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 6 Tips to explore. Hover over them to reveal the topic. Click to reveal the information.
Tip #1 - Novelty
Overview
Novelty sustains attention. Our brains are wired to crave new information: The higher order thinking part of our brain lights up when it detects anything new. Conversely, when we are bored or stressed, the gate keeping part of our brain, the amygdala, redirects information to the primitive flight or fight brain, where it gets lost. But according to psychiatrist Dr. Bruce Perry, even if information makes it into the thinking brain, neural systems fatigue after four to eight minutes of sustained attention. Our brains need frequent breaks or changes for optimal learning to occur. If the brain doesn’t get a break, attention wanders.
Application to Learning
In his article, “How the Brain Learns Best,” Dr. Perry says that “neurons respond to patterned and repetitive, rather than to sustained, continuous stimulation.” Essentially, if the same type of information is presented for too long, without a change, the neural system responsible for processing it will fatigue. If they know how the brain works, teachers can design their presentations to cycle through multiple related neural systems, giving each a chance to rest before returning to it again with the same type of stimulus. Perry calls this the “Bob-and-Weave” lecture style. He describes it as alternating between emotion-fact-concept, all of which engage different neural systems that work together to achieve learning. For example, start with a story that hooks the listener with emotion (e.g. empathy, surprise, humour), introduce the facts related to the story, tie those into the larger concept, then return to the story, back to the facts, etc.
Articles/Resources
Article: Bruce Perry, "How the Brain Learns Best"
Blog: Judy Willis, "Cognitively Priming Students for Learning".
Video: Judy Willis, "The Science of Learning", Chapters: The Science of Boredom (1:25), Creating Curiosity in the Clasroom (3:00), Focusing Students' Attention in the Classroom (3:53)
Online
Use technology in novel ways, e.g. Skype a guest speaker into the classroom.
Take advantage of multimedia resources that can be used to inject relevant compelling narrative into your lessons.
Promote inquiry-based learning. See Quest to Learn for some innovative examples.