The Neuroscience of Learning

How the brain learns best with Mary-Helen Immordino-Yang

Fear of failure. In many classrooms – and society at large – we attempt to drive achievement through scarcity. Why is this tactic prevalent, what are its consequences, and what strategy should be used instead? Especially with the growing reality of online / distance learning, is it time to redesign our understanding of learning based on how the brain works? Neuroscientist Mary-Helen Immordino-Yang, in conversation with Josh Freedman, exposes the deficits of the traditional learning environment and offers educators practical insights on the critical role emotion plays in learning.

In a seminal NYT article, Dr. Immordino-Yang discusses ideal biological conditions for learning, and the predicament that “it is literally neurobiologically impossible to think deeply about things that you don’t care about.” In other words, emotional investment is critical for learning, which is why students are motivated to engage with material that will be tested; their fear of failure drives them to study.

Unfortunately, according to Dr. Immordino-Yang, learning in this mindset is not only “superficial” and “shallow,” but also and biologically shapes the knowledge to be “organized around fight and flight and escape strategies.” On the opposite side of the spectrum is curiosity, a “nuanced, implicit and emotional process” during which “you’re open, you’re safe, you’re in a kind of intellectually playful place in which you’re sort of exploring possibilities.” But Dr. Immordino-Yang identifies that many traditional teaching practices “directly undermine a person’s development of…. [this] mind state.” 

So how can we, as educators, make the shift towards fostering a curious mind state in our students? This is a challenge in all learning contexts – from early childhood through to corporate university… and it’s magnified by the abstractions of learning at a distance. Dr. Immordino-Yang explains that it’s actually our social brains that are responsible for learning. Yet we discuss in a recent video, in virtual learning, the social brain is less activated. This challenge makes learning-at-distance even more challenging – which makes it even more important to focus on the social emotional foundations that shape the learning experience.

To unfold into curiosity, students need to feel emotionally safe enough to explore, and they need to know enough to have a stake in the topic. Dr. Immordino-Yang encourages educators to “expose [students] to the relevance of [topics]. Teach them so it feels important, then they can develop and foster a sense of curiosity in that domain.” Most importantly, educators must model the vulnerability and adaptability that comes with curiosity, the admittance of not-knowing. In truth, learning is a “co constructed” process in which “adults and children are both learners,” “a property of the dynamic cultural context they co-construct.”

Members of the Six Seconds community from around the globe submitted questions for Dr. Immordino-Yang, centering around activating the brain for learning, engaging curiosity, creating the optimal state for learning, and maintaining a focus on long-term vision. Read on to learn more about education across cultural contexts and how to foster a state of curiosity in the full interview below.

Lees hier ook het hele interview met Neurowetenschapper Mary-Helen Immordino-Yang

About Six Seconds

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