PRO FESSO R A RTH UR SHI MA MUR A’S

A WHOLE-BRAIN LEARNING APPROACH FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS

M A R G E
MOT I VAT E AT TEND REL ATE GENER ATE EVALUATE

We need to be motivated to use
energy to keep focused on the
learning process. Designed
well, motivation can be intrinsic
to learning, for example, by
generating curiosity, framing
new material as a quest to
answer big questions, organis-
ing ideas within a wider
schema, story-telling and
asking the ‘aesthetic question’:
“What do you think? How does it
make you feel? Why is it good?”
“The aesthetic question engages
emotional brain circuits and forces
us to attend to and organize our
knowledge.”
Academic learning is a Shimamura offers numerous Shimamura suggests: “Think it, This is the territory of metacog-
‘top-down’ activity whereby we biological insights about how say it, teach it! These are the nition with a nice metaphor of
consciously attend to the we store and connect informa- simplest things to do to improve the prefrontal cortex acting as
information needed to build our tion through memory consoli- your memory”. He details the conductor of the orchestra
schema from all the stimuli dation. The practical strategies multiple ways in which our of brain functions. There’s a
we’re exposed to. This is hard include deploying elabora- memories are strengthened problem with the illusion of
so ‘mind wandering’ is common tive-interrogative questioning – when we generate information knowing when we are familiar
and teachers need to expect it. asking how and why – using from our memory, not simply with information even when we
Ideally students will conscious- mental images, analogies, restating it but using our own cannot fully recollect it. We stop
ly attend to the learning goals constructing concept maps as words. If we tell someone what trying to learn more if we kid
and consciously make connec- schematic representations of we’ve learned we can improve ourselves into thinking we
tions – but sometimes an sets of connected ideas and our memory by 30-50%. already know it. Students
instructor needs grab attention, training students to make notes Explained in terms of brain should, therefore, be taught to
acting as their students’ organised in hierarchical functions, Generate reinforces check their understanding
prefrontal cortex to direct their structures. the widely known retrieval using spaced retrieval practice,
top-down processing. practice concept. generating information by
explaining their learning to
others as a form of self-test.
SAY IT
THINK IT TEACH IT

Designed by @olicav Summarised by @teacherhead Download the full document at:

Oliver Caviglioli olicav.com Tom Sherrington teacherhead.com https://shimamurapubs.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/marge_shimamura.pdf