Issue

We can engage students in the full, real-world tasks in which we want them to become proficient. Research shows us that cognition is situated, or closely tied to the settings and circumstances in which it is learned. We need to create classroom environments in which students participate in activities they find challenging as well as meaningful, with clear ties to their lives outside the school.For example, if we want students to become good readers and writers, we need to involve them in the full processes of reading and writing. We should have them read literature and write for a variety of purposes, just as we want them to do in real life. We will still teach skills and strategies, but we will place this instruction in the context of authentic activity. Word identification skills can be taught as part of the reading of literature, and spelling as part of editing during writing.Research shows us that students learn what we teach them, in the way that we teach it to them. If we teach in bits and pieces, students will learn bits and pieces. They will not automatically put the bits and pieces together, or transfer what they have learned to other situations.Cognitive research is showing us the wisdom of Dewey and other progressive educators. Students do learn by doing. They learn higher-level thinking by engaging in authentic intellectual activity.—Kathryn Au is an educational psychologist with the Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Schools tend to focus on logical/rational processes, but recent developments in cognitive science argue that our emotional processes are central to cognitive decisions. Emotion drives attention, and attention drives learning and memory. Reason may override emotion, but it generally doesn't change how we feel about an issue.The relatively small brain structures that regulate our emotions emerged out of eons of experience with our need to survive and to nurture. Such innate internal values don't change easily—unlike rational processes, which must rapidly respond to shifting environmental challenges. For example, if we misdial a phone number, we'll correct our error without a thought, but we don't as easily change our initial emotional decision to make the call.Since our behaviorist profession can't easily manage or measure emotions, we've tended to relegate them to recess and extracurricular activities—and to label many of them misbehavior. We pay lip service to the importance of student emotions, but they're not really considered as important in many classrooms as getting the worksheets correct.Cognitive scientists are now explaining the mysteries of emotion, and our profession must study such discoveries and explore their classroom applications. The arts and humanities provide many opportunities to explore and encourage emotions, and cooperative learning and portfolio assessment are examples of recent developments that tap into other fascinating aspects of the issue. Celebrate emotions, and so learn how to incorporate them into our schools.—Robert Sylwester is a professor of education at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

Teachers can adopt a constructivist philosophy.Constructivist models of learning are having a profound impact on classroom practice. Constructivist-oriented pedagogy recognizes the importance of helping students build connections between their own knowledge and experiences and the learnings emphasized in their school curriculum. Accordingly, the practice of many teachers today reflects the belief that information, knowledge, and performance routines are best learned through activities that mirror "authentic tasks" found at home, in the community, and in the workplace.Teachers can also design learning activities that give students an active role and allow them some choice in the resources and strategies they use to complete and present their work. Constructivist-oriented learning activities allow teachers to address different "intelligences" or "learning styles" by offering students choices in how they work, what they work on, and how they present their final products. This approach is sensitive to individual and group differences in learning orientations and does not typecast students based on gender, race, or ethnicity.Today, more and more teachers are using a constructivist model of learning to create a system of pedagogy that addresses the "hot" issues in education—critical thinking, complex problem solving, learning styles, multiple intelligences—in a unified fashion.—Warren Simmons is a senior associate with the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Having used brain-compatible teaching methods in my physics classroom for five years, I am convinced they can improve student learning. One important principle to bear in mind is that cognition occurs on a grid of emotions: the brain that thinks also feels.Teachers can attend to students' emotions in three ways that will enhance their higher cognitive processes. First, teachers should give students an appropriate amount of choice and control. I do this by offering a large "menu" of activities and projects geared to different learning styles. Students design their own unique learning paths, with my strong guidance.Second, teachers should create an environment that makes them allies of their students. I do this by communicating, honestly and frequently, the reasons for my teaching methods. I explain the process of constructing knowledge, and I acknowledge that it is difficult to reconfigure one's understanding of the world—but I am there to help.Third, teachers should remind students that making mistakes is a natural and necessary part of learning. I help students feel safe in taking intellectual risks by offering many low-pressure activities that call for higher-order thinking. Some examples are long-term team projects, Socratic problem solving, and performance assessments.Only by helping students use their emotional brains creatively can we lead them to use their higher cognitive functions.—K. David Pinkerton teaches science at Smoky Hill High School in Aurora, Colorado.