Our journey to writing Neuroteach began in 2007 when our school made the decision to increase 100 percent of its teachers’ knowledge of how the brain works, learns, and changes through training and ongoing professional development. Together with our colleagues and our university partners, we have been on an incredible adventure that has brought important leaders in the field of...

Teachers are brain changers. Thus, it would seem obvious that an understanding of the brain—the organ of learning—would be critical to a teacher’s readiness to work with students. A neuroteacher is therefore one who intentionally applies research from the field of mind, brain, and education science to his or her instructional design and work with every student. “We...

Early in our work with the science of learning, how the brain learns, we hit a cultural firewall. Anytime we found ourselves talking about the brain and learning, parents often construed that such science was only good for the struggling student, students who might be diagnosed with learning disabilities. However, what we quickly realized is how critical neuroscience is for all: the...

Whether unconsciously or consciously, you bring to your reading of this book prior knowledge in mind, brain, and education (MBE) science. This knowledge could have emerged from your own educational experience, professional development, or reading selections. Prior knowledge is critical to learning. The brain likes to connect incoming information with information and experiences already...

Why wait until the end of this book to provide the reader with what he or she really wants to know, and that is: “What are the research-informed strategies that teachers should be using to enhance student achievement and the learning experience?” So in this chapter we will give you the top twelve. However, you need to read the remainder of the book to understand better...

Research suggests that knowledge of educational neuroscience is a powerful commodity that leads to higher student achievement, engagement, and motivation. But what should people know? And who would benefit from knowing it? We believe that the key is not simply knowing about the biology or architecture of the brain, but rather knowing about brain architecture in the context of its direct...

One word. Three letters. One of the most important words in education. It is my favorite word to say to doubting students as well as skeptical teachers. Do you have a word in mind?

In the following list of words, circle those that you feel you have prior knowledge of:...

Teaching is an emotional profession and being a student is an emotional journey. Separating teaching, learning, and emotion from one another is an impossible task and it is something that actually goes against the principles of mind, brain, and education (MBE) science.1 When teachers and students make an emotional connection to the subject matter, it increases their...

Prior knowledge. The ability to recall, apply, and connect it is essential for deep and enduring learning. Tapping it is an essential part of solving meaningful problems. But how do we effectively and efficiently help students build their own personal body of prior knowledge?

Do your assessments, and all the preparation leading up to them, and anything you might do after them, cause your students to think hard? Are they challenging because they force, or maybe even cajole, your students to think hard, or because they consume lots of their time? If it is somewhere in between, where on the continuum between these two points would you place it?

One of the most watched TED talks of all time is Sir Ken Robinson’s “How Schools Kill Creativity.” This is in part because he is a fabulously engaging presenter, but it cannot be all. His message must resonate. We would hazard that one area where people look at their own or their children’s schooling and go “YES!” is homework.

Is it possible that two brains are better than one? Maybe yes, maybe no. For today’s students, the ubiquity of electronic devices allows them to create, connect, and collaborate in ways beyond the imagination to many of their teachers. That is exciting news, but all schools have to wrestle with the challenge of determining the proper amount of technology, and when technology is...

Teachers are researchers. They collect enormous amounts of data each day, and they rapidly evaluate and make decisions based on those data. Some of this is numerical, but much is qualitative. They may be second only to doctors in doing this. What teachers are not good at is doing anything formal with these data. Like a cup sitting under a running tap, more and more information is constantly...

How important is good teaching? By means of a large statistical metastudy of over five hundred thousand studies, John Hattie investigated the relative importance of factors responsible for variances in students’ achievement, with the aim to allow us to “concentrate on enhancing these sources of variance to truly make the difference.”1...

Kismet. Two things happened in the twelve hours before we sat down to write this conclusion. The first was an exchange on Twitter:

The following is a list of books, articles, and websites that have been integral to our evolutions as neuroteachers. This is just a start, and we encourage you to go to http://www.thecttl.org/neuroteach for a more complete and evolving list, and we welcome your suggestions for new resources to share with the neuroteach professional...

In many parts of Neuroteach, we discussed how metacognition and reflective practice are critical to deepening learning for students. These habits of mind are equally important for teachers and school leaders. Use this checklist to evaluate how well you are currently applying some of the following research-informed strategies, selected from each chapter, to the design of your...

Dr. Ian Kelleher grew up in Cambridge, England. He went to the University of Manchester as an undergraduate, where he received a bachelor of science degree in geochemistry. He returned to Cambridge as a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, Churchill College, working in the Department of Earth Science on the formation and stability of carbonates. After receiving his PhD, Ian moved to...