Summary: The Neuroscience of Learning and Development: Enhancing Creativity, Compassion, Critical Thinking, and Peace in Higher Education by Marilee Bresciani Ludvik

• If you are interested in how neuroscience, experiential learning, mindfulness, and self-authorship can enhance learning and development in higher education, you might want to read this book review of [The Neuroscience of Learning and Development: Enhancing Creativity, Compassion, Critical Thinking, and Peace in Higher Education] by [Marilee Bresciani Ludvik].
• To learn more about the book and its implications for higher education, please continue reading the rest of the article. You will find a summary and review of the book, as well as some suggestions for further reading and resources.

Recommendation

Researcher and educational expert Dr. Marilee Bresciani Ludvik and more than a dozen colleagues explore the complex relationship between neuroscience and learning in higher education. Together, she and her contributors provide insights into how educators can utilize neuroscience research to enhance student learning, confidence and well-being. This includes integrating mindfulness, compassion and hands-on learning into the postsecondary curriculum – a valuable starting point for those seeking to incorporate neuroscience insights into teaching practices.

Take-Aways

• Higher education in the United States compares unfavorably to higher education in much of the world.
• Modern neuroscience reveals components of learning that US higher education could implement and benefit from.
• Your brain changes and adapts according to your experience, emotions, and where you focus your attention.
• You can learn anything, because your brain is malleable.
• Higher education must focus on the “whole person,” and include more learning through doing.
• Students can face tremendous stress, which hinders their well-being, resilience and effective learning.
• Academics and college administrators who borrow from neuroscience can lead the change that higher education in the United States requires.

Summary

Higher education in the United States compares unfavorably to higher education in much of the world.

Across measures of critical thinking, math and literacy, college graduates in the United States fall well below average when researchers compare them to most other wealthy nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Comparisons also reveal a deficiency of trust and well-being among American students.

“Our current linear, course-based educational practices are frequently at odds with how our neurological systems facilitate learning and professional development.”

The skills American graduates lack in reasoning and problem-solving are those most in demand by US employers. The US higher education system falls short due to its century-long evolution into a mass-credentialing machine featuring large lecture halls with hundreds of students. This conveyor-belt approach leaves little time for interaction or meaningful discussion – either between students and their professors, or with one another.

Today, many students and their parents question the wisdom of investing six figures and four years to obtain a degree that employers increasingly undervalue.

Modern neuroscience reveals components of learning that US higher education could implement and benefit from.

When you pay attention to something, you learn it. Science underscores the importance of interdisciplinary learning, in which students comprehend lessons from one field – for example, math – more deeply when instructors connect math with, say, language arts or communications.

“Our brains are complex webs of neural connections that change based on where we focus our attention. As such we are constantly either reinforcing ways of thinking and doing, or rewiring ways of thinking and doing.”

Your brain strengthens connections among ideas, memories and knowledge. Yet the linear US education system builds walls between subjects, and rarely connects the dots or gives students the opportunity to do so. The system must enable students to build connections to develop the problem-solving and critical-thinking skills employers demand.

“A key principle of this book involves reminding ourselves that what we focus on changes the structure and function of our brains.”

The solution lies in understanding neurogenesis and neuroplasticity, which are the fundamentals of neuroscience. Neurogenesis describes how your brain renews itself by continuously creating new brain cells, or neurons. Neuroplasticity refers to how your brain constantly changes by building, strengthening or weakening the pathways and connections between neurons.

Though neurogenesis slows in older age, your brain births new neurons and changes connections every day for as long as you live. You can rewire your brain at any age, and master new skills or knowledge.

Your brain changes and adapts according to your experience, emotions, and where you focus your attention.

Your “you” – your essence – exists in your brain. Your memories, emotions and the executive functions of your brain determine how you think, find solutions to challenges, and make plans. Your prefrontal cortex is essential for higher cognitive functions, such as thinking, learning, longer-term memory, language and problem-solving. Your amygdala processes emotions, especially fear and aggression, and helps form emotion-rich memories.

