LFL Volume 2 2015

THE LOOKING FOR
LEARNING TOOLKIT

LfL 2
ABOUT LEARNING

The Looking for Learning Toolkit by Fieldwork Education, part of the Nord Anglia Education family
The WCL group. All rights reserved.
Contents

The Looking for Learning Toolkit: an introduction
LfL 2 About Learning
Page 3
8
1.
A brief description of the brain
10
2.
What does learning look like?
16
3.
What affects learning?
18
1. Good health and an effective brain
19
2. Making connections
26
3. Seeing the big picture
28
4. Relaxed alertness and emotional intelligence
29
5. Making memory
41
6. Slow thinking
45
Conclusion
49
Recommended reading
50
Acknowledgements
52
The LfL Toolkit: an introduction

DVD2 - Introduction
Overview: You will hear Martin Skelton introducing this second DVD and talking about learning
itself.
Outcome: Youll increase your knowledge of the big picture of learning.
Options: You can use this as a big picture introduction for you and colleagues in your school
alongside this introductory text.
The Looking for Learning process has been described as transformational and a paradigm
shift. In schools around the world, it has changed the way teachers, children and
students see their classroom and has transformed classrooms from places where teaching
happens to places where learning happens.
Looking for Learning originated in the consultancy work our organisation, Fieldwork Education,
was carrying out in a number of schools. (There is some brief information about Fieldwork
Education at the end of this introduction.) Although each schools original request to us was
different, we soon realised that there was also something similar that each was expressing.
To put it simply, each school was expressing dissatisfaction with what they were currently
doing. The people who worked in them felt that they were managerialised rather than inspired;
focused on the symptoms rather than the disease; without a core identity and purpose.
Something ordinary was setting in and they didnt like it.
To cut a long developmental story short, our work with these schools quickly began to focus on
helping them become learning-focused, driven in everything they did by the possibility of
improving learning.
The practice of Looking for Learning that you will find here emerged out of this work because
we experienced three simple but profound realisations together:
1.
learning is the core purpose of schools
2.
learning takes place in childrens heads, most often while they are in classrooms
THE LFL TOOLKIT: AN INTRODUCTION
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3.
teaching does not equal learning - teaching taking place in classrooms does
not automatically mean that learning is also taking place.
What takes place at the end of units of work, semesters, terms and school years is a
judgement about learning, and indeed, each school had lots of evidence that seemed to be
about learning - entry-level assessment, test scores, reading ages, pre-university qualifications
and so on. But few schools knew much about the most important evidence of all: were the
children and students learning hour-by-hour, day-by-day in classrooms?
Looking for Learning is the transformational process that enables individual teachers and
groups of teachers, as well as the management and leadership of the school, to gather that
evidence. When it is used between teachers it has been described as
a great action research project.
When it is used with teachers by the management and leadership of a school it has been
described as
a great, shared monitoring activity.
Teachers and school leaders alike have said about Looking for Learning that they can
never look at classrooms in the same way again.
I am a better teacher as a result of Looking for Learning. I am not a different

person, nor is my thirst to see learning any stronger. However, I have refined many of
my and my students actions to better the opportunities for learning to take place.
John Chesbrough, American International School Of Johannesburg
Like everything, Looking for Learning exists in a context. Our work with schools led us to ask a
series of questions that helped us to clarify that context and form the coherent practice that
you will find in this toolkit.
First, what is learning? To look for learning in a classroom means that we have to have a
working definition of what learning is; without it, how do we agree what we are looking for?
Second, we need to know what is it that affects learning? The recent explosion in brain
research has been both helpful and unhelpful here. Helpful because research has provided the
rationale for learning-focused activities teachers have long been intuitively sure about; helpful
because it has given us new insights into how we might facilitate learning in the classroom.
Unhelpful because all sorts of people have jumped on the bandwagon to suggest classroom
practices that are not based on any kind of worthwhile research and which can waste both
teacher and student time.
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As a consequence of this question, our work with schools then threw up another. Can we sort
out the evidence-based learning strategies that work from those that have no evidence
base behind them or which just dont work?
But this isnt enough, either. Learning in classrooms - even good learning - is more effective if
it is not isolated, if it takes place in a context where the school is learning focused, where
everything possible throughout the entire organisation supports learning. So our work with our
own schools began to explore a fourth question, too: what does it mean to be a truly
learning-focused school?
And this, of course, led to a final question. If we know what a learning-focused school looks
like, how do we create one? What do we have to do to lead and manage a learningfocused school?
In carrying out this work we were fortunate in a number of ways. First, we were lucky to be
energised and fuelled by the passion of so many people in schools around the world. The
exploration of these questions was shared amongst us.
Second, we had access to a growing body of evidence about learning and about learningfocused schools. It is true that compared with evidence about teaching or school management
the base is still thin and we hope to contribute to it. But it is there and growing.
Third, we had the opportunity to challenge this evidence with the messy, everyday nature of
real schools, real classrooms, real children and students, real teachers and real school
leaders. Each day that we worked in classrooms and with teachers and others, new ideas
emerged, old ideas were challenged.
Over time, an increasing number of schools, beyond our own work, began to ask the same
questions and began to become interested in the work we and the schools we were working
with were doing. Some of those schools asked us to work with them on a consultancy basis;
others, for a variety of reasons, asked us to produce resources for them that they could use
themselves, with only a limited amount of consultancy from us.
And so, the Looking for Learning Toolkit was born. The resource that you have bought
contains five major elements:
LfL 1 - Putting it into Practice tells you everything you need to put Looking for Learning into
your own classroom or your own school. It gives you the chance to see your classroom
differently than you have ever seen it before.
LfL 2 - About Learning tells you everything you need to know about what is good and true
about the factors that affect learning. Youll be able to differentiate the sound from the unsound
and find many examples of things to do in the classroom that help children and students learn
more effectively.
LfL 3 - The Learning-Focused School tells you, perhaps for the first time, what a learningfocused school actually does. Divided into four sections, youll read about learning-focused
evidence, learning-focused structures and systems, and the roles of both individual and
collective passions for learning. Using the many rubrics, youll be able to judge how learningfocused your own school is and see how you can get even better.
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LfL 4 - Leading and Managing the Learning-Focused School gives you the guidance you
need to do just that. A volume packed full of practical advice on how to transform your school.
LfL 5 - Resources brings together all of the resources from the previous four volumes into
one central location and adds DVD-based film sequences that provide practical examples of
key Looking for Learning processes.
The Looking for Learning Toolkit is a comprehensive, practical, jargon-free
transformational resource that promotes learning in schools and learning in classrooms.
We welcome you to Looking for Learning and to the Looking for Learning Toolkit.
Up until recently the emphasis in schools has always been on teaching and not
learning and for most teachers thats a difficult mind-set to change because until
now they have been judged on their teaching skills and believed that good
teaching meant good learning.
However, now we know thats not the case. Underpinning this move away from
teaching to learning has been the introduction of assessment for learning. Before
that we were making judgements on good practice based on the ability to teach
rather than the amount of actual learning that was going on.
As a school we realised we needed a bridge to move our focus on teaching to
more of a focus on learning.
Sometimes you need a wakeup call and the Looking for Learning observations did
that for us.
Robin Bosher, Head teacher, Fairlawn Primary School, London
and
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ABOUT FIELDWORK EDUCATION

In 1984, two headteachers and long term colleagues, David Playfoot and Martin Skelton,
founded Fieldwork Education. Their goal was to offer the best help to schools they could, help
they felt hadnt been available to their own schools, and help that was firmly rooted in best
practice and research but that was also practical, accessible and jargon free.
Something else was important too. Even as far back as 1984, they recognised that improving
learning was what schools were all about and that everything else in school should be judged
on how well it contributed to childrens and students learning. Improving learning soon became
the mission statement of Fieldwork Education and the defining characteristic of all of the early
training work we carried out.
Fieldwork Education has grown and changed since those early days, although our passion for
improving learning remains as strong as ever. We now have long-term relationships with
schools, working with them over time to build capacity and improve learning for everyone.
We have developed the fastest-growing independent primary curriculum in the world. The
International Primary Curriculum (IPC) is now used by schools in over 90 countries where
thousands of children experience Great learning, Great teaching and Great fun. We have
also developed a range of assessment and evaluation tools, all as you might expect
focused on learning. From IPC Self-Review and Accreditation, to our Assessment for Learning
Programme to our transformational Looking for Learning Process and the Looking for Learning
Toolkit.
The International Middle Years Curriculum (IMYC) and the IMYC Self-Review and
Accreditation Process, which works alongside it, represents the latest development in our
programme of learning-focused support for schools. We are constantly thrilled and inspired by
the support we get from schools and the feedback they give us about all aspects of our work.
You can find out more about Fieldwork Education at www.greatlearning.com.
LfL 2 About Learning
In recent years we have become clearer than ever about the core purpose of schools. We
believe it is to help children learn as effectively as possible. (By learning we mean social,
emotional, spiritual and physical learning as well as cognitive development or academic
learning.)
Whatever we do in school should contribute in some way towards that end. All the planning, all
the teaching, all those meetings, all that writing; if you have ever wondered why we do it all,
the answer is simple - to help children learn more effectively.
But teaching effectively to improve children's learning is about more than conventional
planning and teaching.
The explosion of research funding, of new technology (which has enabled the brain to be
studied in ways never before imagined) and of researchers excited by the combination of the
first two factors has created a rapidly increasing research base which has begun to provide
insights into how learning takes place, raised further questions and begun to provide some
answers.
Prior to this explosion many dedicated teachers spent hours working at school and at home,
planning work in detail, all without the key information about what is going on in the brains of
children that helps or hinders their learning process. Some still do this, but now that is
beginning to change.
This volume of the Looking for Learning pack can't cover everything that's been revealed by
research from neuroscience. But we have written it with four purposes in mind:
1.
To provide you with a guide to some of the most important information coming our way
from brain research.
2.
To provide a theoretical basis for Looking for Learning.
ABOUT LEARNING
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3.
To suggest some practical classroom implications which follow what we have learnt.
4.
To stimulate you to go further in your own reading and understanding of this fascinating
area.
Like all developing areas of study, neuroscience is not without controversy. Researchers
disagree with each other. Practical applications are sometimes suggested on the basis of
limited research evidence and even less evidence of real classrooms. Some discoveries
contradict each other.
We are focusing in this volume only on those aspects of neuroscience which we feel can be
supported by both a reputable research base and evidence of successful use in real
classrooms. Thats why we have chosen to focus on
information about how the brain works
the importance of flow and emotional intelligence
the importance of slow thinking.
We hope you find it interesting and useful.
Please note that the use of this star icon indicates a specific tip for
classroom practice.
1 A brief description of the brain
Many aspects of the brain are still a closed book to us and what we know about it for sure is
still quite limited. It is also so complicated that most neuroscientist talk about models of the
brain; that is, their descriptions are not the actual truth but useful outlines that help us get a
sense of what is going on. Here are six of the current key ideas.
1 The brain can be seen as having three main parts

