NSDL Education and Outreach Specialist Robert Payo recently attended the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Annual Conference in New Orleans and blogged about it in NSDL Road Reports where NSDL colleagues often share their experiences and impressions of various scientific and education events, meetings and conferences. Payo specifically highlighted a talk given by Dr. Judy Willis that explained how teachers can benefit from greater awareness of neuroscience and apply strategies that are (as she puts it) “neuro-logical.” Thus began a very interesting correspondence among members of the education and neurological communities that can be viewed here (scroll down to comments at the end of the blog post).

Payo wrote, “Given that the brain has versatile neuroplasticity, developing student strategies to strengthen their abilities to create new pathways, connecting new knowledge to previously learned concepts and patterns, teaching students to look at problems from multiple perspectives or providing periodical shifts in attention when teaching through the use of word puzzles or discrepant events—what Willis calls “syn-naps”—can aid student understanding and capitalize on the innate processes of each individual. Such strategies are the hallmark of good teaching, but having a better understanding and intentional focus on brain-based strategies is a useful tool for any teacher.”

Comments range from agreement with Willis’s ideas about brain-based teaching strategies, to questioning the validity of her conclusions, to observations that neurological views of teaching practices are just another way to look at time-honored techniques that work.

Read more about Willis’s “Brain Glitch” theory:

http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/2007/02/debating_the_br.html

http://techpsych.blogspot.com/2007/06/neuroscience-of-joyful-education-ascd.html