Focus Magazine - Spring 2014 - 15

NEUROSCIENCE
Merrill Collier

The Neuroscience
of Learning

o what's the brain science behind
learning? Why should we know about it?

Could
neuroscience
be the education
gamechanger?

This year has witnessed a surge of interest to
understand the human brain. President Obama
announced the BRAIN research project, a $100
million collaborative research initiative to
develop new technologies to better understand
the brain and origins of cognition. The European
Union announced a 1.2 billion Euro, 10-year
proposal to computationally simulate the human
brain.
These may be two of the most ambitious
neuroscience initiatives ever proposed. To
understand how the activity of millions of
neurons contribute to complex brain functions
could have a profound impact on neuroscience,
medicine and learning.
Could neuroscience be the education gamechanger?

Brain-Based Learning
Could neuroscience be the education gamechanger? The potential impact of brain research
on education is intriguing. Recently it has
become an area of interest to elementary school
science teachers.
According to one study, performing activities
that have immediate connections to real-world
learning may increase the development or
maintenance of dendrites in the brain. Using real
problems as the basis for investigation promotes
understandings viewed as important and skills
that are viewed as useful, which motivates
students to learn. The brain needs to have
concepts revisited in several different ways to
encourage active processing that's needed to

keep connections, and foster memory.
In another example, a few U.S. schools have
begun to start later in the morning, based on
research that indicates teenagers' brains favor a
later-to-get-going sleep pattern.

Benefits for Corporate Training
What could this mean for corporate training?
How often do we deliver online or in person
trainings and assume they'll result in meaningful
impact? Imagine how understanding more about
the brain, even on a really basic level, could
influence how we approach imparting
knowledge.
The first step is to embrace the possibility that
the way in which we design and deliver content
could impact learning and adoption. If you
agree, then it may make sense to better
understand basic neuroscience principles related
to attention and memory. After all, a common
goal is to impart key learning points so they
'stick' longer in participants' minds. And the
longer it sticks, the more it may impact results.
Next time you train, keep a log if and how
you "grab" that attentional spotlight at the start
and for key learning points. Do you jump that
spotlight around a lot, or do you manage the
cadence of your focus carefully? Are you
delivering information in digestible chunks, and
using workshop practice to encode and move the
key messages from that short-term to longerterm memory?
How will emerging research in the brain
sciences inform educational practices? It's a "no
brainer" to follow and see what we can learn.
(I'm in!) I

Merrill Collier is a principle global training and education specialist at Medtronic's CardioVascular
division. This article expresses the personal views of the author and does not necessarily represent the
opinions of his employer. Email Merrill at Merrill.Collier@Medtronic.com.

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Focus Magazine - Spring 2014

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