The Brain as a Meaning-Maker

MOVEMENT AND LEARNING

&

THE BRAIN AS A MEANING-MAKER

PAPER

Submitted to Fulfill One of The Psycholinguistic Course Assignments Faculty of Tarbiyah

English Education Department

By : Musdalifah 882032021010

Saramianti 882032021013 TARBIYAH FACULTY

INSTITUTE AGAMA ISLAM NEGERI (IAIN) BONE 2024

PREFACE

First of all, thank Allah SWT because of the help of Allah, the writers finished writing the paper entitled “Movement and Learning & The Brain as a Meaning Maker .”

The purpose in writing this paper is to fulfill the assignment that given by Mrs. Hasriati Nur, S.Pd., M.Pd. as lecturer in Psycholinguistic major.

In arranging this paper, the writers truly get lots challenges and obstructions but with help of many individuals, those obstructions could be passed. The writers also realized there are still many mistakes in process of writing this paper.

Because of that, the writes say thank you to all individuals who helps in the process of writing this paper. Hopefully Allah replies all helps and blesses you all. The writers realized that this paper still imperfect in arrangement and the content. Then the writers hope the criticism from the readers can help the writers in perfecting the next paper.

Bone, 16^th July 2024

Group 5

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface ...ii

Table of Contents ...iii

Chapter I Introduction ...1

A. Background ...1

B. Problem Statement ...2

C. Writing Purpose ...2

Chapter II Discussion ...3

A. Movement and Learning...3

B. The Brain As a Meaning Maker...4

Chapter III Conclusion and Suggestion ...11

A. Conclusion ...11

B. Suggestion ... 11

Reference ...12

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background

Movement in learning also known as movement-based instruction, is a teaching method based on the concept that movement enhances cognitive processes and facilitates learning. This approach emphasizes integrating movement into educational settings to optimize students' engagement and academic performance. Research suggests that incorporating movement breaks as little as 10 minutes of walking, and physical activities during lessons can enhance students' ability to process and retain new information. While some studies have highlighted the positive effects of movement-based instruction, there is ongoing research exploring its effectiveness across diverse educational settings and populations.

When funding is scarce, educators have to make difficult decisions. Do the arts, drama, and physical education fit within the budget? Are they essentials or extravagance? What precisely does brain science tell us about the mind-body connection? For a long time, it appeared as though the scientific and educational communities held the view that thought and movement were two different things that would never intersect.

For decades, unconventional scientists proposed connections between thought and movement, but the general public was not as supportive. We have more knowledge now. The close connections between learning, the arts, and physical education are highlighted in this chapter. When teenagers remark,

"School is boring," they are somewhat reflecting a common teenage sentiment.

There's more to it, though: students want their education to have purpose and meaning. How is it possible for education to have significance for all of the diverse personalities, ethnicities, and sorts of pupils that attend? The primary idea of this chapter is that by deliberately creating the circumstances for increased meaning.

B. Problem Statement

Based on the background, the problem statement is as follows:

1. What are components in Movement and Learning?

2. What are components in The Brain as a Meaning-Maker?

C. Writing purpose

Based on the problem statement above, the writing purpose of this paper is as follows:

1. To Know The Components In Movements and Learning.

2. To Know The Components In The Brain as a Meaning Maker.

CHAPTER II DISCUSSION A. Movement and Learning

1. Mind and Body

The brain and body work together as a machine, with the vestibular system playing a crucial role in maintaining balance and spatial orientation.

This system helps in focusing on objects, reading, and interpreting visual information. Movement triggers the vestibular system, which processes information and sorts it into usable pieces, enhancing higher-order thinking and memory.

2. Motor Development and Learning

Children develop their physical abilities, or motor development, at a fast pace. This development is especially noticeable between the ages of three and five. Motor development breaks down further to include two areas of focus known as fine motor and gross motor skills.

Adults should encourage and promote this physical development by providing safe and appropriate physical activities for children. Research shows that children who participate in regular physical activity will have overall better health and confidence in their bodies and will understand what their bodies can do. To promote development, children must have the opportunity to practice skills daily. In particular, young children build motor skills through active play.

The areas of focus for motor development you will find in this section are :

 Grip and Manipulation (ages 3-7+) which includes fine motor skills related to small hand and finger muscles, commonly referred to as one’s dexterity.

 Balance and Coordination (ages 3-7+) which includes gross motor skills related to use of large muscles, like the torso, arms, and legs.

 Self-Help Skills (3-7+) which include fine and gross motor skills that support and encourage independence among growing children.

In each section, you will find motor development skills and behaviors you might see your child demonstrate and ideas that may help your child become stronger and more independent. All children develop at different rates so there is no exact spot that will define the learning of your child. Your interactions and support will help your child grow and improve no matter where they are along the path of motor development.

