Housatonic Community College

Neuroscience research that explains how the brain learns is a dynamic field. Since the 1990s, there has been explosive growth in information about the neurophysiology of learning. A discussion of the neuroanatomy that is necessary to understand this research is presented first. Following the discussion of anatomy and physiology, current brain research is described, with particular focus on its implications for teaching adult students in an online environment. In addition, two instructional design theories (Gardner’s multiple intelligence and Kovalik’s integrated thematic instruction) that have a basis in neuroscience are examined. Recommendations founded on brain-based research, with a focus on adult education, follow, including specific activities such as crossed-lateral movement patterns and detailed online activities that can be incorporated into an online learning environment or a distance learning class (and face-to-face classroom) for adults. Comprehensive recommendations and guidelines for online learning design have been provided as suggestions for making maximum use of the brain-based principles discussed in this chapter.

"Housatonic's National CoBeta Test of the Community College Strategic Planner." Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 29(8), pp. 631–632

ON MARCH 24, 1971, the United States Senate joined the House in rejecting an administration request for $134 million to continue work on two supersonic transport (SST) prototypes. Thus, in the view of most observers, a program more than a decade in the making was abruptly terminated. Environmental issues notwithstanding, in the final analysis the SST's defeat was a rejection of its economics. So sharp a change in the direction of government invites inquiry into its original purposes. If those purposes were no longer valid-as would seem to be the judgment of the Congress in March, 1971-we may ask on what bases they were valid in the first place, and what conditions, if any, since had changed. Thus the initial decision to sponsor the aircraft is considered in terms of its economic and political dynamics. The government's decision is seen as a two-layered affair, the components of which were first, whether to participate in the private sector through support of the air industries, and second, whether to sponsor the SST program. Support of the air industries was an appropriate goal in 1960, reflecting government's desire for increased economic growth as well as its need to protect that sector against what then appeared to be an impending slump. The SST as a specific project does not fare as well, since it could not effectively fulfill the overall goal.