Construcción de la Práctica Docente en los Niveles Inicial y Primario I

Comisión C – Prof. Melina Piccolo

Año 2023
Alumnos:
● Camila Diaz
● Leónidas Zeitlin

Written Assignment: The Brain

A. Consider the following statements and explain what they refer to (use your own words
and quotes when necessary)

1. The brain is a complex adaptive system.

2. The brain is social.
3. The search for meaning is innate.
4. The brain learns by making connections.
5. Emotions are critical to learning.
6. Every brain is uniquely organised. (Caine and Caine, 1997)

B. Choose ONE unit from the following coursebook:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Nm62MAxrao7NL5neahVJCp2T0i3uaj44/v
iew?usp=sharing
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1. • Consider the Foreign Languages Curriculum (2001) and connect the content of the
chosen unit with the “areas of experience”.

2. • Consider the Foreign Languages Curriculum (2001) and connect the content of the
chosen unit with “el valor instrumental” y el sentido formativo de las lenguas extranjeras
en la escuela”.

3. •Consider Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences theory: which ones are covered in
the unit you have chosen?

4. • Consider Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences theory: design an activity that
caters for one LS and MI which are not covered in this unit.

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A.

1) The brain is a complex adaptive system:

The statement ‘’The brain is a complex adaptive system’’ refers to the fact that it
possesses characteristics of both complexity and adaptability when learning something new and
throughout our whole life.
The brain complexity arises from the intricate network of neural connections and the
diverse range of functions it performs when learning something.This complexity allows for the
brain to process and integrate vast amounts of information.
On the other hand, the brain has the capacity to adapt to different experiences and skill
levels and to change, since it does not remain static throughout life. Moreover, it has a quality
called ‘’neural plasticity’’, which is the ability to learn and adapt or relearn (Connel, 2005, p.24).
This gives us humans the capacity to adapt and adjust for instance to different climates,
allowing us to reside in hot or warm regions and migrate to colder areas when necessary. So we
should think of the brain like a flexible, moldable organ. Neural plasticity means that the
connections between the brain cells, called neurons, can be strengthened, weakened, or even
created new ones based on your experiences, learning, and the challenges you face.
Additionally, the brain may also eliminate unused neurons and redundant pathways and neural
connections when they are not used at appropriate time consequently. This process is known as
“pruning”.
For us to analyse the matter of adaptability more deeply, we must bear in mind that the
brain structure consists of two hemispheres, left and right, which have different functions. In
general terms, the former is sequential, analytical, logical and devoted to words; and the latter is
specialised in understanding the whole picture, emotions, creativity and relationships. Apart
from that, it contains four lobes (frontal, occipital, temporal and parietal), which are higher or
lower developed depending on the person and learning experiences. Even though each person
has their strong and weak areas, they can adapt, change or design their brain if the stimuli and
activities do compensate for those areas of the brain we do not have fully into practice.
In conclusion, “you can physically change the structure of the brain through enriching
experiences [...] in our learning environments” (Jensen, 1998, p.12).

2) The brain is social:

The statement “The brain is social” refers to the idea that the brain and its functioning
are deeply intertwined with social interactions and relationships. Connel says that “our
experiences in life play a major role in shaping our brain and that both hereditary and
environment affect the growth and the health of our brain’’(Connell, 2005, p. 27). It is that way
because an infant starts to experience life the moment they are born, and if they are picked up
when crying, fed when hungry, loved and satisfied regarding their basic needs, the limbic
system will convey the message to the neocortex that the world is happy and secure but ,on the
other hand, if the baby’s experiences are full of neglect and rejection, the mid or limbic brain

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would send them the message that the world is not a nice place to be in it. In addition, it is the
right-brain function which “help(s) us form and maintain relationships” (Connell, 2005, p.40). So,
as learning is essentially a social process, our brain understands our necessity for interaction
with others to learn and, consequently, determines a part of it to create so.