3. Physical Education and Learning

Exercise strengthens the brain's key areas, including the basal ganglia, cerebellum, and corpus callosum. It fuels the brain with oxygen and neurotropins, enhancing growth and connections between neurons. Children engaged in daily physical education show superior motor fitness, academic performance, and attitude towards school compared to those who do not.

Aerobic conditioning also aids in memory.

Exercise triggers the release of BDNF, a brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which enhances cognition by boosting the ability of neurons to communicate with one another. Studies suggest that exercise can reduce stress, which releases chemicals that kill neurons in the hippocampus, a critical area for long-term memory formation. Physical exercise is still one of the best ways to stimulate the brain and learning. A Canadian study found that extra gym time improved short-term memory, reaction time, and creativity.

4. The Movement Arts

Japan, Hungary, and the Netherlands have integrated music and art training into their elementary curriculums, leading to improved visual

thinking, problem-solving, language, and creativity. Studies suggest that students can boost academic learning from games and play activities. Jenny Seham of the National Dance Institute (NDI) has observed positive changes in self-discipline, grades, and sense of purpose in schoolchildren who study dance. Spinning activities stimulate the inner ear, helping with physical balance, motor coordination, and stabilization of images on the retina.

In Aiken, South Carolina, a strong arts curriculum led to a school's success, showcasing that a strong arts curriculum is at the creative core of academic excellence. Fun can also be beneficial for health, as it decreases stress and improves immune system functioning for three days after the fun.

Sensory-motor experiences feed directly into the brains' pleasure centers, resulting in students returning to school year after year.

5. Practical Suggestions

Brain, mind, and body research highlights the connection between movement and learning. Educators should integrate movement activities into everyday learning, including daily stretching, walks, dance, theater, drama, seat-changing, and physical education. Brain-compatible learning involves integrating math, movement, geography, social skills, role play, science, and physical education. Embracing movement and arts can create a continuous theme in education.

B. The Brain As a Meaning Maker 1. The Search for Meaning

In psychology, meaning-making is the process of how people construe, understand, or make sense of life events, relationships, and the self.

a. Brain's Function:

The brain is built to search for connections even in random events. This is because the brain is wired to make sense of the world and to find meaning in experiences. It continuously seeks to understand and interpret the environment and its own experiences to create a coherent narrative.

b. Meaning-Making Mechanisms:

The brain has mechanisms that enable meaning-making. These mechanisms involve both functional and neural levels of analysis. At the functional level, the brain processes information to create a coherent understanding of the world, while at the neural level, specific brain regions and networks are involved in this process.

c. Cultural Differences:

Cultural context influences how individuals perceive and seek meaning. For example, individuals from interdependent cultures, such as Asian cultures, tend to perceive the search for meaning and the presence of meaning as interconnected. This holistic view contrasts with the more individualistic perspective in Western cultures.

d. Sources of Meaning:

Meaning in life can be derived from various sources, including meaningful relationships and meaningful occupations. These sources contribute to a sense of belonging and personal fulfillment

2. The Biology of Meaning

Meaning is a complex concept that is built into our brains through various mechanisms. For example, the human response to sadness to sickness and death is a result of the release of emotion-based chemicals, which can change the physical structure of the brain. This change may have an adaptive advantage over an organism without this response. However, meaning that is not hard wired is more complex and can be more like a satisfying Thanksgiving holiday or a student's challenging science project. PET scans reveal the experience of meaning has a biological correlate, depending on the type of meaning.

Meaningful experiences usually have more activity in the left frontal, temporal, or parietal lobe, while spiritual meanings may have more activity in the parietal lobe. Emotions are triggered by the brain's chemistry, and context triggers pattern making related to the formation or activation of larger neural fields. In summary, meaning is a complex process with multiple factors contributing to its existence.

 The Importance of Relevance

The biology of relevance is a crucial aspect of understanding meaning, occurring on a cellular level. It involves neurons connecting with each other, forming relevant connections that strengthen them. Every thought increases the chances of thinking again, activating entire neural fields that cross cell and axon boundaries. The more links and associations a brain creates, the more neural territories involved and the more firmly the information is woven in neurologically. For example, Nobel laureate Buckminster Fuller found that conversations about birds reminded him of nearly everything else, making nearly everything relevant. However, many students struggle with this concept, as classroom information lacks the personal relevance necessary for any meaning.

