Brain and learning
How does our brain turn marks on a page into a picture in our mind? And why is it that this process is so easy for some people and so difficult for others? Neuroscientists are looking for the answers to these puzzling questions, and these articles explain some of their recent discoveries.
This section contains 17 articles.
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Although we may not be aware of it, we do not skip over words, read print selectively, or recognize words by sampling a few letters of the print, as whole language theorists proposed in the 1970s. Reading is accomplished with letter-by-letter processing of the word.
Dyslexia and the Brain: What Does Current Research Tell Us?
The identification of a child with dyslexia is a difficult process, but there are ways that parents and teachers can learn more about the reading difficulty and support the child’s learning.
Do Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Learners Need Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Instruction?
How does the mind work — and especially how does it learn? Teachers' instructional decisions are based on a mix of theories learned in teacher education, trial and error, craft knowledge, and gut instinct. Such gut knowledge often serves us well, but is there anything sturdier to rely on?
Why Students Think They Understand When They Don't
Very often, students will think they understand a body of material. Believing that they know it, they stop trying to learn more. But, come test time, it turns out they really don't know the material. Can cognitive science tell us anything about why students are commonly mistaken about what they know and don't know? Are there any strategies teachers can use to help students better estimate what they know?
The author, a professor of cognitive psychology, notes, "it's true that knowledge gives students something to think about, but… knowledge does much more than just help students hone their thinking skills, it actually makes learning easier." Factual knowledge enhances cognitive processes like problem solving and reasoning, and once you have some knowledge, the brain finds it easier to get more and more knowledge.
Schools in Which All Kinds of Minds Can Grow
As we discover more about how students learn and how different minds learn differently, our schools have a golden opportunity to increase the percentage of their students who experience true academic success.
Genetic differences in the brain make learning to read a struggle for children with dyslexia. Luckily, most of our brain development occurs after we're born, when we interact with our environment. This means that the right teaching techniques can actually re-train the brain, especially when they happen early.
See Brain. See Brain Read: Reading Instruction Changes the Brain
Reading instruction changes the brain. New before- and after- images that show what happens to children’s brains after they get systematic, research-based reading instruction show that the right teaching methods can actually normalize brain function and thereby improve a child's reading skills.
Raisin' Brain: Maintaining Homes for All Kinds of Minds
School is not the only arena in which children's minds need to be nurtured and expanded. Equally vital is the kind of education and brain building that a student undergoes at home.
Dyslexia: What Brain Research Reveals About Reading
Remediation Training Improves Reading Ability of Dyslexic Children
For the first time, researchers have shown that the brains of dyslexic children can be rewired -- after undergoing intensive remediation training -- to function more like those found in normal readers.
Understanding the Brain and Reading
What is happening in the brain when a person reads? Although there is still a great deal about the function and activity of the brain that we do not understand yet, what we do know has some implications for reading assessment and reading instruction.
Children with Reading Disability
NICHD research on children with learning disabilities has shown that deficiencies in processing letter-sounds are at the heart of most reading problems. This article illustrates how letter-sound processing works, and describes strategies for teaching children this skill.