The first of these is often called the reptilian brain. Its the part we share with almost all
creatures and governs most of the automatic responses in our bodies from our heartbeat to
our breathing.
The second part is often called the limbic brain. This is the part that governs our emotions and
other basic behaviours. (The use of the term limbic brain was first coined by the Nobel prize
winner Dr Roger Sperry and is beginning to be used less frequently today. It is still useful
though in an introductory overview.)
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A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE BRAIN
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The third part is called the cortex. Of all the parts of the brain, the cortex is the most recently
developed and the part that most distinguishes us from other creatures. Its the part of the
brain where most of our thinking takes place and where our sense of self comes from. As we
have become a more complex species this part of the brain has become so large that it has
developed folds to fit it into the space available in our skulls. In some species, what passes for
a cortex is smooth. It is the folds of the cortex that gives our brain the appearance of a walnut.
(The pre-frontal cortex, a part of the brain that handles our most complex thinking, doesnt fully
mature until between the ages of 18 and 24. Does this help explain the apparently
contradictory behaviour of many young people?)
2 The brain has two halves
The brain is divided into two hemispheres, which further fuels the walnut analogy. These left
and right sides of the brain are connected by a bunch of fibres called the corpus callosum
which send messages back and forwards between the different hemispheres.
Both sides of the brain can work independently of each other; however, its the constant
interaction of both across and through the corpus callosum that makes us who we are. At any
given moment, there is a continual stream of information passing from one side of the brain to
the other.
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3 There are regions of the brain but they dont work independently
For a long time, researchers have tried to identify which parts of the brain govern which of our
key attributes. This research has been fuelled by, amongst other things, the experiences of
stroke victims who often lost one attribute - such as speech -whilst retaining others.
It is true that there are regions of the brain that have a close relationship with speech, hearing,
balance and so on. But researchers have also found that despite these many attributes having
a home base in the brain they do not exist independently of each other. Almost everything we
do requires interconnections with other parts of the brain.
4 Neurons are the basic building blocks of the brain
We have, at birth, 100 billon neurons.

Almost all of them are developed in the
womb and at around the fourth month
of pregnancy the young baby is
producing 250,000 neurons each
minute. Some of them, such as the
neurons connected to our hearing
system, begin to work in the womb but
most dont. Our slow maturation toward
adulthood is caused by the amount of
time it takes these neurons to get their
act together.
These neurons are programmed to
connect with each other. As each new
experience reaches our brain, the cell
body of a neuron literally gets turned on
and sends an electrical-chemical
message down to the end of its axon.
The axon then searches for another
brain cell with which it can connect. It
does this by enabling that electrical
chemical message to jump across a
tiny gap between the end of the axon
and the dendrite of another neuron.
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The programmed process then begins again by turning on the second neuron which sends a
message down the axon, which starts searching for and so on. The more often this same
process takes place the faster the neurons complete the connections. Eventually, if the
process happens enough, the connections take place almost automatically. Its important to
remember that these connections are not good in a moral sense; the brain can learn how to
pickpocket just as well as it can learn how to negotiate.
What also happens is that over time, and through our maturation, these connections between
neurons become more and more complex as hundreds and thousands of connections are
made. Neuroscientists refer to these as neuronal constellations, comparing them with the
millions of stars that seem to make up a celestial constellation.
The number of possible connections 100 billion neurons can make with each other is huge and
neuroscientists are fond of quoting ever-more extravagant numbers that describe just how
many connections there are. Images abound of the complexity. (Here is a particularly popular
one. There are as many neurons as trees in the Amazon forest and as many connections
between neurons as there are leaves on the trees.) For now, just try to imagine the almost
unimaginable; 100 billion is just the starting point.
As we will see later, the programmed nature of neurons to connect and grow ever larger
neuronal constellations is a fundamental part of learning and of crucial help to teachers in
defining what learning looks like.
5 The brain is capable of continual development (plasticity)

It was thought for a long time that the brains capacities were fixed; that is, all we could do
was to play as best we could with the cards we were dealt at birth. It was also assumed that
the brains decline was fixed, too. As we got older, all we could do was sit and wait for each
successive stage of degeneration to kick in.
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But, along with the identification of the relatively slow development of the pre-frontal cortex,
probably the most important breakthrough of neuroscientists is that the brain is plastic. This
helpful term simply means that a great deal of the behaviour of the brain is capable of change
and development.
The brains of stroke victims do rewire themselves; damaged routes in the constellation get
rewired. The interconnectivity of the neurons in the brains of taxi drivers literally changes as
they learn new and more complex routes. By changing behaviours, older people are able to
impact on what were previously seen as unchangeable alterations to their brains.
This piece of startling evidence was the basis for the saying Use It or Lose It. It could also be
the basis for a second phrase - Use It and Improve It.
6 The brain is an efficient organism

Unsurprisingly, for such a complex organ, brain behaviour is paradoxical. The idea of
plasticity provides images of the brain as something of almost unbounded possibility and
capability. Whilst this is largely true it conceals the fact that the brain is a huge organ that
seeks to find the most efficient ways to work rather than the most complex. Consider the
following two examples.
Example 1: Connections
The more we develop connections in the brain and the more we re-visit these
connections the more the brain chooses to replicate them rather than find any of
the other possibilities available. Its just more efficient that way.
When we see a stranger in the street with some of the characteristics of a friend,
we are more likely initially to think it is our friend rather than the stranger. Our
brain is looking for similarities that it can replicate rather than differences with
which it has to deal anew. Its more efficient to deal with the known or, in the
brains terms, to activate a constellation that already exists. Its for this reason
that we find it so easy to deal in stereotypes.
Remember that we said earlier that the brain doesnt distinguish morally
between good and bad. If we develop connections that create the view that life
is uninteresting or that we respond only emotionally when someone disagrees
with us, and our brains continue to revisit those connections, they will become
more and more secure. Over time, and because our brain favours efficiency
over hard work, these responses will become our default ones.
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Example 2: Pruning
At certain key stages in its development, the brain does as much pruning of its
connections as it does making them. Recent evidence seems to suggest that in
childhood there are two periods when pruning is most active - around the ages
of three and then again around fourteen - but pruning continues throughout our
lives.
Pruning is another example of the brains drive for efficiency. If connections exist
but are unused for long periods of time then the brain prunes them as
unnecessary. For example, the brains capacity to learn the sounds of many
different languages is wired-in from birth, but around the ages of three or four the
brain prunes that capacity to focus on those sounds most often heard and used
since birth.
This programming of the brain to work efficiently helps to explain why it is so much harder to
unlearn than learn and why inappropriate learning stays with us. (If you taught yourself to play
the piano and didnt accidentally come across the most efficient fingering, its going to be much
harder to learn it when you finally have lessons. For the brain, effective learning has already
taken place.)
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2 What does learning look like?
Educators need a definition of learning. Without it, it is impossible to know whether any
learning has actually taken place. A learning-focused school, a learning focused staff or a
learning-focused teacher must have a definition of learning. How can we focus on it if we
dont know what it is?
Although that sounds so simple, schools, staffs and individual teachers are still more likely not
to have such a definition than to have one. This is not their fault. Generally speaking, the
culture of schools and education has focused our attention onto teaching or activity - doing rather than learning.
Classroom visits, whether for inspection or accreditation, performance management or

general interest, almost always focus on what the teacher did or how on-task the children
and students were.
Informal staff room conversations at the end of the day usually focus on how well children
or students behaved or how well an activity planned by the teacher had gone.
Conversations with head teachers, principals and others about teachers usually identify
good teachers on the basis of their hard work, personality or control.
In a learning-focused school none of these things matter or, to put it another way, they dont
matter that much.
Theres more about this in LfL1, Putting it into Practice. For now, though, we just need to say
that a learning-focused school has as its core purpose improvements in learning. And its
unfortunately true that children and students being on-task or being well behaved doesnt
mean that they are learning.
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WHAT DOES LEARNING LOOK LIKE?
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SO, WHAT IS THIS LEARNING WE SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR?
We set this out simply here and explore it at greater length in LfL1. But the clue to the helpful
answer we shall use throughout the Looking for Learning Toolkit is to be found in the activity of
the neuron.
We have described earlier how the programmed neurons behave when they are turned on and
begin to get to work. This behaviour allows us to think of four states that represent learning or
unlearning of different kinds. They are:
New Learning, when an existing constellation of neurons gets extended.

