Foreword by Baroness Susan Greenfield CBE. In Neuroscience for Teachers: Applying Research Evidence from Brain Science, Richard Churches, Eleanor Dommett and Ian Devonshire expertly unpack, in an easy-to-read and instantly useable way, what every teacher needs to know about the brain and how we really learn and what that suggests for how they should teach. Everyone is curious about the brain including your learners! Not only can knowing more about the brain be a powerful way to understand what happens when your pupils and, of course, you pick up new knowledge and skills, but it can also offer a theoretical basis for established or new classroom practice. And as the field of neuroscience uncovers more of nature's secrets about the way we learn and further augments what we already know about effective teaching this book advocates more efficient pedagogies rooted in a better understanding and application of neuroscience in education. By surveying a wide range of evidence in specific areas such as metacognition, memory, mood and motivation, the teenage brain and how to cater for individual differences, Neuroscience for Teachers shares relevant, up-to-date information to provide a suitable bridge for teachers to transfer the untapped potential of neuroscientific findings into practical classroom approaches. The key issues, challenges and research are explained in clear language that doesn't assume a prior level of knowledge on the topic that would otherwise make it inaccessible therefore enabling more teachers to better comprehend the lessons from neuroscience while the authors also take care to expose the ways in which 'neuromyths' can arise in education in order to help them avoid these pitfalls. Laid out in an easy-to-use format, each chapter features: 'Research Zones' highlighting particular pieces of research with a supplementary insight into the area being explored; 'Reflection' sections that give you something to think about, or suggest something you might try out in the classroom; and concluding 'Next steps' that outline how teachers might incorporate the findings into their own practice. The authors have also included a glossary of terms covering the book's technical vocabulary to aid the development of teachers' literacy in the field of neuroscience. Packed with examples and research-informed tips on how to enhance personal effectiveness and improve classroom delivery, Neuroscience for Teachers provides accessible, practical guidance supported by the latest research evidence on the things that will help your learners to learn better. Suitable for LSAs, NQTs, teachers, middle leaders, local authority advisers and anyone working with learners.
Information from neuroscience is growing and being properly used, and misused wich makes it imperative that educators receive accurate and practical information. This book provides the accurate and practical information educators (pre-service and in-service) and caregivers serving children birth through age 8 need to know. This volume takes a practical and cautionary stance. It reminds educators to consider the ethical implications of neuroscience when it is applied to education, reviews current findings from neuroscience and reveals the dangers of oversimplification and inappropriate extensions of neuroscience into curricula. It brings together a group of authors with varied expertise writing on an array of inter-related educational topics that will help educators use neuroscience to understand and address the cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral needs of all young children, including those with exceptionalities. They believe neuroscience can be insightful and useful to educators if applied ethically and with care. The book offers strategies educators and caregivers can use to affect children today and the adults they can become.
This practical resource draws on the best of neuroscience to inform decision-making about digital learning. We live in unprecedented times that have pushed schools to make many decisions that have been postponed for years. For the first time since the inception of public education, teachers have been invited to redesign the learning landscape by integrating an intelligent selection of digital educational resources and changing pedagogical approaches based on information from the learning sciences. This handbook will help teachers make the most of this opportunity by showing them how to use digital tools to differentiate learning, employ alternative options to standardized testing, personalize learning, prioritize social-emotional skills, and inspire students to think more critically. The author identifies some gems in quality teaching that are amplified in online contexts, including 40 evidence-informed pedagogies from the learning sciences. This book will help all educators move online teaching and learning to new levels of confidence and success. Book Features: Provides quick references to key planning tools like decision-trees, graphics, app recommendations, and step-by-step directions to help teachers create their own online learning courses.Guides teachers through a 12-step model for instructional design that meets both national and international standards.Shows educators how to use an all-new Digital Resource Taxonomy to select resources, and how to research and keep them up to date.Explains why good instructional design and educational technology are complementary with best practices in learning sciences like Mind, Brain, and Education Science.Shares ways teachers can leverage technology to create more time for the personalized aspects of learning. Shows educators how to design online courses with tools that let all students begin at their own starting points and how to differentiate homework.Offers evidence-informed pedagogies to make online intimate and authentic for students.
Teaching students whose behaviour is so 'out of control' is a challenge faced by all teachers in modern schools. Contemporary approaches have focused on dealing with the presenting behaviours and attempting to control those. This approach may deal with the problem in the short term but creates no long-term solution. This work accepts that the majority of extremely dysfunctional behaviour is carried out by children who have suffered early, persistent trauma and/or neglect. Disruptive conduct can be explained by the effect their early childhood environment has had on the neural construction of their brain. These children are not 'born bad' but behave this way because of the 'parenting' they received in their early life. These are the children who have graduated out of these dysfunctional environments. Recognising this provides the key to understanding how to deal with these kids. Because the social conditions created these problems, if we change those conditions, over time these children will develop different behaviours to get their fundamental needs met. The solution lies in the fact that everyone acts to get their needs met in the environment in which they live, so it makes sense to present an environment that demands different behaviours to satisfy these needs. The book provides a description about how the early childhood environment creates the neural scaffold that drives dysfunctional behaviour and how developing a well-defined classroom environment will make a positive contribution to changing that behaviour.
This pioneering book shares a fresh vision for school leadership that connects current knowledge from mind, brain, and adult learning research to the process of teacher development and leadership. Providing clear steps and real-life examples, the authors demonstrate a broad array of leadership pathways to help teachers collaborate with colleagues and advocate with administrators and parents.