 Practical Suggestions for Making Meaning

Teachers should help students discover relevance in their learning by linking prior learning with discussion, mapping, and journaling. Utilize

current events, family history, stories, myths, legends, and metaphors to make the learning relevant. Allow learners to explain what is taught in their own words and use relevant personal stories. Tie in local or national media and encourage students to share their experiences. One- sided lecture methods violate the principle that our brains grow in a social environment. When used properly, cooperative learning is highly brain compatible. Talking, sharing, and discussing are critical, as we are biologically wired for language and communication. Use discussion questions or allow students to pair up and share personal experiences. Allow time for "free association" by asking questions like

"Have you ever had this happen?" or "Could you compare and contrast this to a personal experience?"

3. The Importance of Emotions

Emotions and meaning are interconnected, with emotions triggering the release of chemicals adrenaline, norepinephrine, and vasopressin, signaling the brain that something is important. Emotions are primarily experienced in relation to what matters, and they are processed at an unconscious level in the brain and brain stem area. Emotions engage meaning and predict future learning by involving goals, beliefs, biases, and expectancies.

In a classroom, emotional states are crucial for educators to orchestrate learning, as they can influence students' vested interest in achieving goals.

Integrating emotions into the curriculum is more effective than trying to eliminate them for serious cognitive learning. Emotions drive the threesome of attention, meaning, and memory, and engaging emotions productively will do

"triple duty" to capture all three.

4. Purposely Engaging Emotions

There’s a big difference between simply evoking emotions randomly and productively inviting or purposely engaging emotions. In the first case, it’s cheap and disrespectful. In the latter case, it’s smart teaching. How can you help students develop more “deeply felt meaning” by engaging productive emotions? Here are some specific strategies.

 Expression

 Movement

 Stakes

 Novelty

 Sharing

 Think Big

5. The Importance of Context and Patterns

Pattern thinking suggests that the brain forms quick hierarchies to extract or create patterns, giving context to information that would otherwise be dismissed as meaningless. This patterning may begin on a micro level, with groups of neurons recognizing and responding to meaningful learning.

Researchers are currently testing models of perception and learning that may mimic the brain's visual system, mirroring neuronal groups and synapses.

Pattern making is critical to proper development, as it involves organizing and associating new information with previously developed mental hooks. The brain's natural quest for meaning is linked to integrated thematic instruction, but intellectual maturity enriches the process dramatically.

Interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary models create more relevance and context, helping students understand the connections in learning. Meaning- making from emotional activation is more likely originating in the mid-brain's reward circuit, withthalamus, amygdala, and lower parietal areas involved.

6. Practical Suggestions

Context in education can be explicit or implicit, with implicit learning forming a mental model. Teachers can reveal their own mental models and elicit student models to expose boundaries, limitations, and genius in student thinking. Explicit learning models, such as graphic organizers, provide context for better understanding and meaning. Maps can serve as preexposure to the patterns of a topic, helping students learn more, recall more, and improve attitudes. The former Soviet Union had high math and science achievement

scores due to the pioneering work of Victor Shatalov, who used graphic organizers with color coding to intensify important material.

To encourage more patterning, teachers can answer "why" questions, point out patterns in nature, introduce skills of grouping, read to kids, ask questions that compare and contrast elements in nature, help children learn to use jigsaw puzzles, stitchery, teach and learn sound patterns, give global overviews before beginning a topic, help students use motor skills, prepare learners with oral previews, games, metaphorical descriptions, and mind- maps, and allow learners to evaluate the pros and cons, discuss the relevance, and demonstrate their patterning with models, plays, and teachings.

CHAPTER III CLOSING A. Conclusion

Movement in learning also known as movement-based instruction, is a teaching method based on the concept that movement enhances cognitive processes and facilitates learning.

The brain is a meaning-making machine, constantly seeking to make sense of the world and its experiences. The brain is wired to make sense of the world and its experiences. It continuously seeks to understand and interpret the environment and its own experiences. The involvement of mirror neurons in understanding others' actions and emotions. The meaning-making mechanism(s) in the brain involve various neural pathways and processes. These mechanisms help individuals interpret and respond to stimuli, shaping their behavior and emotions.

B. Suggestion

Throughout this paper, we have described Movement and Learning & The Brain as a Meaning-Maker to increase the readers' knowledge, we hope our paper can be useful for all readers, especially for those people who want be a teacher in the future.

However, we can suggest future teachers or readers design a paper that can be better than what we have done in this paper. Criticism and suggestion are something that we need from all readers, so that, we can know where the part of our paper we can fix.

REFERENCES https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning-making

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-is-a-human/202405/why- our-brains-are-built-to-search-for-meaning

https://www.yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2022/12/22/the-movement- and-learning-connection-why-it-matters/

Kupetz, A. H. (2013). Teaching with Wisdom. In BizEd (Vol. 12, Issue 2).

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