# data[].attributes.body
Instructional applications leverage neuroscience findings to create teaching methods that align with how the brain learns best. This section explores how strategies like formative assessment, feedback, and multimodal teaching improve learning outcomes.

# data[].attributes.body
1. Multisensory Learning: Engaging multiple senses (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) to reinforce learning.

2. Immediate Feedback: Providing timely and specific feedback to help students adjust their understanding in real-time.

# data[].attributes.body
Tan, Y. S. M., & Amiel, J. J. (2019). Teachers learning to apply neuroscience to classroom instruction: case of professional development in British Columbia. Professional Development in Education, 48(1), 70–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2019.1689522

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Teachers learning to apply neuroscience to classroom instruction: case of professional development in British Columbia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Little is known about the integration of current neuroscience knowledge to classroom teaching, although many teachers rely on neuromyths to shape their pedagogies. Through a professional developmen…

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Gatewood, T. E. (1989). Caution! Applying Brain Research to Education. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 63(1), 37–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/00098655.1989.9955718

# data[].attributes.body
Caution! Applying Brain Research to Education

# data[].attributes.body
Motivation and emotions play a significant role in learning. Positive emotions can enhance motivation and cognitive performance, while negative emotions, like anxiety, can impair learning. The limbic system, especially the amygdala, is central to processing emotions that influence learning.

# data[].attributes.body
1. Growth Mindset: Encourages a belief that abilities can develop with effort, fostering motivation.

2. Emotion Regulation: Teaching students techniques like mindfulness can help them manage stress and focus better.

# data[].attributes.body
Campbell, S. R. (2011). Educational Neuroscience: Motivations, methodology, and implications. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 43(1), 7–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2010.00701.x

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Frisby, B. N. (2019). The Influence of Emotional Contagion on Student Perceptions of Instructor Rapport, Emotional Support, Emotion Work, Valence, and Cognitive Learning. Communication Studies, 70(4), 492–506. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2019.1622584

# data[].attributes.body
The Influence of Emotional Contagion on Student Perceptions of Instructor Rapport, Emotional Support, Emotion Work, Valence, and Cognitive Learning

# data[].attributes.body
The organization and structure of the brain are crucial for understanding how different areas interact to facilitate learning. Key structures include the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala, which are responsible for functions like memory, emotions, and decision-making.

# data[].attributes.body
1. Mind Mapping: Helps students visually organize information, mimicking the brain’s natural ability to link related concepts.

2. Chunking: Breaking down large pieces of information into smaller chunks improves retention and makes it easier to manage cognitive load.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Normal Aging of Brain Structure and Cognition: Evolutionary Perspectives

# data[].attributes.body
Finch, C. E., & Zelinski, E. M. (2005). Normal Aging of Brain Structure and Cognition: Evolutionary Perspectives. Research in Human Development, 2(1–2), 69–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2005.9683345

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Brain literacy empowers educators to meet diverse learner needs

# data[].attributes.body
Walker, Z., Hale, J. B., Annabel Chen, S. H., & Poon, K. (2019). Brain literacy empowers educators to meet diverse learner needs. Learning: Research and Practice, 5(2), 174–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/23735082.2019.1674910

# data[].attributes.body
Brain development is a gradual process that occurs throughout life but is especially critical during childhood and adolescence. This section explores how the brain matures and adapts to learning experiences, focusing on areas like the prefrontal cortex, which is key for decision-making and self-regulation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How the brain develops, grows, and learns throughout our lives

# data[].attributes.body
Scaffolding: Providing structured support that adjusts as students' abilities develop.

Differentiated Instruction: Tailoring teaching methods to fit the developmental stage and learning needs of each student.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Jansen, K., & Kiefer, S. M. (2020). Understanding brain development: Investing in young adolescents’ cognitive and social-emotional development. Middle School Journal, 51(4), 18–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/00940771.2020.1787749

# data[].attributes.body
Understanding brain development: Investing in young adolescents’ cognitive and social-emotional development

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Blakemore, S. J. (2008). Development of the social brain during adolescence. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61(1), 40–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470210701508715

# data[].attributes.body
Development of the social brain during adolescence

# data[].attributes.body
Neurophysiology of learning refers to the brain's electrical and chemical processes that occur during learning. This includes synaptic plasticity, where neurons strengthen connections in response to experiences, and the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine, which plays a role in motivation and learning.

# data[].attributes.body
The Neuroscience of Learning

# data[].attributes.body
1. Spaced Repetition: Reinforces synaptic connections through repeated exposure to material over time.

2. Active Recall: Encourages the retrieval of learned information, which strengthens neural pathways.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Neurotransmitters and neuromodulators involved in learning and memory

# data[].attributes.body
Bairy, L. K., & Kumar, S. (2019). Neurotransmitters and neuromodulators involved in learning and memory. International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology, 8(12), 2777–2782. https://doi.org/10.18203/2319-2003.ijbcp20195296

# data[].attributes.body
A deeper understanding of how the brain works can help teachers plan lessons that reach every student.

By Megan Collins

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A deeper understanding of how the brain works can help teachers plan lessons that reach every student.

Olav Ahrens Røtne / Unsplash

Understanding, even minimally, how the brain works when it comes to learning can help teachers more effectively educate students. In her recently released book, Uncommon Sense Teaching: Practical Insights in Brain Science to Help Students Learn, Dr. Barbara Oakley and her coauthors provide easy-to-understand explanations of neuroscience concepts and practical tips for how teachers can help students learn more effectively no matter what the content. I recently met with Dr. Oakley and learned about some of the neuroscience concepts on which her book is based, as well as practical advice for how teachers can apply this information in the classroom.

