The 'WHY' matters! Leveraging educational neuroscience to drive positive school climate for under-resourced learners
Summary
Research shows that learners living in financial poverty often arrive at school with skills and experiences that are different from those around which schools are often based. And, when the definition of poverty is expanded to include the 'absence of any resource needed for success,' still more learners are identified who are missing social and emotional resources, along with cognitive, spiritual resources, and physical resources. These students are living in poverty of absent resources. When students have been shaped by lives with limited access to resources, teachers must have a solid understanding of the implications of those struggles in order to fully comprehend the importance and urgency of every action taken during every school day.
This session will consider the impact of school- and teacher-moves that can shift neural functioning on a moment-by-moment basis. Evidence from neuroscience that focuses upon the brain’s capacity for change as a result of experiences will justify a series of specific, research-based strategies that create environmental contrasts that purposefully support cognitive and affective brain development that is most likely to lead to increased school success.
Stakeholders who understand the implications of struggles faced by under-resourced learners recognize the importance and urgency of every action taken during every school day. Attendees will explore the science that grounds actionable strategies designed to remove barriers for students with absent resources and take away budget-neutral shifts for policy and practice and materials and resources for immediate use. They will learn how to reframe the challenges faced in high-poverty schools as opportunities for changing the futures for under-resourced (and ALL!) students.
The 'WHY' matters! Leveraging educational neuroscience to drive positive school climate for under-resourced learners
Research shows that learners living in financial poverty often arrive at school with skills and experiences that are different from those around which schools are often based. And, when the definition of poverty is expanded to include the 'absence of any resource needed for success,' still more learners are identified who are missing social and emotional resources, along with cognitive, spiritual resources, and physical resources. These students are living in poverty of absent resources. When students have been shaped by lives with limited access to resources, teachers must have a solid understanding of the implications of those struggles in order to fully comprehend the importance and urgency of every action taken during every school day.
This session will consider the impact of school- and teacher-moves that can shift neural functioning on a moment-by-moment basis. Evidence from neuroscience that focuses upon the brain’s capacity for change as a result of experiences will justify a series of specific, research-based strategies that create environmental contrasts that purposefully support cognitive and affective brain development that is most likely to lead to increased school success.
Stakeholders who understand the implications of struggles faced by under-resourced learners recognize the importance and urgency of every action taken during every school day. Attendees will explore the science that grounds actionable strategies designed to remove barriers for students with absent resources and take away budget-neutral shifts for policy and practice and materials and resources for immediate use. They will learn how to reframe the challenges faced in high-poverty schools as opportunities for changing the futures for under-resourced (and ALL!) students.
