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I was at my wit鈥檚 end in reaching some of my students who were struggling. I knew I had to work smarter, not harder. Rather than haphazardly trying one strategy after another, I resolved to better understand what was happening in my students鈥� 鈥渋nner spaces.鈥� Which led me to neuroscience.

And although neuroscience is not a panacea, here are a few of my takeaways:

鈥� I now focus my planning much more on learners鈥� needs rather than what I 鈥渉ave to teach.鈥� I look for ways to establish the relevance of a lesson to previous and future learning, and make sure the lesson is truly worthwhile. If we make Civil War gingerbread in class, students need to know why and how it links to what they鈥檝e learned.

鈥� I have slowed down. A lot. Once the kids get used to longer wait times for responses to questions, they realize they are accountable for answering. I also try to extend my wait time after their responses. This typically extends their responses further, and peers鈥� subsequent questions and comments are related to the first student鈥檚 thoughts. Big-time gains for 2nd and 3rd graders.

鈥� I encourage students to ask more questions by allowing more time for inquiry. I also post question stems to model various levels of thinking next to different amounts of 鈥渃lassroom bucks"; they have to ask questions from each level to sweeten their proverbial pot. I ask fewer spontaneous questions, instead asking specific (planned!) questions at strategic points in lessons. Anticipation of what they may be thinking at any given point presents a whole new level in planning.

鈥� My evaluation of student responses has changed because--and this is especially true with language learners--even an apparently incorrect or off-base response can give me valuable information about their cognitive processes and previous knowledge. This helps me enhance the relevance of my instruction and also build stronger emotional connections.

鈥� I teach students about their brains. Part of the brain-based learning means that as I learn about how the brain works, so too, should my students. They should be guided to identify their emotions, what motivates or stresses them, why something 鈥渟ticks鈥� more than usual. This cedes ownership to them so they can understand how--and have more power--to reduce their own stress and maximize their intellect with new tools for social and emotional competence.

鈥� It鈥檚 a great topic for action research. I use my findings as a mutual learning opportunity and as a lens through which to study classroom processes, student actions, and student reactions. The whys and hows. I look behind student responses for renewed insight, and have deepened my awareness of learning as a living process that directly affects people鈥檚 lives.

鈥� There are plenty of other examples, but my most important reflection is that this is all about the learner. 鈥淢y lessons鈥�, the 鈥渟tate鈥檚 curriculum鈥�, etc., are useless without the context of the learner, and their neural pathways being strengthened. Cognitive neuroscience, with all of its findings, has nearly carved in stone the fact that all learners are indeed different (the new 鈥渘ormal鈥�, perhaps)--a very obvious, but necessary fact outside the confines of labels and data.

Learning more about neuroscience has changed my perspective on the profession: as teachers, we really are brain-changers--and we can be more effective when we take advantage of recent discoveries.

Neurological evidence confirms what many teachers already do know about learning--the brain鈥檚 penchant for patterns, repetition, novelty, emotional connections, etc. But data has debunked several misguided myths: critical periods in educational development, left brain vs right brain, multiple intelligences, the idea that we use just 10% of our brains.

Findings have also shed light on nutritional needs of the brain, the necessity of sleep, and common developmental disorders. It鈥檚 a wide-ranging field that illuminates the complexity of the mind. If you鈥檝e ever been concerned with puzzles of the whole child, I鈥檇 encourage you to jump in and read. The basics are accessible and will lend concerted perspective to the hows and whys of your practice.

Be cautious, of course, as some assertions you encounter won鈥檛 be sound. Reflect deeply on your own practice, use common sense, and honor the individual learners in your classroom--these strategies will help you sort out what to do with what you read.

Here are the top four ways to practically implement what we know about how the brain learns into our teaching:

1. Get moving

Movement gives the brain the opportunity to 鈥榙o the information鈥� rather than to just see or hear it. Children who move around as part of their lessons show increased stimulation of the frontal lobes, less impulsiveness, and increased ability for executive control. Likewise, highly physically fit children show much greater success on attention tasks requiring executive control, and much better performance on mathematics and reading achievement tests.

2. Hook into emotions

Emotions are processed on brain super pathways and cue corresponding bodily responses, such as a release of adrenaline, increase in heart rate and sensory alertness. In the same way, when a classroom event is emotional or interesting, small amounts of adrenaline are released, strengthening the quality of neural signaling in the brain. An emotional hook to a learning experience can speed up the learning process. Furthermore, children vividly remember those classroom activities that sparked their motivation or grabbed their attention.

3. Make space for open-ended and creative play

Neurological research shows us that cognition develops primarily through play. Play prepares the brain to handle the unexpected and promotes neural development in the brain areas involved in socioemotional functioning. As an illustration, rodents in environments with running wheels and play structures show greater brain development and intelligence than those without opportunities to play. In one study, juvenile animals raised with an adult who they could not play with, showed deficits in cognitive and social functioning. If they were allowed to play with a peer for just one hour per day, though, no deficits occurred.

4. Work together

Collaboration in groups or pairs is especially beneficial for learning because our brains have overlapping neural circuits for actions that are performed and actions that are perceived. In this way, we can learn skills just as complex by being actively present, rather than needing to directly experience everything ourselves. With so-called mirror neurons, the observation of someone else鈥檚 action directly maps onto our brain鈥檚 motor representation of that action. When students learn together, they gain the knowledge that comes with not just their experience/perspective, but also that of every other student in the group.