10. The Brain as a Meaning-Maker

"When students say "School is boring," part of the comment reflects a common adolescent feeling. Yet there's more to it: Learners want school to be worthwhile and meaningful." The theme here is that you can make learning more interesting and valuable by making it have greater meaning and impact in their lives.

There are two forms of meaning addressed here. 'Surface' and 'deeply felt' meaning seems fairly self-explanatory. On the one hand we understand the basics of what something is or what it is to be used for, while the other takes hold in our minds and hearts as something we truly understand or connect with.

"When something is meaningful during reading, there's usually more activity [in the brain]." That said, different kinds of meaning (romantic vs. spiritual vs. surface) occur in different parts of the brain making this a very complex process. The evidence presented here points to relevance, emotions, and pattern making as key components of establishing meaning. They don't all have to be tied together (and often aren't) but one form or another comes into play. For example, eating a good, healthy meal is relevant to their lives, but it may have little meaning to students.


Relevance:

If something is relevant to a student they will make and establish connects in their brains. If it isn't, it's unlikely a connection will be made. How do we establish relevance? By linking the unfamiliar with the familiar or by explaining it's importance in a way that students find engaging. However, what is relevant to one may not be relevant to another.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: How do we go about making content in our libraries or our schools relevant? Is it through technology, use, application, or informing them about why it's important? How do we get students to get this point on their own?


Never assume that because something is relevant ot you, that it's relevant to your students. Help them to discover relevance, but don't impose it on them.


Emotions:

Emotions and meaning are linked. "We generate some emotion about what is happening on a moment-by-moment basis and we experience emotion only in regard to what matters to us." We use emotion to evaluate (good or evil?) and to discriminate. When we evaluate, we give meaning to the content.

"When your students do goal setting, it is their emotions that create the goal and their vested interest in achieving the goal." Depending on the emotions of the students in your classroom, it may be more or less difficult to establish meaning depending on many factors. Are they afraid of you? Worried about a test? Not sure of the content? All of this impacts learning.


Purposely Engaging Emotions
Here are specific strategies you can use to grab the emotional attention of your students.

1. Expression. A positive environment to safely express whatever they think or feel
2. Movement. Allow them to role play, share stories, or move around
3. Stakes. Put value or worth into the assignment.
   
4. Sharing. Allow students to share with each other what they think or feel

What other strategies can come into play? Post your ideas below.


Context & Patterns

Putting information into context and establishing patterns are key to establishing meaning. Without context, information is just dumped and has no meaning. Students need to look at the big picture and figure out where they and their learning fits into the grand scheme. In their work, establishing context shows they grasp the full significance of what it is they're working with. In other words, just providing a quotation from a book isn't enough... students need to explain why they've chosen it and what was happening at the time. By giving context, they develop meaning.

Context can either be implicit or explicit. Implicit learning is where students need to do their learning based off intuition, previous experience, or accessing knowledge. Meaning may not be directly stated, but implied. Explicit is learning that is direct and intentional. This kind of learning involves being shown rather than letting the students discover the answer for themselves. This may not sound positive, but if you're in a science lab dealing with explosive chemicals, you can see the value in being clear and direct.