(I knew your first given name was Beth; I have only just learned that your second given
name is Edie. Oh, and because this is new learning for me, theres a chance I might not
quite get it right next time.)
Consolidated Learning, when our previous new learning becomes clearly established
and fixed.
(Now I always remember that your second given name is Edie.)
Treading Water, when we are very familiar with all of our current experiences and have
neither extended nor consolidated any neuronal constellation.
(I know your two given names are Beth and Edie. Theres really no need to remind me.)
Drowning, when we thought our learning was secure but a most recent experience has
upset that security.
(A friend of mine has just told me that she thinks you have just changed your given names
and theres only 30 seconds to go before I have to introduce you to this large meeting. Im
confused.)
It is these four simple but powerful descriptions of learning (or not learning) that are at the
heart of the Looking for Learning process. As we see in LfL1, Putting it into Practice, theres a
little more to it than this, but for now we can move on.
But just once more lets remember the point that learning is not morally good or bad; it is just
effective or ineffective. (Although, hopefully, school learning, which is just one small part of all
the learning we do, is morally good as well as technically effective.)
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3 What affects learning?
Much of what has been called brain-friendly learning is actually about the factors affecting
learning rather than learning itself. This has not been helpful as it simply replaces one kind of
activity - We are now doing pages 34-36 of your maths book today - with another kind of
activity - Lets all do Brain Gym.
Its pretty obvious that simply doing pages 34-36 of a textbook is no guarantee that learning
will happen; its become less obvious to some teachers that the same is true of Brain Gym
and the many other new classroom activities in which we have been encouraged to engage.
Learning doesnt happen because we have carried out some cross-lateral activity with our
arms and legs. It happens when a neuronal constellation has been extended or consolidated.
Theres a big difference between learning and the factors that
affect learning.
This is not to say that many of these factors are unimportant. They often have a huge impact
on learning; they are just not learning itself.
In trying to identify which factors affect learning, we risk going onto dangerous ground because
it is in this area that a considerable amount of hocus-pocus has been spoken; snake-oil
salesmen abound. There is, for example, very little actual evidence that playing Mozart to
children helps them learn better or become more intelligent; that hasnt stopped hundreds of
thousands of CDs being sold.
So what we have done in the remainder of this volume is to pick out those areas that can be
acted upon in the classroom for which there is some evidence that they can impact on
learning. On the following pages, we introduce our top eight:
1. Good health and an effective brain

2. Making connections
3. Seeing the big picture
4. Relaxed alertness and emotional intelligence
5. Memory
6. Slow thinking
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1 Good health and an effective brain
THE BRIEF OVERVIEW

We have always known that lack of sleep makes the brain inefficient. Recent
research has made it clear that diet and exercise also have a great part to play
in enabling the brain to work effectively. Regular intakes of water stop the brain
from becoming dehydrated. High levels of oxygen are important to brain
functioning. The right foods provide the brain with the nutrients it needs to learn.
SOME BASIC FACTS
Our brains are about the size of a grapefruit and weigh about three pounds. (A gorillas
brain weighs about one pound and a dolphins brain about four pounds. Its not the size or
weight of our brains that make us more intelligent than other creatures.)
Our brains are actually a mass of folded tissue. Unfolded, our brains are about the size of
a daily newspaper.
Our brains are so soft you can cut into one with a butter knife.
78% of our brains are made up of water, 10% is fat and about 8% is protein.
Although our brains weigh less than 2% of our body weight they actually use 20% of our
energy and 20% of our oxygen.
Our brains access about eight gallons of blood per hour, from which they obtain oxygen,
glucose, protein and a number of trace elements.
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WHAT AFFECTS LEARNING? GOOD HEALTH
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WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
If our brains are to work then our bodies need to work efficiently to support them. (If you have
ever wondered why a large lunch makes you feel sluggish, its because so much of your
energy is being directed towards the digestive system that your brain is unable to receive all
that it needs.)
In recent years there has been considerable research into the effects of diet on brain
functioning. Brains need water; without it dehydration sets in rapidly. Some foods are better for
the brain than others. Generally speaking, school food is good for muscle and bone but not
always good for the brain.
What we eat for breakfast and how much water we drink affects brain functioning. Breakfast
rekindles glucose stores that have dwindled overnight, which are the brains sole source of
food. Complex carbohydrates such as bananas, shredded wheat, wheat germ and non- or lowfat milk are all useful breakfast brain food.
Other important foods include antioxidant-loaded foods such as peppers, orange juice, carrots,
sweet potatoes and apricots. Iron and zinc have been found to work closely with nerve
chemicals which regulate mental processes. Zinc-rich foods include wheat germ, almonds,
dark green leafy vegetables and cooked beans.
Its obviously important to get enough oxygen to our brains. Thats one of the reasons why we
often feel clear headed after exercise. We have dramatically increased the oxygen supply to
our brain.
Consider the following pieces of evidence.
Almost overwhelmingly, the latest findings suggest that students who lead
healthy lifestyles tend to do better in exams.
Regular exercise certainly helps, says Angela Balding of the Health Education
Unit at Exeter University, looked at the activity levels of secondary-aged
students and found that the more exercise they did the better their exam scores.
More than 1400 students took part in the study.
We found a definite link between those youngsters who were active three or
four times a week and those who did better in the classroom, says Balding. One
theory is that the kids who are active get more oxygen to their brains more often.
As a result their brains could be receptive to learning new information and
retaining it.
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Also:
Diet could also become a focus of attention following revelations that low
intakes of some nutrients could adversely affect exam results.
In a study published in 2008 in The Lancet, Dr Michael Nelson and a team from
the Department of Nutrition at Kings College, London, looked at the scores of
140 girls in verbal reasoning and memory tests. The girls whose diets were
supplemented with iron had higher IQs and performed significantly better in
cognitive assessments.
Our results firmly indicate that poor iron status in adolescent girls has a
detrimental effect on their academic performance, says Nelson. By
supplementing their diets with extra iron, it is quite probable that cognitive
function would improve.
And:
Iron intake was also singled out as a reliable indicator of exam performance
by nutritionists at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in New York.
Reporting in the journal Paediatrics, they revealed that of nearly 6000 adolescent
boys and girls, those with low iron status were more than twice as likely to score
below average in mathematics tests.
Finally:
When stress descends, diet is often compromised. Sensible eating gives

way to comfort food Yet increasingly, researchers are showing that what you
eat can influence exam performance. Skipping breakfast, for example, has been
shown to detract from intellectual performance. When the exam results of 500
students were analysed at the University of Israel it was found that those who
had eaten a bowl of cereal on the morning of the exam scored better than
students who ate nothing.
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FEEDING THE BRAIN OF A STUDENT

Athletes need to look after their bodies. Eating the right kinds of food, doing the right training
and drinking the right liquids are all important. We know that.
Its not so obvious, though, that we need to do exactly the same thing with our brains. Most
days, we take our brains for granted. Even when our brains are sluggish and not working well
we simply assume that we will feel all right tomorrow or the day after.
But our brains require the same kind of preparation as the bodies of athletes. When an athlete
performs badly, we quickly make the link between poor performance and poor preparation. We
need to make the same link with our brains.
This is even truer for children and students in our schools. Every day children and students
learn something new (unless theyre Treading Water or Drowning, of course.)
As adults, we spend huge amounts of time each day simply repeating things we have already
learned. Children and students have much busier brains. This means they are using their
brains more than we are. So we need to make sure that their brains are in the best condition
for learning. Diet, water and exercise are all crucial to this. In a few simple ways, you can
improve your childrens chances of learning. Heres why.
WHY BRAINS NEED TO BE LOOKED AFTER

Lets revisit a few simple facts about the brain.
Its mostly water. In fact, nearly 80% of the brain is water.
(Remember, 10% is fat and 8% is protein.) The water is important in many ways. Without
making things too complicated, every thought in the brain of a child or student is the result of a
chemical or electrical reaction in the brain. These are created when chemicals and proteins
mix with water. Without the water, the right reactions cant take place. If children dont have
enough water, their brains become sluggish. (But beware. This truth has been seized upon by
all sorts of people and been changed into hocus pocus. Our brains need water; they dont
need to float in the stuff.)
Although a childs brain accounts for only about 2% of their body weight, it uses
about 20% of their energy.
A brain uses more energy than any other part of their body. This is because it is working
harder. Each new thing a child learns - whether that is inside school or out
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takes energy. Children and students learn so much that between the ages of two and fifteen
their brains will have doubled in size. As with athletes, this energy comes from the food they
eat.
A students brain needs about eight gallons of blood an hour to deliver the food it
needs.
The brain takes its food - proteins, oxygen and so on - from the blood that passes through it.
Because the brain uses up so much energy it requires lots of oxygen. In fact, a childs brain
uses 20% of all the oxygen she takes in.
While a child is sleeping their brain is still working.
Sleep is an important for a number of reasons. Recent research has shown that we have two
kinds of sleep. One of these - REM sleep - takes place four times a night and lasts about 90
minutes each time. During REM sleep the brain is very active but her body shuts down.
Recent research suggests that during this time the brain is going over all of its experiences of
the previous day. Most importantly, the last of these four periods of REM sleep - the last period
of sleep before waking - seems to be the one in which the brain does the business of
remembering.
In between these REM sleeps is the second - deeper - kind of sleep. At this point the brain is
resting but the body may be more active. Strangely, we toss and turn when we are in our
deepest sleep.
A TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR YOUNG BRAINS

