Our Ed Week Post Stresses the Importance of the Caring Classroom Where Students Learn How to Learn

In responding to Education Week as a part of the popular Classroom Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo, Marcus and I described our exciting, unique, and productive approach that we have taught educators for relating with students.

The question for this blog post was: "What are the best ways to build relationships with students?"

“Our cognitive approach positions the teacher-student relationship as one where effective teachers are expert learners who explicitly teach students how to learn in ways they can use across contexts in academics, life, and on the job,” we wrote in our reply. “Teachers find this fulfilling because they know how important it will be for their students to be able to learn new skills to enjoy success across many jobs across their lifespans.”

University College Cork Applies a BrainSMART Strategy to Help Students Have a Successful First Year

Dr. Eithne Hunt, registered Occupational Therapist and lecturer in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at University College Cork, Ireland, includes one of Marcus Conyers’ and my strategies in an article for first-year students.

I found this article a good read and imagine that it could be of great interest for students when they first leave home and go off to college. In this piece, Dr. Hunt references our BrainSMART strategy “Explain It to Your Brain” as a way to assist students to become more metacognitive. Metacognition has been called the #1 key for success across professional contexts.

She summarizes our strategy as follows: “Students who use self-explanation tell themselves what they are thinking and doing when learning, a strategy closely related to metacognition, which is a characteristic of successful student learning and of professional success across careers.”

Becoming the Boss of Their Brains

Metacognition may be defined as “thinking about our thinking” and “knowing about our knowing.” Metacognition is key to independent learning. The students of teachers we have taught say that they are becoming the boss of their brains! When students are taught how to be independent learners at school, they are then able to use this critical ability on their college and career paths after graduation. Teachers call metacognition the gift that keeps on giving!

Research has amassed on the importance of metacognition for learning across contexts, as well as the fact that it can be taught. In fact, in a meta-analysis of 91 studies, Wang, Haertel, and Walberg (1993) determined that metacognition is the #1 student characteristic of high achievers at school. More recently, on a list of 150 overall factors that influence student achievement, metacognitive strategies were ranked #15 whereas, student socio-economic status was ranked #45 (Hattie, 2012). We support teachers in graduate study at NSU and professional development by sharing practical strategies for implementation of this key cognitive strategy in their classrooms. In our ASCD article you will read some of their stories.

For more on how to teach students to become independent learners, see our open-access online article in ASCD's October issue of Educational Leadership.

Edutopia Blog—Training the Brain to Listen: A Practical Strategy for Student Learning and Classroom Management

Teachers and parents alike can benefit from helping children and youth train their brains to listen and focus more effectively. Discover a powerful, practical strategy that teachers enjoy using. See our blog on Edutopia!


Training the Brain to Listen: A Practical Strategy for Student Learning and Classroom Management

A $3 Word That Is Worth Every Penny

We all know our share of “three-dollar words.” Gargantuan is just another word for big. Miniscule is the long way to say something tiny. However, in our estimation, metacognition is a three-dollar word that is worth every penny. 

The concept of metacognition is even more impressive than the word itself. Metacognition refers to “thinking about your thinking,” with the aim of improving learning. It’s a word that is at the foundation of the Thinking for Results approach that Marcus and I use in the graduate degree programs we have developed in brain-based teaching.

It is our firm belief that cognitive and metacognitive strategies can and must be explicitly taught in conjunction with core curriculum so that students can clearly see the benefit of reflecting on and regulating their thinking to improve such skills as reading comprehension and math problem solving.

Supporting Teachers to Implement Common Core State Standards

I am happy to see that there are a number of sessions at the Florida Virtual School conference to support educators in Florida and other states that are implementing the Common Core State Standards. Although the standards are not entirely new to many states that have had various types of standards, it is now expected that students will learn to use cognitive strategies alongside content. In many communities this is a departure from what has been expected, thus, it is important to include in professional development planning now and over time. To assist with implementation of cognitive standards in educational settings, consider doing a book study connecting local requirements for Common Core with our text, Thinking for Results, 2012 (Amazon.com).

Reading Today Article

If you, your school or district have a membership to International Reading Association journal Reading Today online check out this reading strategy...happy reading! 


Training The Mind's Eye: “Brain Movies” Support Comprehension and Recall. Donna Wilson. Article first published online: 9 JUL 2012. DOI: 10.1002/TRTR.

Teaching Students to Become the Boss of Their Brains

Greetings, All. 

