EDU 417 Cognitive Studies Capstone

Instructor: Joanna Savarese-Levine

Michelle Skilbred
22 August 2015

How the children of today and how the children of 20 years ago learned how to read is
completely different. The research and development by todays professionals and the
professionals of 20 years ago is night and day. 20 years ago teachers didnt truly have the benefit
of the scientific research and those conclusion as todays professionals. The benefit of those
studies are immeasurable. Is it possible that todays student is smarter? Possibly due to the fact
that today our students are taking AP courses or college base courses in high school. The
understanding of the difficulties and learning disabilities are more evident with todays teachers
and professionals than ever before. Having a professional be able to pin point why a student is
having difficulties with learning how to read or how to solve a math problem then how to assist
that child with those learning gaps is incredible. This paper will identify why todays student is
having problems learning how to read and why todays educational professional needs brain
science to assist them in their class room.
If we look at our children as a whole we want to understand the basics. Some learning
difficulties are very easily diagnosed. Our brain is no different than an automobile, as our brain is
the engine of our body and must be maintained with proper maintenance. If we do not take care
of our engine then our car at some point will fail. Our car requires the basics initially then proper
overall maintenance for long term care. Initially our car requires the proper fluids and such as oil,
gas, brake fluid, and transmission fluid. Without these fluids our engine will begin to smoke and
then fail. The long term maintenance will require complete flushes as the old fluid will break
down and not properly lubricate the engine. Our brain is functions in the same fashion as the
engine as it is the heart of our body. The daily maintenance that our brain needs is sleep, oxygen,
reduced stress, proper nutrition. The long term maintenance is the same and if we do not feed our

brain with the daily maintenance the long term maintenance will not be affective; as a matter of
fact it will catch up as our brain and body will break down. This daily maintained if neglected
prevents or hinders learning such as reading. Todays child between the ages of 5-10 need about
12 hours of sleep. Parents need to ensure the television and video games are indeed turned off at
the appropriate time as both tend to stimulate the brain and delay bed time. In the classroom,
children are affected as their memory is affect and their cognitive level to comprehend and
process information. Bottom line is when we are sleepy, we just cant pay attention. One night is
one thing; however, normally it is not one night is multiple which throws a sleep routine off and
now we have a child with chronic sleep problems. In the long run, brain develop is a big concern
for educators. Education is like scaffolding, it doesnt stop but continues each and every day.
Children cannot afford to get behind.
Nutrition is a giant factor as to why children are behind in their education. As parents are
on the go with either their schedule or affording their children with extra-curricular activities,
they tend to feed their children with fast food. It is a proven factor that children who are born to
mother with a poor diet are more apt to be born with mental retardation. A proper diet is critical
for the brains development and how the brain performs. (Brain Matters). Most everyone has
heard that breakfast is the power meal of the day? This has been proven; as academic scores have
increased by those who have eaten breakfast each and every day. Often schools have provided
free breakfast in their schools to students. Nutrition also plays a role in health as children who
are healthy are attending school more; which also proves that food is maintenance to the body. If
you feed your body good fuel, the body will function at a higher level. If you give your body
poor fuel, then your body will be tired and sluggish. Neuroscience is affected by poor diets as
childrens brain testing as resulted in memory lapse. The food most noteworthy that is causing

this is food in high levels of saturated fats. Food that are recommended for a healthy brain are
eggs, fish, and omega-3. (Brain Matters).
When our children are less stressed (which stress as hindered learning), have received
plenty of sleep, have proper diets they are ready to learn. Their brains are organized and ready to
receive the information that has been prepared. When teachers are ready to receive the brain
science educational methods that are proven brain scans of children which has shown brain
activity how a child is receiving information; we have a solid model to teach children with a winwin model.
Brain Science measures our childrens reading progress. Professor Staislas Dehaene
reminds us that reading is communicating our thoughts from our eyes to our brain. There is an
architecture for reading. When a child is 2-3 months old a child who is well organized areas in
their brain. As they get order they will be able to recognize letters and how the advance into
words and then the connection of them. The brain area will learn how to go into a coding method
for speech and sounds into meaning. Our brain is amazing as it starts out with a visual
stimulation. It looks at meaning and pronunciation and then begins a connection process. In our
brain we have designated areas from the back to our frontal lobe. In the back of our brain, the
Occipital, we have our visual input. Then in we move to our Temporal we use for our explicit
memory, words and pictures we begin our visualize word a-form area and access to meaning and
our access to our articulation. Soon our Frontal will take over as we will have our final
judgement, planning, working memory and decision making.
Students can speak and see letters then words and pronunciation. This is when literacy
acquisition happens. The connection is reinforced with sounds and letters. Professor Staislas
Dehaene reminds us that before we learned to read we all had face recognition. This was

replaced when we learned how to read. One difficulty when learning how to read for some
children that isnt diet, sleep or stress related is caused mirror-invariance. This has zero to do
with dyslexia. This is a problem for many children as their brain area that has the most mirror
invariance for pictures. This is normally unlearned as children learn to read.
Parents and teachers can work together to overcome and difficulties as their children may
have difficulties learning how to read. Parents can do their share with reducing stress,
implementing a proper diet, exercise and ensuring they get enough sleep. If the parents identify
any issues as their children are practicing aloud reading at home, they should share that with the
teachers right away as communication is critical. Teachers need to conduct a paradigm shift and
open their minds to Brain Science. Do not be afraid to break away from traditional methods of
teaching and try to understand science in order to support that not every child fits into one mold.
There are outside forces that affect a child from learning and internal forces as well.

REFERENCES
Dehaene, Staislas, Youtube
Wolfe, P. (2010). Brain matters: Translating research into classroom practice. (2nd ed.).
Alexandria,VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.