We can think about the brain as a special kind of athlete which needs its own training
programme. As with track and field athletes, those whose brains have had the best training will
have the best chance of success in their learning. The training programme is quite a simple
one. Here it is:
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Provide the brain with the right foods
Remember that the blood delivers nutrients to the brain. It gets these from the food we eat.
Some foods are crucial to helping the brain work well because they contain the right nutrients.
Below is a simple list of some of the nutrients the brain needs, what each does and the foods
that contain them.
Nutrient
What it does
The food it is in
Choline
Helps memory
Meat, wheat germ, peanuts
Vitamin B
Helps mood, supports memory
Bread, pork, peas (B1);

chicken, fish, bananas (B6);
liver, eggs, dairy products (B12)
Vitamin A and E
Helps the nervous system,

fights infection
Liver, eggs, cheese, milk,

yellow and orange vegetables
(A) Dark green, leafy
vegetables, eggs, tomatoes (E)
Protein
Helps alertness, motivation

keeps up energy
Meat, fish dairy products, grain

products
Fat
Works with protein to help

release glucose over a longer
period; helps thinking speed (in
moderation)
Oils, butter, margarine
A good breakfast is a great help. Nutritionists tell us that a banana as a mid-morning snack is
better for the brain than sweets. (The right types of fat also contribute to a healthy diet. Too
much fat is not a good thing, but neither is a low-fat diet. Childrens growing bodies require
more healthy fats than adults fully developed bodies. Low-fat adult diets are not
recommended for children.)
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Provide the brain with a fit body
The brain requires continually good supplies of blood and oxygen. Healthy, active bodies
deliver these to the brain better than unfit bodies. Recent research has shown just how
important physical activity and PE lessons are to the brain.
Particularly when there is new learning to do the brain will work better if children and students
have a chance to engage in some form of physical activity beforehand. With time to calm down
before they begin their work, their bodies will be more able to deliver what their brains need
than if they begin their work after a period of inactivity. If you cant enable children or students
to run around try a few simple stretching exercises or games that encourage movement and
activity.
If it isnt possible to do this - and timetabling often prevents it - then a short burst of exercising
in the classroom will help by stimulating blood flow.
Provide the brain with enough sleep
Some children and students find sleep difficult. But we have learned recently just how
important sleep is to the brain. Wherever possible, children need the right conditions before
they go to bed to give them the best chance of a good sleep. We cant make a child sleep but
we can help to make sure that they go to bed calmly rather than immediately after something
exciting or stressful.
WHAT CAN YOU DO IN SCHOOL?

Its true that you have limited control over the diet of the children and students you teach. But
you might want to think about the following.
Make sure that children and students learn about healthy foods and the important of a
balanced diet during health PSE lessons.
Let parents know about the link between diet and brain activity through newsletters,
leaflets, open evenings and parents meetings. The link between the two often
promotes a more positive response than simply stressing the importance of diet as a
means of general health or weight control.
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2 Making connections
THE BRIEF OVERVIEW

In action, the brain literally makes connections inside our heads. So learning
takes place best when the brain makes connections between new experiences
and older experiences. The old idea of linking current learning to previous
learning has been shown by neuroscience to be one of the most effective ways
to help learning happen.
Many teachers have always tried to link new learning to previous learning. It has always
seemed intuitively to make sense. Information we now have about how neurons in the brain
work confirms this intuitively held view that we need to link childrens and stundents learning
to aspects of their past learning or own lives in order to help them make sense of it.
It is literally true that new learning builds onto the neuronal constellation of past learning,
however big or small that constellation is. Learning is the action of extending the amount of
connections we make and the action of making those connections secure. (See LfL1, pp. 2427 for a more detailed look at New and Consolidated Learning.)
WHAT CAN YOU DO IN THE CLASSROOM?
Use analogies. The need to make connections is why analogies work so well. When
we say Its like , the appropriateness of the analogy we use will help children and
students with New Learning much more effectively. Their brains will make a connection
more easily. Its why metaphors and similes are such powerful tools for writers. They
help to convey the new in terms of something that already exists. Is it too much to
claim that Its like may be the most powerful words learners and teachers can use?
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WHAT AFFECTS LEARNING? MAKING CONNECTIONS
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Its also where mind maps can prove most useful. Like most aids to learning, mind
maps arent for everyone but they can make three important contributions:
o
creating an individual mind map encourages children and students to conceptualise

their learning in terms of connections
creating a class mind map which is displayed on the wall or kept in childrens and
students books and updated collectively enables new learning to be visually placed
alongside pre-existing learning
a mind map can help some students retrieve their learning by following connectivity
routes.
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3 Seeing the big picture
THE BRIEF OVERVIEW

Children and students need to be able to link the individual elements of their
learning to the overall picture of what is going on. The particular and the general
work together to create the most effective learning.
Making connections is also related to the idea of ensuring that children and students can see
the big picture as well as focusing on the fine detail. Remember that the two halves of the
brain handle these different aspects of learning independently as well as interdependently.
Learning something new or consolidating existing learning is a matter of learning both detail
and the whole and of relating these two together.
When we are doing a jigsaw we are continually transferring our attention from the shape and
colours of an individual piece to the picture on the lid of the box showing what the finished
jigsaw will look like. Its both of these views working together that enable the jigsaw to be
completed.
WHAT CAN YOU DO IN THE CLASSROOM?
We wouldnt ask children or students to do a large jigsaw without literally looking at the big
picture. It would be inefficient. But we often ask them to work steadily through a textbook
section by section, without having given them a clue about how each section fits together.
Seeing the big picture means giving children and students an overview of what is going to
happen first and then continually working with them to update this big picture as new details
emerge.
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4 Relaxed alertness & emotional intelligence
THE BRIEF OVERVIEW

The best state for learning is relaxed alertness. Children and students who are
overly stressed cant learn. Its as simple as that.
The part of the brain we use to think with is the neo-cortex. It works slower than
the limbic brain, which is the part which controls emotions and feelings. What
happens when we get stressed is that the limbic part of the brain takes over,
often resulting in emotional flooding as we try to counter the stress brought on
by a perceived aggressive situation. Learning can only really take place when
the cortex and the limbic brain are in balance.
THE CONCEPT OF FLOW

In his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, the psychologist Mihaly
Csikzentmihalyi (pronounced chick-SENT-me-high), has identified those who get most out of
what they do, who achieve the best they can and who obtain the greatest satisfaction from
their work. He has also identified what it is that those people have in common. In essence,
according to Csikzentmihalyi the answer is the idea of flow.
We have all experienced flow at some time or another. We are in a state of flow when three
things happen simultaneously:
time passes quickly - I didnt realise it was 11 oclock already
we have achieved something significant in the time available to us
we have enjoyed the experience.
Flow is when learning takes place at its best and most effective. Csikzentmihalyi says that the
condition which promotes flow can best be described as relaxed alertness. Its an important
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WHAT AFFECTS LEARNING? RELAXED ALERTNESS & EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
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phrase because it reminds us that the combination of both is essential. Creating flow isnt a
matter of being so laid back and happy that nothing seems to matter. But neither is it a matter
of being so alert that we are on a knife-edge of anxiety, always about to fall off.
STRESS AN INHIBITOR TO LEARNING

Just as most of us have experienced a state of flow at one time or another so have we
experienced the crippling effect of stress on our ability to learn.
In his book Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman shows clearly why stress is such an
important inhibitor to learning. To realise why, we need to revisit the limbic brain.
The limbic brain, you will remember, is the part of the brain that controls our emotions; it is
responsible for our fight or flight response. Through our development millions of years ago
and now, it was - and remains - the part of the brain that was constantly on the lookout for
danger, and which prompted a quick and automatic response.
This response mechanism is situated in a part of the limbic brain called the amygdala. What is
significant about the limbic brain is that it works faster than the neo-cortex, the part of our brain
which provides us with our considered, more analytical responses. When stress occurs, the
amygdala tries to by-pass the neocortex causing what Goleman calls emotional flooding or
hijacking.
We can see this most easily when a child or an adult becomes angry, seemingly unreasonably
so to almost everyone else. The reason is that the on-lookers, uninvolved emotionally, are
able to use the analytical skills provided by the neocortex, a process that has been rendered
unusable to the one who is emotionally roused. For the on-lookers, there is no emotional
hijacking.
Crucially to the classroom but also true outside of the classroom, learning stops when stress
sets in. The cortex is simply unable to process learning until the hijacking ceases, either over
time or because the child, student or adult is able to use deliberate strategies to deal with it.
Emotionally intelligent is the phrase Goleman uses to describe those children and adults who
can respond positively to the stress of emotional hijacking and get back on track as soon as
possible.
SELF-ESTEEM
Our ability to become emotionally intelligent is connected with the levels of our self-esteem.
Self-esteem is our ability to be at ease with our strengths and weaknesses.
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Low levels of self-esteem affect our willingness to have a go. They mean that we are unlikely
to risk developing positive emotional commitment to ideas or activities. They affect the way we
respond to helpful, but necessarily critical, analysis of what we do. In short, low levels of selfesteem produce stress and stress produces emotional hijacking.
There is a considerable body of recent research that supports the links between self-esteem,
self-image and learning. The British psychologist Guy Claxton calls the positive links between
these three elements learning power. His work, and that of others, demonstrates powerfully
how the levels of development of the group of skills and attitudes subsumed in learning power
affect the ability of students to overcome the difficult hurdles in their learning positively or
negatively.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE CLASSROOM?
Crucially, it means that we have to become focused on the ways in which we promote flow and
inhibit emotional hijacking. We need to understand that all of the lesson planning in the world,
all of the most carefully prepared schemes of work, all of the clearest policies are of very little
value if we cant begin to create the conditions under which children can develop a state of
relaxed alertness as they do their work.
Teachers are not in full control of this process. Some children and students come to us each
morning from home, family and personal contexts which for one reason or another are already
creating conditions of stress and of low self-esteem. But equally, we know that some teachers
- either consciously or intuitively - are able to create the conditions within which children and
students can flourish. So teachers are able to do something very powerful. What are the most
important practical steps?
Help children and students respond in an emotionally positive way to learning
Think of a class in which the teacher helps her six-year-old children learn about levers, pulleys
and forces within a theme she calls Fairgrounds. Now think of another class in which similar
children work mechanically through some simple investigations on balance but with no
fairground context (or real-life fairground experience) to enjoy. Both sets of children have the
same investigations but the first group does so in a much more emotionally rewarding context.
Which children do you think learned more effectively?
The IPC, for example, has designed all of its units of work around themes that will appeal to
children. In effect, what has happened is that the learning (about levers, pulleys and forces, for
example) has been wrapped in some exciting and colourful paper called Fairgrounds. It is this
wrapping paper that immediately creates an emotionally positive response at the very
beginning of the learning experience.
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Develop self-esteem as a crucial part of your classroom work
Helping children and students develop self-esteem does not mean continually and positively
validating their work irrespective of its actual quality. This is no more than indulgence.
Bettie Youngs identifies six ingredients of positive self-esteem. They are:
physical safety - freedom from physical harm

