about birds might bring in the history
of bird watching, the changing food supply, economics
of conservation, geography, the economics
of birds, biology, love, rituals, myth, politics, and
beauty. To him, nearly everything was relevant.
For many students, the problem is the opposite.
Classroom information lacks the personal relevance
necessary for any meaning.
Practical Suggestions for Making Meaning
Never assume that because something is relevant
to you, it’s relevant to your students. Help them