ABSTRACT
This chapter gives brief descriptions of effective classroom strategies and an explanation of why they work. These are not lesson plans: only teachers have the expertise to design lessons; the aim here is to ground approaches to optimise learning in an understanding of how the brain works. Broadly, approaches based on the pyramid of priorities followed throughout this book are described, that is: (1) sensorimotor: embody learning, deal with distractions, harness attention, be explicit about where to focus, use concrete examples to help build abstract ideas; (2) emotions: harness motivation, make emotional connections, feedback, reward, strategise to encourage active learning, promote self-efficacy, avoid negative and distracting emotions; (3) social: observe others, teach others (teaching = learning), learn from other people’s mistakes and viewpoints, create error-tolerant environments; and (4) strengthen memory: use multiple pathways (say it and show it, use case studies and analogies), work with existing knowledge, elaborate, retrieve, test, space out and interleave learning.