emotional security - the absence of intimidation and fears
identity - the development of self-knowledge
affiliation - a sense of belonging
competence - the sense of being capable
mission - the feeling that ones life has meaning and direction.
It is important to ask whether our classrooms and schools are actively promoting those
attributes. Start looking for and feeding back positive things about your childrens families, their
school and outside accomplishments, their possessions, their ideas and their willingness to try
even if they fail.
Work with parents to develop their awareness
Use opportunities to discuss with all parents the effect of emotion and self-esteem on effective
learning. The good news is that although parents may not be explicitly aware of the link, so
many adults have experienced these effects that we can help parents make their own
emotional connections to this learning by talking about adult experiences as well as those of
children. In this way, learning for parents becomes infinitely more powerful and more likely to
impact on their relationships with their children.
Help children and students become emotionally intelligent
On many occasions, our emotions are more than fine; they are absolutely essential. The
automatic - literally thoughtless - response as we pull a child away from an oncoming car or
wake up to a strange sound or smell in our house can be lifesaving.
On other occasions, our feelings of overwhelming joy or sadness contribute so much to our
own sense of self and to our relationships with others. On a day-to-day basis, identifying the
underlying emotion behind the look on a friends face can tell us so much about how to
proceed.
However.
Theres nothing wrong with being influenced by our emotions as long as it is not only our
emotions that our influencing us. When it is, we end up with road rage, verbal and physical
violence, inappropriate responses to different situations, un-thought out and unwise remarks
and more.
Emotional intelligence refers to the ways in which we are able to allow our rational and our
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emotional brains to work together. Becoming emotionally intelligent is the process of learning
how to do this, and it is a learned process. Our emotional brain has long been hard-wired for
supremacy; one of the key activities of growing up is learning how to link the benefits of the
rational brain to the emotional brain.
In the remainder of this section were going to look in more detail about what we can do to help
children and students develop emotional intelligence.
WHAT IS AN EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT CHILD OR STUDENT?

Two thoughts.
Emotional intelligence is a developmental process.

Because becoming emotionally intelligent is a process and a key part of growing towards
maturity we need to appreciate that an emotionally intelligent child is someone learning how to
achieve this balance; someone who is taking part in a developmental process. We have no
right to expect the primary school child to have achieved emotional intelligence and any child
who has is far removed from the norm. To some degree, all of the children we teach in primary
schools will be emotionally unintelligent.
This is, in part, obvious. But it is also true to a degree for secondary students, too. We showed
earlier recent evidence from brain research that indicates just how long the pre-frontal cortex
(that part of the brain that handles our most complex thinking) takes to develop (it doesnt fully
mature until between the ages of 18 and 24). This evidence has prompted a flurry of books
about the complexities of teenage behaviour and the apparent mismatch between a students
academic abilities and their emotional maturity. For both younger and older learners in school,
it is vital that we see them as being on a process of development that doesnt conclude, if at
all, until adulthood.
Emotional intelligence does not equal good.

An emotionally intelligent child or student isnt necessarily a traditionally good child.
Emotionally intelligent children get ecstatic and they get fed up. They are compliant and they
are obstructive. They are happy and they are sad. The difference is that an emotionally
intelligent young person is beginning to develop an awareness of how these feelings impact on
themselves and others, is able to think about their effects and is beginning to develop a range
of skills that enable him to place these emotions appropriately.
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WHAT CAN TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS DO TO HELP CHILDREN

BECOME EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT?
In schools and classrooms we can do three things.
Know the developmental evidence - and use it
Its important that individual teachers and schools know about the most up-to-date evidence
we have regarding both emotions and childrens emotional development and allow it to
influence their thinking and practice. Its unacceptable for teachers to feel that they have the
right to go into the staff room and explode and yet expect the children they teach to behave as
though they are robots.
In essence, the current evidence is straightforward:
We all have a range of emotions.

These emotions are activated by a number of different triggers.
In young children and maturing teenagers these emotions are nearer the surface and are
generally less controlled than they are in adults.
All of this is normal.
The way we respond to and deal with our emotions and those of others can develop.
Model emotionally intelligent behaviour
A once well-known book about spelling asked whether it was caught or taught and we might
ask the same question about the development of emotional intelligence. It seems self-evident
that well-intentioned and well-crafted assemblies or class talks about behaviour will have little
impact if those of us in positions of influence in the school dont model emotionally intelligent
behaviour in everything we do. Becoming emotionally intelligent is as much caught as it is
taught and probably more so.
Each of us can make a personal audit of our own displayed levels of emotional intelligence in
school. For example:
How do children and students see me respond to them when they do something
inappropriate?
How do I respond to the parent who is both concerned about their child who is in my class
and also nervous about coming to school to discuss it?
How do I and my colleagues respond to the upcoming school inspection or accreditation?
How do I respond when a colleague irritates me?
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What is important here is not that you respond emotionally to each of these events and others;
thats normal. What matters is your ability to manage your response so that it is in proportion
to the event.
Its worth keeping the thoughts of Aristotle in mind: can we demonstrate how to be angry with
the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, to the right purpose and in the right way?
When we can do that, we will be modelling emotional intelligence to a high level.
Create the right climate
We all know the impact of climate on emotions. That chilly atmosphere as we enter a friends
house for dinner can change our responses almost immediately; the cold expression on a
partners face can affect what we say and feel as we greet them at the end of a day; the
classroom visitor who doesnt smile and appears only to make notes when something
obviously goes wrong can cause our teaching to disintegrate. In reverse, we know of situations
in which we are put at our ease and the impact this has on what we do and how we respond.
Imagine, then, what climate must do for young children who are still in the early stages of
maturity, still trying to learn the signs about their own and other peoples behaviour, let alone
actually do something about it.
Children and students need confidence if they are to talk about their emotions and to practise
doing something about them. They need to feel confident and to feel as though they belong.
When things go against them, they need to know that the teacher has their interests at heart,
is a supporter and not an enemy.
This doesnt mean that as teachers we should be soft, but it does mean we should not be
vindictive.
It doesnt mean that we should accept things that are wrong but it does mean that we should
provide well-intentioned and calmly delivered advice about how to improve.
Belonging means talking about we rather than you and me. It means sharing experiences
rather than creating distance between the teacher as paragon and the child as failure. It is
about being inclusive rather than exclusive, about searching for what there is to be valued in
every child.
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HOW TO CREATE A CLASSROOM OF POSSIBILITY

To improve in anything we do, we need to know that something better is
possible.
This is one of the characteristics of learning - the move from where we are now to a future
state that we know can be achieved. Without a sense of possibility all of the targets in the
world are worthless.
Schools are often well-designed as places of possibility for academic learning (although even
in these some poor teachers can help children learn very quickly that they arent good
academic learners). Reading schemes and maths books are staged, learning goals move
through different levels, children move from class to class with increased academic
expectations. A five-year-old who had learned well how school worked said that she couldnt
do X yet but when I get in to Year 1 next year I will be able to. This child has an awareness of
academic possibility.
But schools are often not well-designed to develop a culture of emotional possibility. We
quickly label children as shy, irritable, happy, sad or angry and these labels are then used
to explain their academic and social performance in school.
We begin to form preferences for children we like to teach and those we dont based on their
emotions, and we use these preferences in the way we talk to children about themselves. In
doing so, even in good schools, children come to see their academic progress as one of
possibility but their emotional characteristics as fixed.
Can we begin to talk with children and students about our own emotional progress and
what we have learned?
Can we begin to share with children and students emotional targets for them to reach?
Can we deliver to them the same expectancy of emotional progress as we do academic
progress and can we reward and celebrate it in the same way?
Use the right language
Language is what we have to carry meaning to each other. Sensitivity in our use of language
is a general mark of our respect for one another; in the classroom, sensitivity in our use of
language and the language we encourage children and students to use is a mark of our
professionalism. Classrooms are professional places. They are different from the playground,
the pub, the golf course and the book circle. In those places we can be off occasionally; in the
classroom we need to be on as much as possible.
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Our own language counts. There is a world of difference between saying
You make me so angry
and
I get angry when you do that.
In the first instance, we are throwing responsibility onto the child or colleague; in the second
we are accepting responsibility for our own emotions. Our language is one of the ways we
model our own emotional intelligence.
The language we encourage children and students to use will impact
on the development of their own emotional intelligence, on their own
sense of possibility.
Catherine Corrie, in Becoming Emotionally Intelligent, distinguishes between phrases that
cause children to be stuck and phrases that open up possibility. We can aim to diminish the
number of stuck phrases used in our classrooms and increase the number of possibility
phrases.
STUCK PHRASES
POSSIBILITY PHRASES
I cant.
I can, though I cant yet.
Im no good at XX.
This is how Im getting better at XX.
No one likes me.
have one friend its Sharon.
Im hopeless at maths.
This is the part of maths Im struggling