Understanding Working Memory

As explained in Uncommon Sense Teaching, we can think of information as a collection of balls. (Metaphors are a powerful tool to help our brains hold on to information.) Information is kept alive in working memory, a temporary mental storage space, by focusing on or repeating ideas. Students can hold on to only so much information consciously in their working memories. A typical working memory can hold, or work on, only about four balls of information at once. Long-term memory's ability to hold on to information is just that-longer.

Special education teachers and learning specialists are well aware of the effect that working memory capacity can have on a student's ability to learn. However, Dr. Oakley and her coauthors noticed that these ideas are often not applied to general classroom teaching practices. "We would like to think that this is common knowledge among all teachers, but, at present, it isn't," Dr. Oakley said when I spoke with her. Even in a single class, working memory capacity among students can vary dramatically. For example, students with a lesser-capacity working memory often have trouble completing multistep directions, or they may omit or repeat words when writing a sentence.

"As teachers," Dr. Oakley told me in our interview, "we need to help kids realize that if you can't understand something the first time you sit down to try, that doesn't mean you are some kind of dummy. It just means that you are a member of the human race. Creating neural structures in long-term memory is what levels the playing field, so that a person with a low-capacity working memory can perform just as well as, or even better than, a person with high-capacity working memory."

Simple teaching techniques such as pausing periodically during a lesson to give students a chance to reread or displaying multistep directions so that students can free up working memory capacity for actual lesson content can show tangible results for those with lesser-capacity working memory.

Declarative Versus Procedural Pathways to Learning

Similar to differences in working memory capacity, pathways through which we teach and learn knowledge can vary. There are two main pathways the brain uses to deposit new information in long-term memory. The declarative pathway is often thought to involve facts or events. The procedural pathway involves learning complex patterns, such as those found in mathematics, or skills such as typing, tying a shoe, or solving a Rubik's Cube.

"Teachers need to know that both ways of learning are valuable and provide a deeper way for students to understand material," Dr. Oakley said. "When teachers emphasize only one system of learning, as by forcing students to explain declaratively every step in solving a problem, for example, it can make it more difficult for a student to be a successful overall learner. We are hurting students who learn well procedurally. This type of learning is often difficult or impossible to explain."

Offering opportunities for both declarative and procedural learning is key. One-minute summaries, where students write down everything they remember immediately following a lesson, or peer teaching, where students work with partners to teach one another facts and information from a lesson, are great ways for students to plug declarative information into long-term memory. Alternatively, teaching through procedural pathways requires the ability to practice, and actual practice of a skill helps automatize the information. Incorporating classroom activities that involve both types of pathways will optimize learning for all students.

Another important aspect of brain science is understanding focused versus diffuse modes of thinking. When the brain is in focused mode, working memory is hard at work. It's making neural connections and building an understanding of the material. Studying for a test, reading a text, or reviewing vocabulary in a foreign language are all examples of the brain working in focused mode.

In diffuse mode, the brain is less focused on the material. Instead, it's making subconscious connections to the material. Daydreaming while going for a walk or letting your mind wander while taking a shower are examples of the brain in diffuse mode. Optimal learning often involves both focused and diffuse modes of thinking. Teachers can guide students to recognize these two forms of learning. For example, when students study, they can begin to recognize the point at which they become frustrated. That's the point at which their focused mode is essentially maxed out. Taking brain breaks at this stage will switch their thinking to diffuse mode when neural links can begin to connect. As Dr. Oakley writes in Uncommon Sense Teaching, "Knowing when frustration has just reached a peak, so it's time to switch to something else or take a break, is a valuable learning meta-skill. It comes in particularly handy on tests, where students often can't unstick themselves once they become stuck on a problem."

Dr. Oakley is a passionate educator who wants the best for both teachers and students, and is developing an online course for teachers. "Teachers are heroes," she told me. "We wrote this book to help them teach even better and to help students excel in the subjects that can be the most difficult to learn." While many of these strategies may not seem novel to teachers, thinking of them in terms of the neuroscience concepts they employ can guide teachers in making thoughtful, science-based decisions when planning lessons and units.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Applying Insights From Neuroscience in the Classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A deeper understanding of how the brain works can help teachers plan lessons that reach every student. Olav Ahrens Røtne / Unsplash Understanding, even minimally, how the brain works when it comes to learning can help teachers more effectively educate students.

# data[].attributes.body
Bairy, L. K., & Kumar, S. (2019). Neurotransmitters and neuromodulators involved in learning and memory. International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology, 8(12), 2777–2782. https://doi.org/10.18203/2319-2003.ijbcp20195296

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Neurotransmitters and neuromodulators involved in learning and memory | International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learning and memory being highly specialized process of human brain involves complex interaction between neurotransmitters and cellular events. Over the years, the understandings of these processes have been evolving from psychological, neurophysiological, and pharmacological perspectives. The most widely appraised model of learning and memory involves attention, acquisition, storage and retrieval. Each of these events involve interplay of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, N-methyl-d-aspartic acid, gamma-aminobutyric acid, though preponderance of specific neurotransmitter have been documented. The formation of long-term memory involves cellular events with neuroplasticity. Further, dopamine is documented to play crucial role in the process of forgetting. Understanding of the processes of learning and memory not only facilitates drug discovery, but also helps to understand actions of several existing drugs. In addition, it would also help to enhance psychological interventions in children with learning disabilities. Thus, the review intends to summarize role of neurotransmitters and neuromodulators during different phases of learning and memory.