#134 - My Neuroscience Journey

Hi Everyone

As you’re probably aware, my driving passion lies in making sure that what we know about the neuroscience of learning, is actually ‘used’ to improve the educational and life chances of children and young people. I’ve been researching the learning brain for several decades now, and as our understanding grows, so should the impact on teaching and learning.

I don’t think that we need to understand every nuance of what the brain is doing in order to utilise what we know works, neither do I feel that good teachers should ignore their gut instincts about the best way to interact with students on any given subject. What’s most important, is to focus on being ‘student’ centred in the way that we approach teaching.

In other words, what’s going to make a genuine difference for our learners? When working independently with young people who were causing concern due to a lack of progress in school, I set out over several years to identify what was actually holding them back. They presented with a whole range of difficulties, but I gradually discovered that the solution was the same in each instance.

I was able to devise a set of simple materials that invariably led to a successful turn-around for all the struggling learners who engaged with me. The ‘Learner Success Pathway’ was created over time, using strategies that I found worked every time with every student, whatever their starting point and whatever their difficulty. That led to grateful thanks from parents, but also queries from teachers about how that was being achieved.

On several occasions, as I started to explain my methods, other people brought up the word ‘metacognition’. My materials had always been based in metacognition without ever referencing the word, but I started to use it more freely having discovered that the term was now being discussed widely within education.

No-one can make progress without metacognition, so the secret to helping learners improve their success rate, is to make sure that they develop metacognitive abilities. Doesn’t that happen naturally as an extension of the cognitive processes that children are born with? No, for many students it does not, due to a whole plethora of possible adverse childhood experiences.

Only the most able students in school are automatically using metacognition to make progress. Keeping in mind that metacognition is all about taking responsibility for what you’re thinking, and using that personal authority to consciously make changes that lead to improved results, it’s essential that learners develop that skill over time. That can however prove tricky if students have become accustomed to being passive recipients of information.

The brain was not designed for learning in a classroom, so much more effort is required on the part of students in school, than when those same individuals were previously learning freely and unconsciously from an inbuilt drive to find out stuff. The problem is, with a set curriculum, there's little for the brain to really invest in, and if, (as is often the case) we then dictate how that information should be learned, where is there room for metacognition to grow?

Templates encouraging learners to question their own thought processes as they attempt a task, is a good way of organising information for those who already have the ability to understand the principles behind that way of working. Most learners however require a more naturalised approach which builds up a belief in their own ability to learn, introduces them to the steps required for effective learning to take place, and helps them appreciate how to engage for personal impact.

I have developed my approach to metacognition from direct experience as a science teacher in several high schools, as an advisory teacher within education partnerships, as educational lead with a team supporting young people in care with behavioural difficulties, and as an independent academic success coach. Each role has taught me more about how learners think, and allowed me the opportunity to apply neuroscience in each instance to support improvements in teaching and learning.

Whilst acknowledging the huge amount of research in the subject on which my practice has been based, first-hand experience has also made a significant contribution to my own understanding of what works. I was therefore over the moon recently to discover the book, Educational Neuroscience by Cathy Rogers and Michael Thomas, (Routledge 2023) the content of which validated all my own findings across a career devoted to making a difference, (just with more comprehensive explanations for why they work).

I am therefore confident that every presentation, training session or written item that I provide is still based in evidence and reflects an up-to-date understanding of the neuroscience behind effective learning. I invite you therefore to stay with me on the journey, either by subscribing to this newsletter or contacting me about availability for presentations and training that focuses on metacognition in practice.

Take care till next time

Warm regards

Liz

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