← Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning
Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning
John Medina's Brain Rules Revisited: How Neuroscience Can Transform Classrooms and Workplaces of the Future
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Welcome Back to season 14 of the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we connect the science based evidence behind social and emotional learning and emotional intelligence training for improved well being, achievement, productivity and results using what I saw as the missing link since we weren't taught this when we were growing up in school, the Application Practical Neuroscience I'm Andrea Samadhi and seven years ago launched this podcast with a question that I've never truly asked myself before. And that is if productivity and results matter to us, and they do now more than ever, how exactly are we using our brain to make them happen? And most of us were never taught how to apply neuroscience to improve productivity, our results or our well being. About a decade ago I became fascinated by the Mind Brain Results connection and how science can be applied to our everyday lives. And that's why I've made it my mission to bring you the world's top experts so together we can explore the intersection of science and social and emotional learning. We'll break down complex ideas and turn them into practical strategies we can use for predictable science backed results. And as we kick off season 14, I've been revisiting past episodes and reflecting on the incredible insights that our guests shared since we first launched in 2019. I mentioned last week that this reflection started when a young filmmaker, Vishal Sharma, reached out to me and offered to create some YouTube shorts from past interviews. When I saw his first example, something clicked and as I reviewed older episodes I realized that I'd only scratched the surface of the lessons within each interview. So as we dive into this review of our past conversations, know that this review isn't just for you, it's for me as well. I've learned that slowing down helps us to uncover even more wisdom and I'm excited for us to walk this path together. For Today's episode number 370, we continue our journey into the mind with our next interview review with Dr. John Medina. He's the author of the well known book Brain Rules. We first featured Dr. Medina in episode 42 when we explored implementing brain rules in schools and workplaces of the future. To remind you of where we've begun with our interview review series. Just to start from the beginning, we opened with episode 366 diving into Speaker Bob Proctor's timeless principles. Bob was the very first person who, over 25 years ago who challenged me with the question, what do you really want to do with your life? And at the time I didn't have a clear answer. It's taken well over 25 years now for this clarity to evolve. Eventually I realized what mattered most to me, and that was bringing social and emotional learning SEL skills into schools. And I had already seen how these skills, once called soft skills, transformed the lives of 12 teenagers that I worked with in the motivational speaking industry back in the late 90s. Later, I watched as SEL spread into schools across states and countries until the research became undeniable. A 2011 meta analysis of 213 studies confirmed what I had seen firsthand, and a decade before this study was released, students who participated in SEL programs showed an 11 percentile point increase in academic performance compared to control groups. And that's a significant improvement demonstrating just how powerful SEL can be. Long before this research, I simply knew these skills could shape the future of the next generation. And this podcast itself was built around the six core SEL competencies, each explored in its own dedicated episode that you can find in our resource section in the show notes. Then came the next step, adding the lens of neuroscience. I realized that everything we were studying in SEL connected back to how the brain works. And my deep dive into What I called Neuroscience 101 began when an educator handed me a stack of books that opened my eyes to the importance of brain science in education. From those early hand drawn sketches that I put in the show notes grew the framework that still guides this podcast today, bridging SEL and neuroscience to make learning both practical and powerful. Which brings us to Today's review, episode 370, where we revisit Dr. John Medina. And at the heart of this conversation is the very question that launched my journey years ago. What happens when we connect social and emotional learning with neuroscience? How can understanding the brain not only improve results and productivity, but also better equip our next generation of students in the classroom? It was John Medina's brain rolls that first landed on my bookshelf back in 2009. And and to be honest, it just sat there for a while. I wasn't ready to read it yet. As Dr. Medina himself said, this kind of learning can't be forced. You need a strong why to really dive into the mind brain connection. And for me, that why came later, when I realized how deeply understanding the brain could impact learning and teaching and even life itself. And if you're following along with this podcast, I imagine you've had a similar moment when the connection between the brain and practical neuroscience suddenly made sense and it became something worth pursuing. I'm always curious about what that moment looks like for others. What