Neuroscience: From “Using the Brain” to “Changing the Brain”

By: Fatemah Bazzi 

August 31, 2025

Teachers’ beliefs about brain development influence their teaching practice and significantly shape how they interact with learners. These beliefs sometimes lead teachers to refrain from providing learning opportunities that require higher order thinking skills because they assume learners primarily use their minds for basic recall and comprehension of material. While teachers recognize that learners use their brains during learning, they often lack understanding of the brain’s capacity to change as a result of more effective instructional approaches. According to Dubinsky et al. (2013), when teachers learn about brain mechanisms, the concept of “using the brain” might be transformed into “changing the brain”. 

Neuroscience: How the Brain Learns  

Neuroscience is a  field of interdisciplinary knowledge that studies the brain and the nervous system. Based on this field, learning occurs through synapse reorganization, neuronal circuits, and interconnected neural networks in the brain (Lent, 2019). Neuroscience helps scientists understand the mechanisms responsible for emotional, behavioral, and cognitive processes that explain how the brain learns. Based on neuroscience findings, one remarkable brain mechanism is its ability to change constantly; its individual neurons adapt in certain situations, mainly during learning (Fillenze & Morris, 2003).  This is known as neuroplasticity, and it involves rewiring and strengthening connections between neurons (Cunnington, 2019).  Thus, the human brain has plasticity and comprises areas that can be cultivated and improved through learning. 

The human brain has plasticity and comprises areas that can be cultivated and improved through learning. 

Neuroscience: Implications for Education 

Over the past few decades, interests have increased for establishing bridges between the science of the brain and education. This paved the way for the emergence of educational neuroscience that focuses on the contributions towards understanding how learners’ brains might improve or struggle in reading, numeracy, or writing (Ansari et al., 2012). It provides educators with the foundations needed for teaching and learning, by informing them about the neurobiological processes that trigger learning and its progress (Nouri, 2016).    

This should not give the impression that neuroscientists are responsible for informing teachers about the teaching practices that should be used in classroom settings. Nevertheless, teachers can benefit from neuroscience knowledge to better understand the natural learning mechanisms of learners’ brains, which might enhance their pedagogical choices and teaching practices. For instance, neuroscientists argue that learners’ intelligence is more about brain connectivity that results from learning than about their biology (Cunnington, 2019), which might change teachers’ misconceptions and expectations. Learners’ brains should no longer be perceived as fixed and unchanging, a fact that might inspire teachers to instruct in a different way, mainly with low-achievers in order to help them acquire and improve their cognitive skills.  

Learners’ brains should no longer be perceived as fixed and unchanging, a fact that might inspire teachers to instruct in a different way.

As for neuroscience core concepts, they are very significant and can be added to teachers’ theoretical toolkits. These concepts explain how life experiences change the nervous system and how learners’ intelligence improves as the brain reasons, plans, and solves problems. Thus, teachers should design learning opportunities or experiences that require the use of analytical and logical reasoning skills because mental challenges are important for brain function (Dubinsky et al., 2013). In addition, neuroscientists explain that neural connections can be strengthened by repeated exposure to cognitive or sensory stimuli (Caroni et al. 2012). When learners receive sensory information for the first time, a network of brain cells related to the learning object is stimulated (Wolfe, 2010). When learners repeatedly encounter material through multiple senses, the associated neural pathways are strengthened. This, in turn, allows them to remember, adapt, and extend information to new learning experiences. However, if this new learning is not revisited or used for a long time, learners will not be able to improve the cognitive skills related to it. 

Neuroscience: Helpful Guidelines for Teachers

Most studies that have explored the impact of neuroscience on teaching and learning have evidenced that teachers who are provided with knowledge about neuroscience and learning can apply that knowledge to enhance learners’ cognitive skills (Clement & Lovat, 2012; Dubinsky et al., 2013; Tan & Amiel, 2022; Walsh et al.; 2024). For example, education experts have provided teachers with practical guidelines to help learners with low-capacity working memory to perform as well as learners with a high-capacity working memory (Oakley et al., 2021).  Below are research-based strategies and concepts that teachers can implement to maximize learner learning by capitalizing on findings from neuroscience. Some of the suggested strategies may seem familiar to some teachers, but thinking about them from the perspective of neuroscience can help teachers better understand why these strategies are beneficial. 

