Brain-Based Research, Learning and Poverty
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/teaching/poverty/7/
Information from the above site:
Emotions are a significant aspect of life for children of poverty. Emotions have a connection to memory in that they help to store information and also trigger recall. Emotions affect the actual capacity of children to grasp ideas.
One of the most prominent emotions in children of poverty is fear. Brain research indicates that constant fear has a negative effect on learning. Additionally, a person’s physical and emotional well-being is related to their ability to think and learn. Considering that children of poverty may be poorly developed, both physically and emotionally, and that their home environments are often emotionally stressful can explain why they often encounter difficulties in school (SEDL).
Fear and threat can cause the brain to downshift. Downshifting is biological response that focuses solely on survival needs. Poor children often have a feeling of helplessness, low self-esteem and may be fatigued. Thus, when their brains downshift they will not go any further than addressing survival needs.
New information and experiences will be shut out. Attention will be affected because the brain keeps repeating thoughts or unresolved emotional issues. Additionally, cortisol, a stress hormone, will be in abundance; and the result will be emotional volatility. Downshifting can also cause behaviors such as vigilance and resistance or defiance. Students under these conditions can only learn in concrete ways, not abstract ways. (Caine, 2000).
Helping students to find ways to handle strong emotions productively can help them to deal with emotions such as anger, fear, hurt and tension in their daily life experiences and relationships. If students can deal with these emotions effectively, they will be free to learn.
While all students possess all seven intelligences, each child comes to school with different areas developed. Poor children may come to school with musical or bodily-kinesthetic intelligences more developed due to the types of experiences and modeling children of poverty may have in their home environments. This is also an indicator of the child’s learning style and possible strengths and weaknesses.