BY MELINA UNCAPHER, BABE LIBERMAN, AND JUDI FUSCO
Research Insights
for Setting Up Powerful Learning Environments
Y
ou’ve probably heard about
the “learning sciences,” but
what is this research field
and how can it help educators?
Learning sciences research — which
draws from many academic disciplines
including neuroscience, education, devel-
opmental science, linguistics, psychology,
and sociology — focuses on how people
learn, investigates novel approaches to
teaching and learning, and designs for
educational environments to promote
effective learning. Learning sciences
research can aid educators in selecting
instructional strategies, developing curric-
ula, and creating learning spaces.
The learning environment is an im-
portant equity consideration, as equity
gaps often stem from different oppor-
tunities in the places in which students
grow up. How safe, nurturing, and
stimulating an environment may affect a
child’s brain development.
When children are born, their brains
are optimized for all environments. As
24 essentials | summer 2019
they grow and develop, their brains
undergo a process of synaptic pruning,
removing connections that are not nec-
essary for the environment where they
live. In the schematicabove, you can
see that the older brain (the brain on
the right) has fewer connections. Why
is this? Because connections that were
not consistently needed in the environ-
ment were pruned away while strong
connections were made over time for
experiences that were consistently en-
countered.Thus, this older brain is more
efficient than the younger brain (on the
left) because it has been optimized for
its environment.
Context matters for student learning,
so those who design learning environ-