If you copy and search the following, you should find my short article about helping students become more metacognitive and able to learn to be independent learners. 

www.learningresourcenetwork.net/topics/attention/kids-can-be-the-boss-of-th...

A Good Summer's Read for Educators: Helping Students Reach Their Potential

July 10-14 I will be presenting at the International Association of Cognitive Education and Psychology alongside presenters from Feuerstein's institute (ICELP) where I did post doctoral work some 15 years ago. The following book by Feuerstein and associates, though not a how-to book, offers profound theoretical insights particularly for those interested in learners with challenges. Alternatively, check out his website at www.icelp.org. 


Beyond Smarter: Mediated Learning and the Brain's Capacity for Change offers readers insight from two important research streams. The first is Reuven Feuerstein's seminal theoretical insights that provide frameworks for research and practice based upon his theory that humans across cultures and backgrounds can become functionally smarter through the use of specific cognitive methods. The second is John Bransford's insights in the foreword. Readers may recall that in the late nineties Bransford was the leader of a group of federally funded scholars who authored How People Learn. This text has been widely read and has had a great impact on research in the field of learning over the past decade. Later, after a second committee of scholars met, Donovan and Bransford wrote a text titled How Students Learn with a focus on using research from the science of learning in the classroom for the teaching of history, math, and science. Importantly, Bransford states an eagerness for connections to be made between neuroscience and Feuerstein's theory. 

The authors, Reuven and Rafael Feuerstein and Louis Falik, discuss key concepts from the seminal work of first author, Professor Reuven Feuerstein. In this introduction the reader learns of this important body of work as a hopeful alternative for teaching children and youth with neurobiological (ie diagnosis of Down syndrome) and/or environmental challenges (ie issues of abandonment, loss, or lack of preparation for learning at school). Readers will enjoy Feuerstein's story (in his own words) of his work with Jean Piaget at the Geneva Institute and how Andre Rey's support there was critical to his work on cognitive functions and assessment. Importantly, Structural Cognitive Modifiability (SCM), the framework that gives hope for those who have learning challenges is defined and discussed. 

Mediated Learning Experience (MLE), is defined as the method by which a more experienced adult (teacher, parent, or other) assists youth to learn how to learn and, in Feuerstein's words, become more cognitively modifiable. In Feuerstein's theory, it is MLE that renders the child a motivated, effective, and successful learner. In other words, without at least one mediator (you might think of a special kind of guide) a youth would likely not become a successful thinker and learner. The necessary parameters of the mediated learning experience are discussed, for example, caring and intentionality. Further, the authors discuss other criteria for MLE such as the mediation of belonging, sharing, and individuation that should be mediated over the course of time. 

Dynamic Assessment and Instrumental Enrichment, specific tools Feuerstein developed are introduced (more training is needed to begin to become proficient at using these tools). Dynamic assessment utilizes the test-teach-test approach and is helpful to determine what kind of intervention is necessary and how much mediation is needed in order for the learner to become able to learn independently. Instrumental Enrichment, Feuerstein's program for teaching youth (approximately age 9 and up) thinking habits for school, work, and life is also introduced in this text along with the newest edition to the Feuerstein programs, Instrumental Enrichment Basic for young children. 

This book represents seminal and important work that weaves together the power of mediated learning and emerging understandings of neuroplasticity and human potential. I had the honor of completing postdoctoral study with Reuven Feuerstein in Israel. The experience has had a profound impact on how I work with teachers, administrators, and graduate students in our Brain-Based Teaching programs. In particular, this book brings the importance of mirror neurons in the process of mediating learning to life and amplifies the importance of diversity. Reading Beyond Smarter helps to empower the reader with a refreshing initial understanding of how effective educators can cultivate key cognitive skills for thriving in the 21st century. The thinking of Reuven Feuerstein has been a great gift to me over the span of more than two decades as it has been to many others across the world who have had the pleasure of learning from him. This book is an excellent way for individuals to connect to his powerful work! 

BrainSMART Blogging: In Full Support of Teachers

We are proud to introduce our blog! Here is an example of the kinds of strategies that we share on this blog.

I just saw BrainSMART graduate student Diane Dahl's blog at her blog, For the Love of Teaching. Her blog post 'Reading Levels Jump 5 Months in just 2.5 Months' tells how she is using her BrainSMART studies to benefit students. Diane also shared with us that she had a record number of students qualify for gifted programming after teaching her students cognitive and metacognitive strategies.

Though our blog focuses on practical knowledge and strategies for teaching and learning, we also share research from the fields of education, mind, and brain.