with at the moment.
Help children label emotions

One of the difficulties children and students (and adults) often have with developing their
emotional intelligence is the lack of a language or scale that enables emotions to be spoken
about. We can help develop these in a number of ways. For example:
Ask children to begin the day by asking them how they feel. Offer your own contribution,
too. Write the different responses onto card and display them.
Develop this by asking children to rate their responses. If they say they feel cross or
happy ask then to score themselves on a 1-10 scale from the least cross or happy they
might feel to the most cross they might feel. This will help children become aware of the
range of feelings possible within a category.
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Use an appropriate thesaurus to introduce new words that reveal shades of feeling to
children. So, in addition to cross or other common words that children in your class use
introduce them to snappy, fretful and impatient, discussing which is the most
appropriate for them.
Break down problems for children and students
One of the attributes of emotional maturity is to be aware that our current emotional state is
likely to be complex rather than simple. Im really annoyed by my husband may be true in
instance X but untrue in the instances of Y and Z. Once we are aware that our feelings about
instances X and Y are fine it becomes easier (although not necessarily easy!) to deal with
instance X.
Children and students dont always know this; they have to learn it.
We saw earlier the difference between
Im hopeless at maths
and
This is the part of maths Im struggling with at the moment.
The second breaks down the first into manageable proportions. Theres an equally big
difference between
No-one likes me
and
No-one except David likes me
or
No-one likes me when I do this but they do like me when I do that.
Helping children break down their emotional headlines into the real and more complex story
makes it more possible to help them think of appropriate actions to take.
Accept conflict as normal and show children and students how to deal with it
Conflict is normal. Trust is the issue and disagreement and conflict the sparks that lead to
improvement and success. Theres nothing new in this.
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Two minds are better than one is a truth we have known for some time providing the two minds dont just agree.
The temptation in classrooms and schools, though, is to suppress conflict as though the very
act of disagreeing is in itself wrong. In fact, what is often wrong is not the disagreement but the
way we disagree and how we resolve the disagreement.
In times gone by, debating societies in secondary schools were training grounds for the proper
handling of disagreement. What can we do now to structure the handling of conflict? Heres
one possibility, with the rider that it is equally important to make this process explicit so that
children and students are learning a process of conflict resolution as well as an awareness
that conflict is fine and can be resolved:
Give children and students a chance to calm down before they talk about their complaint.
Help them to be specific about it rather than general.
Give time for the complaint to be understood by others.
Give chance for a different view to be put forward.
Make sure this is understood.
Ask for suggestions of possible ways to make things better.
Agree on an action and then celebrate its achievement.
TO CONCLUDE
In Becoming Emotionally Intelligent, Catherine Corrie quotes Thomas Szasz:
Some people say they havent found themselves yet. But the self is not
something one finds; it is something one creates.
Creating this self takes place in the mix of our genetic blueprint and the experiences the world
gives us through our interactions with others. Being mature means that we take responsibility
for this creation and for the way in which we interact with other experiences and other people.
Given this, its not easy to say when maturity actually arrives.
But it is obvious that it doesnt arrive in the primary school and seems to be fragile at best for
many secondary school students. Children from 5-11 shouldnt be expected to be emotionally
intelligent. All children and students have a right to expect to be helped to develop their
emotional intelligence. Its what we do, built on what they are, that will help them to achieve it.
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Many schools and teachers have already begun to teach emotional intelligence, often under
the banner of behaviour management programmes. The introduction of circle time is just one
example of a mechanism through which children can be helped to become more emotionally
intelligent.
It would be doing a disservice to children, however, if the idea of
emotional intelligence became too closely linked with behaviour. We
need to see emotional intelligence linked explicitly to effective learning.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage the continual battle between the logic of our
cortex and the emotions of our limbic system. Emotional intelligence can be seen as the set of
attributes that enable learners to develop the state of relaxed alertness in which the brain has
the best opportunity to learn.
Developing self-esteem helps children to become emotionally more intelligent but we can do
much more. Daniel Goleman identifies seven attributes of the emotionally intelligent child.
They are:
Confidence - which means we need to help children succeed.
Curiosity - which means we need to stimulate children rather than process them and to
value their curiosity about areas not always directly linked to school work.
Intentionality - which means we must encourage children to have goals.

Contrast the effect on a childs ability to develop goals between a seven-year-old girl who
announces that she wants to be an airline pilot and whose family accepts this with goodhumoured seriousness and a similar child whose family makes fun of her or puts her
down. Developing intentionality also supports the idea of target-setting with children and
students and of helping them get clear what the purpose of each hours learning in school
actually is.
Self-control - which means helping children find strategies to think using the neo-cortex
to avoid emotional flooding.
Relatedness - which means helping children understand what happens to them.
Communication - which means teaching children strategies to talk about their ideas and
feelings as well as about information and facts.
Co-operation - which means helping children understand the balance between

themselves and others, the idea of interdependence as well as independence.
40
6 Making memory
THE BRIEF OVERVIEW

Memory is key to consolidating learning. Brain research has shown that memory
happens as a result of action and responses in the brain. Different kinds of
memory require different kinds of brain activity: some memory becomes
established through practise and repetition; other memory becomes established
through context - by resonating with experiences we have already found to be
exciting or meaningful. Finding a way to put subjects into a context that will be
meaningful to children and students will help the consolidation of their learning.
Memory is vital for effective learning, but precisely how we remember is still unclear to
neuroscientist. Like much that we are learning about the brain at work, we know that different
parts of the brain are involved. When we watch a film the detail of what happened is stored in
one part of our brain while the feelings we had about the film are stored in another.
What we do know is that the hippocampus - a tiny part which sits across your right and left
brain - has an important function in helping memory to happen. Its almost like a junction box.
Without it we could still learn but we wouldnt be able to remember. (And just to push the diet
and exercise point again, the hippocampus is one of the first areas of the brain to be affected
by oxygen deficiency.)
However, important though the hippocampus is to memory, we shouldnt see it as the centre of
our memories. Recent evidence indicates (and youll read this more than once in this volume)
that memory occurs as a result of action and responses throughout the brain. The
hippocampus is one very important part of that interaction.
Current thought suggests that there are five different types of memory.
1. Working memory functions for only seconds at a time. Its how we remember the previous
sentence in a conversation so that the next one makes sense.
41
WHAT AFFECTS LEARNING? MAKING MEMORY
LFL2

2. Semantic memory is the memory for facts and processes. Its what enables us to
accumulate knowledge, from what the capital of France is, to what is the relationship of a
logo to a company.
3. Episodic memory, located in the hippocampus, is the memory of personal events, of the
things which have real meaning for us.
4. Implicit memory remembers skills which are locked into the brain. Its why once we have
learned to ride a bike we never forget. We are rarely aware of implicit memory.
5. Remote memory holds the accumulation of facts we have collected throughout our life.
Quiz champions have a highly developed remote memory. It is distributed throughout the
brain with no one centre. Remote memory, too, seems to deteriorate with age although it
is possible that the brain simply takes longer to sort through the increasing amount of
information it has collected.
HOW DOES MEMORY HAPPEN?

No one really knows, other than it is a function of many parts of the brain working together with
one or two key areas of the brain taking a more central role.
Working memory is part of the hard-wiring of the brain. Its an automatic if short-lived
process.
Semantic memory works through repetition. The more we revisit the spelling of a word, the
main exports of Egypt, the action involved in a golf swing or the succession of notes in a piano
piece, the more effective our memory will be of them.
This is why it is important in the classroom to provide children and students with plenty of
opportunity for repetition and revisiting of what is being learned semantically. This is obvious
when we are trying to help children learn multiplication tables; it is less obvious when we are
trying to help students develop better investigative skills in science or the skills of many other
subjects.
42
WHAT AFFECTS LEARNING? MAKING MEMORY
LFL2
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN IN SCHOOL?
We need to make sure that timetables dont create too much distance
between childrens and students practice; if we do, we risk the second practice
not building sufficiently on the first to create semantic memory.
We need to look at the schedules and lesson timings we create for children and
students, and especially for secondary students. A 40-minute lesson is probably not
long enough for students to practise skills for a sufficient amount of time to begin to
embed them in memory; an 80-minute lesson may be.
(One of the schools that developed Looking for Learning with Fieldwork Education
actually changed the length of its lessons because it realised that it was forcing
teachers to deliver and students to experience lessons almost wholly focused on
factual knowledge. Changing to 80-minute lessons dramatically increased the
amount of skills learning taking place.)
We need to make sure that we dont provide children and students with
information overload. Too much information entering the brain cant be processed
at the synaptic level and doesnt even get to the point at which it can be sifted and
re-organised during sleep. Thats why it is very important to be clear about the key
learning outcomes you want your children to achieve.
Episodic memory, on the other hand, is dependent on the strength of our personal
experiences; of how strongly the information is registered emotionally. A classic example of
most peoples episodic memory is the moment when the aircraft crashed into New Yorks
World Trade Centre. So powerful was this emotional experience that it is unlikely that even
distant viewers will ever forget it.
Interestingly, neuroscience seems to back up Freuds view that the memory of our lives as a
sequence (and presumably the memory of other complex associations, too) only begins to
take place after the age of seven and, for most people, after the age of ten.
The reason for this appears to be connected with the neuronal pruning that takes place in the
brain. Prior to the burst of pruning, almost every experience we have makes an impact on the
brain. As we mature and begin to impose our own sense of self on this kaleidoscope of events,
our brains forget many of our experiences in favour of a sequence of connections.
43
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN IN SCHOOL?
Above all, it means that we have to attach meaning and emotion to the
events we want children and students to remember. For example:
Information presented in a dull or relatively meaningless way is unlikely to
be remembered as well as information presented more excitingly. We
need to provide lessons with highs and lows, with periods of
excitement on which memory can fix itself.
For younger children certainly but also for many older students too, we
need to present work and its learning needs in a context that has
meaning for them.
In the IPC, learning in science, history, geography, art and other subjects is
wrapped in a context of exciting themes for children such as Chocolate.
It is these themes that grab children emotionally and enable the learning
to have meaning.
As children grow into older students we tend to stop this approach and
expect that students will see the intrinsic merit in what they are being
asked to learn. But they will only do this if science, history, art or other
subjects are intrinsically exciting for them anyway. If they are not, then
without context and meaning learning and memory will be weaker.
Music, in particular, has a powerful and recognisable impact on areas

