scripod.com

How Our Brains Learn

Shownote

Have you ever fallen asleep in school or during a work meeting? Maybe you felt your eyes glaze over as your boss or a teacher droned on and on about a topic that had no relevance to you. What's missing from these classrooms and conference rooms is engageme...

Highlights

Many of us have experienced the dull haze of disengagement in classrooms or meetings, where learning feels irrelevant and motivation fades. But what if the key to transforming education and work lies not in rote instruction, but in deep emotional engagement? In this episode, psychologist and neuroscientist Mary Helen Immordino-Yang explores how passion, meaning, and transcendent thinking can reignite curiosity and reshape the way we learn.
03:32
Conducted a science project on eyeballs, placing cow eyeballs in the fridge
06:39
Students became more engaged in science after discussing evolution, race, and identity
17:09
Students engage in transcendent thinking by connecting stories to broader moral and global concepts.
23:36
Transcendent thinking involves coordinated brain network activity driven by strong emotion.
28:45
Transcendent thinking counteracts negative effects of violence on brain development
35:27
Excellent teachers do more social and emotional work, with higher brain activity when grading their own students.
42:09
A philosophical shift from what to teach to how students develop
49:12
Teachers should engage students in transcendent thinking, connecting learning to real-life significance.
59:20
Start with big ideas and community-change opportunities to engage students.
1:05:46
Using case studies and real-world examples to spark curiosity and work backward to understand brain function
1:15:34
The daughter re-engaged with learning for her own sake, which changed her approach to school and led to pursuing a Ph.D.

Chapters

Why do students and workers often feel disconnected from what they're learning?
00:00
How did passion and autonomy shape one educator's early learning journey?
06:39
What happens in the brain when teens engage deeply with emotional stories?
13:16
Can thinking beyond the surface help teens build resilience and stronger brains?
23:36
How does exposure to violence affect brain development—and how can thinking help?
27:36
What role does emotion play in how teachers connect with and inspire students?
35:27
Is it possible to transform education by focusing on big, meaningful ideas?
42:09
What do truly engaging classrooms look like—and how do they differ from the norm?
49:12
How should we redesign curricula to inspire curiosity and real-world thinking?
58:47
Why does meaning matter more than ever in how we teach and how we learn?
1:01:53
What would it look like to build education around students, not just subjects?
1:09:01

Transcript

Shankar Vedantam: This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedantam. There's a scene in the 1986 movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off that has become iconic. It's a spot-on portrayal of what it feels like to be disengaged and disaffected. In the film, actor Ben Stein p...