3)The search for meaning is innate:

By stating that “the search for meaning is innate”, it should be necessarily clarified that
when we are born, our brian is not a “tabula rasa” nor a “blank space” but on the contrary, it
already carries a survival learning load in a natural way due to our brains’ inner design
“genetically pre-programmed for a great deal of learning” (Jensen, 1998, p.11). That is to say,
we biologically have basic learning skills, not to mention that our brains are constantly seeking
for meaning and trying to make sense of things and situations instinctively. In terms of
capacities, it can be argued that they are ready to be used, i.e. they are “hardwired capacities”.
In fact, authors like Chomsky validate the idea that we are born with the ability to use and learn
language from the very beginning of our lives. In addition, to get the most of such capacities,
“the brain craves information only as [...] the means of forming or creating [...] patterns of
meaning” (Jensen, 1998, p.20). Finally, according to the Triune brain theory, proposed by Paul
McLean, our brain acts like a big computer in the sense that it acts as if we had three brains
(reptilian brain, limbic system and neocortex) and what concerns us in connection to this notion
is the upper brain, namely the “neocortex”, which is actually in charge of the “higher order”
thinking skills, therefore, of searching such patterns by seeking meaning through the
organisation of ideas, words, numbers, figures and shapes to generate a meaningful pattern.

4) The brain learns making connections:

When we claim that “the brain learns by making connections”, first and foremost, we
must understand that the brain, as a complex home of thoughts and emotions, has the capacity
of establishing connections between neurons constantly. So much so that each of them can
connect with up to 10.000 others. This interaction between neurons delivers information from
one neuron to another. Therefore, during the process of learning, neurons enhance their
capacity and, incidentally, the person can develop one part of the brain more than others.
By the way, the technical term for the brain parts previously mentioned, higher or lower
developed depending on the individual, are, namely, the lobes (parietal, occipital, frontal and
temporal). Having mentioned the neurological functioning of the brain, we might conclude that
the brian-based learning “involves making new neural connections, strengthening existing
neural connections, and creating neural networks” (Connell, 2005, p.16) through the
communication between neurons. By doing so, students are expected and encouraged to make
connections at two levels: the academic and the emotional ones. The former is related to
content at grade level ranging from below to above in areas the students are most familiar with,
while the latter is closely associated to the importance a student assesses to the content by

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making emotional connections, as wondering whether it is “safe and important to learn the
material” (Connell, 2005, p.17) or not. That is to say, they use their so-called “emotional brain”.
Last but not least, it is crucial to conceive the teacher as the person who elicits the
overlapping of these two types of connections in the students’ minds and works on their
weaknesses while teaching to their strengths simultaneously according to their individual
learning profiles. What is more, the connections might as well be constructed “by linking prior
knowledge to the new content we are teaching” (Connell, 2005, p. 110). On the whole, it can be
stated that students’ brains will definitely learn new things by means of making connections.

5) Emotions are critical to learning:

“Emotions are critical to learning” indeed, since they delimit our learning and the way we
give sense and meaning to new concepts. In other words, our learning will be conditioned by
our feelings and emotions. For instance, positive feelings tend to catch individuals’ interest and
create a good predisposition to learn. Conversely, when it comes to negative feelings, the
person may be unwilling to do so. Moreover, “emotions determine why we learn and if we are
confident that we know it” (Jensen, 1998, p. 20). That is why it is so key to feel confident about
the information given to us to believe in it and, eventually, learn it. In fact, our brain tells us what
is true and what is not: the limbic system (one of the three parts of the brain working as another
brain), is the one which, essentially, provides us with the sensation of what is important, real or
true. In conjunction with this, it seems relevant to note that “emotions are more important and
powerful to the brain than higher-order thinking skills…learning and meaning is driven by
feelings; the brain is virtually a ‘box of emotions’” (Jensen, 1998, p. 16). This occurs to such an
extent that humans might even wait for their brain to “feel” something as true even though the
information is presented as such with evidence and logic or common sense.
Additionally, it is the body hormones that trigger emotions and not only do they affect our
learning, but they also influence over our behaviour.

6) Every brain is uniquely organised. (Caine and Caine, 1997):

To confirm that “every brain is uniquely organised” is accurate inasmuch as each person
lives entirely different experiences, has diverse interests and motivations, signifies things
uniquely, has various beliefs, distinct models and so on. As a matter of fact, we could articulate
that “the brain of each of your learners is as individual as a fingerprint” (Jensen, 1998, p. 11).
Moreover, the development of each brain has a unique timetable as well. Even when the brain’s
course of development is completely normal, there might be differences in time from one person
to another to learn the same thing, which puts on evidence how contrasting human brains can
be.

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B) Áreas de experiencia:

1. The "areas of experience" are representative for the students’ discursive world.They
constitute the starting point for the teacher to organise the work and the use of the target
language. They are relevant because they allow the presentation of contextualised
situations, which is key in learning a new language. They are seven and are closely
linked to the schooling time and age of the students and, for instance, the world of work
is included only in level 2 for the last years of schooling.
In the book, we could find these areas of experience:

1. Everyday activities:
● Leisure activities: hobbies, outings.

There are instances of hobbies and outings throughout the unit. Some students may feel
related if they love going out to explore nature with their family.

