1. Adapted from “The Art of Changing the
brain”-James Zull
Created by Simonida Vukobrat,
February 2013.

2.  According to James Zull, teaching is the art
of changing the brain.
 Successful teachers produce change in a
learner’s brain. Generating that change is
not a science; it’s an art. Science may tell us
what learning is, and what influences it, but
to apply this knowledge effectively is an art!

3.  The brain carries out four basic functions:
getting information =
1. gathering (sensory cortex),
2. analyzing (back integrative cortex) -
making meaning of information
3. creating - creating new ideas from these
meanings (front integrative cortex),
4. Acting - acting on those ideas (motor
cortex).
 If we ask our students to do these four
things, they will have a chance to use their
whole brain.

4.  Feelings are both created and perceived by
the brain. They directly influence our
behaviors and attitudes and determine
whether or not students are motivated to
learn.
 The emotion centers of the brain are
strongly connected to the thinking areas.
 Emotion and thought are physically
entangled!

5.  The teacher must find ways in which
learning itself is intrinsically rewarding.
 Learning itself must evoke emotion, and
must relate to things that naturally engage
the learner.
 Extrinsic motivators, such as grades or gold
stars, are only needed when these intrinsic
conditions are not met.
 If learners are given tasks that connect with
things which naturally interest them, if they
find learning rewarding, and if they make
progress, extrinsic rewards are not needed.

6.  Helping students find connections with their
past beliefs and experiences is vital for
learning.
 Knowledge grows as our neurons make new
connections, and as they increase or decrease
the strength of existing neuronal networks in the
brain.
 Information enters the brain through existing
networks of neurons which is one’s prior
knowledge.
 Learning is constructing knowledge and that
process modifies the old.
 Sometimes the old networks are so powerful that
they become a barrier to new knowledge –
proactive inhibition.

7. 1. The art of discovery of existing networks.
This means understanding our students
 The better we understand how students think
and the nature of their prior experiences, the
better insight we can have with regard to how
they can build on their existing neuronal
connections.
2. The second aspect is the skill of building
on existing connections, even when they
seem wrong.

8. a) The first one is practice. Neurons that fire a lot tend to
form more connections and strengthen new connections.
For example, neurons have the ability to just stop firing
when the stimulus turns out to be unimportant
(habituation). Repeating isn’t necessarily enough
b) The other thing that helps neuron networks become
stronger, larger and more complex is emotion. There
are studies which show that such changes in networks
can be generated simply by triggering neurons to dump
“emotion chemicals” - adrenaline, serotonin and
dopamine - on the firing networks. These chemicals are
delivered to specific parts of the brain by specific neuron
pathways. Thus, the concomitant frequent firing and
exposure to the chemicals of emotion lead to great
change in neuronal networks

9.  Practice and meaning are important parts
of the art of changing the brain.
 The student will not practice in a
meaningful way unless he/she cares.
 Ultimately it’s the learner who is in control.
The teacher’s role is to arrange conditions
and challenges in ways that engage the
learner.

10.  Teachers often complain that their students aren’t
motivated, as though it were some sort of character
flaw. They would learn if they would just get
motivated. People cannot stay motivated enough to
learn unless they experience some success. They
may be motivated to try something, but if they are
going to sustain motivation, they must sense some
progress.
 It’s the teacher’s job to find a pathway to success.
We shouldn’t ask “How can I motivate my students?”
but rather “How can I support their learning?”.
 They will be motivated if they are learning, because
learning is rewarding to the brain. This motivation
is intrinsic and it is unrelated to any external reward
or punishment. It is the teacher’s most powerful ally.

11.  The human brain is a learning organ; learning is
what it does.
 The main task for the teacher is to help the learners
find connections. Once students encounter
elements that connect with their life, their
emotions, their experiences or their
understandings, they will learn. Their brains will
change.
 Learners must create their own ideas and act on
them if they are to take ownership of their
learning.
 The learner must evaluate his work in order to own
it. If it is truly his, it must be formed in a cycle of
creating, evaluating, re-creating and reevaluating.
The learner is the one who has to be in control.

12.  We teach students. Teaching is about the
students. A teacher is most successful when
his/her students can say: “We did this
ourselves.” This is an emotional claim.
 Success in learning is emotional success. No
matter how much the teacher appreciates
the learning cycle or neuronal networks, a
teacher has little hope of meaningful
academic connection if his/her learners
don’t feel engaged.

13.  The fear region in the brain is the amygdala.
Our amygdala is constantly monitoring our
experience to assess current emotional
standing.
 When we want to help someone learn, we
should be aware that our learner will be
quickly and subconsciously monitoring the
situation through the amygdala.
 This isn’t something the learner decides to
do. It just happens. When the amygdala
senses danger, it subconsciously sends signals
directly out to the body.