Brain-Based Teaching Methods/Solutions for Collegians in Poverty

Abstract

“The convergence of low literacy levels, poverty, an aging population, immigration, and the globalization of business means that working with the growing and significant segment of the population that comes from generational poverty is no longer just a moral obligation, it has become an economic imperative.” (Krodel, Becker, Ingle, and Jakes, 2008)

This quotation highlights the plight of impoverished adults seeking a college education. Hampered by

This paper first addresses key learning influencers such as memory, perception, emotion and cognition as they are affected by generational poverty. Then, the principles of brain-based learning are applied to suggest andragogy which mitigates these affects.

The community college has been highlighted by no less than Barack Obama as one means to lift the mantle of poverty from those whose development and educational opportunities have been severely limited by virtue of their economic circumstances. In a June, 2009 appearance, the President noted that "community colleges are an essential part of our recovery in the present and our prosperity in the future."

Its universal access, local influence and community reach make the community college an ideal institution to undertake this role. And, here in Cleveland, Ohio, this role is particularly critical. In 2012, Cleveland, Ohio was once again designated one of the “Poorest Big Cities in America,” a title it has long attempted to relinquish. Ranking fourth among large cities with a poverty rate of 27%, the city registered only slightly more affluent than its listing predecessor, Cincinatti, Ohio.

The impact of this impoverished environment asserts itself in the emotional response of students to perceived threat, the level and type of experiences to which students can relate course material, and even the collegian’s physiological ability to fully engage memory.

For this reason, the tenets of brain-based learning have a special import to the community college professor in northeast Ohio, whose students are far more likely to have experienced poverty than those of more economically stable regions or traditional four-year institutions. The functions of memory, emotion, perception and cognition may be dramatically different for these students. And, rather than attempting to alter the students’ environmentally-derived propensities in these areas, as is the case with traditional educational methods, brain-based learning acknowledges these differences and adapts classroom andragogy to accommodate them.

The Memory Function and Students from Poverty The Impact of Poverty on Memory

The relationship between learning and memory is complex, and a series of definitions is required for a complete perspective. Ruth Palombo Weiss explains that “Learning is the making of memory, which is laid down in our brains in chemical form.” (Weiss, Day 2 AM reading Word doc.) And, these chemical paths are in large part the persistent effect of experience, (Day2 AM Reading 3Memory). Caine and Caine assert that “learning engages the entire physiology (Caine and Caine, 19 __)

As such, the functions of both learning and memory may be intrinsically influenced by the poverty and physiological stress experienced by resource-challenged college students, putting them at an inherent disadvantage in the learning process. The effects of the physiological stress associated with developmental poverty manifest themselves as stress hormones and high blood pressure. This in turn results in a reduction in both cell connections and volumes in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, the regions in which working memory is centered. (Evans and Schamberg, 2009). These consequences are far reaching in terms of the student’s ability to succeed in college and in life: Working memory is a critical contributor to language comprehension, critical thinking and long-term memory storage.

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Figure 1. Duration of Childhool Poverty and Working Memory in Young Adults (Evans and Schamberg, 2009)

The effects noted here are neither temporary nor procedural. Rather, they result in actual, physical changes to the structure of the brain and its components. And, while not fully vetted as a theory, it is possible that these changes in the physical construction of the brain become genetically coded, and are passed down from generation to generation. Yet research has shown that later, enhanced experiences may partially mitigate the damage wrought by early life stress on the hippocampus and other brain areas primarily responsible for the retention and interpretation of memory. It is not that the initial impact of poverty-induced stress is reversed, but that different pathways are constructed to circumvent them. As Jensen remarks, “Change the experience and you change the brain.” (Need citation here)

Brain Based Methods to Ameliorate Memory

And here is where brain-based learning comes into play. Research in the field of educational neuroscience suggests that memories, and learning, are generated in many different forms. Traditional education focuses on the taxon memory, whose inculcation requires rehearsal. In other words, these bits of knowledge, or memories, are presented as having value in and of themselves, often without a life context. The value of taxon learning is predicated upon the extrinsic rewards, or punishments, associated with the student’s ability to recall the data byte on demand, as opposed to a reward associated with an actionable outcome. Yet extrinsic motivators become less attractive as students mature, and are far less a stimulus for young adults who have grown up in poverty than for the more affluent collegian. These students have learned to ascribe greatest value to learning that maximizes survival and minimizes threat.

Either in conscious or subconscious form, experience suggests to this student that what is most important is the attempt to grasp the meaning of the events occurring in their world. This type of memory is described by Caine and Caine as locale memory. While the term implies a purely spatial connotation, the authors note that locale memory is not limited to physical space. These memories are experiential in nature, dominated by intrinsic motivation, and mapped thematically. And, while both taxon and locale memory systems interact to create learning, the more successful approach to college instruction relies more heavily on thematic, rather than taxonomic, teaching. This is true for collegians in general, but clearly has a special implication for students from disadvantaged environments.

Engendering experiential and map learning realizes this objective, “helping students relate the material they need to know to what they already know.” (Caine and Caine, 19 ___) By putting the memory in context, multiple neural connections are developed, providing the student with multiple, stronger pathways to retention.

Practical methods to serve this model in the classroom abound:

Construct multiple lessons around a single current event.
Special learning communities composed of several different courses need not be the basis for brain-based thematic instruction. For example, a foundation course in marketing which previously addressed the topics of demand elasticity, market research, product development and branding as separate entities will resonate with the under-resourced collegian far more effectively when brought together and wrapped around a current theme, such as the introduction of the $300.00 pair of LeBron James Nike athletic shoe. Not only does the topic spur immediate interest on the part of the typical student, but for the student whose prime focus is mitigating risk, the lesson series serves to explain that understanding the limits to the public’s willingness to pay optimizes reward and minimizes loss.

Provide frequent review of new data, layering meaning as you go.
Spaced repetition is a technique originally developed for language instruction which has equal value in improving data retention, and serves to create a platform for additional layers of context.

Defining the term ‘research validity’ is initially a taxonomic exercise. This is relatively non-threatening to a student. This is a term to be remembered for the exam, and perhaps discarded. However, in fifteen minutes, the term resurfaces in class discussion, this time accompanied by a brief scenario in which validity is compromised. Now, the definition, and the context, are relatable. In another fifteen minutes, student groups are asked to read through a paragraph describing the research methodology for the aforementioned athletic shoe, and respond, via clicker, as to whether the research did or did not evidence validity, in other words, if it measured what it was supposed to measure.

The gradual introduction of layers of complexity has built a thematic map around a simple definition with minimal risk of failure for the student. The practice is in harmony with the nature of the brain as a parallel processor, and reflects the tenet of active processing as an important interactive teaching strategy. The data are highly likely to move into long-term memory.

Integrate the techniques associated with improved working memory in your course andragogy.
If improved working memory is critical to college success, it should be called out as a course objective, and assignments and credits predicated on its attainment. Teaching techniques to enhance memory, when done contextually, provides the at-risk student an implicit motivation, in that the ‘survival techniques’ can be applied in many life circumstances beyond the classroom. Assigning actual course credit for exercises that build this capability provide extrinsic, but still valid, motivators as well.