
Kimberly L. Winters, an educator for the Virginia school system, is certified to teach in both middle school and high school. In addition to these grade level certifications, Kimberly L. Winters is certified to teach various approaches to learning, such as project-based and reading and writing workshops.
These different approaches to teaching are backed by evidenced-based research that support understanding how the brain works to effectively impart knowledge. This is made even more evident in a rapidly changing world that requires that students learn skills and attain knowledge while gaining a deeper understanding of concepts.
For this reason, it is important to study how the brain works to facilitate student learning. Each student is unique and comes to the classroom with their own diverse learning patterns, and this impacts how students approach learning.
Teachers should teach from different approaches because it engages the brain in different areas. For example, as opposed to teaching a particular lesson traditionally (lecture), incorporate visual art, story-telling, and other activities.
Another strategy for learning how the brain works to effectively teach is to embrace struggle, mistakes, and failure. While high marks on assessments reveal mastery, failure and struggle facilitate deeper learning because it requires the student to approach a problem in more than one way to get to the right answer.