Your thalamus, in the center of your brain, acts as a relay station for sensory and motor signals. It helps process and transmit information between various parts of your brain and spinal cord. Your hypothalamus rests below your thalamus, and regulates vital functions, such as body temperature, hunger, thirst, sleep and the release of hormones. It plays a crucial role in your autonomic nervous system and in regulating your emotions. Your hippocampus, within the temporal lobes, proves crucial for spatial navigation, learning and memory – particularly the formation of new memories.

“Unregulated emotion may negatively affect neurogenesis and neuroplasticity.”

The parts of your brain connect and share information via approximately 90 billion neurons and perhaps as many as a trillion connections between them. Because these connections change all the time, your mind and brain – including how you think and what you can do – change too. Emotions matter, and how you regulate your emotions has a major impact on how you learn.

You can learn anything, because your brain is malleable.

Neurons communicate with each other through specialized connections, or synapses. When you learn new information or develop a new skill, the strength of synaptic connections between neurons changes. This leads to the formation of new neural pathways or the strengthening of existing ones. This process, synaptic plasticity, enables learning and memory.

You can also generate new neurons in areas of your adult brain such as the hippocampus. This neurogenesis contributes to learning and memory formation.

Your brain adapts and changes in response to experiences and environmental stimuli. When you engage in a new activity, practice a skill or learn new information, your brain changes at the cellular and molecular levels, leading to the formation of new connections and neural circuits. Though neurogenesis slows in old age, this adaptability allows you to acquire new skills, knowledge and abilities throughout your life.

“It could be that not training ourselves to become aware of our emotions or not training ourselves to be able to regulate them on demand may negatively impact our ability to store and potentially recall memories.”

Motivation, persistence, training and practice play significant roles in retaining and acquiring new knowledge and abilities, including the ability to focus attention and regulate emotion. What you focus on (AR, or attention regulation), along with how you regulate your emotions (ER, or emotion regulation) and focus your thinking (CR, or cognitive regulation), all affect your ability to learn. You can cultivate AR, ER and CR by engaging in deliberate methods, practice and activities to prepare your brain for learning.

Preparation for learning includes engaging in physical activity, which promotes neurogenesis, improves blood flow to the brain, and enhances your mood by releasing endorphins. Exercise reduces stress, thus benefiting brain health and well-being. Chronic stress distracts, and can negatively affect cognitive function. Engaging in stress-reducing activities such as deep breathing exercises promotes emotional well-being, and protects your brain from the detrimental effects of stress. Mentally stimulating activities such as journaling can enhance brain plasticity, as does sufficient sleep, maintaining strong social connections and engaging in meaningful relationships.

Higher education must focus on the “whole person,” and include more learning through doing.

The whole-person approach to higher education seeks to develop students academically and in other dimensions of their lives. It goes beyond the traditional emphasis on acquiring knowledge and technical skills. The whole-person goal is to create self-aware, well-rounded individuals with the ability to navigate their studies and future careers. This approach considers multiple aspects of students’ lives, including their physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual well-being.

To better develop self-awareness and self-authorship, learn mindfulness, which is the practice of paying attention to the present moment without judgment or distraction. Mindfulness boosts your cognitive, emotional and social development. Mindfulness techniques help you better regulate your emotions, manage stress, improve focus and cultivate a positive attitude toward learning.

“When the learner begins to view herself and her place in the world differently, that learning becomes transformative.”

Experiential learning refers to educational experiences designed to promote deep learning and personal growth through doing. It encourages learners to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world contexts, discuss concepts in groups, reflect on their experiences and develop hands-on skills.

Well-designed experiential learning – including meaningful assignments that match learners’ skills and interest in combination with social learning – taps students’ need for finding meaning in their studies. By integrating applied learning into higher education, students may experience a personal transformation that builds self-awareness and confidence.

Students can face tremendous stress, which hinders their well-being, resilience and effective learning.

