Learning and the Brain: Let’s Review

Over the length of the 2024-2025 school year, various members of the Proctor community and I have discussed the neuroscience of learning through blogging on “The Buzz.”  Thank you to my blogging partners: Amy S, Annie, Derek, Buz, Jen, Shauna, Dillo, Lily, Morgan, Kara J, Kara H, Gregor, Rosanna, and the entire Neuroteach PLC. Thank you Ryan who is our publisher, editor, sounding board, and designer. As the year concludes, it seems important to consolidate the most important elements of our conversation. Brain scientists would indict us for failing to review what we have learned.

#1 Neuroplasticity

Everyone involved in education- students, teachers, parents, guardians- needs to focus on the neuropsychological truth that we all have substantial capacity to get better at tasks that are currently areas of weakness. As such, we should assume that a student never has limited capacity to master a task.

Implications for Teaching and Learning: Believe in the capacity of each student to improve their skills; they can achieve at high levels. 

• The job of the student is to understand that their work is important, that they have the ability to succeed, that their results are tied to their effective effort, and that their teachers will never quit on them. 
• The job of the teacher is to act on the belief that all students can radically improve their skills and performance. Teachers can partner with each student to find the pathway to success.

#2 Engagement

The primary neural mechanism of neuroplasticity is engagement. Passivity is the enemy. When the human brain is challenged repeatedly, activation potentials of neuron activity spike in ways that encourage new connections in the brain. 

Implications for Teaching and Learning: Learning is an activity in which each student must actively participate. 

• The job of the student is to understand that sitting passively is the enemy. 
• The job of the teacher generally is to design learning exercises that expect participation and expression from each student. 

#3 Consolidation

Likewise, neurons connect to other neurons, which build networks of learning when the activation is repeated many times. The more our brains engage in a task, the stronger the neural pathways become.

Implications for Teaching and Learning: An effective lesson and an effective curricular unit will include many opportunities for students to display mastery and many creative repetitions.

The forward motion of a lesson or a unit is an upward spiral in which core skills are revisited constantly as the content moves forward. 

• The job of the student is to ask lots of questions, work collaboratively, use the resources around them, and put in the necessary time to succeed. 
• The job of the teacher is to orchestrate frequent, low-stakes assessments that help students understand where they stand. 

#4 Emotions and Cognition

Regions of the human brain essential for learning (the hippocampus) reside in close proximity to regions responsible for emotional regulation (the thalamus and amygdala). This design is foundational to the way humans make sense of incoming stimuli. Before the thalamus sends signals to the large thinking structures in our prefrontal cortices, it checks the threat level to our safety. When we are placed in potentially humiliating circumstances in the classroom setting, learning mechanisms slow or close so as to protect us from threat.

Implications for Teaching and Learning: Trust in the classroom for most students precedes academic rigor. Or stated differently, achievement is biologically welded to our emotional state.

Our neuroanatomy requires that we foresee the prospect of success before we put forth significant effort. 

• The job of the student is to learn what they need to feel in balance (easier said than done) and to act/react productively when they feel dysregulated (easier said than done). 
• The job of the teacher is to build environments in which students feel safe taking risks, expressing their learning needs, and putting forth high effort. 

#5 Best Practices for Teaching and Learning

The goal of ingraining neuroscience with Proctor’s mission is to create ever more successful students. Modern approaches tell us that love is not the entire answer to good education. Nor is rigor sufficient to promote the highest and best outcomes. A motivated and “jacked” teacher can take students quite a distance, but if they are also armed with an understanding of how each student’s brain learns, they will generate a geometrically larger impact on their students.

Implications for Teaching and Learning: As described in “Neuroteach,” the job of the teacher is to follow these practices in each Proctor classroom:

• check for student understanding
• assess frequently
• teach active study habits
• teach effective effort
• insist on student engagement
• utilize the arts and performance to enhance learning
• teach students about how the brain learns
• let students play with ideas
• build opportunities for consolidation into every lesson

Read More From The Learning and the Brain Series