Once you learn some basic neuroscience, it's easy to see the connection with learning. Using it for teaching is a fairly recent development, the two fields have traditionally been far apart. It started when neuroscientists began to compile years of studies on the brain and apply them to learning using new techniques such as MRI imaging. Soon, the fields of Educational Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuroscience were born. Next, educators started to teach themselves about the brain; some neurologists such as Judy Willis have even become teachers. Neuroscience is complicated, but with the help of the Internet and some ambitious individuals, the key principles can be distilled into easily understandable chunks and accessed readily. We have prepared 6 neuroscientific concepts related to learning to give you an idea of what is available online, and included online resources or ways to to apply them to online learning environments.
Teacher Lens
Neuroscience is just one form of information and research that experts filter, analyze and interpret for us, creating theories, frameworks, strategies and tactics that we can apply in our daily practice. As educators it is then up to us to filter what we are presented and determine how, when and why we will implement strategies in our classroom and in online learning environments.
As you review the 6 tips use your professional lens to determine what strategies resonate with you.
8 Brain-based Tips
Below are 8 Tips to explore. Hover over them to reveal the topic. Click to reveal the information.
Tip #7 - Meaning
Overview
Although neuroscience supports repetition for learning, in the form of multiple methods and means of accessing and reviewing, it seems “...the old drill-and-kill method is not only boring, but - neurologically speaking - pretty useless.”
Memory and retention happens when the learner can personally connect with their learning or connect to previous learning, and emotionally engage with it. If a student doesn’t see the relevance most likely they won’t remember it. How often, of boys in particular, have you heard “What’s this good for?” or “Why do we have to learn this?”. These are more than annoying questions. They highlight the brain’s need to make connections and pay attention to what is new or part of a pattern. Indeed the search for meaning is innate.
Relevance and meaning also come into play when learners apply their learning, “...especially through authentic, personally meaningful activities…” This connects to both constructivst principles, where the learner works collaborative with others to construct their own knowledge and Piaget’s concept of schema, where learners expand and grow their networks. Isolated activities and memory based learning ignores neuroscience. Without the inclusion of purposeful activities, the brain simply prunes away what it perceives as unused or unconnected.
Caine and Caine (1991) explained it clearly: "the greater the extent to which what we learn is tied to personal, meaningful experiences, the greater and deeper our learning will be.”
Application to Learning
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Enure you and student know how specific skills and knowledge connect into a purposeful "whole"
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Include opportunities for authentic learning including project based learning and problem solving opportunities that have real world application
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Include metacognition in your lessons - students need to know how they learn and how they can apply that understanding in future learning
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Have students summarize and symbolize new learning into new formats. This is where visual learning and mindmaps come into play.
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Incorporate higher order thinking skills into your instruction and model executive functions such as judgment, prioritizing, synthesizing, setting goals, problem solving etc.
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Highlight for students when they are accessing prior knowledge or transferring a skill - Talk about how they grow their learning (and brains) as they make new connections to past learning, and use past learning to solve new problems
Articles/Resources
Online
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Help learners pay attention so they can make connections. To do this:
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include an overview of what learners will be learning and why
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Create “hooks” with interesting cases or examples
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Include an interesting image or short video
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Make the learning clear and relevant. Do this early.
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Make sure the course is organized in a clear, concise and meaningful way. The brain looks for pattern - give it.
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Provide choice for navigation and a variety of means of learning. This supports novelty but also helps make the learning personally relevant.
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Provide choice in both materials and assignments. Allow learners to choose ways to learn and express what they learned in ways that are personal to them
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Encourage deeper questioning and higher order thinking by monitoring and participating in online communities and discussion groups. Help learners expand beyond their current understanding by asking strategic questions.
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Ask for learners to reflect on their learning when they post an assignment or respond to a discussion question. Get them to make connections to their learning and how they learn