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Research in cognitive neuroscience is providing insights into how to improve education. The IAE Blog entry titled Brain science and cognitive neuroscience for children and teachers summarizes some of the literature and contains links both to the general literature and to IAE documents.

The following article provides some tips on some possible educational uses of cognitive neuroscience research. While the article focuses specifically on the education of medical doctors, a number of the ideas apply to all of education.

ScienceDaily (3/30/201). Brain scientists offer medical educators tips on the neurobiology of learning. Retrieved 4/3/2011 from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110330192207.htm#.

First, here is part of the general introduction to the article:

In the past 50 years, behavioral approaches combined with functional brain imaging and computational neuroscience have revealed strategies employed by mammals' brains to acquire, store, and retrieve information. In addition to molecular and cellular approaches to describe the workings of the underlying hardware changes that occur in the brain during learning and the formation of memories, there has also been progress in higher-order, human-based studies of cognition, including learning and memory. Scientists have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the living brain combined with computational modeling to elucidate the strategies employed and the underlying biological processes.

The article then goes on to give 10 recommendations. Here are four of them:

Repetition: Medical curricula often employ compressed coverage over limited time frames of a great amount of material. Learning theory and the neurobiology of learning and memory suggest that going deeper is more likely to result in better retention and depth of understanding. With repetition, many components of the neural processes become more efficient, requiring less energy and leaving higher-order pathways available for additional cognitive processing. However, repetitions must be appropriately spaced.

Active engagement: There is considerable neurobiological evidence that functional changes in neural circuitry that are associated with learning occur best when the learner is actively engaged.. Learners' having multiple opportunities to assume the role of teacher also invoke neural motivation and reward pathways -- and another major biological component of the learning process: stress.

Stress: Although the consequences of stress are generally considered undesirable, there is evidence that the molecular signals associated with stress can enhance synaptic activity involved in the formation of memory. However, particularly high levels of stress can have opposite effects. The small, interactive teaching format may be judiciously employed to moderately engage the stress system.

Multitasking: Multitasking is a distraction from learning, unless all of the tasks are relevant to the material being taught. The challenge is to integrate information from multiple sources, such as a lecture and a hand-held device.

The article ends with the recommendation that medical students should be taught the underlying neurobiological principles that shape their learning experiences.

All four of the examples listed above apply to education of students in all disciplines and at all grade levels. I particularly like ending recommendation and believe it should be used in working with students at all grade levels and in all disciplines. I believe that learning about learning in general and learning about how ones brain learns are fundamental to getting a good modern education.