Brain Behavior Institute - Session 5

Paul suggested earlier that there will never be another brain like ours due to the potential patterns of ‘architecture’ created when using 10¹³ neurons as construction material.  Therefore I understand why teachers are questioning how we can reach and teach such an abundance of unique individuals. My plan over the last several years has been to develop a ‘differentiated classroom’, a methodology that tends to support reaching each unique student.

However when JR Lewis (Julia) indicated in her blog that she worked with an Alzheimer’s patient who endeavored to hide his confusion so as to appear ‘normal’ within what must have been a terrifying reality for him; I began thinking about the deeper problem in high school of teens who recognize their unique way of viewing the world and who try to suppress it to reflect the teen norm.

Just like the random fireflies or cars that Paul throws into a program and eventually form a pattern so do our students (for the most part) come to a consensus of behavior. That group-behavior is shaped in a variety of ways dependent on the accepted culture of the school which can sometimes be anti-adult. I’ve seen some of my classes veer both ways. Last year I had one class that was constantly and oppressively oppositional. Interestingly, the same teaching methodologies were applied to other classes that were very cooperative. I attributed this blatant abnormality to one (eventually transferred) student. The bizarre aspect to me about this oppositional class was that when I interacted with only individuals all of them were cooperative and extremely personable.

I realize now that the beginning of the year is the critical time to find the “norm setters” of class culture and that the manipulation of these students will make or break positive culture. My speculation is that he class last year followed the wrong ‘norm-setter’ and were so personable individually as if to apologize to me for the group’s behavior.

Though I’ve always recognized that this phenomenon exists; it was our Brain & Behavior workshop and the series of blogs that ‘fired up my neurons’ to formulate this theory and hopefully a consequent management plan (experiment). A few norm-setters will begin to emerge right away in the beginning of the year so I need to formulate a plan to ‘sculpt’ them. I would want to bring the positive norm-setters to a position of power in their influence over the others however I must proceed in a way that the teens won’t notice my guidance (interference?...experiment?).

In past years I placed more focus on understanding the one or two children in each class who never follow the crowd and I have either celebrated their confidence or agonized over their inability to make friends. Three years ago I learned about Asperger Syndrome and how it typically affects high school students. Sadly, the teens who demonstrate the Asperger symptomology - though they deeply want to change - seem to be incapable of masking their uniqueness and thus never reach acceptance.

The title just suddenly popped into my head -- obviously generated by a bunch of memory neurons stuck in the '60s, a time when people were seemingly using chemicals to rewire how their sensory neurons were connected. For instance, LSD supposedly could cause users to "see sounds" and "hear colors."

Actually, there is a similar problem concerning "where connections are made" being considered in the research being done to reverse or "cure" paralysis. Some researchers are looking ahead to the time when we can get the axons to regrow across the glial scar (the lesion) that is currently believed to prevent regrowth at this time. The big question is: Once the axons regrow and make connections on the other side of the scar, will these connections actually be workable? Or will the axon that used to enervate (activate) the left big toe now be connected to the right calf? How much relearning will be required . . . and will a person be able to do it?

From the work that has been done in the rat model, it would seem that this will not be a problem. However, until the same degree of success is achieved in humans . . . .

Only peripherally (pun intended) related to this, I think, is that there is more and more evidence that the brain is constantly rewiring and generating new connections. This is where learning occurs, right? Is it true then that the more connections we have made, the faster we can retrieve material b/c it's like cross-indexing . . . or is it the more we have learned . . . or both? Do more similar connections mean that we have learned material more deeply . . . or that that the connections are simply redundant?

Will we be "given" the answers tomorrow? . . . or would that make us too much like simple med students?

The brain is a fasincating action potenial that is unique and wonderfully made. Understanding my brain is difficult but I have a better understanding of how unique it is and how uniquely we are made. The brain and how it functions is very important to understand. I think I have a better understanding of how I perceive things and how I inhibit other things. It was fascinating to find out how our brain and the neurons can interact without our input. Input and output doesn't always seem to equal each other; is there a reason for this? I don't fully understand how the neurons and action potential patterns work but I was really interested in how they make people unique. I am also interested in how chemicals can interfere or inhibit one area and excite another area especially in the disease called Lupus.

I found the connection between the chicken getting its head cut off and students in the classroom very interesting. The fact that a chicken continues to run around after its head is cut off is due to action potentials no longer being inhibited, the spinal cord is no longer receiving inhibitory messages from the brain – it is dis-inhibited. How I relate this to students in my classroom, my special ed classroom in particular, is that when thinking of ways to engage a distracted or disinterested student, we often try to come up with stimulating tactics. But rather than trying to stimulate these student, perhaps we should investigate ways to inhibit or reduce stimuli that may be distracting them and therefore inhibiting their learning.

The variety of inhibitory and synaptic action potentials is amazing. The idea that each of us have such differrent brains makes me wonder how we manage to successfully educate such a diversity of brains?

Are there specific adaptations in classroom environments work for most students? Do we rely on trial and error to help deterrmine what works for the ADD and autistic spectrum students?

The nervous system is the basis of learning and trying out things. When working with students it makes me realize that what might work for one student, might not work for another. The nervous system is made up of neurons that are chemical recetors that makes changes inthe brain.

With the "headless chicken" running around, I am beginning to think that my students are the way they are because they have some inhibitions being disabled in them. In other words does that mean that the "normal" kids are those operating under regular inhibitions?

Tola

Why does the box metaphor stop at neurons? What breaks down at smaller scales. The next level of reduction is molecules or perhaps groups of molecules, then molecules, then atoms. What about groups of molecules make the metaphor less useful?

The components of the Box metaphor:

• inputs
• outputs
• smaller working components
• boundary

Let's look at groups of molecules. They don't have clear boundaries, which makes everything else hard to define. So,

Let's look at molecules. They have boundaries, but again fuzzy depending on the scale. They have other working parts = atoms. Molecules have inputs? Yes, electrons and other energy forms like photons and gamma rays etc. Do molecules have outputs? Can molecules self-generate outputs? Or do molecular outputs always rely on inputs? They sometimes give off forms of energy? Energy is a causal force that all matter interacts with.

Or, is this line of thought not very useful? Why? Again, why is the box metaphor not useful at smaller levels below the cell?