Brain-based learning is getting a lot of attention, and for good reason. As we learn more about the brain, its structures and its function, we also learn how to most effectively engage students. The independent school environment is the very place where these advances can be seen in action.
For years, psychologists have wanted to understand how and why some kids learn with ease and other struggle, and we have come a very long way in understanding many of the processes of the human brain. Working memory, processing speed, visual and spatial acuity can all be measured, and assumptions about how one learns can be taken from these measurements. But we are just now truly starting to understand the role other stressors have on how we learn.
Anxiety and stress have long been associated with school, and testing. Butterflies before the APUSH test or before your calculus exam are normal. But anxiety and stress can wreak havoc on learning and information retrieval. Scientists are becoming aware of the part the amygdala plays in both encoding and retrieving information, and when one looks at a historical perspective of human survival, this engagement makes sense. The amygdala directs information into one of two places in the brain - the reactive brain, or the reflective brain. Our ancestors didn’t have much need to determine the velocity of the elephant charging toward him - he just needed to get out of the way. Our reactive brains kept us alive.
Today, we still have those base-brain responses to stress. That math test, or generalized anxiety overall, can spark that amygdala to send information to the wrong part of the brain. A galvanized, impenetrable locking door comes down on our reflective brain so we can survive - but that reflective brain is exactly what we need to encode or retrieve information.
So what do we do in our classes and at home to help keep that iron curtain from coming down? We reduce the need for the affective filter. We get to know our children, we create spaces where defenses can be let down, where making a mistake is not fatal but part of the learning process. We make content relevant for our kids, activating their engagement so the brain wants to learn, and we can find that sweet spot between material that is too hard and that is too easy for each child we teach or parent.
And when all else fails, we give our children permission to put their pens down, and breathe. To take a mindful minute in the middle of a hurricane of butterflies can just keep the pathways to that reflective brain open and running.
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