“As a graduate of a doctoral program with a heavy emphasis on  learning science, I have long believed that we will eventually understand the  inner workings of the human brain to such a degree that we will be able to  quantify the effects of every interaction and learning experience. This  knowledge will allow us to distill learning down to the most basic and  efficient level. This advancement could eventually make it possible to  “program” the human brain with new knowledge simply by activating the  correct sequence of neural transmitters. Neuroscience is constantly working to  advance the field and make my dream a reality. It recently may have inched a  bit closer. According to middle school teacher and learning-centered brain  research neurologist Dr. Judy Willis, we are making progress towards  understanding how the human brain functions. This knowledge already provides  educators with insight into how best to engage students and make learning the  most effective and efficient that it can be.  Here’s what you, as an educator need to know  to help your students’ brains learn most efficiently.

Understanding How the  Brian Works In her podcast for Edutopia on brain-based learning, Willis presents two major  areas of brain function which, if properly understood, can help educators  ensure that their students are focused on the material being learned and that  the information is reaching the proper part of the brain to be processed.

The two primary areas that Willis discussed in the video are  the Reticular Activating System (RAS) and the Amygdala . Working separately, these  two areas of the brain help to determine what gets into the brain and where it  goes once it gets in. If managed properly, these two gatekeepers to learning  can help to ensure that students reflect on classroom stimuli rather than  simply react to it, and that they can increase their ability to learn and  retain new skills and information.

Getting Past the  First Roadblock – Reticular Activating System (RAS) According to Willis, at any given moment only about 2,000 bits out of the  millions of discrete pieces of information that our senses  are constantly bombarded with can reach our  conscious attention. The gatekeeper that decides what gets through is the RAS,  located in the brain stem. This primitive part of the brain works in much the  same way that it has since our human ancestors were hiding in caves and running  for their lives from better-equipped predators.  This part of the brain is regulated by our  basic survival instincts to notice what has changed or is different in our  environment. When something new is present it is given the highest priority for  our perception, particularly if it is perceived as a possible threat.

In this way, the student is like a small fox emerging from  its den. Its first assessment must be of what has changed, what is different  and if there is danger, or if something new in the environment can result in  pleasure or the fulfilling an immediate goal such as food. This is a double  edged sword. Perceived stress or danger in the classroom environment can make  students focus only on the negative to the detriment of learning. Positive,  interesting, or engaging changes in the classroom environment activate  students’ curiosity. Similarly, reducing stress can help information get  through the RAS filter. In short, if there is no danger to survival, other  priorities can be addressed.

Second Filter:  Amygdala Once information is allowed into the brain by the RAS, it passes through  and is actively sent on to specific locations by the Amygdala. At this point,  stressful stimuli are sent to subconscious areas of the brain for action. If something  is positive, the stimuli are sent on to places like the memory and positive  receptors in the active, thinking brain. According to Willis, stress causes the amygdala to take  information and act in one of the three ways that are not conducive to  learning: flight, fight, or freeze. Students who have been triggered to act in these  ways exhibit behavior that does not allow them to learn. They can turn off from  the lesson, actively resist it, or completely shut down and become  unresponsive. In contrast, events that are not perceived as stressful, have a  much greater potential for being perceived as positive, thus allowing learning  to happen.

Positively perceived stimuli are sent to the frontal cortex,  or the reflective brain, which responds to them as interesting, relevant, or  pleasurable. If information can reach this level of the brain, it can be  consciously acted on, committed to memory, combined with other information to  create new knowledge, or translated into activity. Willis summarized this  activity as the amygdala judging “here/me/now” – is the information  being shared something that the student should care about right here, right  now, and that it is relevant for them. If not, they will zone out and the information  won’t get through. So how can instructors ensure that their students learn with  maximum efficiency?

Classroom Strategies  for Brain-Based Learning Fortunately, this is neuroscience not rocket science, and there are things that  educators can do to make sure that their teaching gets past these roadblocks  and into students’ brains.

• Encourage stability and familiarity: Students  learn best when they are comfortable. This allows information to bypass the  RAS’s fight or flight response so that students can concentrate on learning  rather than being concerned over their “safety.”
• Incorporate non-threatening strangeness, novelty  or surprise.  Sparking interest through  the use of color, costumes, and music gets the amygdala’s attention and helps  students’ brains send important information along to be processed.
• Advertise lessons in advance of doing them, but  make things a mystery to build interest. Building interest prior to a learning  event helps students feel comfortable with what is coming while making some  aspects of the event mysterious helps to engage the amygdala appropriately. Creating  interest can make figuring something out a personal goal for students and  increase their investment in the process.
• Stimulate prior knowledge. This is one of the  most common strategies for educators and this research supports it. Educators  should strive to understand what their students already know that can help them  be familiar with new information.

These tips will apply differently in  every subject, from literature to mathematics or science. They all stem from  the same fundamental understanding of the human brain though. Figure out how to  get past the subconscious gatekeepers and you have a great chance to help your  students learn and retain what they are hearing.”

Stephen