The Brain as a Learning Machine

During the high school years, or even earlier in the middle school years, students should gain an understanding of the human body, whether that be in biology, life science, human anatomy or otherwise. As with anything we learn, the objectives for learning systems in the body should not simply be for achieving good scores on tests, but to gain highly practical and actionable understanding for living well. For instance, a student learning how the Krebs cycle is the way the body generates energy at a cellular level through a series of chemical reactions that release energy from the oxidation of acetate that comes from carbohydrates, fats and proteins. The Krebs cycle is way more complex than the sentence I just wrote. But even in this sentence, one can hear highly practical insights a student can gain about nutrition (understanding macronutrients), breathing (injecting oxygen into the system), and exercise (aerobic efficiency).

When it comes to the brain, a student learning how neurons send electrical information along axons within systems of circuits can begin to understand that the human brain hungers to gather as much of this electrical information as possible in order to reason, plan and solve problems. Feeding our brains good “food” enables it to process this electrical information more efficiently and in more reliable ways. In other words, the brain is a learning machine. A student who conceptualizes this has actually captured the central idea of lifelong learning.

Delving deeper into the intricate workings of the human brain can shed light on the mechanisms that underpin the learning process. As we’ve already seen, neural activity consists of specialized cells transmitting electrical signals throughout the body. Learning occurs as neurons fire together, forming the circuits where information gets stored. The authors of Make It Stick describe how neurocircuitry develops in humans:

“Our neural circuitry does not mature as early as our physical development and instead continues to change and grow through our forties, fifties and sixties. Part of the maturation of these connections is the gradual thickening of the myelin coating of the axons. Myelination generally starts at the backs of our brains and moves towards the front, reaching the frontal lobes as we grow into adulthood.”

Peter Brown, Henry Roediger & Mark McDaniel, Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning (Belknap, 2014), 170.

This means that the insulation provided by myelin sheaths surrounding neurons plays a crucial role in the learning process not only for students in their teens, but throughout their lives. They mention the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for higher-order cognitive functions, including problem-solving, decision-making, and the ability to adapt to novel situations. This area of the brain is still in development throughout the teen years. This goes some way towards explaining why the adolescent years are associated with a lack of impulse control and, at times, poor decision making.

The hippocampus, often referred to as the “memory center” of the brain, is instrumental in the formation of new memories and the consolidation of learned information. Again, the authors of Make It Stick give us wonderful news about this brain center:

“The hippocampus, where we consolidate learning and memory, is able to generate new neurons throughout life. The phenomenon, called neurogenesis, is thought to play a central role in the brain’s ability to recover from physical injury and in humans’ lifelong ability to learn. . . . Already scientists have shown that the activity of associative learning (that is, of learning and remembering the relationship between unrelated items, such as names and faces) stimulates an increase in the creation of new neurons in the hippocampus.”

Make it Stick, 172.

Neurogenesis, or the creation of new neurons, is still an emerging area of brain study in human subjects. But there is evidence that the hippocampus produces new neurons throughout the lifespan of healthy adults. These new neurons enable learners to continue to maintain and create neural connections, supporting the notion that we can and do learn throughout our lives. These new neuros contribute to what is known as neuroplasticity, the brain’s remarkable capacity to reorganize and form new connections between neurons. This dynamic process allows the brain to continuously adapt and evolve in response to new experiences and environmental stimuli, facilitating the acquisition of knowledge and the development of new skills.

Understanding the neuroscience behind learning can inform educational practices and help individuals optimize their cognitive abilities, ultimately empowering learners to reach their full potential. Here we’ll explore a few practical objectives that should become part of how all high schoolers are coached. These are the key skills that should be learned before leaving for college.

Three Essential Skills for College-Bound High Schoolers

From the first semester of freshman year and throughout their high school career, both teachers and students should talk about and highlight strategies related to three key skills that should operate in all subject areas. Too often we focus on content knowledge, grade-point average, or meeting college entrance requirements. While these are necessary and in some ways decent measures of core competencies, they don’t actually get at the transferable skills that enable students to manage their learning and take stock of themselves along the way as learners. In other words, these skills provide a feedback loop for students to learn how to manage their learning and eventually set goals in their learning.

