Program

Teaching M.A.

Number of Pages

58

Year Approved

2025

First Advisor

Bekemeyer, Lisa

Second Reader

Molly Wickam

Abstract

The emergence of advanced medical technology in the past 30 years has allowed doctors and researchers to look inside the brain to more accurately model cognition and memory. The concept of neuroplasticity has replaced the outdated idea that we are born with all the brain connections we will ever have. Based on these new discoveries, neurocognitive teaching strategies seek to apply the model of how the brain learns best to classroom pedagogy. Teaching techniques that put the student at the center of the equation, instead of the teacher, have been repeatedly shown in the research to improve learning and knowledge retention. In the English language learner (ELL) classroom, where conventional techniques emphasize rote memorization over communicative skills, the incorporation of neurocognitive strategies can be used to embrace the need for more student-student interaction, student-teacher speaking and collaboration, and student-initiated discovery. Thirty years of research, innovation, and implementation show how effective neurocognitive strategies can be in the modern classroom to stimulate multimodal pathways, improve memory, and decrease language anxiety. Training new and experienced teachers to effectively discriminate useful neurocognitive strategies, which change education by linking pedagogy with brain learning, from “neuromyths,” such as learning style theories and hemisphere dominance, and giving teachers the tools to bring effective strategies into their classrooms, will ultimately improve teaching outcomes.

Degree Name

Teaching M.A.

Document Type

Masterʼs thesis

Terms of Use and License Information

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

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