The executive functions of the brain are those that enable metacognition, giving us awareness of and control over our own thinking and learning processes. This article gives practical classroom strategies for engaging students' executive functions, enabling them to take more ownership of their learning.
In an excerpt from his book, The Social Neuroscience of Education, Louis Cozolino discusses the mismatch between how education is traditionally structured and how children's brains are actually wired to learn. He summarizes nine takeaways from developments in neuroscience that can help teachers structure learning experiences that are tailored more closely to how the brain works.
Ten key principles about the brain have enormous implications for the classroom. These include the connection between movement and learning, the social nature of the brain, how the brain changes over time, the effects of stress, the need for differentiation, the benefits of chunking, the importance of the arts, the role of emotions, brain disorders, and the malleability of memories.
Before teachers can implement brain-based teaching, they have to understand how the brain works. Neuroscience can be an overwhelming topic, but this webpage can be a great help. It provides a series of seven videos- all roughly five minutes long- that give great insights into the human mind.