The first skill is deliberate practice. This is a systematic approach to learning that has been shown to promote significant improvements in performance across a wide range of domains. At its core, deliberate practice involves focused, effortful activities designed to target specific weaknesses and push the limits of one’s current abilities.

From a neurological perspective, deliberate practice triggers key changes in the brain that facilitate learning. Repeated engagement in challenging tasks leads to the strengthening of neural pathways and the formation of new connections between neurons. This process allows the brain to adapt and improve performance over time.

Importantly, deliberate practice is distinguished from mere repetition or passive learning. It requires a high degree of concentration, feedback from a skilled coach, and a willingness to make mistakes and learn from them. By embracing this approach, individuals can systematically enhance their skills and expertise in a given area, ultimately achieving a level of mastery that would be difficult to attain through more casual or unfocused learning methods.

One of the leading voices advocating deliberate practice is Cal Newport. His thesis that “the ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable” is founded on the notion that one learns how to perform deep work through deliberate practice. The core components of deliberate practice consist of:

“(1) your attention is focused tightly on a specific skill you’re trying to improve or an idea you’re trying to master; (2) you receive feedback so you can correct your approach to keep your attention exactly where it’s most productive.”

Cal Newport, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (Grand Central, 2016), 35.

Consider how a student in math or writing can be coached in specific skills and given feedback to improve their competency. This entails an atmosphere of intentional effort while also celebrating mistakes and errors so that there is ample materials with which to coach students.

The next skill is metacognition. This consists in the ability to think about one’s own learning. By monitoring their own cognitive activities, individuals can develop a deeper understanding of how they learn best and make adjustments to their study strategies accordingly. When individuals actively reflect on their learning, they are able to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement, allowing them to allocate their cognitive resources more efficiently.

Metacognition is actually a bundle of skills. These include planning, self-monitoring, and reflection, among others. With planning, students approach a problem – a math problem or an essay prompt – by formulating a plan for how to solve the problem. Notice that this is a shift in focus away from the specific answer towards the approach that is most appropriate for the kind of problem it is. In other words, students will often get fixated on producing correct answers, but not step back to consider strategies that help them think about their thinking. With self-monitoring, students can ask themselves questions like, “Do I understand what I have just read?” Then, they can answer this question by providing a narration or producing information from the reading. This moves a student away from reading a text and then assuming that by reading it, they understand it. Finally, by reflecting, students can consider whether they grew in skill during an exercise set, or they can evaluate sticking points in their writing process, or they can articulate skills that helped them complete the assignment.

Metacognitive practices get students to think about what they are learning. They need practice shifting into a mode where they become active learners, instead of passively taking in information. These practices can lead to enhanced long-term retention and the ability to transfer knowledge to new contexts. By cultivating metacognitive skills, learners can become more self-directed, adaptable, and ultimately, more successful in their academic and professional pursuits.

The last skill is self-advocacy. This skill promotes deeper learning and skill development through the process of actively identifying one’s needs and communicating them effectively. Most often this occurs by the student connecting with the teacher to address an area where there’s a lack of understanding or the need for support in project management. For example, a student might struggle to recall formulas in a physics class. They know how to do the math work. They simply never remember which formula goes with which problem. This student could approach the teacher to ask for help in knowing better the best way to remember how to associate formulas with problems. In a different scenario, a student has to manage a long-term essay assignment. They are struggling to break it down into manageable steps. So this student emails her teacher to schedule an appointment during office hours to map out the project in logical steps. In both of these examples, the student is advocating for themselves by articulating the issue they are facing and drawing upon the teacher to assist them in solving the issue.

When we advocate for ourselves, we activate executive function skills like planning, organization, and self-monitoring. This skills goes hand in hand with metacognition. A student who is grasping their self-understanding as a learner can begin to equip themselves by reaching out to others for help. The effort required to self-advocate cultivates a growth mindset. Individuals who take responsibility for their learning demonstrate an understanding that improvement requires sustained work. This perspective enables them to persist through challenges and maximize the benefits of educational opportunities. Ironically, by getting help from a parent or teacher, the student actually finds that effort can be matched by support. They receive the coaching and encouragement to continue on an effortful pathway.

