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A recent interview with British neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, the author of the 2018 book Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain, begins with a caveat. “I think it’s important to know before we start that up until 20 years ago we really didn’t know that the brain changes at all after childhood,” she confides. “That’s what I was taught during my undergraduate degree. We now know that’s completely untrue.” In matters of settled opinion, science has often found itself in the role of provocateur, even saboteur—prodding at conventional wisdoms until they yield unexpected truths, and sometimes toppling them entirely.
edutopia
I lost my first student to suicide not long ago. The student was no longer in my class at the time, nor even at the school, but I was flooded with the expected surge of feelings: overwhelming sadness, periodic despair, compulsive frame-by-frame replays of our every interaction. I felt the loss deeply. It was unspeakably tragic—for the student’s friends and family, for me, and for the world I’d hoped the student would help shape. I was haunted, too—I still am—by the fear of a similar tragedy among my raw-nerved and anxious students. And the recent spike in teenage suicides in my area has underscored this fear sharply.
Why Students Forget—and What You Can Do About It
Teachers have long known that rote memorization can lead to a superficial grasp of material that is quickly forgotten. But new research in the field of neuroscience is starting to shed light on the ways that brains are wired to forget—highlighting the importance of strategies to retain knowledge and make learning stick. In a recent article published in the journal Neuron, neurobiologists Blake Richards and Paul Frankland challenge the predominant view of memory, which holds that forgetting is a process of loss—the gradual washing away of critical information despite our best efforts to retain it. According to Richards and Frankland, the goal of memory is not just to store information accurately but to “optimize decision-making” in chaotic, quickly changing environments. In this model of cognition, forgetting is an evolutionary strategy, a purposeful process that runs in the background of memory, evaluating and discarding information that doesn’t promote the survival of the species.
What Are the Brain Benefits of Unplugging for Students and Teachers?
Our kids are spending eight hours on electronics every single day. Some say this number is conservative once you add all the time they spend in front of computers and tablets at school. While there’s no doubt technology is a wonderful tool for education, more reports, studies, and experts are saying we’ve gone too far. In fact, our always-stimulated brains are leading experts to use dramatic terms like digital heroin. It’s not hard to understand the reaction—technology is definitely addictive. Below, we share some of the powerful brain benefits of unplugging as well as ways to create device-free time in your classroom.
Bringing the Science of Learning Into Classrooms
New research sheds light on the effects that childhood experiences—both good and bad—have on the developing brain. But are schools keeping up? “The 20th-century education system was never designed with the knowledge of the developing brain,” says Pamela Cantor, MD, who is part of a cross-disciplinary team of experts studying the science of learning and development. “So when we think about the fact that learning is a brain function and we have an education system that didn’t have access to this critical knowledge, the question becomes: Do we have the will to create an education system that’s informed by it?”
Trauma Training for Educators – Communities In Schools Of Central Texas
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The Tyranny of Being On Task
I remember when I was first teaching and was getting ready for my first official observation and evaluation. I was very nervous. My principal had told me she would be looking for a classroom where students were on task. Heaven forbid that any students were off task. I thought that if my classroom even hinted that some students were off task, I would never be a successful teacher, and perhaps told to leave the teaching profession. I now know that it is unreasonable to ensure complete on task behavior from every student at all times, but back then I wanted a good evaluation, and I wanted my students to be on task so that they would learn and I could support them.
Having Your Smartphone Nearby Takes a Toll on Your Thinking (Even When It’s Silent and Facedown)
Kristen Duke is a PhD candidate in Marketing at the Rady School of Management, University of California, San Diego. She studies how uncertainty, emotional complexity, and contextual factors affect decision-making and consumer experiences. Adrian Ward is an Assistant Professor of Marketing in the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin.
Public Media for Northern CA
Oakley recognizes that “many educators are not at all comfortable with or trained in neuroscience,” so she breaks down a few key principles that teachers can use in the classroom and share with students to help them demystify the learning process. 1. The Hiker Brain vs. The Race Car Brain
Beyond Grit: The Science of Creativity, Purpose, and Motivation
Angela Duckworth is a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania and the bestselling author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. She is the Founder and Scientific Director of a non-profit, Character Lab, and in 2013 was named a recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. Recently, she joined Adam Grant for an evening of conversation as a part of the Authors@Wharton speakers series. Adam Grant is the bestselling author of Give and Take and Originals, and has been recognized as the Wharton School of Business’ highest-rated professor and its youngest professor to receive full tenure.
