The Importance of Brain Research in Education

The article by Wasserman (2007) titled “The correlation between brain development, language acquisition, and cognition” describes the role of brain research in the understanding of the working of the mind in a classroom setting. The author emphasizes that when the process of learning is comprehended, it will be possible to understand the overall development of the child and most importantly the content and mental growth. It I thus consistent with the assumption that when one has a lot of knowledge, they are more likely to learn better and it would translate to better education in the coming years. The author explores various perspectives of the subject including the brain ultrastructure, the technologies that have been applied to its understanding and the way the brain interest language either are words of grammar. The investigation hat scholars have done on the brain have since proven that there is a language center that tends to process information in the forms of speech and sound forms and thee are varied stages that can be used in conceptualizing the whole process. The insight on the possibility of maximum learning is also highlighted where the author argues that based on a Chinese study, it has been possible to conclude that there are crucial opportunities that are related to the learning process. The overall significance of the research is that it offers new insights that can be helpful for educators because then it is possible to note the most important timelines that one would concentrate their educational process.

Analysis

            The significance of the article is that the investigation by the author allows the apprehension of the subject in the greater perspective of the course concepts. One of the primary considerations of the body and mind learning principles is the apprehension that all learning tends to engage the physiology and the environment actively. The idea is what makes educational stakeholders prefer the traditional teaching setting is the deliberation that the act of students sitting on their seats makes the body to be separate from the brain and the body is not involved in the learning process. It is thus assumed that students tend to capture more based on their ability to use their senses and bodies and the ability of the body to remember will inherently depend on these factors. The apprehension of the theory of the correlation between brain development and language acquisition is what makes use of the idea of situated learning where learning is made to be more active through the process of communities of practice (Sousa, 2011). The capacity emphasized through this approach is that students tend to have an improved capacity for comprehension provided their social interactions and relationship issues are engaged.         

 The other key principle that can be drawn from the article in the brain and mind working process is that the search for meaning in a classroom setting tends to be an innate and natural activity that one engages in to enhance their memory ability. The student’s desire to make meaning out of everything tends to be common and it is apparent from early childhood to their later educational life. In fact, there are varied examples that describe how students tend to be involved when they are presented with novel information that they process through various stages. This criterion thus involves the assumption that studies have the capacity to comprehend a lot provided that their interest and purposes and needs are catered for by the existing system that integrates the immediate, the working and the long-term memory. In fact, it is further noted that the mind and the brain tend to process parts and also complete segments in a simultaneous manner. To be able to make sense of an experience, it is paramount that one is able to process the parts and whole processes in a concurrent manner because it is deliberated that the experience of the whole eases the understanding of individual parts (Sousa, 2011). It is thus hypothesized that students have the capacity of achieving effective comprehension when the details are embedded in whole systems and when they are able to conceptualize and relate what they learn with a real-life experience.

Discussion Questions

            The investigation thus poses varied questions that relate to the process of language acquisition through the positive or negative influence of the teachers on the student. One such area of interest is whether teachers tend to boost the cognitive structure in children in the process of their development. The key is to focus on brain reinforcements by teachers in the classroom to enable the student to change their behavior or encourage them to continue with healthy habits that positively impact on cognitive development. The other question involves the query that for the success of the patterning process in the staging of the brain there is a chance that students involve emotions, which are perceived to be a central entity in life. The question is based on the fact that studies have proven that virtually every thought and response involved some kind of emotional trigger, a feature that is assumed to be critical for powerful learning. These concerns are the leading research questions on the subject.

References

Sousa, D. A. (2011). How the Brain Learns. Corwin Press.

Wasserman, L. H. (2007). The correlation between brain development, language acquisition, and cognition. Early Childhood Education Journal, 34(6), 415–418. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-007-0155-x