2 Teaching Strategies that You Should Quit Using Now Because They Block Learning from Happening in the Brain

Here’s the simple truth: stress has an impact on learning and memory. When stress is high, learning is impeded. That’s why the best places to learn and work have a strong element of psychological safety. That doesn’t mean that there’s zero pressure to perform; it just means that there's a limited element of surprise. That’s because when it comes to learning, psychological safety is in part defined by having control or having a minimal feeling of helplessness. 

Cognitive science is complex, but it can be boiled down to a few really important points for classroom application. And, although we don’t know everything about the brain, we do know enough to quit doing some of what our teacher-instincts and past practices have allowed. 

The bottom line is that stress in the human brain, initiated by something scary, produces adrenaline and cortisol in the bloodstream. That’s a simple explanation for the flight-or-fight mechanism that we use for survival. It’s a really good thing because it motivates us to defend ourselves or get the heck out of a given situation. But, it’s a really bad thing for learning. Adrenaline and cortisol negatively impact memory. That means that we should work to eliminate any scenario in schools that generates high levels of stress. Again, that doesn’t mean that a good dose of healthy pressure and competition isn’t good, but undue stress won’t work. 

The following two strategies, which are still widely used in the classroom, can be replaced with very little effort and tons to gain as a result: 

Randomly calling on students to participate. 

We’ve all seen the use of the popsicle stick method or the electronic randomizer or even the teacher who picks a kid who hasn’t said anything yet. Those moments before the name is called have the potential to promote the release of adrenaline and cortisol into the bloodstream of our learners. It’s just enough time with just the right amount of stress to cause fear, especially for students who are already afraid to participate or who don’t think they know the right answer. Let’s quit doing it this way. 

Instead, create a scenario of control. Give kids time to think, time to write something, and time to talk about it. If the question isn’t important enough for all thee to occur--think, write, talk--think about not asking that question. Once kids have had time to think, time to write, and structured time to talk to a peer, and we’ve had time enough to listen to them, we can ask one or two people if they would be willing to share when the reporting time comes. That gives control to the learner and decreases the stress of the environment. It’s worth the extra steps.  

Allowing students to pick their own partners. 

If there’s a clear way for the teenage brain to sense danger, it’s when they’re left to find a friend or partner with whom to work and they’re not confident that anyone will pick them. If you’ve always been the first person to get picked on the dodgeball team, you don’t know anything about this. For the rest of us, we know what the adrenaline and cortisol feel like first hand. And, if you need another reason to pick partners for students, it’s because students are not all that adept at picking a productive partner anyway. Even when you feel like picking their own partner is a nice thing to allow them to do once in a while, trust me, you’re not doing them any favors when it comes to learning in a psychologically safe atmosphere. 

There’s an easy alternative. The best way for partners to work is proximity, especially if your classroom is socially distanced and you want students to talk to one another. Just having them turn-and-talk (using a structure of course), is as simple as giving them free reign to pick someone. Setting it up ahead of time is also great because it allows you to set the partners strategically. That said, if your seating arrangements are strategic, your turn-and-talk will be as well. 

Yes, I’m saying never to these two strategies. Never. You can quit cold-turkey, and it’s easy to replace them. Don’t beat yourself up if you’ve been using these methods as a teacher, just quit today. No more cortisol, no more adrenaline. Maya Angelou said that “when you know better...you do better.” Now you know. 

Reference: Brain Rules by John Medina