Policy & Impact

Learning and Education practice

“It is clear that experience (in interaction with genes and chance) shapes the human brain - that the process of education is inextricably linked to neural change”

Prof. Daniel Ansari, Dartmouth College, US

“I have learned that we can all engage with experts and academics about brain-science, and understand it and relate it to our knowledge of teaching”

Baroness (Estelle) Morris, Former Secretary of State for Education

“Only by understanding how the brain acquires and lays down information and skills will we be able to reach the limits of its capacity to learn”

Profs U.Frith and S.J.Blakemore - The Learning Brain: lessons for education

With the increasing convergence of psychology and neuroscience research, we are seeing exciting explorations at the boundary between brain, mind and behaviour which have direct relevance for learning and education. Significant insights are being made on the impact of environmental factors on the brain, (nutrition, sleep, exercise etc), an understanding of developmental processes (early-years, adolescence) and how the brain acquires essential learning skills and abilities such as memory, attention motivation, numeracy and literacy. Indeed, it could be argued that teachers are the only professionals required to change brain connectivity on a daily basis!

The growing body of scientific research into the nature of learning and education is matched by the enthusiasm of many teachers to incorporate this understanding into their experience and expertise[1]. Yet despite the obvious collaborative space that exists between the brain-sciences and education, the number of significant programmes in the world that are building bridges between the ‘science or learning’ and classroom practice can be counted on one hand.

In response to this challenge, The Institute for the Future of the Mind has recently completed a pilot project to engage teachers with some scientific perspectives on learning, and support them in incorporating this scientific evidence into their everyday practice.

Through collaboration with Gloucestershire County Council, a group of twenty Advanced Skills Teachers (AST) have taken part in a six-month programme of workshops, investigating scientific concepts in areas relevant to learning, such as attention, memory, creativity, emotion, gifted and talented children and development disorders.

This project has demonstrated that focusing on the science of learning can transform the practice of the teachers as well as their appreciation of learning and behaviour. We have found that teachers have used their experience and expertise to employ this new knowledge in ways that we could never have predicted.

The teachers have reported a wide range of benefits, including:

• a deeper awareness of behaviour and learning strategies
• improved interaction with pupil and staff; improved pupils’ metacognition
• support of professional expertise and classroom decision-making
• development of innovative practices and pedagological strategies
• being better placed to critically appraise current brain-based programmes
• providing feedback and questions to develop collaborative research
• development as reflective learners

A formal evaluation is currently underway; however, the following quotes from the teachers illustrate the impact the pilot project has had upon their practice and approach to teaching.

“I am suddenly seeing my brain waking up! Seeing things I hadn’t seen before”

“The sessions are confirming the things that I thought work, do work... and I am doing more of them. It is sharpening up my practice and making me re-evaluate everything I do”

"This project has got me out of the rut to deliver quick-fix strategies to deliver the usual objectives. This has me questioning, 'is this appropriate', 'are they learning?'. The positive feedback I have received has reinforced the shift in my practice".

“It has helped me understand why certain things work and why others don’t. I am considering the social and emotional aspects of learning much more”

"This has helped me not just be reactive to behaviours. I can see under the skin and find a cause of a child's barriers to learning. I can then use that knowledge to make strategic plans to move them forward. It helped me identify the learning needs of all my students"

A second phase of the project has been planned for spring 2008, in which the group will focus on specific areas in more detail, to develop some in-depth understandings and applied pedagological strategies.