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Brain Research: Helping Albertans Understand How They Learn

2006 07 24

By Marcela Garcia

We humans come in different shapes, sizes and colours—but did you know that we all learn differently, as well? This comes as no surprise to the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA). For over 10 years, the ATA has held conferences and workshops that help Alberta’s many teachers educate their students in a variety of ways to accommodate every type of learner.

Over the last decade, the ATA has formed a corps of 55 ATA-certified instructors from among the ranks of the teaching profession in Alberta. The instructors undergo training twice a year to learn how to deliver up to 40 workshops that have been developed to meet the needs of teachers and students. Each instructor facilitates an average of 10 workshops a year on the topic he or she has been trained to deliver.

One of these ATA instructors, teacher Jamie Kryzanowski, is fascinated by brain research. When asked if she liked presenting the workshops, Kryzanowski replied, “I love it!”

Kryzanowski demonstrates a deep understanding of the brain and how learning patterns enhance student understanding. “Brain research is an incredibly expanding field because of all the technological advances that have been made [in the last decade],” says Kryzanowski, who has studied the research of experts such as Pat Wolfe, Howard Gardner and Eric Jensen.

According to Kryzanowski, a good teacher is welcoming, flexible and able to communicate openly with students, and he or she shows no judgment of or disregard for students. In her workshops, information on brain research is supplemented by a planning session in which teachers incorporate what they have learned. The aim of the workshops is to help other teachers. “We’re not there as experts,” says Kryzanowski. “We haven’t been trained in neuropsychology or neuropharmacology, or anything like that. We’re there as facilitators to encourage other professionals to delve deeply into these ideas and concepts, and then think about how they can apply them to their classroom.”

Learning styles include visual, kinaesthetic and auditory. To accommodate these styles, some school boards administer a survey at the beginning of each scholastic year. In the survey, students are asked a variety of questions that help teachers understand what types of learners they have in their classrooms.

For example, teachers can plan to teach their students about Jacques Cartier through analogy or simile (auditory learning) or through graphs and overheads (visual learning).

Or they may teach a particular concept in a specific part of the classroom; that way, when examination time comes, students will be reminded of the concept just by being in that area of the classroom (kinaesthetic learning). Brain research has proven that students who are taught in different ways will retain more. In fact, using a variety of teaching strategies increases retention by up to 50 per cent.

What is so fascinating about brain research is that it can be used with every age level and learning capacity. Kryzanowski uses brain research methods with her special needs students, too.

With the help of brain research, Alberta’s students can learn in a safe, caring and stress-free environment, a natural complement to the initiatives of the Society for Safe and Caring Schools and Communities, an organization strongly connected to the ATA. “Teachers should try to create an environment that is stress-free,” says Kryzanowski. “When kids feel threatened or they perceive a threat, the midbrain, specifically the amygdala, starts producing stress hormones such as cortisol. So, as teachers, we’ve learned that making the school environment safe is the smart thing to do.”

Because of educators like Jamie Kryzanowski and initiatives like the ATA’s “Brain Matters” workshop, parents and children can look forward to the first day of school and know that the future of Alberta is in good hands.