of the brain linked to emotion and meaning. Combined with theatre, film
and dance and used effectively, this can make a major contribution to
helping children and students develop meaning and memory together.
We need to make the information personal in some way to children

and students so that they emotionally respond to it. This may be
through enabling children to make connections between their new learning
and their own life experiences or by creating an emotionally charged
experience for them.
Memory also seems to happen during sleep or during deep relaxation. During sleep the brain
seems to process all of the sensations with which it has been bombarded during the day,
making sense of it before we wake up again ready for another day of sensory input.
44

What doesnt work, though, is sleep learning. There is very little evidence that the
subconscious mind takes in information more effectively than the conscious mind. This is a
pity because if it did, all we would have to do would be to play instructional tapes to children
while they sleep and they will learn!
45
8 Slow thinking
THE BRIEF OVERVIEW

Many real-life problems require time and deliberation in order to find a solution.
While Knowledge may be suited to fast recall, Skills and Understanding often
need more time, context and practise in order to develop. Many activities in
schools reward fast thinking, but we need also to ensure that we provide
opportunities for students and children to practise slow thinking, in which they
are given time to digest, consider and explore problems and possibilities in order
for their learning to become truly embedded.
In his book, Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind, Guy Claxton uses evidence from research into the way
the brain works to show how it doesnt always work as a quick response mechanism (I know
the answer!), often deliberating over problems until a solution seems to emerge (Let me think
about that for a while.)
The brains ability to do this, says Claxton, is crucial because many of the problems we face in
real life are short of essential clarity, often based in the messy context of individual
perspectives. They simply arent susceptible to quick thinking. They can only be resolved
when we are able to use our under mind.
Slow thinking is a skill much in demand in adult society. Guy Claxton memorably defines
wisdom as good judgment in hard cases - an ability most of us would be only too happy to list
amongst those we would want for our children. Intuitively - as any of us know who have ever
been for a walk to clear our head - we have always known how useful it is. Now is the time to
re-emphasise it.
THE PROBLEM IN SCHOOLS

Claxton argues that most schooling is designed to eliminate the development of slow thinking
in favour of fast thinking. (Not, by the way, that he dismisses fast thinking. He acknowledges
its importance but points out that it is only important in certain life situations and not others.)
46
WHAT AFFECTS LEARNING? SLOW THINKING
LFL2
Take tests, for example. Claxton typifies tests as:
taking place under pressure, usually having to be completed quickly, or relatively

quickly (the stress of tests can also increase negative emotional responses which limits
effective thinking).
usually individual. Very few tests involve group activities, in which ideas can be kicked
around and explored, often the very behaviours that those who are successful in these
tests will have to exhibit later in their lives.
abstract. Few tests actually address issues which make a real connection with
childrens and students lives. Often, tests which are written as a story are still farremoved from childrens actual experiences, causing them to think differently than they
might otherwise.
focused on a right answer. Few tests allow the possibility of different answers from
those defined by the test constructors. Most tests are convergent rather than divergent.
Claxton is not against this type of testing per se. But if this is the only testing available for
teachers to use and children to experience it will have a crucial influence on the quality of
education children are offered and what they get out of it.
WHEN IS SLOW THINKING BETTER?

Slow thinking works best when the brain needs time to sort out complex
issues which reveal characteristics opposite to those of tests.
In other words, it works best when dealing with issues
where time is needed
where the problem may involve consideration of multiple perspectives
where the problems are real-world problems which will be affected by the
choice of an appropriate or inappropriate response
where there is unlikely to be a right answer in any case.
Claxton says that these situations are at least as important in real life as those situations which
require fast thinking.
Consider the scientist trying to find a cure for cancer in a laboratory or a mathematician trying
to solve a complete problem. Einstein frequently recorded how his answers often came to him
when to all intents and purposes he had stopped thinking about the problem.
So, slow thinking is an issue of importance to those responsible for helping to develop the
learning of both secondary-age students and primary children, too. Think about those
situations in which you have tried to encourage a group of children to identify a pattern in a
47
LFL2
group of numbers and they just dont seem to get it. Or when we ask children in science to
think about the evidence they have just seen and say what it might mean to them.
Slow thinking and Knowledge, Skills and Understanding

In LfL1, Putting it into Practice, we extend the brief definition of learning that begins in this
volume to include Knowledge, Skills and Understanding and look at the particular
characteristics of each (see LfL1, pp. 28-34). For now, it is worth noting that conventional
testing is ideally suited to checking on the learning of Knowledge, in that knowledge is more
or less agreed and unproblematic, capable of being recalled quickly and possible to recall out
of any particular context. The learning and retention of knowledge does not require much slow,
reflective thinking.
Skills and Understanding, on the other hand, are completely different (and there are
differences in degree between each). Skills are active, context-dependent and develop slowly
over time. Understanding is personal, develops very slowly and deeply over time and requires
multiple contexts to demonstrate effectively. The learning of both Skills and Understanding
are dependent on slow thinking.
WHAT CAN WE DO IN SCHOOLS AND CLASSROOMS?

Identify times when slow thinking is likely to be profitable
The argument for creating more time for slow thinking is not an argument for doing away with
fast thinking. But much learning will benefit from slow thinking and will need to be undertaken
appropriately. For example:
thinking of ideas for stories or poems
re-drafting which requires thought about whether a piece of work can be improved
work in maths or science which involves looking for patterns or drawing conclusions
designing a series of linked movements in physical education
thinking about the consequences of behaviour and relationships
any work that requires skill development or the deepening of understanding.
Try to create time for slow thinking to take place

Squeezed as we are by a narrow focus on mathematics, English or language arts and,
sometimes, science, this is currently one of the hardest tricks for teachers to achieve.
48
LFL2
(Its easy in this context to see why even with a narrow focus on language arts, teachers are
concerned about the decline in childrens and students ability to produce extended writing
pieces.)
Given this current situation, what can be done? Here are a few possibilities.
Give children and students advance warning of tasks which would benefit from slow
thinking.
On Thursday, we are going to be writing a story based on the themes of this book we
have just spoken about. Between now and then use this sheet to jot down ideas about
how your story might develop.
Wherever possible, think through which learning outcomes are most crucial and the
extent to which Skills and Understanding outcomes are properly balanced alongside
Knowledge outcomes. Free up some curriculum space wherever possible to
accommodate challenges that benefit from slow thinking.
Provide opportunities for children to work together. In this way, the input which feeds
slow thinking is greater. It also cuts down on the time it takes to generate possibilities
to think about.
Make sure slow thinking follows considerable input

Slow thinking is a process of digestion and of sedimentation. It works when we have the
information we need but cant see how to deal with it. Its the process of letting the brain sort
out everything we know before it emerges with a possible solution. But we have to provide the
input first.
Make sure that tests are appropriate
Tests and quizzes are only one of the ways in which children can be assessed, and usually and often unwittingly - they force us into delivering imbalanced learning that focuses too much
on Knowledge. We need to make sure that other tests we use provide children and students
with the opportunity to use slow thinking appropriately.
When creating your own assessments, make some time-delimited, let children and students
know the questions beforehand and set questions in a context which allows them to make a
real-life and an emotional connection. The current focus on Assessment for Learning is
attempting to do exactly this.
49
Conclusion
In LfL1 of the Looking for Learning Toolkit, Putting it into Practice, we created a working
definition of what learning is and described how we can look for learning happening in the
classroom.
In working through each of the key questions of the Looking for Learning protocol, we saw that
the first three questions
Is there any learning going on?

Is the learning appropriate?
Is the learning sufficient?
are directly related to our working definition of what learning looks like.
The next three questions
Are the children or students engaged by their learning?

