by Barbara K. Given
Emerging scientific insights into how the human brain functions are creating considerable excitement for educators; however, the process of translating findings from neuroscience into educational application has been spotty, at best. The purpose of this book is to discuss the brain's natural learning systems as a neurobiological framework for educational practice, based on how the brain learns.
Chapter 1 presents the brain as a complex of five major learning systems—emotional, social, cognitive, physical, and reflective—and explains the linkages between these systems and the mind's basic psychological needs to be, to belong, to know, to do, and to experiment and explore. Chapters 2–6 discuss each of these learning systems in some depth, in terms of their structures, functions, driving forces, and behavior patterns that produce the following outcomes in students:
- Passion for learning.
- Vision for seeing what is possible.
- Intention for developing knowledge and skills.
- Action for transforming dreams into realities.
- Reflection for self-monitoring and staying the course.
Along the way, I highlight teaching roles and behaviors associated with each system to show how teachers can
inhibit or
facilitatepassion, vision, intention, action, and reflection in classroom settings. Chapter 7 explores the simultaneous functioning of all five systems as if they were “theaters of the mind” (Baars, 1997; Damasio, 2000a; Given, 2000a).
Throughout the book, I share various ways of applying neuroscience to education, because I believe that unless educators—and policymakers—build bridges between these two disciplines, children and society will be the losers. Education is more than reaching certain standards of learning; education is developing a desire to learn, knowing how to learn, and implementing teaching practices based on how the brain actually functions.
If children are to learn to their fullest and if they are to benefit themselves and society, we must honor their own individual learning systems. As Hamer and Copeland (1998) advise in Living with Our Genes: Why They Matter More Than You Think:
Giving children love and knowledge is as essential as giving them food, but at some point, parents [and teachers] must understand that children are already on a path beyond anyone's choosing. Children are who they are, and parents [as well as teachers] are better off getting to know their own children than trying to mold them into some ideal created out of thin air. Children are to be discovered as well as shaped; they should be allowed and encouraged to develop to their own potential. . . . Each of us is born into the world as someone; we spend the rest of our lives trying to find out who. (p. 25)
A major role of educators is to know enough about brain research to help students develop into the best
who they can possibly be. As educators, we can rely on the five major neurobiological learning systems to construct a well-organized educational framework that makes lesson planning exhilarating and implementing our plans exciting.
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