Best Practices at Tier 1 [Secondary]. Gayle Gregory
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Creating Brain-Friendly Learning Environments
We’ve seen that educators must routinely—even daily—differentiate quality learning opportunities in order to meet diverse student needs and preferences and to enable students to succeed in core instruction. Understanding specifically how to structure differentiated instruction in a way that will increase the chances of student success, however, demands that educators have some basic grounding in learners’ biological and psychological needs. While a number of factors shape the brain’s ability to survive and thrive, none are more critical than the classroom climate and environment. Beyond its power to influence the development of a learner’s brain, classroom environment can also play a role in students’ overall physical and emotional well-being. As we see in this chapter, multiple factors influence the classroom environment and climate—everything from body language to room décor affects learning.
Few teachers entered the field in order to spend more time thinking about brain science, but the more educators know and understand about how the brain operates, the more sensitive they can be to their students’ needs and the better able they’ll be to optimize learners’ success. Fortunately, a lot of information is available on the subject of the learning environment, and more research emerges daily with implications for classroom practice. Although neuroscience will never tell us how to teach, this ever-growing bank of data on neuroeducation leaves little doubt about the influence of neuroscientific principles on educational practices. John Geake (2009), a professor and cofounder of the Oxford Cognitive Neuroscience Education Forum, reports, “Relevant and useful professional and classroom applications of educational neuroscience will increasingly become available as we gradually come to understand more about brain function through neuroscience research which answers educational questions about learning, memory, motivation and so on” (p. 10). The best practices educators can employ to leverage what neuroscience teaches us about the effect of environment on learning involve creating a classroom environment that supports trial and error, encourages risk taking, promotes collaboration, and includes meaningful, relevant, and engaging instruction. By understanding the fundamental elements of a brain-friendly classroom we outline in this chapter, educators can be better prepared to incorporate those elements into their own classroom environment and, in doing so, remove some of the most persistent stumbling blocks students encounter as they work to achieve learning goals.
In this chapter, we’ll explore the many ways educators can create and maintain a classroom climate and environment that contribute to the optimal intellectual, emotional, and physical development of their students. From controlling stressors to creating structure, enabling a more social classroom experience, and engaging students more actively in their own learning experience and achievement, the ideas and techniques we outline in this chapter offer educators multiple opportunities to build an environment that promotes and supports student achievement.
Maintaining a Safe and Secure Climate for Learning
Creating a supportive classroom environment can maximize student engagement and create conditions for success, and it represents one of the powerful strategies educators use in delivering daily differentiated instruction. Although most brains operate in similar ways, each brain is uniquely based on the individual’s genetics and environmental experiences (Shaw et al., 2006). As a result, we all have different ways in which we process information and demonstrate competence. At the same time, we each react differently to environmental stressors such as isolation, bullying, and aggressive behaviors. In the classroom, events that go unnoticed by one student may dramatically interfere with another student’s ability to listen or participate in class.
Teachers intuitively know these differences exist, yet still may offer a one-size-fits-all curriculum. As teachers grow in experience and gain insight and expertise, however, their repertoire of instructional strategies and their understanding of how and where to use them evolve. The strategy of differentiated instruction is predicated on this understanding of each student’s unique nature and needs. Neuroscience has much to tell us about creating a classroom environment that feels safe and supportive for all student brains along with a classroom climate that promotes the kind of physical and emotional nourishment that contributes to both a healthy mind and a healthy body. Because every student in the classroom comes with his or her own set of learning needs and preferences, educators can draw on the variety of techniques we outline here to create a brain-friendly environment that will help all students achieve their learning goals.
The Adolescent Brain
When puberty hits, we can expect the unexpected. According to Jay Giedd et al. (1999), the young adolescent’s ability to judge, plan, and use insight has not yet developed. Giedd et al. (1999) suggest that people can learn good judgment, but we do not have the necessary brain hardware to make those judgments until we’re fully mature—in our early twenties. However, Giedd et al.’s (1999) research shows that the frontal lobe (the thinking and problem-solving area of the brain) continues to grow, change, and develop during childhood until 10.2 years for girls and 12.1 years for boys. Changes occur during the teen years as well. Therefore, adolescence is a second chance to develop behavioral regulation and logical decision making. This is good news! There is hope for teenagers who seem irrational or overemotional, as the decision-making areas of the brain continue to develop into their twenties. This means educators have time to influence students and help them learn to manage emotions and develop rational decision making. Teens need guidance while this brain development takes place. They are a work in progress as they learn strategies to manage emotions, self-regulate, make decisions, and develop empathy (Goleman, 2006b).
Adolescent Developmental Tasks
Not only are adolescents entering a new stage of life and brain maturation, but they are dealing with a whole new set of developmental tasks. These tasks mostly focus on becoming aware of themselves and their relationships to others. Several issues they grapple with are (Sheppard & Stratton, 1993):