Welcome to Stuff4Educators:

Educators Helping Educators

Stuff4Educators attempts to describe successful and effective pedagogy (the study of education) based on neuroscience (the study of the brain) for use by teachers in order to increase learning for students.

Stuff4Educators is concerned with how to teach, not what to teach.


It does not directly address the teaching of math, science, social studies, etc., but what happens inside the brain as these subjects are taught.

 

The information presented on the website is based on the principles of educational neuroscience .


 

The site is based on the idea that the brain is the focus of the daily work of educators.  Therefore, an understanding of why certain teaching practices or strategies work from a brain-wise point of view is essential.  For instance, saying that we do not need to understand the brain to be able to teach is like saying that a physician need not understand the body in order to treat it

 

As you explore the web site, I hope you find the site informative and thought-provoking.  Keep an open mind when analyzing the ideas and methods presented, while also comparing them to the practices presently used in your classroom.


Below are  Stuff4Educators’  Ed Tips, a  monthly discussion of educational topics and practices that are intended to improve students’ learning.


Topics for the 2022-2023 school year. 

Topics for the 2021-2022 school year.

September 2021-Wisdom of Experience Teachers, October 2021-Teaching NeuromythsNovember 2021-How to create a safe learning environment, December 2021-How to Deal with Stress, January 2022 -Neuroplasticity:What learning looks like on a molecular level, February 2022- The mechanisms behind both short-and long-term memory formation, March 2022-How to Motivate Students, April 2022-Three Educational Phenomenon 

 

Topics from a Educational Neuroscience Viewpoint

Attention & Education

Short-Term Memory

 

Long-Term Memory

Emotions & Education

Vision & Education

Exercise & Education

home-img1
What is Educational Neuroscience  Teaching?


The educational neuroscience teaching practices listed below are supported by neuroscience research.

Using Meaning and Chunking, Effective Use of Novelty, Discipline & Education, Prediction, Pulsed Learning, Press and Release , Recall of Prior Knowledge, Spaced vs. Massed Learning, Effects of Stress in the Classroom, The Learning Curve, Creating a Safe Learning Environment, Primacy-Recency Effect, The Forgetting Curve

The Experts

Howard Gardner

Many theories of and approaches toward human learning potential have been established. Among them is the theory of multiple intelligences developed by Howard Gardner, Ph.D., Research Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. Gardner’s early work in psychology and later in human cognition and human potential led to his development of the initial six intelligences. Today there are nine intelligences, and the possibility of others may eventually expand the list.



Click Here!
Robert Brooks

Dr. Robert Brooks is one of today’s leading speakers and authors on the themes of resilience, motivation, school climate, a positive work environment, and family relationships. During the past 40 years, Dr. Brooks has presented nationally and internationally to thousands of parents, educators, mental health professionals, and business people. His talks are filled with practical, realistic suggestions and he is renowned for the warmth and humor he uses to bring his insights and anecdotes to life.


Click Here!
Eric Kandel

The brain is made up of many nerve cells, which communicate by sending electrical and chemical signals to each other. These signals control our bodies and behaviour. Eric Kandel studied how memories are stored by these nerve cells. Kandel found that as the snail learned, chemical signals changed the structure of the connections between cells, known as synapses, where the signals are sent and received. He went on to show that short-term and long-term memories are formed by different signals which is true in all animals.  In 2000, Kandel was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.


Click Here!
John Ratey

John J. Ratey, MD, is an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an internationally recognized expert in neuropsychiatry. He has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles and 11 books published in 15 languages, including the groundbreaking series on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Driven to Distraction with Ned Hallowell, MD. With the publication of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, Dr. Ratey has established himself as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the brain-fitness connection. His latest book, Go Wild, explores how we can “re-wild” our lives and achieve optimal physical and mental health by getting in touch with our caveman roots.


Click Here!
Ken Robinson

A New York Times bestselling author, he led national and international projects on creative and cultural education across the world, unlocking and igniting the creative energy of people and organizations. Sir Ken was the most watched speaker in TED’s history, with his 2006 talk ‘Do Schools Kill Creativity?’ being viewed online over 60 million times and seen by an estimated 380 million people in 160 countries.  He was named as one of Time/Fortune/CNN’s ‘Principal Voices’; acclaimed by Fast Company magazine as one of ‘the world’s elite thinkers on creativity and innovation’ and ranked in the Thinkers50 list of the world’s top business thinkers. In 2003, he received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the arts.


Click Here!

John Medina

Dr. John Medina is a developmental molecular biologist focused on the genes involved in human brain development and the genetics of psychiatric disorders. Medina is an affiliate Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He was the founding director of the Talaris Research Institute, a research center originally focused on how infants encode and process information at the cognitive, cellular, and molecular levels. He is a regular speaker on the relationship between neurology and education. Medina is the author of the New York Times bestseller Brain Rules and the national bestseller Brain Rules for Baby. He also writes the “Molecules of the Mind”  ” column for the Psychiatric Times.


Click Here!
Three Compelling Case Studies

Phineas Gage

He is often described to as one of the most famous patients in neuroscience.

                   H.M.

Too little memory.  A man born with normal memory who later in life lost his ability to remember new things.  He could meet you twice in two hours, with no recall of the first meeting.

Kim Peeks

Too much memory. A mega savant, he could read a page of a book in ten seconds, remembered everything he had read, can recall 12,000 books, did formidable calculations in his head, and remembered music he had heard decades ago.  He is the only savant know who could read two pages of a book simultaneously – one with each eye, regardless of whether it was upside down or sideways on.

otherpg-bg

Monthly Ed Tips

September 2021

October 2021

November 2021

December 2021

January 2022

February 2022

March 2022