is it that makes this Topic click For me, it became clear during my very first presentation on this subject in November of 2017 at a conference for the York Region School District in Toront. And the topic I was in charge of presenting was Stress Learning in the brain. And the room was so full it was standing room only. And this was after just three years of studying the topic myself. And when I first opened up David Souza's how the Brain Learns series, I honestly thought this topic was over my head and too difficult for me to understand, let alone having me teach it to others. But once there's a strong why, the way will be shown. And that day, when I saw how many people showed up to learn the topic, I knew this was the field that I wanted to dedicate the rest of my life to continue to learn and help others understand and apply this topic to their lives. And now that you know where this brain mind connection began for me, I hope that you gain clarity with why it's important to you. Important enough that you're tuning into this podcast to learn more. And wouldn't you know it, understanding this why with the brain mind connection to thrive at home, at work and school, even with sports, is exactly what Dr. John Medina said to me during our interview back in February of 2020. And if you click the link in the show notes, you can watch video clip one where he explains, I believe that the cognitive neurosciences should be at the table of education training. Before you get a bachelor degree in education, you have to have a fair degree of neuroscience, and it's a very specific slice. He says. It's the kind of neuroscience that says this is what we know about how the brain learns because teachers are in charge of that. And he said, it blows my mind away. Sometimes I look at the colleges of education. If you're going into the geology department, you study rocks. If you go to medical school, you study humans. And you could argue that the world of education is all about studying the brain. And then he reflects, where are the courses that say this is how the memory works, this is how we get someone to pay attention, and this is what visual processing looks like. Dr. Medina is 100% right. When I went through teacher training at the University of Toronto, courses like this weren't offered. Fast forward to today, and my daily work now focuses on supporting educators with the science of reading, a body of research that, much like sel, took decades to gain traction, but is finally reshaping classrooms and teacher training impacting how we teach our next generation of students to read. And of course, this knowledge just can't be forced on us. It's not easy material. It requires effort to learn. But if you're listening to this podcast each week, it's because you're also curious and you're willing to dig into concepts that until recently were reserved for medical students. And that's exactly how Dr. Douglas Fisher gained his insights into how the brain learns best. He told me this on episode 161, how learning works Translating the science of learning into Strategies for Maximum learning in your classroom. That to get this knowledge, he actually had to sit in classes with medical students to develop a deeper understanding of brain based learning knowledge that we were never given in traditional teacher training. So our key point from video clip one from John Medina if education is about the brain, then teachers need to understand how the brain learns best. And how do we apply this tip. Look for opportunities, whether through professional learning books or resources like this podcast, to bridge the gap between neuroscience and classroom practice. Even small shifts like applying what we know about memory or attention can transform how students learn. And don't let the complexity of the human brain intimidate you like it did me when I first saw Dr. David Souza's books. Once you can make this mind, brain and learning connection, you'll see that it was all worth the effort to understand. Now, moving on to our second interview clip linked in the show notes I asked Dr. Medina a powerful how can we raise our children to be confident and resilient? And his response was both profound and eye opening. He said, I believe that the single greatest predictor of a child's psychopathology or psychiatric condition is the emotional stability of the home in which they are raised. It automatically becomes an education issue, even if you don't want it to be, he said, because he realizes that the interpersonal dynamics inside some of these homes is usually nobody's business except for when the kid gets nicked. And then it might be important to understand and perhaps teach adults how to be adults in front of their children. And we know a fair amount about what it takes to create a stable emotional home. Let's say there's a partner involved. The great work of John Gottman is so strong that he can even predict divorce rates. So a key point from video clip 2 from Dr. John Medina a child's resilience and confidence are deeply taught to the emotional climate of the home. Stability in relationships, especially between parents or caregivers, creates the foundations for healthy development. And what's a practical application for this tip for parents and caregivers? Focus on modeling emotion regulation and respectful communication at home. Children learn resilience not from being shielded from challenges, but by watching adults navigate them with stability. For educators understand that a student's academic and social behavior often reflects what's happening at