11 principles of neuroeducation to educate happy children

Neuroeducation is a discipline that integrates neurology and educational sciences, where educational psychology plays a fundamental role. In other simpler words, neuroeducation is discovering how the brain learns , it is teaching individuals to identify what type of emotion they are feeling so as not to react in an impulsive way and to be able to give a more accurate response. Thus, the management of emotions has to be useful to ensure learning. This discipline serves to explore the traces that educational processes leave in our brain and thus create relationships between these data and the way in which the individual behaves.

The foundation of neuroeducation is a concept called brain plasticity , that is, the ability of the brain to physically change to adapt to habits and stimuli in a useful way for the person. Every time a form of learning is consolidated, that learning leaves a trace in the way in which neurons in the brain connect to each other.

Neuroeducation provides a key knowledge, and that is that we are emotional beings rather than rational beings . It is true that stimuli from the closest environment are captured by our senses, but it is our emotional brain that labels those stimuli as pleasant or unpleasant, good or bad … before our rational brain processes them. Because of this, we can only learn what causes us gratifying sensations.

11 PRINCIPLES OF NEUROEDUCATION TO EDUCATE HAPPY CHILDREN

Due to the large amount of stimuli that children perceive in their social environment, it has become very difficult for them to pay attention without more. For a child to listen to you, you have to evoke that attention , just what Neuroscience investigates to know which areas of the brain are activated when curiosity is aroused and how long their attention can last, always depending on chronological, maturational and individual differences , because obviously attention is not activated in the same way in all children

Taking into account the 11 principles of neuroeducation, educators and teachers can carry out great learning experiences that have a great impact at the brain level in order to enhance the learning of each and every child so that they can reach to be happy children in your life. And it is that neuroscience involves a transformation in the way of learning in the classroom , an improvement at an educational level and a change in the way of seeing how students should be taught.

1. 1. The brain is a complex adaptive system . One of the most important characteristics of the brain to consider is its ability to function and adapt at many levels and simultaneously. In a continuous and interactive way, things like thoughts, emotions, physiology, imagination and predispositions work in the brain.

1. 1. The brain is social . In the first years of a person’s life, in which neurons multiply at great speed, the brain is in its most receptive and flexible state, that is, it is shaped as we interact with people and the environment . The learning that occurs in the brain is largely influenced by the nature of social relationships.

1. 1. The search for meaning is innate and natural . Seeking the meaning of things is finding meaning in our experiences. This search is focused on survival and is driven by our values ​​and our goals . In addition, it is something basic for the brain and goes from the need to feed ourselves and find security, to the search for our potential.

1. 1. The search for meaning follows some guidelines . Patterns are innate and acquired categories, as well as schematic maps. Our brain automatically needs and stores what is familiar to us, while at the same time seeking and responding to new stimuli. As the patterns are given, the brain tries to understand and differentiate them , in addition to shaping new patterns that are its own and unique. Also, our brain is opposed to imposing things that have no meaning or importance for those who are learning. Thus, in a good education, students must be given the opportunity for their brains to develop their own patterns of understanding so that they can be happy children.

1. 1. Emotions are vital for the creation of patterns . Emotions and other mental elements that imply self-esteem, social interaction, expectations or prejudices, influence and organize everything we learn, that is, emotions mold one another and do not separate . All of this results in an appropriate emotional climate that is vital for learning.
   2. Learning comprises two types of attention . In a healthy person, both hemispheres of the brain work on each activity. The two types of attention that comprise learning are localized and peripheral . The brain is infused with information about what it is aware of and what is beyond its immediate focus of attention. Thus, it is essential that attention is paid to all the factors of an educational environment.

1. 1. Learning requires conscious and unconscious processes . Most of the learning happens in an unconscious way, that is, understanding many things can take hours, weeks or months after a class. Therefore, it is essential that the people who educate and teach facilitate that unconscious thought that comes late, thus making it visible.

1. 1. There are at least two ways to organize memory . One of the ways of organizing memory is a spatial or autobiographical memory that does not need trial and error and gives the possibility that the memory gives experiences. The second form is a set of systems that allow you to remember relatively unrelated information, but motivated by a reward and a punishment. The true way of learning is when you combine and mix both ways of organizing memory .

1. 1. Learning is a developmental process . The brain is plastic, that is, it is adapted to the experience of the person. It has an extraordinary ability to know and experiment, as it is like a blank book, open and ready to receive all kinds of stimuli by virtue of which neural networks are being built. Even so, this unlimited potential capacity that our brain possesses adjusts with the knowledge and learning that are acquired in the geographical, sociocultural, emotional context, etc. in which the person is and develops. Being a process, the human being is always capable of learning more , since neurons continue to make and reinforce neural connections throughout life.

1. 1. Learning increases from challenge and decreases from threat . The brain learns excellently when challenged in an environment that encourages risk-taking. However, faced with a threat, learning slows down and recedes. That is why it is necessary to maintain a relaxed environment with minimal threats and great challenges.

1. Each brain is uniquely organized . We all have the same brain system, but we all have differences that are the result of genetic inheritance or, sometimes, of the environment. Those differences are expressed in terms of learning styles, talents, and intelligences.

BENEFITS OF THE PRINCIPLES OF NEUROEDUCATION

The principles of neuroscience have helped to understand the brain and how it works. There are several benefits that the principles of this discipline provide to educate happy children. For example, thanks to these principles it is much easier to manage emotions . Another benefit is that it is much easier to identify the neurological causes that can be related to school failure, since dyslexia and other learning disorders hinder the evolution of student learning.

However, it must be borne in mind that it is not always easy to apply neuroeducation in schools, and that therefore it is a slow process. Empathy is essential to educate from understanding and understanding . Educators must be able to create positive emotional climates that help the learning and safety of the students, of those happy children, showing respect, being interested and listening, but not only in terms of academics. To awaken the emotional spark of learning and maintain the flame of the process, it is very useful to allude to the interest of the students by linking teaching to the real world, generate strategies in the classroom that turn the student into an active protagonist of learning, use formative assessment and encourage cooperation.

In short, knowing what this discipline is and what it consists of helps to improve educational development strategies and teaching processes, establishing a bridge between neurology and the disciplines that encompass education. Neuroeducation is nothing more than trying to configure learning in the way that best fits the development of our brain , because it links thinking, feeling and acting in an indivisible whole. And it is that the great plasticity of our brain allows us to learn throughout life, which constitutes an indispensable element of motivation and a hope that indicates that we must expect the improvement of all students without any exception. Thus, the human mind is not just a muscle, but an organ that stores and uses everything it discovers and experiences.