"At last, a book that meaningfully links the evidence that we have so far gained from cognitive neuroscience with an understanding of learning and education. This book avoids the usual pitfalls of over-stretched interpretations of the research findings and outdated assumptions about teaching and learning. It is a catalyst for bringing together the expertise and experience of professional educators with that of professional scientists in which Geake has expertly balanced accessibility and rigour." Professor Martin Westwell, Director, Flinders Centre for Science Education in the 21st Century, Flinders University, Australia Within education there is a growing interest in neuroscience research and what it can teach us. This book focuses on what neuroscience means for education professionals - in key areas such as learning, memory, intelligence and motivation - and addresses questions such as: How does the brain enable us to learn? Why do some children have learning difficulties, such as ADHD or dyslexia? How can actual scientific research be applied to pedagogy and curriculum design Furthermore, the book explores common 'brain based' learning schemes and exposes the misunderstandings on which these are often based. The author, both an experienced teacher and cognitive neuroscientist, offers teachers advice on how neuroscience can help them in their own teaching. Each chapter includes practical classroom examples and case studies based on real life teaching experiences. This friendly book is jargon-free and no prior scientific knowledge is assumed of the reader. It is thought-provoking reading for practising teachers across all age ranges, trainee teachers, parents, head teachers, educational policymakers, academics and educational psychologists.
The need for studentsOCO understanding of the value of the neurosciencesOCoand the damaging effects of illicit drug use, the mechanisms of addiction, and the scientific and ethical basis of animal-based drug abuse researchOCois critical to creating a better future for our children (from the Introduction). This innovative middle school curriculum presents 10 comprehensive, ready-to-use lessons about contemporary real-world issues involved in drug use and abuse."
This volume makes a philosophical contribution to the application of neuroscience in education. It frames neuroscience research in novel ways around educational conceptualizing and practices, while also taking a critical look at conceptual problems in neuroeducation and at the economic reasons driving the mind-brain education movement. It offers alternative approaches for situating neuroscience in educational research and practice, including non-reductionist models drawing from Dewey and phenomenological philosophers such as Martin Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty. The volume gathers together an international bevy of leading philosophers of education who are in a unique position to contribute conceptually rich and theoretically framed insight on these new developments. The essays form an emerging dialogue to be used within philosophy of education as well as neuroeducation, educational psychology, teacher education and curriculum studies.
The advent of educational neuroscience, a transdisciplinary exercise emerging from cognitive neuroscience and educational psychology, is the examination of physiological processes that undermine, support, and enhance the capacities to learn and create. The physiological underpinnings of learning and creativity each impact human ability and performance and mediate the processes of becoming educated, expert, and valued. Evidence of learning provides support to an ongoing canon, process, system, field or domain, while evidence of creativity results in an elaboration or departure from an ongoing canon, process, system, field, or domain. Educational neuroscience extends a challenge to scholars from multiple contexts to engage in the characterization and exploration of human ability and performance in these realms. The role of context, both environmental and interoceptive, is an integral part of efforts in educational neuroscience and in theories of constructivist learning to contribute ecologically valid insight to the pragmatic processes of learning and creativity. Examination at this level of specificity is vital to our ability to educate and support human potential in the 21st century. This Research Topic examines the neural basis of cognitive states and processes that influence knowledge and skill acquisition tied to the demonstration of human ability and performance across individual differences and in multiple contexts including STEM learning and the arts.
“Teachers hold the potential to provide a student with frustration or opportunity every day—and those states are closer together than you might think.” When students repeatedly lose track of directions or take a long time to solve problems, it’s easy for teachers to see the distracted or off-task behavior, but not always to see the root of the problem. Quite often the same child who has an underdeveloped skill may have an opposing but hidden strength: a slow processor of information may also be a deep thinker. Teaching to Every Kid’s Potential is an invitation to teachers to improve the learning in their classrooms, one student at a time, using practical, evidence-based strategies. Focusing on four big concepts from neuroscience—flexibility, readiness, connection, and masking—the author shows how to apply them to build on the strengths of students. Each chapter unpacks the science; shows how talents can compensate for neural processing issues and suggests small but powerful adjustments to classroom practice that can allow kids’ gifts to emerge.
The field of educational neuroscience uses new insights about the neural mechanisms of learning to improve educational practices and outcomes. The first volume to bring together the latest knowledge on the development of educational neuroscience from a life-span perspective, this important text offers state of the art, authoritative research findings in educational neuroscience before providing evidence-based recommendations for classroom practice. Thomas, Mareschal, Dumontheil, and the team of expert international contributors assembled in this volume thoroughly explore four main themes throughout the book. The first theme is individual differences, or what makes children perform better or worse in the classroom. The second theme is the nature of individual differences at different stages in development, from early years into adulthood. The third theme addresses cognitive enhancement, summarizing research that has investigated activities that might give general benefits to cognition. And the fourth theme considers the translation of research findings into classroom practices, discussing broader ethical issues raised by educational neuroscience, and what teachers need to know about neuroscience to enhance their day-to-day practice. Specific topics explored include neuropsychological perspectives on socioeconomic disparities in educational achievement, reading difficulties, phonological skills, executive function, and emotional development. Educational Neuroscience is essential reading for researchers and graduate students of educational psychology, developmental science, developmental psychology, and cognitive psychology, especially those specializing in emotion regulation.