2. Personal and social life:

● Citizenship: This unit fosters respect for animals, insects and nature.

3. The world around us:

● Nature: the Universe, planets, seasons, the weather, animals, plants...

The unit is full of this area of experience.

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 4. The world of communication and technology
● Internet: This activity allows students to use the internet with the help of their
teacher:

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 5. The world of imagination and creativity

● This unit has many activities to foster creativity, such as this song:

2. Valor instrumental:

According to the “Foreign Languages Curriculum (2001)”, the “instrumental value” of a

foreign language is to “begin to implement the initial knowledge of a foreign language into other
aspects of everyday life: whenever you watch a video clip and sing along with a foreign band;
whenever you install a videogame in the computer; when, eventually, you became friends with a
foreign person at school or neighbourhood” (Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires Secretaría
de Educación, 2001, p. 21). Such notion serves us to understand that the functional value of
learning a foreign language is fully realised outside the classroom without the teacher’s
supervision. Thus, we should comprehend that the activities carefully designed and
programmed with such have a purpose by, for instance, developing areas of interest or useful
language for the students to be able to appropriate the knowledge in question and give it a
personal use, more individual and meaningful use. Not to mention that the topics delved into in
the classroom must necessarily be consistent with their age.

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 A proper example of this function in education could be observed in the class book for
1st year students called “Young Explorers” , more specifically in the ‘Unit 1: In the country’,
which is mainly devoted to learning the use of structures of possession: “Have you got (a
compass)?”, “Yes, I have/ No, I haven’t”. The unit covers activities such as the following:

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 By including this type of activities where they must listen, repeat and talk to their friends,
the teacher seeks to consolidate the structures in question so that the students could go home
or to any habitual place and apply them naturally when needed. Moreover, the unit conveys
vocabulary about insects and nature, so once the topic is learned, they will be able to recognize
those same insects in a movie like, say, “Ants”, which is plagued by different species of them,
for instance:

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 By doing so, students confirm that they have actually and genuinely learned in class and
test them with their own voice.

Relevantly, the “Foreign Languages Curriculum (2001)” includes another important

definition named “formative sense” which, apart from guaranteeing everyone’s right to
accessing to education in a democratic way, “resorts to the knowledge we have about the
linguistic system and the rules that govern and combine foreign language material resources [...]
turning them into meaningful statements with different textual organisations when speaking,
listening and writing” (Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires Secretaría de Educación, 2001,
p. 29). Therefore, we might confirm that students develop the ability to build, produce, and
understand knowledge in different situations apart from the classroom as a result of their
participation in class asking questions, making suggestions and handling their speech in a
foreign language in general as interlocutors. Ultimately, the main purpose of the curriculum
planification places its horizon in truly “knowing” the foreign language, and it is through activities
as the ones we discussed previously that they will.

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3. The "learning styles" covered for students in this unit are the following:

a. CONTEXTUAL FACTORS:
Field independent: They learn in irrelevant contexts, in this case with the use of
the book and the use of recordings for songs, etc.
b. INPUT:
Visual external: They prefer visual input, and the book is full of images and
drawings for the kids.
Auditory external: As some students prefer input to be auditory, the book covers
this LS because it has many activities to listen, repeat and sing:

Visual and auditory external:

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 c. PROCESSING FORMAT:
Sequential detailed/linear: We could observe that for those students who prefer
things sequenced, the book is full of them because most of the activities are
presented linear and with detailed instructions. First they have to see, then they
have to listen, and finally repeat and talk. There is also a story called 'The Ant
and the Grasshopper' where each of the squares of it has a number starting
from 1 and follows the sequence of numbers up to the end of the story.
Conceptual (abstract): for those students who prefer the world of books and
words, the unit is full of stories such as 'The Ant and the Grasshopper':

Sequential, conceptual:

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 d. RESPONSE FILTERS:
Externally referenced: The book has a section where it is told to the students to
be respectful with insects and nature; therefore, that student will be externally
referenced by the teacher and the book that tells them to be respectful with
others.
Matcher: for those who respond by noting similarities, we found this activity
where the target language is ‘insect colours’. It is a short reading comprehension
that talks about insect colours and compares them to a warning and poisonous
sign by showing similarities in colours between them:

