Your first discussion prompt refers to an excerpt from Smith's book called Brain: Towards an Understanding. In this excerpt, the author discusses the way visual perceptions are formed by the brain. Of particular importance to those of us who are concerned with education and/or rehabilitation of persons with visual impairmets is that Smith argues: "Instead of the neuronal connections between the ‘representation’ and the motor neuron pool being built into the nervous system they must be formed during the lifetime of the individual." What does this statement (and the overall premise of the article) mean for us?
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I think that it means that we are always learning. We are always in search of more knowledge, we have that hunger for more. Whether learning is turning head 90 degrees towards a sound or how to juggle 9 grad hours, no matter what the subject is we are always learning. (I am probably too far off the subject, but I believe that learning occurs thoughout one's lifetime, it doesn't stop.)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Robin in reguards to learning occures over a life term. i did not understand or completely comprehend the article but here is my iterpretation. (N.R. Hanson)"our intellectual cultural background influece the way we see things". the physical basis of memory is visual pattern recognition. when a child sees the bottle in mommys hand over time the child begans to realize its time to eat or food (hence visual patterns). the pattern triggers the inate sense of recognition.
ReplyDeleteNot only that Vanessa, the article mentions visual "perceptions". This means, we have formed a particular "picture" of a person, place or thing before we've ever come into contact with it, based on what we've either heard or assumed the place is like. For example, Alaska is always cold and snowy. Our brain will now always trigger cold and snowy when we hear Alaska, even if we've never been there. For our VI students, we have to be aware that when we are teaching our students on a particular subject, the student is continually forming "pictures". As an O&M, I love this. Put a rough rock in a VI student's hand, he/she now knows what a mountain "looks" like!
ReplyDeleteI could be totally off, as I'm with Vanessa, and didnt completely comprehend the article.But I think it has to do with quality of exposure and concept building being linked to brain activities and forming or activating neurons. Be it a visual experience, tactual, olfactory, auditory, etc. The more we are exposed to throughout our lives, not just in youth will have an effect on our brain. Thus, participating in educational classes, crosswords, travel, art, etc even later in life might increase or maintain what our what we know/remember. And getting our visually impaired students exposure to the world around them using their other senses as early as possible could lead to their independence earlier, as they may hit milestones earlier than they would without the experiences.
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ReplyDeleteRobin is right, we are always learning and this starts early in life. During the time when we are infants our brain is developing and gaining new information. Our brain is continuing to develop during this time. We are exposed to different environment, even when it is tactual, visual, or auditory. We are able to store the information such as a student with visual impairments learn through touch. I hope this is what it is talking about.
ReplyDeleteMy interpretation of the argument from Smith is: instead of neuronal connections existing when we are born, the connections must be formed throughout the lifetime. I had a chance to attend a 6 day brain research seminar last summer presented by Dr. Eric Jensen. Based upon the knowledge I received from the seminar along with years of experience in teaching in a low socio economic school, my instinct agreed that connections must be formed throughout the lifetime. I wanted some current research to back my feeling though. Tamara Koeler who is the author of Brain Child: Science Findings on Brain Development states the following scenario. “An infant is staring at his mother's versatile face, not a trace of understanding in his still-focusing eyes. And yet behind that wide-eyed gaze and soft cap of bone, an electrical storm is taking place. Deep inside the 1 1/2 pound infant brain, millions of wispy circuits are zapping and firing, paving electrical roads and bridges that will carry the heavy traffic of learning, questioning and creating throughout life.”
ReplyDeleteTherefore, as a teacher I feel that this statement is encouraging. We can present experiences for students that will help build upon their lifelong bank of connections.
Luci Pool
I am not sure that anyone truly understands how the brain does what it does, but the research truly shows some insight as to how it matures and grows. I do know that based on the years I have worked with children, it is amazing how and what they are able to learn even when they are limited. Through experiences we are able to develop and refine the ways we understand the world around us. It is important to remember that limited exposure to things limits the creation of new information in the brain. A child who is not spoken to or read to has very limited communication skills when they enter school. Likewise, a child who has limited visual input will have a limited idea of what is around them. It is up to us to start helping the child experience the world around them to develop the new pathways that will help them to have the connectivity in concepts. This research seems to support the ability to help the child develop more neuronal pathways that will help the child grow and flourish.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most important concepts for a child who is visually impaired or blind is visual experiences. Even though some children who are completely blind may not be able to understand the full capacity of what their sighted peers experience visually, the more visual experiences they have the better. Though the child that is blind or visually impaired may not be able to fully grasp the visual concepts their sighted peers experience. The more the student that is visually impaired experienced these visual opportunities then the greater chance there for neuron growth. Additionally, there seems to be a correlation between neuron growth and visual experiences for children. So, are job as professionals in the field of visual impairment is to adapt these visual experiences to the student who is visually impaired this in turn allows them the chance of greater neuron growth and equal opportunity to their sighted peers.
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