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Teacher Attends Harvard Program on How Brains Learn
Individual students bring a huge range of skills, needs and interests to learning. Neuroscience reveals that these differences are as varied and unique as our DNA or fingerprints.
Math specialist Samantha Spruance explored current brain research on learning variability this summer at a Harvard University program on Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a set of principles for curriculum development that gives all students equal opportunities to learn.
“UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials and assessments that work for everyone — not a single, one-size-fits-all solution, but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs,” Spruance said.
The framework will inform her instruction in the Lower School’s Math Lab, where small groups of students from Tower Tots through fourth grade use hands-on activities to delve into mathematical concepts. The lab is stocked with special blocks, toys, books and even programmable robots geared toward developing counting, multiplication, pattern recognition and numerous other math skills.
“Students think they’re coming in to play, but they’re really not,” Spruance said.
The Math Lab reinforces and builds upon classroom lessons, with the flexibility to try various approaches suited to how each student learns and offer new challenges for students who are ready. The resource will support this year’s introduction of Singapore math, a method that progresses from concrete examples to pictures to abstractions, into the Lower School curriculum.
At Harvard, Spruance gained better understanding of why students learn differently through an in-depth study of the neuroscience behind the need for UDL. The course outlined three primary brain networks that come into play during student learning: “recognition networks” to gather facts and categorize information; “strategic networks” for planning and performing tasks and expressing ideas; and “affective networks” that engage learners and sustain motivation.
Offered through the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the program provided practical techniques for adapting instruction in ways that resonate with individual students.
“The program brought together educators interested in leveraging the most current knowledge about the spectrum of learners, cognition and learning, UDL tools, and creating the conditions for effective learning to take place for all learners,” Spruance said.
Tower Hill parents can learn more at three Math Lab Coffees this fall:
9/18/2014, 8:15 AM
10/9/2014, 8:15 AM
11/6/2014, 8:15 AM 
