Based on my background as a neurologist and my experience as a classroom teacher, I’ve created this list of tips for any teacher to integrate brain-based, neuro-logical learning strategies to grab and hold students’ attention.
All learning enters the brain through the senses. The subconscious mind needs to be on automatic pilot to process the enormous amount information from the world available through all the senses. Neuroimaging studies provide support for classroom strategies that operate on the brain’s first sensory filter, a thin strip of brain tissue low down, just above the spinal column that determines what captivates attention. This primitive intake filter, called the reticular activating system (RAS), admits less than one percent of the sensory information available to it every second.
Much like other mammals, the human RAS favors intake of sights, sounds, smells, and tactile sensations that are most critical to survival. The RAS is a virtual editor that grants attention and admission to things that have changed in the environment with priority to changes that signal threat. When threat is perceived, the RAS automatically selects related sensory input and directs it to the lower, reactive brain where the involuntary response is fight, flight, or freeze. If the change is assessed as not threatening, the RAS focuses on sights, sounds, movements, smells, and other changes that provoke curiosity or are recognized as potential sources of pleasure.
Read Brain-Based Learning Strategies: Get Students’ Attention With a Radish
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