Gaining “Brain Power” as a Neuro-teacher with Micro-credentials – Digital Promise

Gaining “Brain Power” as a Neuro-teacher with Micro-credentials

August 25, 2017 | By

The growing body of research in Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) science provides both an opportunity and a challenge for teachers and school leaders looking to implement strategies to help meet the evolving needs of their students.

MBE research can be leveraged to design classrooms that better support each individual student, but this same body of research can seem overwhelming when attempting to make it actionable in a particular learning context.

As director of the Center for Transformative Teaching at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, I’ve had the pleasure of learning and working with teachers for over a decade. What I’ve consistently found from my many years engaging with teachers is the knowledge gap they feel on how to ensure the strategies they’re using with students are based in current and sound cognitive science with evidence that those strategies lead to student growth.

In partnership with Digital Promise, the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL) embraced the opportunity to meet this professional learning need by launching the Mind, Brain, and Education Science micro-credential stack. These micro-credentials are designed to provide an opportunity to reflect on current MBE mindsets, knowledge, and skills and apply them in meaningful ways across various curriculum.

Each micro-credential explores a foundational concept in the MBE field:

This stack is intended to be earned in sequence. The neuroplasticity micro-credential sets the context for how students and educators can rewire their brains to deepen strengths and improve weaknesses. Then, educators who pursue the neuromyths micro-credential will explore how to determine faulty research and common misconceptions about the ways in which the human brain works. Finally, the neuro-truths micro-credential supports educators as they implement practices in their classroom that enhance student learning according to MBE research.

These micro-credentials are intended to be earned in this order and returned to cyclically as educators continue to grow in their practice.

MBE science provides promising ways to transform teaching and learning because of how central a role continuous research and practice plays in developing the field. MBE science provides insight on how to enrich the “quality” of student thinking and educator reflection, which can lead to a better school experience for all.

Every student, every day, in every class, deserves educators and school leaders who know how the brain learns, works, and thrives. By engaging in these MBE micro-credentials, educators will better understand how all students learn so that they can teach to the one thing students cannot forget to bring to class: their brains.

Learn more about the Mind, Brain, and Education Science micro-credentials here.

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