1. Sharing neuroscience with learners is very beneficial because it helps them realize the power of their brains. Teachers can help learners understand that their brains are capable of changing and can improve with practice. Hence, learners will be more willing to participate in classroom tasks even if the content is difficult.
2. Implementing tasks with multistep directions requires specific attention from teachers when learners have difficulty completing many steps. Teachers can display each step required so that learners do not have to hold these in their working memory. This will help them focus their working memory on the content, not the directions.
3. Teaching learners with lesser-capacity working memory requires using simple tasks that help them retain the content in their long-term memory. For instance, teachers can ask them to apply the one-minute summary, where learners write down what they remember directly after any activity or lesson. Peer teaching is also effective, where learners can work with partners to teach one another the lesson content.
4. Leveraging learners’ natural curiosity motivates them to explore and understand the world around them. Teachers can engage learners by asking them to use their senses to gather information, then apply that information to solve problems or make predictions.
5. Breaking down challenging tasks into smaller steps and tracking progress helps prevent learners from becoming overwhelmed. Teachers can divide complex assignments into manageable levels and ask learners to provide evidence of completing each step through rubrics, recordings, peer assessments, or other documentation. Teachers should also give feedback and share examples at each stage to guide learner progress.
6. Instructing learners to represent new learning in a variety of ways increases learners’ memory storage and recall efficiency. When teachers are sure that the new content or skill is fixed in the short-term memory, they can ask learners to use it repeatedly and in different ways– transferring it to new contexts, creating visual or artistic representations,, using it to solve problems, looking for similarities and differences, etc.
7. Empowering learners with stress reduction strategies is essential when learners experience anxiety or boredom. Learners with limited working memory worry about mistakes and failures, while those with greater capacity feel bored during repetition. Both states impair memory consolidation. When teachers notice frustration or disengagement, they should guide learners to use relaxation techniques like deep breathing or brief movement.

In short, teachers can play a major role in helping learners change and improve their brains, instead of just using them.

References

Ansari, D., De Smedt, B., & Grabner, R. (2012). Neuroeducation–a critical overview of an emerging field. Neuroethics, 5, 105-117.

Caroni, P., Donato, F., & Muller, D. (2012). Structural plasticity upon learning: Regulation and functions. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 13(7), 478-490.

Clement, N., & Lovat, T. (2012). Neuroscience and education: Issues and challenges for   curriculum. Curriculum Inquiry, 42(4), 534-557.

Cunnington, R. (2019). Neuroplasticity: How the brain changes with learning. IBE Science of learning portal.  

Dubinsky, J., Roehrig, G., & Varma, S. (2013). Infusing neuroscience into teacher professional development. Educational Researcher, 42(6), 317-329.

Fillenz, M., & Morris, R. G. M. (2003). Science of the Brain: an introduction for young learners.

Lent, R. (2019). The learning brain: Neuroplasticity and education. Atheneu Publishing House.

Nouri, A. (2016). The basic principles of research in neuroeducation studies. International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education (IJCRSEE), 4(1), 59-66.

Oakley, B., & Sejnowski, T. (2021). Uncommon sense teaching: Practical insights in brain science to help learners learn. Penguin.

Tan, Y. S. M., & Amiel, J. J. (2022). Teachers learning to apply neuroscience to classroom instruction: case of professional development in British Columbia. Professional Development in Education, 48(1), 70-87.

Walsh, K., L’Estrange, L., Smith, R., Burr, T., & Williams, K. E. (2024). Translating neuroscience to early childhood education: A scoping review of neuroscience-based professional learning for early childhood educators. Educational Research Review, 100644.

Wolfe, P. (2010). Brain matters: Translating research into classroom practice. AsCD.