Neuroscience's influence on Learning & Teaching

I picked up a book off of the new book truck that sits by the reference desk, as the title caught my eye - Sousa, David, ed. Mind, Brain, & Education: Neuroscience Implications for the Classroom. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press, 2010.

I skimmed through chapter 3 by Judy Willis on "The Current Impact of Neuroscience on Teaching and Learning" and found many ideas that we could implement in our teaching - having instruction that provides incremental achievable challenges, using humor instead of sarcasm, lowering the fear students have of making mistakes in front of their peers, giving feedback and assessing progress more often, keeping the students interacting, setting a stage that is more positive, letting students know that they can improve their intelligence by practice with difficult materials and reviewing, etc.

Discoveries:
1) Similar to the challenge and achievement one experiences playing computer games, learning can be designed to include "incremental, achievalbe challenges in the classroom, at the appropriate level for students' abilities." (48)
2) Negative emotions negatively effect learning because less endorphins are produced