TEDx Watch Party: Are we teaching against the brain?

I just hosted a watch party for my TEDx talk with over 80 educators from around the world. What started as a simple screening turned into a rich conversation about how we can bridge neuroscience research and everyday teaching practice.

If you haven't seen the talk yet, here's the full TEDx:

And here's our watch party discussion. 

Three Simple Truths About Learning

In the talk, I share three principles about how the brain learns:

No two brains are alike. Every learner develops at their own pace, following their own timeline. 

Repetition makes things easier to learn. The more we practice something, the more automatic it becomes. Our brains literally rewire themselves through repeated experience.

We repeat what interests us. This is the key that ties everything together. Interest drives the repetition that creates learning. When we're interested in something, we want to do it again and again. 

Application

There was a lot of conversation about the importance of repetition and how that seems to be overlooked in many situations. We often find teachers thinking students should move past something quickly, right after we've taught it. But, as this talk shows, the brain usually needs time and repeated application to master things. 

Interest was another big topic of discussion. How can you help someone learn something they need to learn but aren't really interested in learning? How do you use student interests to guide them to fields of inquiry? One possibility is to make the learning relevant to them. Watch the TEDx talk for more on this!

The group was focused on bringing these truths to their schools, parents, and students. Some of the big ideas that came out were:

• Having a parent/faculty/student watch party
• Viewing at a lunch and learn
• Sending the three truths out in newsletters
• Sharing at faculty meetings
• Using in teacher training programs
• Creating parent education series
• Following up with guided discussions

What do you think? Is this talk an idea worth sharing? If so, how will you share it? Add your thoughts to the comments below so we can all benefit!