home. Approaching challenges with empathy and building strong, safe classroom relationships can help buffer instability. And for leaders and mentors, whether in schools, workplaces or communities, promoting emotional intelligence and modeling healthy relationships can positively influence not only children, but the adults raising them. And finally clip three to go deeper into my question about raising emotionally resilient children, Dr. Medina pointed to the work of Diana Baumrind, whose research he described as probably the most important work about how to raise a child that exists. She shows that creating an emotionally stable environment can directly influence anxiety and depression rates in children. And Dr. Medina added that both John Gottman, known for his research on marriage, also studied parenting, and both Baumrind and Gottman came to the same conclusion. All parenting rises and falls on the same battlefield, and that's what you do when your child's emotions run hot. What you do here puts you in a behavioral category, some kind of parenting style. So a key point from video clip 3 from John Medina Children build resilience not in calm moments, but in how parents or caregivers respond when emotions run high. And these moments define parenting style and shape a child's long term emotional health. A practical Application when your child is upset, instead of reacting with anger or dismissal, focus on CO regulation. Help them name and navigate their feelings. Practice emotion coaching, which is a Gottman strategy, and acknowledge the emotion, set boundaries if needed and guide the child towards a healthy expression. And remember that resilience grows when children see that emotions, even big ones, can be understood, managed and resolved with stability. And these strategies tie back into our six social and Emotional Learning solo episodes that I've linked in the show notes as well as with our interview with Greg Wolcott from episode seven on building relationships in today's classrooms or Yale center for Emotional intelligence founder Mark Brackett's work from episode 19 on his book Permission to Feel. As we continue with this review, I'm hoping that we strengthen the why behind our own work. Whether we're teachers in the classroom or coaches or regular people just like me who want to take this brain mind connection to improve our results to greater heights. Now, as we wrap up episode 370, it's clear that Dr. John Medina's call to bring neuroscience to the table of education is more important now than ever. We began this journey with Bob Proctor's timeless question Question what do you really want? And for me, that answer was always rooted in seeing social and emotional learning becoming a foundation in our schools. And over the years, research confirmed what I witnessed firsthand. SEL transforms lives. But when we add the powerful lens of neuroscience, we gain the practical tools to understand how the brain learns about best. Knowledge that can improve results, productivity, and most importantly, support our next generation of students. And in today's episode, we reviewed three video clips. A key point in clip one. If education is about the brain, then teachers need to understand how the brain learns best. And how do we do this? Look for opportunities for, whether through professional learning, books or resources like this podcast to shift the gap between neuroscience and classroom practice. And even small shifts like applying what we know about memory or attention can transform how students learn. The second key point, a child's resilience and confidence are deeply tied to the emotional climate of the home. Stability. Stability in relationships, especially between parents or caregivers, creates the foundation for healthy development. The practical application for this for parents and caregivers focus on modeling emotion regulation and respectful communication at home. Children learn resilience not from being shielded from challenges, but by watching adults navigate them with stability. And our final key point, clip number three. Children build resilience not in calm moments, but in how parents or caregivers or even teachers respond when emotions run high. These moments define our parenting and teaching styles and shape a child's long term emotional health. And how do we do this? When your child is upset, instead of reacting with anger or dismissal, focus on CO regulation and help them to navigate their feelings. This is important whether we're a parent or working with students in the classroom. Dr. Medina's brain rules was a pivotal book for me. It helped me to understand how the brain learns best while also reinforcing the importance of self regulation. And we explored last week with Dr. Dawson Church and his bliss Brain Meditations. Self regulation becomes more accessible when we actively train our brain through practices like meditation. Each of these interviews that we're reviewing connects and builds on the other, guiding us step by step in this journey of the mind. We'll continue exploring this powerful intersection of social and emotional learning and neuroscience, bringing forward leading experts so that together we can learn and apply insights that were once reserved only for medical students. And this is how we equip ourselves and our next generation to thrive not only in learning, but also in life. And with that thought. Thanks for joining me on episode 370. I'll see you next week as we move on to our next expert review. Have a wonderful week ahead.
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