Trying to teach something without knowing how the brain of an average student works is as difficult today as trying to be a glove designer without ever having seen a hand. " Leslie A. Hart, Neuroeducation Specialist
Undoubtedly, to all of us who have been teaching for many years, but who at the same time have read something about neurosciences applied to Social Sciences, one question remains very clear: we must urgently update Piaget's theories, Ausubel, Vigotsky (and in general of all constructivism), since they were written (and very well) several decades before the neuro explosion that we are experiencing today, and they are beginning to look obsolete.
It turns out that the concepts of these great standards of pedagogy (the constructivists), which are still taught profusely today in university and tertiary careers that prepare for teaching in Argentina, are mostly arguments that start from introspection and observation, In other words, the author examines himself (and those around him), as the basis of postulates that are then extrapolated to all the other potential students, thus constituting enormously powerful theoretical corpus, which we all study to this day those who have gone through some teachers (the famous "pedagogical subjects").
But these postulates of Piaget, Ausubel and company today “make noise” when they are read (I reiterate, those of us who have studied something about neuroscience, the rest have not), since today enough (not everything) is known about how to It truly generates learning in the brain, which brain areas are activated when studying, how memory and memories work, how neuronal neuroplasticity works, neural networks, among other aspects.
In this way, in a typical class of the space "Subjects of Learning" (which most of the teachers have attended with "title"), when referring to the famous concept of "Meaningful Learning", they explain more or less, the following:
Learning content involves attributing meaning to it, constructing a representation or a "mental model" of it. The construction of knowledge supposes a process of «elaboration» in the sense that the student selects and organizes the information that comes to him through different means (the facilitator among others), establishing relationships between them.
In this selection and organization of information, and in the establishment of relationships, there is an element that occupies a privileged place: the relevant prior knowledge that the student possesses at the time of starting learning.
The student comes "armed" with a series of concepts, conceptions, representations and knowledge, acquired in the course of his previous experiences, which he uses as a reading and interpretation instrument and which determine what information he will select, how he will organize it and what types of relationships will establish between them. If the student manages to establish substantive and non-arbitrary relationships between the new learning material and her previous knowledge, that is, if she integrates it into her cognitive structure, she will be able to attribute meanings to it, to construct a representation or mental
The argument is elegant, without a doubt, and advanced (especially for the '90s, when it became fashionable), but of course… clearly incomplete for today 2015, since there is not the slightest hint (in said argumentation) “to introduce a neuro concept” that tries to explain the brain areas and the neuropsychological mechanisms involved in learning.
Following Professor Rosana Fernández Coto, director of the Escuela Argentina de Neurolearning, this modern discipline has been born from the conjunction of several sciences such as Neurobiology, Psychology, Pedagogy and NLP, among others. And although until two decades ago very little was known about how the brain works and how the brain learns, from the 90s there has been a technological explosion (especially with neuroimaging), which has allowed us to begin to know much more about "the most important organ of learning", the brain.
In this way, and until very recently, teachers had to deal with the constructivist theories learned in college, plus our intuition and experience, to "pilot" it in the classroom, and thus decide whether a certain technique, strategy, theory or learning school was favorable or not for our students. However, at present, and hand in hand with Neurolearning and Neuroeducation, we have elements to know how the human brain learns in general and that of a school student in particular. These tools will begin to facilitate a better understanding of students' learning styles, their famous "multiple intelligences", and in general the different ways of facing the teaching challenge of teaching something, and that it is learned significantly (that is,, Seriously).
And just as in Neuromarketing it is key to create a pleasant point of sale, which encourages the customer to buy, in Neuroeducation it is key to create a special environment in the classroom (with aromas, colors, flavors, sounds and teaching style), which stimulates each student to give their best, and where no brain feels threatened because the teacher's style does not match their learning style, and where they can also develop their skills and acquire new capabilities. This special environment ("resonant environment" which is called in this modern jargon) avoids what in Neurolearning is called "downshifting", that is, the period during which not enough blood and oxygen reach the rational brain of the student, so that work effectively, causing your typical negative emotional reactions (lack of concentration, delayed action,indiscipline, aggressiveness, bullying, and in general the mental block of the student that all teachers know).
The teacher as “resonant leader”, says Fernández Coto, “creates the conditions to be able to develop the cognitive processes and executive functions of the brain in a convergent way (typical of formal schooling), but also divergent, that is, typical of brains that they use their creativity and intuition to find new answers to the usual challenges ”.
Additionally, Neuroeducation aims to fight something that today is being seen a lot in some educational segments: emotional illiteracy. There are many researchers and teachers who have been noticing a drastic decrease in the emotional quotient of the average student (probably influenced by the isolation to which new technologies lead), when today managing our emotions in an adequate way has become a necessity not only for survival social, but also work and professional success (and please review the theories of emotional intelligence of Daniel Goleman).
In short, Neuroeducation and Neurolearning have come to stay, and I have no doubt that they will become, over the years, an extremely useful tool for the teacher of our times. But of course… at some point, we have to start by learning about the subject, taking courses, etc., because the theories of Piaget, Vigosky, Ausubel and constructivism in general, which in their times greatly advanced pedagogy and didactics, If they are not urgently rewritten today on neuro-fundamentals, they will be terribly out of date.
Bibliography
As a culmination we leave you with the following webinar in which Professor Rosana Fernández Coto, an expert in Neuroeducation, makes an introduction to the topics of Neurolearning and Neuropedagogy.