High schoolers need practice self-advocating. It does not come naturally to most students to seek out help. So, one policy you can put in place is to require every student to ask a self-advocacy question. Or you can require a certain number of office visits per semester. By making self-advocacy an assignment, you give students the practice they need to learn how to formulate a question and how to approach a grown up for help. It can be intimidating to reach out to a teacher, so by making it an assignment, you are forcing the student to overcome their barriers to accessing help.

Imagine how a student equipped with these skills will feel when stepping onto a college campus after graduating from high school. A student who has learned what it takes to engage in deliberate practice will be able to tackle their coursework with diligence. A student who has learned to think about their thinking will be able to assess the kinds of study skills that will most effectively work in different kinds of courses. A student who has learned to self-advocate with their high school teachers will be better prepared to approach their college professors with their questions and issues.

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Everything changed a couple months ago when school went online. At-home learning has caused every school to attempt schooling in new and creative ways. We can also get creative about habit training during online distance learning. I shared my new eBook on habit training in the classroom about a month before we stopped meeting in classrooms. So here is a brief update where we consider how habit training might work while doing school online.

The Method of Habit Training Doesn’t Change

Even though our classrooms are online and it feels like everything has changed, the method of habit training doesn’t change. Let’s review the basic steps of habit training in general before we get to habit training during online distance learning.

We always begin installing a new habit with an inspirational idea that seeks the best for the child. In this step we are cast a vision of the child as a person with greater freedom, competence, ease, independence and/or autonomy. This inspirational idea does several things at the same time. It excites interest on the part of the child in his or her own development and growth as a person. We are also building an alliance with the child, getting them on board with us as teachers to work on this one new habit together. A good inspirational idea also anticipates the ultimate reward of the new habit, which is actually the habit itself.

After inspiring the child with a compelling idea, we describe in detail the habit itself. Remember to keep this simple. Instructions should be brief and to the point. Avoid lectures and impassioned speeches, as they will miss the mark. Instead, see if you can boil down the habit to three or four steps that are easily repeated by you and the child.

The next step is constant vigilance. You are to be ever watchful to ensure that every opportunity is taken to form the habit as well as making sure old patterns aren’t allowed to return. As the teacher, it is important to be supportive, but the word vigilant is different than supportive in one key way. It is ultimately the work of the child to form the habit. We are shepherds along the way, encouraging, reminding and being present for the child. But we need to be careful not to micromanage the child or attempt to do the work ourselves.

In continuation with constant vigilance is accepting no half measures. The child will be worse off by half forming a habit than she was had we never begun the attempt in the first place. Once begun, the training needs to be taken all the way to its conclusion. This is why it’s so important to select only one or two habits to work on at a time. Accepting no half measures doesn’t mean there will be no lapses or that failure at various stages is unacceptable. Instead, it means when we see those lapses or failures we (who have been constantly vigilant) are right there at the elbow to encourage and remind all the way to the finish line.

Finally, the reward of habit training is the habit itself. The child who has been trained in kindness now reaps the reward of a friendly disposition, is able to forgive and be forgiven, and forges deep and meaningful friendships. The student that turns in assignments on time is rewarded with the satisfaction of his accomplishments and is free from the burden of missed deadlines and a mounting backlog of work. This student can enjoy the leisure that is his by right, having finished in a timely manner.

New Online Habits

As the preacher says in Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Eccl. 1:9) Most of the habits in the online environment are analogous to what we would find in the classroom. This is not to say that the internet doesn’t pose problems with regard to habits and habit training. However, there are some unique habits that are relevant as we think about habit training in an online distance learning environment. We can set aside for now difficulties that are of a technological nature, such as video feeds that are glitchy due to poor internet connections or sounds problems that may be a result of feedback or low-quality hardware. Let’s explore two habits to exemplify the method in an online setting.