Under stress, your brain shifts resources to its limbic system – the amygdala, hippocampus and thalamus – to prepare your mind and body for flight, fight or protective measures. This diverts resources from the parts of your brain responsible for learning, such as the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. Spending time in a state of stress impedes brain growth. By learning to recognize, understand and manage emotions, you build emotional intelligence to navigate stress, foster empathy and compassion, and improve interpersonal relationships.

“The mind wants to make meaning at a meta level of all the developmental insights and leaps – to connect the parts and allow new, integrated maps to emerge.”

Enhancing emotional well-being strengthens your resilience – your ability to recover from setbacks and go back to focusing on learning. Fostering well-being and resilience improves your overall mental and emotional health, your ability to navigate learning challenges, adapt to change, and persevere. It may increase your capacity for compassion. A greater ability to empathize with others improves your social connections, and a greater ability to care for yourself nurtures mindfulness.

Building well-being and resilience requires developing coping strategies, self-awareness, and a support system. Learners should practice mindfulness and meditation to stay present, manage stress, navigate change and improve emotional regulation.

“Integration of the whole body with the whole mind is likely to lead us to healthier ways of living and thus improved ways of using our minds.”

Learners should prioritize self-care by maintaining a healthy diet, getting sufficient sleep and enjoying leisure time. These practices improve your physical and mental health, reduce anxieties and enhance well-being. Build a social support network of friends, family and peers who offer encouragement, advice and assistance during challenging times. Connecting with others makes you feel supported and understood. Actively practicing these strategies builds well-being and resilience.

Academics and college administrators who borrow from neuroscience can lead the change that higher education in the United States requires.

Those in leadership roles should use the principles of neuroscience to redesign higher education. By prototyping changes and testing them with learners, creating open discussion forums, finding a shared purpose for change, using neuroscience to alleviate fears, and inviting everyone to participate, leaders can initiate the long process of change.

“American higher education would benefit significantly from integrating and adopting well-researched, evidence-based and neuroscience-based pedagogies for putting the learner and the process of learning and development at the center of the experience.”

To succeed, faculty and leaders must remain open to change and new ideas. They must strategize fitting the lessons of neuroscience into the curriculum and learning design, and support students in developing AR, ER and CR skills. Leaders must find the will to divert resources from the traditional approaches to which many of them, erroneously, maintain a commitment.

About the Author

Marilee Bresciani Ludvik, PhD, integrates mindfulness, compassion and other evidence-based practices to improve learning outcomes and well-being for students and educators.

Genres

education, neuroscience, psychology, mindfulness, self-authorship, experiential learning, creativity, compassion, critical thinking, peace

Review

The book is a collection of chapters that explore how neuroscience, experiential learning, mindfulness, and self-authorship can inform and transform higher education practices. The book aims to address the challenges and opportunities of preparing students for a complex and uncertain world, where they need to develop skills such as creativity, critical thinking, compassion, and resilience.

The book proposes an alternative model of education that emphasizes a holistic approach that integrates mindful inquiry practice with self-authorship and the regulation of emotion as the cornerstones of learning. The book also offers practical ideas for implementation, showing how simple refinements in classroom and out-of-classroom experiences can create foundations for students to develop key skills that will enhance their personal and professional development.

The book is a valuable contribution to the field of higher education, as it brings together insights from neuroscience, psychology, education, and other disciplines to offer a comprehensive and interdisciplinary perspective on learning and development. The book is well-written, engaging, and accessible, and it provides a balance of theoretical and empirical evidence, as well as examples and case studies from various contexts and institutions.

The book is also relevant and timely, as it addresses the current and future needs of students and educators in a rapidly changing world. The book challenges the traditional and linear models of education, and invites readers to rethink how they design, deliver, and evaluate higher education. The book also inspires readers to explore and apply the concepts and strategies presented in the book, and to cultivate a culture of learning and development that fosters creativity, compassion, critical thinking, and peace.