Applying Neuroscience to Teaching and Learning

Learning is a topic that often comes up in discussions about teaching. But how does learning actually happen? Brain research is helping clarify the factors that make learning easier or more difficult.

At the 2021 Sommet du numérique en éducation in Montreal, Marie-Andrée Croteau, Director of Instructional Innovation at Collège Bourget, presented an overview of the seven key principles of educational neuroscience outlined in Steve Masson’s 2020 book Activer ses neurones pour mieux apprendre et enseigner (Activate Your Neurons to Learn and Teach More Effectively). The book aims to make neuroscience accessible and to promote evidence-based teaching.

These seven principles connect what is known about how the brain works with practical classroom strategies that support effective learning.

1. Activating Neurons for Learning

Learning begins with neural activation through active, participatory approaches and by minimizing distractions. These methods capture students’ attention, involve them in meaningful tasks, and strengthen understanding.

For inspiration:

• Use structured strategies such as short quizzes, individual or collaborative reflections, concept mapping, and peer discussions that promote student involvement, collaboration, feedback, contextualization, and autonomy.

2. Repeated Neural Activation

This principle encourages teachers to create multiple opportunities for students to revisit and apply what they have learned in different ways. However, as Steve Masson cautions, it is important to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Timely, concise feedback helps prevent misconceptions from taking hold.

For inspiration:

• Revisit a concept several times using different approaches.
• Use activation quizzes to reinforce learning.

3. Memory Retrieval

For learning to take hold, the brain needs time to consolidate new knowledge while staying active. Spaced practice and varied activities strengthen memory far more effectively than rereading notes.

For inspiration:

• Encourage students to write, speak, or create through varied activities such as crossword puzzles, debates, podcasts, infographics, experiments, or concept maps.
  Use study cards with platforms like Brainscape, Quizlet, or Anki.
• Reinforce retrieval through repeated quizzes using Kahoot, Socrative, or Wooclap.

4. Elaborating Explanations

At this stage, students need time to demonstrate their understanding. This involves developing effective study and metacognitive strategies, which should be taught explicitly rather than assumed.

For inspiration:
Teach students to self-explain the concepts they learn.
Create concept maps using tools such as GitMind, Lucidchart, or MindNote.

5. Spacing Neural Activation

Teachers can strengthen learning by revisiting key ideas over time and giving students space to consolidate their understanding. This approach contrasts with last-minute cramming. Students benefit from realizing that last-minute studying is ineffective and should be guided to develop strong strategies for study, review, and memory.

For inspiration:

• Break review sessions into manageable segments.
• Revisit content at regular intervals.

6. Feedback

Feedback is central to learning, a theme that appears in several of the previous principles. Effective feedback should be immediate, specific, and task-focused, with a balance between positive and corrective comments.

For inspiration:

• Provide timely written or oral feedback during and after student work through personalized comments, short audio messages, brief one-on-one discussions, or annotated documents to clarify understanding and guide improvement.

7. Growth Mindset

The final principle focuses on fostering a growth mindset, the belief that everyone can improve and experience success. Intelligence develops through effort, challenges, and mistakes, all of which provide opportunities to learn. Achievement is a continuous process rather than a fixed outcome.

For inspiration:

• Provide feedback that supports a growth mindset.
• Discuss how the brain learns to help students recognize their own potential

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