The first habit to explore is centering your face in the camera. This is a habit that is more mechanical in nature, but it has some interesting implications. We start with an inspirational idea. “If you were able to get your picture centered in the camera, you would have a more professional looking presence in the group chat.” Here I have connected the student to a particular vision of himself as capable of presenting himself in a more mature way. The detailed description is simple, “Each time you join a group meeting online, adjust your camera or move yourself so that your face is in the center of the picture.” Each online session I have with this student, I’m on the watch for good positioning and will mention any adjustments that need to be made in a calm and supportive way.

I will have set some target dates in my calendar to aim for, so that I can make sure we don’t lose track of this habit in the flurry of activity that can distract us from our goal of mastery of this habit. Ideally, every lesson plan will list this habit. But setting reminders in two-week intervals keeps it fresh in my mind. This habit should be easy to acquire, so I anticipate the student will be squared away even within a month. I’ll keep those reminders on, though, just in case there’s slippage that occurs later on. The child then reaps the reward of the acquired habit. He has a professional presentation, he looks ready to engage in online discussions, he has greater control over his technology, and he’s able to fully focus on work that really matters.

The second habit to explore is a little more difficult. Because we are physically separate from our students, it is harder to gauge how students are doing. They might encounter technological difficulties. They might get behind on their work. We might not be as aware of struggles they are having. What they need to acquire is the habit of self-advocacy. This is a skill I help students with in the classroom, but I have found it to be all the more important with distance learning. We start as always with an inspirational idea. “The more you express how you are doing with your work, the more you will feel a sense of control of your own destiny.” There are many directions I could go with different students. For this child, I sense being in control is valuable to her. For others it might be a sense of independence or being able to finish their work quicker. The detailed description must be boiled down to a simple routine. “Every day you should write me a quick, short email telling me about your day. Tell me what went well and what didn’t go well, especially if you had any problems.” That’s the heart of self-advocacy. Notice I didn’t tell them to ask for help. I didn’t make it conditional, “If you are having problems, then reach out.”

If we’re really going to build the habit, we need lots of repeats. So this child is going to tell me something every day in the form of statements, positive or negative. I’ll be able to figure out if there’s some way I need to help, or if I need to get a parent involved at home. Every day I’m on the watch for that email from her. If I don’t get one, I write immediately. “So sorry I didn’t hear from you yesterday. Could you send me something right now, just so I know everything’s okay?” It’s calm and supportive, but notice the ball remains in the child’s court. She’s supposed to initiate the self-advocacy. I’m not sending her prompts every day. My reminders may extend longer than the previous habit. Self-advocacy can be a difficult habit to acquire, because there are aspects to our personalities that cause us to doubt whether we need help, we feel embarrassment if we need help, or we don’t want to ask for help because we might inconvenience someone else. So expect to work on this one for a while. And don’t relent until it is well formed. A student who has learned how to self-advocate well is well prepared to negotiate numerous kinds of relationships in life, from college professors to a spouse to employers.

The Future of Habit Training

It is my great hope that we will soon return to classrooms. There are many predictions about how life will never be the same again. In many respects, that was always true. Life is never the same again. Obviously what people mean is that there will be remnants of social distancing, economic recovery and cultural shifts in light of a global pandemic. But in other respects, human nature will remain human nature. If you are the kind of person who views children as whole persons, the schooling will remain ever as it was. We educators know that everything changes each year. We can’t just reteach our old lesson plans, because we are dealing with new students. The cultural context is always changing, and yet there are perennial things we will always have as part of our work because we work with children.

So, what is the future of habit training? As we explored habit training in an online distance learning environment, we saw that the heart of the method hasn’t changed. My prediction is that habit training will remain the same. The method I have outlined here was essentially the same in Charlotte Mason’s time, and look how many technological and cultural shifts have occurred since the early 1900s when she wrote her six-volume philosophy of education. What this means is that investing in this method even now will reap benefits in your life as a teacher for years to come.

To that end, I encourage you to check out the eBook, A Guide to Implementing Habit Training. It’s a free download on our website. Feel free to send us a note or write a comment to let us know how habit training is going for you. As teachers we are also a community of learners, and through your questions, comments and perspectives, we can all reach new depths and heights in our skill at the craft of teaching.

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