First, however, it is important to remember that all learning is brain-based. Through the process of education, we are trying literally to change the brain ? not the pancreas, spleen, or lungs. Indeed, education is practical neuroscience. That does not mean that every teacher needs to become a neuroscientist or memorize 100 neurotransmitters and 50 brain areas responsible for cognition. But it does mean that teachers can become more effective with some knowledge of how the brain senses, processes, stores, and retrieves information.
Human beings are storytelling primates. We are curious, and we love to learn. The challenge for each teacher is to find ways to engage the child and take advantage of the novelty-seeking property of the human brain to facilitate learning.
Information is easiest to digest when there is emotional "seasoning" ? humor, empathy, sadness, and fear all make "dry" facts easier to swallow. Give a fact or two; link these facts into related concepts. Move back to the narrative to help them make the connection between this concept and the story. Go back to another fact. Reinforce the concepts. Reconnect with the original story. In and out, bob and weave, among facts, concept, and narrative.
Learning requires attention. And attention is mediated by specific parts of the brain. Yet, neural systems fatigue quickly, actually within minutes. With three to five minutes of sustained activity, neurons become "less responsive"; they need a rest (not unlike your muscles when you lift weights). They can recover within minutes too, but when they are stimulated in a sustained way, they just are not as efficient
The young brain handles concrete concepts better than abstracts.
The brain perceives patterns and generates rules about them.
Memory is enhanced by emotions
The brain develops fluency with practice. At first, learning is conscious and laborious, gradually becoming automatic. When the mechanics of writing or reading become unconscious, the cortex allocates more attention to the meaning of what is being written and read.
Motor memory is a separate, very enduring brain system. Once we learn to ride a bike, we don't forget.
The brain processes wholes AND parts simultaneously.
In the process of reading, the brain decodes the parts (letters and words) and decodes the meaning of the whole (sentences). In the process of writing, the meaning is already known, but the brain must now both encode AND decode: Children encode the meaning (their story) into the alphabetic code (letters and words), AND decode (read the words and sentence back to themselves.)