Universal Design for Learning
  • Welcome!
  • Learning By Design: MSET/Common Ground 2013
  • Historical Foundations
    • Universal Design in Action
    • UDL: A Paradigm Shift
    • UDL in our lives
  • Brain Networks
    • Meet your Brain
    • Brain Rules
    • Three Brain Networks>
      • Recognition Network
      • Strategic Network
      • Affective Network
      • Brain Networks Activity
    • UDL and Learner Variability
    • Reading, Technology and the Brain
  • Teaching Students in the Margins
    • Do you have a disabled curriculum?
    • Principles of Mind
  • UDL Guidelines
    • What are the UDL Guidelines?
    • Principle I: Representation>
      • Multiple Means of Representation in Music
    • Principle II: Action and Expression
    • Principle III: Engagement
    • UDL Guidelines in Practice
    • Reviewing a Science Lesson for UDL Principles and Guidelines
    • Tools for Guidelines and Checkpoints
  • Barriers to Learning
    • Barriers to Learning- Goals
    • Barriers to Learning- Materials
    • Barriers to Learning- Methods
    • Barriers to Learning- Assessments
    • Lesson Evaluation and Redesign
    • Teacher Spotlight: Barriers
    • Barriers to Learning: Sample Redesigns
  • The Common Core and UDL
  • UDL Exemplars
  • Engaging Students Using Technology
    • Problem Solving and Curiosity
    • Digital Learning
    • Creativity and Learning
    • Blooms and Web 2.0 Tools
    • Favorite Tools
  • Resources for Professional Development

The Recognition Network

Picture
Located in the back of the brain, recognition networks enable us to identify and interpret patterns of sound, light, taste, smell, and touch. These networks enable us to recognize voices, faces, letters, and words, as well as more complex patterns, such as an author’s style and nuance, and abstract concepts like justice.

Recognition networks are specialized networks to sense and assign meaning to patterns we see. They enable us to identify and understand information, ideas, and concepts.

Differences in the recognition networks of individual learners range from the subtle to the profound. For example, the “recognition cortex in Albert Einstein’s brain was disproportionately allocated to spatial cognition (Harvey, Kigar, & Witelson, 1999). He had difficulty recognizing the letter patterns and sound-to-symbol connections required for reading, but he was a genius at visualizing the deepest fundamentals of physics. Awareness of these differences across his recognition networks could have helped Einstein’s teachers shape instruction that would both capitalize on his spatial genius and support his areas of weakness.”

Source: http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/chapter2_3.cfm


Understanding the relationship between the UDL principles and the three primary neural networks


Download BrainNetworks_handout and use it to take notes as you learn about each of the brain networks.
OR
Go to this Google Doc: BrainNetworks

Select the following link to the CAST online module about recognition networks. Read about recognition networks then continue to the next page “Classroom Examples: Differences in Recognition” to review classroom applications of the recognition network.

Discussion Questions:
  1. What do recognition networks enable us to do?
  2. What is the affect of individual differences on recognition networks?
  3. What are the implications of this information for teaching and learning in your classroom?
Created by Learning by Design, LLC