The Science of Learning Can Transform Teaching
New findings from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and other fields have given us significant insight into how students learn – and vary in their learning. And All Kinds of Minds has translated this research into an approach to teaching and learning comprised of a learning framework, classroom applications, and a set of core beliefs about how all students should be treated.
Research on our approach shows that when educators have an understanding of how students learn – along with tools and strategies for applying it in their classrooms – they are more effective teachers.
The All Kinds of Minds Approach
Our work is grounded in three core components:
- A learning framework – All Kinds of Minds uses a neurodevelopmental framework of eight “constructs” that describe different elements of learning. This framework provides educators with a foundation of expertise about learning and a structure through which all students can be understood.
- Classroom applications – We promote a problem-solving model that encourages educators to use data gathered from multiple sources – including observations – to help them identify students’ unique learning profiles of assets, affinities, and weaknesses. We have developed a variety of tools and processes designed to help educators apply the diagnostic and problem-solving model to their practice.
- A philosophy – We advocate a set of core beliefs about how all students should be treated, stemming from our conviction that learning differences represent variation, not deviation.
What “More Effective” Teaching Looks Like
It begins with richer ways to assess and understand students. Teachers armed with this knowledge look at students differently. They make more meaningful observations about their students. They can analyze student work more effectively. They can figure out why a student is succeeding in one area and having trouble in another. And they know the precise steps to take to help kids realize their potential.
