The Impact Of Modern Neuroscience On Contemporary Teaching

Since the 1990s, there has been an explosion in the awareness of the impact of the development and function of the brain on schooling. The availability of techniques like magnetic resonance imaging allows scientists to examine how the brain functions with increasing accuracy; it is at the core of neuroscience and increasingly psychiatry. The results have allowed educators to improve their approach to teaching and learning, but these ideas habitually clash with the traditional structure of educational theory, which is underpinned by cognitive practises. This new information can assist teachers in dealing not only with a student's learning but also in understanding the causes of severely dysfunctional behaviour and techniques for managing behaviours that impact on the learning of individuals and their peers.

Since the 1990s, there has been an explosion in the awareness of the impact of the development and function of the brain on schooling. The availability of techniques like magnetic resonance imaging allows scientists to examine how the brain functions with increasing accuracy; it is at the core of neuroscience and, increasingly, psychiatry. The results have allowed educators to improve their approach to teaching and learning, but these ideas habitually clash with the traditional structure of educational theory, which is underpinned by cognitive practices. This new information can assist teachers in dealing not only with a students learning but also in understanding the causes of severely dysfunctional behavior and techniques for managing behaviors that impact on the learning of individuals and their peers.

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 book of essays follows Johns previous publication, The Impact of Modern Neuroscience on Contemporary Teaching, and is a more practical guide to working in modern classrooms with a focus on dealing with students who present challenging behaviours. The essays track his journey over forty years of teaching; a significant amount of that time was spent working with children who displayed severely dysfunctional behaviours. Working with these extremely difficult kids allowed John to develop a philosophy around education that differs from the mainstream in that it is inclusive of problem children. It has also allowed him to acquire a set of techniques that will help all teachers manage difficult behaviour in their classrooms.

This is the second edition of the seminal text designed to empower educators with an innovative and inspiring conceptual framework for effective teaching. This bestseller is grounded in the synergy of five big ideas for connecting mind, brain, and education research to classroom practice: neuroplasticity, potential, malleable intelligence, the Body-Brain System, and metacognition. Updated and expanded to include new sections on social and emotional learning, this edition offers a firm foundation for implementing current rigorous standards. The authors draw on their experience working with tens of thousands of educators worldwide to drive the book’s focus on practical application. Essential ideas are reinforced through vignettes, examples, inspirational stories from teachers, strategies, reflective questions, and current research on how people learn. “Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching is a wonderful synthesis of some of the most important and impacting concepts to come out of the learning sciences and into the classroom. Any serious teacher and educational leader should consider this basic reading. A pleasure to read.” —Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, professor, Harvard University Extension School “Wilson and Conyers provide an excellent, gentle entry into the modern learning sciences while promoting clear understanding of their importance and impact on contemporary learners. This is a solid introductory text for pre-service teachers as well as a ‘quick start’ for updating skills for veteran educators.” —Linda Rittner, professor emerita, University of Central Oklahoma

The Science of Reading: A Handbook brings togetherstate-of-the-art reviews of reading research from leading names inthe field, to create a highly authoritative, multidisciplinaryoverview of contemporary knowledge about reading and relatedskills. Provides comprehensive coverage of the subject, includingtheoretical approaches, reading processes, stage models of reading,cross-linguistic studies of reading, reading difficulties, thebiology of reading, and reading instruction Divided into seven sections:Word Recognition Processes inReading; Learning to Read and Spell; Reading Comprehension; Readingin Different Languages; Disorders of Reading and Spelling;Biological Bases of Reading; Teaching Reading Edited by well-respected senior figures in the field

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.

Mind, Brain, and Education science is a very young field, though it has roots in thousands of years of academic reflection. This book is a brief but critical look into the key turning points in the field’s evolution and the existing initiatives in order to project its future directions. It draws on information from all major branches of the learning sciences, including philosophy and history, and more modern constructs such as cognitive psychology and neuroscience. First and foremost, it is a textbook for early graduate training programs in Mind, Brain, and Education science and Educational Neuroscience and those who would like to have Learning Sciences as their main area of study, but the book will also serve as an introduction for those educational policymakers who would like to ground decision-making in evidence from the Learning Sciences, and neuroscientists who need to have knowledge about mind and education.