Morgan P. Appel is the Assistant Dean of Education and Community Outreach at UC San Diego Extension. This presentation contains information and resources about neuroscience, education, trauma-informed practices, and building resilience that are relevant for supporting students impacted by adversity or trauma. The document emphasizes the importance of relationships, consistency, safety, empowerment and enhancing self-regulation to create trauma-sensitive learning environments where all students can thrive.

1. Morgan P.Appel,Assistant Dean
Education and Community Outreach

2. This presentation and a host of related
materials and resources may be accessed
directly using Slide Share
(https://www.slideshare.net/).
Just search my name and you will be there
in a flash (although when you’ve hit French
recipes, you’ve gone too far).

3. The SMARTest
Device
Though not as sleek as the
latest and greatest from
Apple or Samsung, we are
all in possession of the
ultimate smart device.
We may not be able as yet
to download music or
respond to queries as
quickly as Alexa, but our
device is much, much older
and much more capable.
Plus, we have a lifelong
contract and the ability to
update every day.

4. Wisdom from the
Renaissance Man
As every divided
kingdom falls, so every
mind divided by many
studies confounds and
saps itself.
This prescient quote
suggests that the
approaches to
education believed
novel today (holistic,
integrated, ST(R)E(A)M
are perhaps not as
innovative as we’d like
to believe.

5. ImpulseControl
Judgment
Language
Working Memory
Motor Function
Sexual Behavior
Socialization
Spontaneity
Integration of
Sensory information
From different modalities
Auditory processing
Speech
Vision
Semantics
Visual
processing
Motor control
Sensory pathways
Some cognition
‘Little Brain’

7.  Earliest evidence: 500 million years ago (in fish)
 Source of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Panic Disorder, and
PostTraumatic Stress Disorder
 Aggression, territoriality, dominance and ritual displays
 Paranoia, social dominance, following precedent
 Status maintenance aggression
 Awe for authority
 Deception
 Prejudice
 Compulsion
 Resistance to change, rigidity

8. Brain Basics: A Primer
 The brain has a primary purpose: survival in dynamic, fluid and often chaotic
environments
 Every learning event triggers the survival mechanism (fight, flight and/or
freeze) compelling the brain to focus on an immediate problem
 The brain learns through multiple senses and modalities, and employs
multisensory data metacognitively to make sense of the environment
 The brain thrives on process and making sense of new information
 The brain works in context when processing new information, including
drawing upon past experiences
 The brain uses patterns to make sense of information and scaffolding to
process new information
 Competence begats confidence and so on, impacting resilience
 Importance of emotional intelligence and self regulation (executive
function)

9. 1. The brain is a complex adaptive system.
2. The brain is a social brain.
3. The search for meaning is innate.
4. The search for meaning occurs through patterning.
5. Emotions are critical to patterning.
6. Every brain simultaneously perceives and creates parts and wholes.
7. Learning involves both focused attention and peripheral attention.
8. Learning always involves conscious and unconscious processes.
9. We have at least two ways of organizing memory.
10.Learning is developmental.
11.Complex learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat.
12.Every brain is uniquely organized.
Source: Caine and Caine (1997)

10. The brain is at its
most active at
3-4 years:
• Personality
development
• Coping with stress
(resilience)
• Sense of
permanency
• Development of
neurotransmitters
impacted by
negative
environment and
lack of stimulus
(neglect)

11. The Adolescent
Brain
In most adolescents, the part of
the brain that processes
emotions (the limbic system) is
fully operational, whereas the
regions responsible for thinking,
reflecting and controlling
emotional response (located in
the prefrontal cortex) are still
developing.
This is why many middle school
students overtly display
emotions inappropriately in the
classroom (through pained
sighs, rolling eyes and blank
looks).
A fully developed prefrontal
cortex enables most adults to
consciously dampen their
emotions.
Source: ascd.org

13.  Over 100 billion nerve endings in the brain process
information
 Active learning creates dendrites/fibers that bridge
across them (like a net)
 As dendrites grow closer, they create synapses (bridges)
 This is the process of learning—the creation of neural
networks or pathways
 Information stored in various parts of the brain (not in
one location)
 New learning reactivates existing networks and builds
upon them (scaffolding) using new sensory data

14.  Positive feelings about a
(learning) experience produce
endorphins (euphoria) and
dopamine (stimulates the
prefrontal cortex)
 Negative feelings about a
(learning) experience produce
Norepinephrine (noradrenaline)
and cortisol –which puts the
brain in survival mode and
causes anxiety
 Positive and negative feedback
work the same way

15. Stress and its
Implications
As we are well aware, a
little bit of stress can be a
good thing as it pushes us
forward to achieve.
Neuroscience offers that
the stress response is
associated with the
survival mechanism and
the neurochemistry of
focus.
Beyond impacts to the
problem at hand, long-
term experience withToxic
Stress can have lasting
physiological effects and
serve as catalysts for
underachievement and
avoidance behaviors.

17. Attend to the affective (s0cio-emotional) first,
foremost and always and all will follow in its wake.
Provide clarity (ambiguity begats anxiety), peace of
mind and opportunities for success no matter how
small (competence begats confidence).
Practical neuroscience dictates that no amount of
instructional sorcery will provide forward
momentum if learners remain in survival mode.

18. • Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi (1975, 1990)/positive psychology
• A Zen-like, intensive state in which an individual becomes
completely emerged in an experience
• “In the groove,” OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE, “In the zone”
• Time stops (almost a meditative state) or flies
• “Seeing the seams of the baseball” or “seeing the Matrix”
• Losing oneself so that one is so focused, s/he is unaware of
distractions, even bodily needs
• A universal and cross-cultural experience
• Connectivity between emotion, motivation and
internalization

19.  Balance between individual’s ability and level of difficulty in
the challenge (cannot be too easy or difficult or flow cannot
occur).
 Goals should be clear. Expectations are foreseen and goals are
attainable.
 High degree of concentration in a limited field of attention—
person should be able to focus and become deeply engaged in
the activity.
 A loss of self-consciousness is experienced (unaware of self
and what the self is doing).
 Sense of time transcendence (subjective experience of time is
altered—passes quickly/slowly/slow motion)

20. When in the flow state,
the brain is actively
seeking out information
from multiple sources
to engage in holistic
problem
solving activities.
That is where motivation,
persistence, resilience and
creativity make their homes.
Flow makes learning
‘addictive’, activating the
brain’s neurochemical
reward system (endorphins
and dopamine for solving
increasingly complex
survival-related problems).
BingeWatching
Social Media
VideoGames

21.  By third grade, 83 percent of students in foster care have
repeated a grade.
 The dropout rate for students in foster care is 31 percent,
compared to 10 percent for all students.
 Only 52 percent of foster youth graduate high school, compared
to 84 percent of all students.
 More than 70 percent of foster youth aged 7 and above have
experienced trauma and/or exhibit mental health symptoms.
 Stress contagion in classrooms (witnessing toxic stress)
Source: Edutopia, 2019

22.  Foster youth characterized as ‘an invisible population’ in education yet one
of the most vulnerable academically
 Little is known about the child welfare system by those outside of it
(teachers, school personnel, etc.)
 Foster youth must contend with divided focus between survival, working
through challenges of state custody and academics
 Foster youth tend to be overrepresented in special education but
underserved, often due to consistent movement and inconsistency of services
(high mobility, new foster parents, new schools)
 Those most familiar with academic and socioemotional needs often have
difficulty navigating the special education system
Source: Berardi and Morton, 2017

23.  Absence of steady nurturing and stable environments in early years of life,
including healthy relationships with adults (attachment)
 Continuity, consistency and predictability in meeting basic needs is essential
but frequently elusive (ambiguity)
 Prolonged exposure to ambiguity/ stress fixes the brain in an acute response
mode in a hypervigilant and fearful manner (hinders processing, compromises
resilience and executive function)
 Prevalence of PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), emerging behavioral
issues and punitive consequences
 Classroom stimuli triggering PTSD-related symptoms (overanxious and
panicked in classroom environment)
 Instinctive freezing or outbursts related to PTSD may be misinterpreted as
defiance
Sources:American Academy of Pediatrics, 2000; Berardi and Morton, 2017

24.  Neuroplasticity: the brain’s innate ability to change (plasticity) across
the lifespan.Those things we do often, we become stronger at, those we
don’t tend to fade away.
 We lose some plasticity as we age.This is why education is
developmental and why it is important to reinforce sound habits of mind
early on (or intervene as quickly as possible)
 Building resilience and growth mindset over time are neuroplastic
processes, involving supported active efforts to contend with stressors.
 Move toward establishing growth mindset as a strategic approach
toward contending with challenges and empowerment.

25. The Resilience
Fulcrum
Our ability to cope and to
build resilience is a
combination of genetics and
life experience.
We are predisposed to be
impacted by events in certain
ways, but our responses to
these events can modify our
structure, effectively moving
the fulcrum to either side.
In this manner, we can
become more resilient and the
impacts of positive outcomes
begin to outweigh the impacts
of negative outcomes.
We take advantage of
neuroplasticity and take an
active role in our own well
being.

26. SMARTest Updates:
Promoting Growth
Mindset
Research on growth and
fixed mindsets is the
brainchild of Carol Dweck,
Professor of Psychology at
Stanford University.
The impetus of her work was
the study of attitudes toward
failure and resilience
attributes of children.
Dweck’s research
incorporates advances in
neuroscience, including
studies on brain plasticity, as
well as data on teaching
practice.
More details available at
https://www.mindsetworks.c
om/science/.

27.  Building trusting relationships over time (fighting relational poverty)
 Facilitating connections to others, realizing one is not alone
 Avoid seeing crises as insurmountable problems (creating a roadmap to
resolution)
 Accepting change as part of life (with examples illustrating safety)
 Moving toward goals, enhancing mastery and offering manifold
occasions for success (epiphany)
 Taking decisive actions (decision making), working through ‘brain on
fire’ (nonstop processing)
 Guiding self discovery and challenging existing self belief
 Maintaining perspective and building realistic/positive self image
 Promoting mindfulness
 Encouraging optimism to the extent possible through example

28.  There will be at least one trauma-impacted student in any learning environment.
Trauma-informed environments benefit all
 Teachers, administrators, advocates and others must understand the critical roles
they play in supporting trauma-impacted students. It takes an entire school
community.
 Consistency, stability and the presence of caring, nurturing and trusted adults are
essential to creating forward momentum and a sense of solace
 Create a sense of empowerment, predictability and safety in the learning
environment whilst enhancing challenge and minimizing risk
 Be vigilant for patterns of behavior and/or triggers that may activate stress-
response systems
 Employ positive behavior supports and the tenets of social and emotional learning to
bolster self-regulation (executive function), confidence and competence
 Know those in your charge (also facilitates differentiated instruction)

30. Morgan Appel
Assistant Dean
Education and Community Outreach
UC San Diego Extension
9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0170-N
La Jolla, California 92093-0170
mappel@ucsd.edu
858-534-9273
extension.ucsd.edu/education