Neuroscience and the Classroom: Making Connections

Dr. Antonio Damasio

"Emotion is the rudder for thinking." – Dr. Antonio Damasio

Dr. Antonio Damasio is an internationally recognized leader in neuroscience. His research has helped to elucidate the neural basis for the emotions and has shown that emotions play a central role in social cognition and decision-making. His work also has had a major influence on the current understanding of the neural systems, which underlie memory, language, and consciousness. Dr. Damasio directs the University of Southern California Brain and Creativity Institute.

Siri Fiske

"Teachers have to mix it up and try varied ways of reaching students. If I am only saying something one way, it may make sense to me, but students may not have that same association. If the analogies, metaphors, and connections are pertinent to me because of my experiences in life, then I'm the only one getting it. Start where they are, with the pathways that they already have created in their brains, and add on to that to create new connections for them. Teachers do this already." – Siri Fiske

Siri Fiske is a former middle-school science teacher who is currently an administrator designing the curriculum and programs for a new American high school in S. Korea. Siri is working on a doctorate in education to examine the most effective ways to teach empathy for people from other cultures.

Dr. Gary Scott

"The tactics that are most productive center on a very old notion of project- or problem-based learning. It starts with students' own interests in something that is important in their everyday lives."– Dr. Gary Scott

Dr. Gary Scott is an assistant professor of clinical education at the University of Southern California and a former high school teacher.

Dr. Tami Katzir

"I think researchers tend to simplify things. Educators in the classroom see much more of the complexity. We need more of a discussion between educators and researchers, so we can form questions that are not as narrow and that capture the true lives and experiences of children."– Dr. Tami Katzir

Dr. Tami Katzir earned a PhD in Child Development, and is a senior lecturer at Haifa University, Israel. She is also a visiting professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Kurt Fischer

"This is one of the places that neuroscience and education come together just beautifully. To learn something in a chemistry class or a literature class, we need to learn to think in a new way that actually involves growing a neural network."– Dr. Kurt Fischer

Dr. Kurt Fischer is a professor of education and director of the Mind, Brain, and Education Program at Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

Siri Fiske

"Teachers need to know about neuroscience because there are myths out there. And these myths help us stereotype students into different kinds of learners. Consider this idea: There is a right brain and a left brain, and each one controls for certain things. We are learning that's not true." – Siri Fiske

Siri Fiske is a former middle-school science teacher who is currently an administrator designing the curriculum and programs for a new American high school in S. Korea. Siri is working on a doctorate in education to examine the most effective ways to teach empathy for people from other cultures.

Eric Baylin

"It's important for teachers to know about the research because it can support great intuitive teaching. It can also help us to understand how we can align our teaching to the ways in which the brain is functioning and to the ways in which teachers and students are learning." – Eric Baylin

Eric Baylin has been a teacher for 36 years, working with a variety of age levels in both public and private schools in New York and North Carolina. He currently works at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn, NY, a K–12 independent school established in 1854. In addition to teaching art and photography to middle- and high-school students, Baylin coordinates a program of collaborative faculty study groups in Packer's professional development program.