What is the teacher doing that helps learning happen?
What is the teacher doing that gets in the way of learning?
are different. They are related to the factors that affect learning.
LfL2, About Learning has dealt with a number of those factors, most of which have been
researched or validated by neuroscience. By reading about them and discussing them with
your colleagues we hope that you are better informed about some of the key factors that affect
learning and, in turn, are more able to justify your practice to those who, rightly, want to know
why schools are facilitating learning as they are.
50
Recommended reading
Aambodt, Sandra and Sam Wang, Welcome to Your Brain, Bloomsbury, New York, 2008.
Bartlett, K. and W. Gerritz., Developing Learning-Focused International Schools: a Case Study of
Two Schools, in M. Hayden, J. Levy, J. and J. Thompson, The SAGE Handbook of Research in
International Education, SAGE, 2007.
Beers, B., Learning-Driven Schools: A Practical Guide for Teachers and Principals, ASCD, 2006.
Black, Paul, et al., Assessment for Learning, Open University Press, Berkshire, 2005.
Bolam, R., A. McMahon, L. Stoll, S. Thomas and M. Wallace, Creating and Sustaining Effective
Professional Learning Communities, Department for Education and Skills, DfES Publications, 2005.
Carlson, Richard, Dont Sweat the Small Stuff and its all Small Stuff: Simple Ways to Keep the
Little Things from Taking Over Your Life, Mobius, 1998.
Claxton, Guy, Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind, Fourth Estate, 1997.
Collins, Jim, Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make The Leap ... and Others Don't, HarperCollins,
2005.
Corrie, Catherine, Becoming Emotionally Intelligent, Network Educational Press, 2003.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, The Evolving Self, Harper Collins, London, 1993.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life, Basic
Books, 1997.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Harper Perennial, 2008.
Charlotte Danielson and Thomas McGreal, Teacher Evaluation, ASCD, Alexandria, 2000.
Davies, Brent (ed.), The Essentials of School Leadership, Paul Chapman Publishing, 2005.
Department for Education and Skills, Excellence and Enjoyment: Learning and Teaching in the
Primary Years, DfES, 2004.
Dryden, Gordon and Jeanette Vos, The Learning Revolution, Accelerated Learning Systems, 1997.
Dufour, Richard and Richard Baker, Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices
for Enhancing Student Achievement, Solution Tree, 1998.
Dweck, Carol, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Ballantyne Books, 2006.
Eisner, Eliot, in David Hamilton (ed.) Beyond the Numbers Game: A Reader in Educational
Evaluation, Macmillan, 1977.
Fullan, Michael, Changing Forces: Probing the Depths of Educational Reform, Routledge, 1993.
Fullan, Michael, Leading in a Culture of Change, revised edition, Jossey Bass, 2007.
Fullan, Michael, The New Meaning of Educational Change, 4th edition, Routledge, 2007.
Fullan, Michael, Whats Worth Fighting For in the Principalship?, 2nd edition, Teachers College
Press, 2008.
Fullan, Michael, and Clif St Germain, Learning Places: A Field Guide for Improving the Context of
Schooling, Corwin Press, 2006.
Gardner, Howard, The Disciplined Mind, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1999.
Gardner, Howard, Five Minds for the Future, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 2006. Gelb, Michael
J., Thinking for a Change, Aurum Press, 1996.
Goleman, Daniel, Emotional Intelligence: Why it Matters More than IQ, Bloomsbury 1996.
Goleman, Daniel, Working with Emotional Intelligence, Bantam Books, 1998 .
Gray, Susan Penny, and William Streshly, From Good Schools to Great Schools, Corwin Press, 2008.
Greenfield, Susan, The Private Life of The Brain, Allen Lane The Penguin Press, 2000.
Greenfield, Susan, ID - The Quest for Identity in the 21st Century, Sceptre, 2008.
Hofstede, Geer and Gert Jan Hofstede, Cultures and Organisations, McGraw Hill, 2005.
Holford, Patrick, timum Nutrition for The Mind, Piaktus, 2003.
The International Primary Curriculum, Fieldwork Education.
Jensen, Eric, Super Teaching, Turning Point Publishing, 1995.
Jensen, Eric, Teaching with the Brain in Mind, ASCD, 1998.
51
RECOMMENDED READING
LfL 1
Lambert, Linda, Leadership Capacity for Lasting School Improvement, ASCD, 2003.
McGaugh, James L., Memory and Emotion, Wiedenfield and Nicolson, 2003.
Macbeath, John and Peter Mortimore, Improving School Effectiveness, Open University Press, Berkshire,
2005.
Markova, Dawna, The Open Mind: Exploring the Six Patterns of Natural Intelligence, Conari Press, 1996.
Middlewood, David, et al., Creating a Learning School, Paul Chapman Publishing, 2005.
Morgan, Nicola, Blame my Brain, Walker Books, 2005.
National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education, All Our Futures: Creativity,
Culture and Education, NACCCE Reports, 1999.
Ornstein, Robert, The Right Mind: Making Sense of the Hemispheres, Harcourt Brace, 1998.
Perkins, David, Outsmarting IQ, The Free Press, 1995.
Popham, W. James, Transformative Assessment, ASCD, 2008.
Ratey, John, A Users Guide to the Brain, Little, Brown, 2001.
Reeves, Douglas B., The Learning Leader, ASCD, 2006.
Rose, Colin and Malcolm J. Nicholl, Accelerated Learning for the 21st Century, Piaktus, 1997.
Schacter, Daniel,The Seven Sins of Memory, Houghton Mifflin, 2001.
Showers, B. and B. Joyce, The Evolution of Peer Coaching, Educational Leadership 53:6, 1996.
Smith, Alistair, Accelerated Learning in the Classroom, Network Educational Press, 1996.
Smith, Alistair, Accelerated Learning in Practice, Network Educational Press, 1998.
Spillane, James P., Distributed Leadership, Jossey Bass Leadership Library in Education, 2006.
Wilbur, Ken, A Theory of Everything: An Integral vision for Business, Politics, Science and
Spirituality, Shambhala, 2000.
Tomlinson, Carol Ann , The Differentiated Classroom, ASCD, 1999.
Watkins, Chris, Classrooms as Learning Communities, Routledge, 2005.
Watkins, Chris, et al., Effective Learning in Classrooms, Paul Chapman Publishing 2007.
West-Burnham, J. and Coates, M., Personalising Learning, Network Educational Press, 2005.
Weatherley, Colin, Leading the Learning School, Network Educational Press, 2000.
Wheatley, Margaret J., Leadership and the New Science, Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, 1999.
52
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
LfL 1
Acknowledgements
Almost every acknowledgement we have ever read does two things. First, the writer(s) thank
all those who have contributed in any way. Second, the writer(s) accept full responsibility for
every aspect of the final work. We are no different.
Developing Looking for Learning has been one of the most stimulating projects in which we
have ever been involved (and we have been involved in quite a few).
Our first and most special thanks must go to the head teachers, principals, teachers, children
and students who have looked for learning with us over the past four years at:
American International School of Johannesburg
American School of Doha
Bembridge CoE Primary School, UK
Brading C Of E Primary School, UK
British School of Chicago
British School of Washington
Broadlea Primary School, UK
Fairlawn Primary School, UK
Forelands Middle School, UK
Gatten and Lake Primary School, UK
International School of Bangkok
The International School of Brussels Lake Middle School, UK
Newchurch Primary School, UK
Sandham Middle School, UK
Sandown High School, UK
Singapore American School
St Helens Primary School, UK
St Johns C of E Primary School UK
Shanklin C of E Primary School, UK
We want to thank to all those colleagues around the world - too many to mention individually
- who, knowingly or unknowingly, have given their time to discuss with us many of the
learning-focused issues that have arisen during our work so far. Without their involvement we
wouldnt be where we are now.
53

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THE LOOKING FOR

A brief description of the brain

What does learning look like?

What affects learning?

1. Good health and an effective brain

3. Seeing the big picture

4. Relaxed alertness and emotional intelligence

The LfL Toolkit: an introduction

learning is the core purpose of schools

THE LFL TOOLKIT: AN INTRODUCTION

I am a better teacher as a result of Looking for Learning. I am not a different

THE LFL TOOLKIT: AN INTRODUCTION

THE LFL TOOLKIT: AN INTRODUCTION

THE LFL TOOLKIT: AN INTRODUCTION

ABOUT FIELDWORK EDUCATION

LfL 2 About Learning

To provide a theoretical basis for Looking for Learning.

information about how the brain works

the importance of flow and emotional intelligence

the importance of slow thinking.

We hope you find it interesting and useful.

1 A brief description of the brain

1 The brain can be seen as having three main parts

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE BRAIN

2 The brain has two halves

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE BRAIN

4 Neurons are the basic building blocks of the brain

We have, at birth, 100 billon neurons.

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE BRAIN

5 The brain is capable of continual development (plasticity)

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE BRAIN

6 The brain is an efficient organism

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE BRAIN

2 What does learning look like?

Classroom visits, whether for inspection or accreditation, performance management or

WHAT DOES LEARNING LOOK LIKE?

SO, WHAT IS THIS LEARNING WE SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR?

New Learning, when an existing constellation of neurons gets extended.

3 What affects learning?

1. Good health and an effective brain

1 Good health and an effective brain

THE BRIEF OVERVIEW

SOME BASIC FACTS

WHAT AFFECTS LEARNING? GOOD HEALTH

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

WHAT AFFECTS LEARNING? GOOD HEALTH

When stress descends, diet is often compromised. Sensible eating gives

WHAT AFFECTS LEARNING? GOOD HEALTH

FEEDING THE BRAIN OF A STUDENT

WHY BRAINS NEED TO BE LOOKED AFTER

Its mostly water. In fact, nearly 80% of the brain is water.

WHAT AFFECTS LEARNING? GOOD HEALTH

While a child is sleeping their brain is still working.

A TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR YOUNG BRAINS

WHAT AFFECTS LEARNING? GOOD HEALTH

Provide the brain with the right foods

Meat, wheat germ, peanuts

Helps mood, supports memory

Bread, pork, peas (B1);

Helps the nervous system,

Liver, eggs, cheese, milk,

Helps alertness, motivation