Clerestory Learning

How the Brain Learns

Several processes are required to construct understanding.

Experience :: The brain takes in raw data through the senses.
Comprehension :: The brain identifies and organizes this data to build knowledge.
Elaboration :: The brain recognizes patterns in the sorted data and recalls experiences with similar patterns; the new data merges with prior experiences to build understanding.
Application :: The brain seeks a use for the new understanding and tries applying it in a supportive context, like a classroom.
Intention :: The brain looks for real-world applications of deep understandings.

Just as buildings differ in use and structure, the material students learn in school differs in use and structure. Skills (e.g., throwing a ball) require students to replicate a sequence of actions to accomplish some purpose; content (e.g., the Roman Empire) requires students to construct understanding of related concepts; a combination of both (e.g., a word problem solved by addition) requires students to recognize conceptual patterns that call for application of related skills.

The material type influences the processes required for learning.

Designing Instruction for How the Brain Learns

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Program Support

Training Materials

“Our fourth grade teachers have been working with their students on the associative and communicative properties (new definitionally for the children) in math. They have used the Architecture of Learning blueprint beginning with the experience strand and are now into comprehension. The teachers are amazed at how the children understand the concept because of the activities in the experience strand. They are able to relate the concept to their own experiences, form a pattern statement, and explore where else the properties can be found.”
Karen Upton, Ph.D.

Principal Norfolk Christian Lower School
Norfolk, VA