March 28-29, 2019
Carol Koran, Director of Learning at Japan's Nishimachi International School, will present at our Global Education Forum.Carol Koran comes from a family of teachers. After spending over 30 years in Canada as a teacher, university lecturer, professional development speaker, and principal, she moved to Tokyo to take on the role of Director of Learning atNishimachi International School. Before taking up her position in Japan, Carol developed and held workshops for teachers and parents throughout Western Canada covering assessment, student engagement, brain-based learning and communication.
The concept of brain-based learning was borne out of neurological research conducted in the 1990s, the so-called "decade of the brain." As researchers focused on discovering how the brain learns, educators began to develop new pedagogies informed by the researchers' findings, which promised better learning results for students.
In explaining the brain-based learning, Carol gives the following examples:
The brain needs a reason to pay attention to new information.
Every moment our brains are flooded with sensory input. The brain cannot possibly pay attention to all this information, so it has to be selective.The choice of what to pay attention to comes down to survival.Is it new and, therefore, potentially dangerous? Will it eat me? Can I eat it? Once the brain has decided that no threat exists from the new information, unless it has a reason to stay focused, it will simply discard the new information.
Neuroscience tells us that the presence of clear, well-defined goals is crucial to motivation. Once the goal is reached, the brain releases the feel-good neurotransmitter, dopamine. This self-reward not only reinforces the learning but increases the likelihood that the brain will seek further opportunities to repeat the action.
If I haven’t shared objectives with students or had them set their own goal for the learning, then I may be the only one who actually remembers the information a few days later. Most students are going to require some guidance in setting goals linked to the classroom instruction, and that becomes one of the tools that teachers can use to both motivate students and to help them understand how they learn.
Why should students take sketch notes, or create mind-maps or build a model? Because using different learning modalities creates multiple pathways for recall. Students need to know that learning is an active process because of the pathways and branches the brain creates when we move, speak, draw or sing.
——Carol Koran
We invited Carol for a keynote and workshop because the topic of brain-based learning is something of increasing importance to educators and deserves to be discussed. Carol gives concrete ways to take the research and apply it in the classroom.We really like the practicality of her presentations and workshops.
——Sara Roesler
Professional Learning Centre Manager,
YK Pao School
Keynote Speech - The Brain and Learning:
What Teachers and Students Need to Know
If learning is truly a collaborative endeavor, then it only makes sense that teachers and students should have a mutual understanding of how the brain learns and processes information. The challenge for teachers is to determine not only which current neuroscience research is valid for their context, but how to translate this knowledge into strategies and approaches that will have the greatest impact on student learning. In this presentation, Carol will explore the basics of brain-based learning, the role of nutrition and sleep, stress and its effect on learning and the unique qualities of children’s brains as they grow from primary to middle and high school.
2019 Global Education Forum
YK Pao School’s Professional Learning Center will be organizing aGlobal Education Forumbased on the theme"Pioneering New Models of Education". The Global Education Forum offers educators at international and bilingual schools as well as those with a general interest in K-12 international education the chance to strengthen their teaching and learning abilities.This year’s strands includeInnovation in Teaching and Learning,Character Education, and Educational Leadership Development. Based on the two-day agenda of the first forum, this forum will also organize pre-conference campus visits to Pao School's Primary campus (Wuding) and High School campus (Songjiang), to provide participants with a closer look at the bilingual education at Pao School.
Join us at the Global Education Forum, where you will have the following opportunities:
1) Hear from leaders in the field
2) Participate in practitioner-led workshops
3) Watch teaching and learning in action at China’s leading bilingual school!
The Global Education Forum will be held in Shanghai on March 28-29, 2019 with a pre-conference (campus visit) on March 27, 2019
Please click"Read More"or scan the QR code below about the conference agenda and registration details for the Global Education Forum.
