Did you know that your brain can change in as little as 15 minutes? This means that every class, meeting and interaction is an opportunity to enhance your brain by growing more dendrites! In Week 1, Clonard College had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Judi Newman from The Academy of Organisational Neuroscience Australia. She conducted enlightening sessions for our students, staff, leaders and families.

Student Session – How The Brain Learns Best

Dr. Newman’s student session provided valuable insights into understanding the brain and enhancing learning. She emphasised the importance of knowing how the brain functions and highlighted that intelligence can be improved through effort and practice. The presentation introduced various neuroscience hacks to make learning easier, such as associating new information with existing knowledge, visualizing concepts, and linking them into memorable stories. Additionally, Dr. Newman shared smart memory techniques, including mnemonics, acronyms, and acrostics, to help students retain information more effectively. This session offered practical strategies for students to boost their academic performance and overall cognitive abilities.

The students’ reflections on the session reveal several key takeaways:

Understanding Brain Function: Many students learned that the brain cannot multitask effectively; it switches between tasks, often missing information.

  • “Before going to Dr. Judi Newman’s session, I didn’t know that our brain cannot multitask, it actually quickly switches from one activity to another often-missing bits of information.”

Memory Techniques: Students were introduced to various memory improvement techniques, such as AVLR (Associative Visual Learning and Recall), which involves creating stories or sentences to remember lists, numbers, and words.

  • “I learnt AVLR which is a really interesting way to recognize and remember lists, numbers, words etc. through a story, a sentence or creating a word with the first letter of the words.”

Practice and Repetition: Dr. Newman emphasized the importance of practice and repetition, explaining that it typically many repetitions to form a habit. This concept was highlighted as a way to build stronger neural pathways and improve memory.

  • “Dr. Judi said that most of the time it takes 17 times before you can fully build that neural pathway.”

Impact of Emotions and Stress: The session covered how emotions and stress can significantly impact memory and learning. Students learned that challenging the brain regularly and using techniques like storytelling can help improve memory.

  • “I also learned that emotions and stress can significantly impact memory and learning. It can be improved by challenging the brain regularly.”

Application of Techniques: Several students mentioned their plans to apply the techniques they learned, such as using picture memory techniques, creating concept maps, and using mnemonics for key terms.

  • “I plan to apply the picture memory technique in memorising learning and other studies.”

Staff Session – Educators Are Brain Changers

Dr. Newman’s session for staff, titled “Educators Are Brain Changers,” was part 2 of a deep dive into brain functions and their implications for teaching and learning. She covered various brain regions and their roles in reasoning, regulation, and social interactions. We learned how to engage learners in a brainwise classroom using the three brains model. Dr. Newman emphasised the importance of the learning dip, effortful learning, spaced recall, and applying new skills in different contexts. She also highlighted the significance of creating a positive and engaging learning environment that helps students build neural networks. Techniques such as interleaving, the Pomodoro technique, and promoting a growth mindset were discussed. Her pedagogical model, aligned with the Clonard Learning Model, provided practical strategies for personalising instruction and fostering a supportive classroom atmosphere. This session was a valuable resource for teachers aiming to enhance their teaching practices with the brain in mind!

Leadership Session – Inspirational Leaders are Brain Changers

In her session with over 40 school leaders, Dr. Newman provided integral understandings  into enhancing leadership influence. She emphasized that significant changes in behaviour or learning are unlikely without neuroplastic changes in the brain over time. The presentation explored practical strategies to inspire action and achieve results, focusing on understanding and leveraging the brain’s emotional, social, and thinking processes. Dr. Newman highlighted the importance of creating a positive and engaging environment using 11 neuroscience techniques to optimize the emotional, social and thinking brain. This session offered actionable strategies for leaders aiming to make a lasting impact and drive positive change within their teams.

Parent Session – The Teenage Brain: What Every Parent Should Know

We had the pleasure of welcoming 54 parents and family members into a parent session. This session provided essential insights into understanding the teenage brain and supporting their children’s academic, social and emotional success. She highlighted the significant changes and developments occurring in the teenage brain, including major construction, connectivity, and maturation processes. Dr. Newman emphasised the importance of parents helping act as their child’s prefrontal cortex at times, helping them regulate emotions, build trust, and engage in rational thought. Key strategies for parents included creating a positive and supportive environment, using neuroscience techniques to enhance interpersonal interactions and promoting a growth mindset. By understanding these key aspects of the teenage brain, parents can better support their children’s overall learning, development, and well-being.

 

The students and staff will receive follow up sessions into applying neuroscience in their learning. This parent session was one of a series of seminars Clonard is hoping to offer families across the year as part of our strategic commitment to building partnerships with families. Parents are urged to keep an eye on Operoo for a survey to determine the best focus, time and format for these sessions.

Overall, Dr. Newman’s sessions provided a deep understanding into how the brain works and the importance of regulating our emotions, practice, repetition, and various techniques to improve memory and learning. We are grateful for her expertise and look forward to applying these strategies in our learning and daily lives!

Hugh Saunders
Assistant Principal (Improvement and Impact)