In this ground-breaking collection, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang--an
affective neuroscientist, human development psychologist, and former
public school teacher--presents a decade of work with the potential to
revolutionize educational theory and practice by deeply enriching our
understanding of the complex connection between emotion and learning.
With her signature talent for explaining and interpreting
neuroscientific findings in practical, teacher-relevant terms,
Immordino-Yang offers two simple but profound ideas: first, that
emotions are such powerful motivators of learning because they activate
brain mechanisms that originally evolved to manage our basic survival;
and second, that meaningful thinking and learning are inherently
emotional, because we only think deeply about things we care about.
Together, these insights suggest that in order to motivate students for
academic learning, produce deep understanding, and ensure the transfer
of educational experiences into real-world skills and careers, educators
must find ways to leverage the emotional aspects of learning.
Immordino-Yang has both the gift for captivating readers with her
research and the ability to connect this research to everyday learning
and teaching. She examines true stories of learning success with
relentless curiosity and an illuminating mixture of the scientific and
the human.
What are feelings, and how does the brain support them? What role do
feelings play in the brain's learning process? This book unpacks these
crucial questions and many more, including the neurobiological,
developmental, and evolutionary origins of creativity, facts and myths
about mirror neurons, and how the perspective of social and affective
neuroscience can inform the design of learning technologies.
