 Hi, my name is Tracy Takahama Espinosa and I'd like to share a recent study that I did that tells us a bit more about what information from neuroscience can actually be moved into the classroom and applied by regular teachers. I conducted a several-month-long study, a Delphi panel, which identified several experts around the world who agreed to look at different concepts in educational neuroscience and cognitive psychology and to gauge what type concepts could really be supported from a neuroscientific perspective and applied in classrooms which would enhance student learning outcomes. We asked six questions and what we're going to focus on today just has to do with the first one, which had to do with accepted principles. Are there rules that govern practice? Are there things that are true for all brains? This was really important to identify because there's been a long-standing dispute about whether or not there's good information that can come out of the lab and actually be applied in the classroom. This is important because once we could identify if there were truths, good information from neuroscience that could be applied in the classroom, then we could create a new model. What was agreed upon by the Delphi panel is that step number one is that we have to get rid of the false beliefs about the brain. Number one, get rid of the junk. The right brain, left brain, dichotomy, the learning styles idea, the boys and girls brains or the 10% use of the brain, we have to get rid of those misconceptions, the misinformation about the brain in order to apply what few principles might exist, the things that are true for all human brains. Additionally, if we could do that, then there are other things that are also good information true about human brains, but they have a really high degree of human variance and therefore are less difficult to prove. For example, we all know that motivation influences learning outcomes. But what motivates you doesn't necessarily motivate me, right? So those things fall into tenets. Those aren't actually principles. They're important, but they're less firm than the principles. The few things that we know are true for all human brains from the time you're born until you die. So this means the new first steps are first, get rid of those neuro myths, think about the principles and tenets, take into consideration our cultural context, and then we can develop those guidelines, what we should actually do in practice. Right now we're going to just focus on the core principles that the Delphi panel identified after reviewing nearly 100 different concepts. Only six things were actually true about all brains from the moment they're born all the way until they die. What are they? The first one is that human brains are unique. They're about as unique as a human face. Now if we know that, then that makes us think now, how does this impact teaching? The second principle has to do with different potentials. Each individual's brain is differently paired to learn different tasks. And this is thanks to what is inherited by the genes, but also what occurs in your environment. And this has implications in our teaching practice. Another key principle that came out of neuroscience that can be applied to the classroom has to do with prior experience. All new learning passes through the filter of prior experience. So what does this mean as far as our teaching practices go? We have to be really conscious of that as teachers to tie into the positive connections that students have to prior knowledge and build off of that when we introduce new concepts in the classroom. Another concept has to do with the constant changes in the brain. Your brain is not static. At a molecular level, it is literally changing every single day. And these changes at the molecular level can happen simultaneously in parallel or even before you can see the behaviors. But they're at a level that's invisible to the naked eye. It's invisible to behavioral observations. So what does this mean about our teaching? Have we built in the time necessary into these learning moments to really consolidate understanding and new learning? Do we allow enough time for that learning cycle to occur? Another core principle is neuroplasticity. The brain is plastic. It's flexible. It's elastic. Number one idea is that plasticity exists throughout the lifespan. Number two is that pruning is also perhaps as important as neuroplasticity. How does this have any impact on teaching? It's basically plasticity is the physical manifestation of learning. So it's really important for us as teachers to really believe in this concept of plasticity and believe in our students and give them the space that they need and the time that they need to be able to achieve as much as they can based on their own potentials. A final principle has to do with memory and attention. Now this is too simple. It's not just memory and attention equal learning. There's a lot of other stuff. But let's just do it as a subtraction thing. If you don't have memory or you don't have attention, you can't have learning. There is no new learning without some form of memory and some form of attention. Knowing that memory is important for learning and knowing that attention is important for learning will help us better select high quality learning interventions in the classroom that will more naturally create the conditions under which a kid can learn. Okay, those are the core principles. I told you there's only a handful of them, only six things that realize that we can pull from neuroscience, from lab experiments and say, yeah, this is good information that deserves to be in the classrooms. But those six things are enough. They're enough to create excellent learning experiences. And I hope that you apply them in your own classrooms. If you have any questions or want to read more about any of these principles, just write. Thanks a lot. Bye.