Category: TT Plus

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Hiro was obviously not your typical student in my class of 70. I asked that all students have new partners every class to make it more exciting and so they could re-use many of their conversation strategies that they were learning in the “Ways of Learning” class. Hiro sat in the front usually and when we sang songs, he sang very loudly and vivaciously. But his ADHD profile made students avoid him at first, and I must admit, me too as a teacher. However, after reading Hiro’s action log and talking a bit to him after class, I could understand his passion and his difficulties in regulating himself and the social situations around him.

Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa has an online Harvard course called The Neuroscience of Learning: An Introduction to Mind, Brain, Health, and Education.
Unlike other Harvard courses in their degree programs, the course is pretty much open to anyone with a decent level of education and English proficiency, and the course can be taken for undergraduate credit, graduate credit or non-credit, with different levels of requirements for each category.

As educators we love new ideas on how to enhance our practices. We try the “latest and greatest” and just hope that it is not yet another fad that may fade away again. Good news: Educational neuroscience is here to stay and is solidly evidence-based in scientific research and good practice.