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 Mismatcher: For the ones who respond by noting differences, we found this
activity that has to do with sounds where they have to listen and repeat in order
to learn how to differentiate them. The target sounds are /s/ and /k/. For this, they
are marked with a different colour, may it be red or light blue. If the student pays
attention to it, they will be able to produce both sounds as they should:

-The "Multiple Intelligences" covered in the units are the following:

a. Verbal-Linguistic: For those students who have a good command of the language, the
unit is full of these activities such as listenings, readings or even a crossword puzzle,
such as the next activities:

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 b. Logical and mathematical: For those who have the ability to discern and analyse
logical patterns, we found the next activity where they have to ask questions to their
mates and according to the answers, they have to guess who is the person they are
talking about. By doing so, they are making a logical analysis based on the answers:

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 c. Spatial: For those who have the ability to see things in relation to others, we found the
following activity which is a game where they have to see and point what they can see and
where it is what they can see:

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 d. Musical: due to the use of songs:

e. Interpersonal: It is full of activities to foster relationships and interaction with others:

f. Naturalistic: The unit is full of activities for those who like nature:

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 4. Activity:

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 “Touch and guess”

Materials:

➔ 3 boxes (one per group)

➔ 2 objects from the vocabulary of the unit per box.

Vocabulary:

WATCH - COMPASS - TORCH - CAMERA - NOTEBOOK - BINOCULARS

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Guide for the teacher:

Group work activity:

1. Ask your students to divide into three groups.

2. Ask the groups to form a row next to the box assigned to each one respectively.

3. Ask them to close their eyes and touch what is in the box for 5 seconds. For this, count
with them outloud. Let every member of the group experience that and tell them to wait
until everybody has passed to share which they guess the objects are with their
respective groups.

4. Tell them to share ideas with their groups to see if they coincide.

5. Without revealing the answer with the rest of the groups, they shall link the
corresponding image of the objects with their respective name on the board by sticking
the illustrative pictures next to their names.

Independent work activity:

6. Once they all assert, ask them which of the objects they found is their favourite and ask
them to think of their individual favourite objects from their bedrooms. Then ask them to
draw them with their respective names behind. See whether they can or not assign a
name to them. If not, you can write down the names on the board.

7. Ask them to tell you individually what they would like to change from the activity if they
could. This must be oral since it would be far too complex for them to write and at that
age they do not even know many structures to express themselves. Remember that
even a single word counts as part of their communication ability.

Learning styles and multiple intelligences

Through this activity, students are able, or expected, to put into practice the learning
style of input (a subcategory of the learning processes), more specifically, the “kinesthetic
tactile”, which we consider was absent in the unit of the class book we have analysed through
this assignment.
The kinesthetic-tactile kind of student is associated with learning by doing and moving.
Therefore, “they're ‘hands-on’ first, jump in and give it a ‘go’ type of learners” (Jensen, 1998,
p.30). As well, they are very active and keep in touch with their physical body and feelings. Due
to that, it can be claimed that it is the right hemisphere of the brain which is dominant when

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using that learning style. Personal attention, comfort, commitment to activity and proximity are
properties that cause great impact on kinesthetic-tactile students as well.

The multiple intelligence we tried to cater for with this activity is the “intrapersonal”
one. The characteristics of people who have highly developed this intelligence involve a strong
ability to know themselves by, for instance, auto reflecting, assuming responsibility for their
feelings and actions or acceptance of their weaknesses and strengths. That way, they develop
the emotional capacity of developing introspective thoughts and awareness. Yet, they need time
alone to process it and create. Finally, the acknowledgment of their own fears, dreams, ideas
and goals play a really strong role in their lives.

Having said that, the idea for this activity is to encourage students to move around and
dwell in the classroom to connect with their tactile aspect through active body movement on the
one hand, and, on the other hand, to reach a personal, individual reflection for understanding
themselves and their learning process. Essentially, as teachers we must not forget to offer
variety and choice in both learning styles and multiple intelligences to guarantee that every
student learns and each interest or manner is respected during the learning process.

References:

Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (2001). Diseño Curricular de Lenguas Extranjeras

Niveles 1, 2, 3 y 4. Dirección de Currícula.

Connell, J. D. (2005). Brain-based Strategies to Reach Every Learner. Scholastic Inc.

Jensen, E. P. (1998). Super Teaching (4th ed.). Brain Store Inc.

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