The Importance of Neurodevelopmental Constructs
M Levine (2003), in his book, A Mind at a Time, describes learning as falling into several neurological constructs, he advocates that teachers can help all students succeed by providing simple teaching accommodations that are related to the constructs. It is true that every child learns differently hence they have varying degrees of aptitude in each of the following constructs. Teachers who pay great attention to such tips will provide a fair and inclusive learning environment for a wide range of learners.
Levine helped develop various fundamental neurodevelopmental constructs that break down learning into component parts, so as to help better understand where learning develops for students. These constructs include;
Attention, there is a need for teachers to understand the various functions of attention and how it develops in complexity throughout the progress of the student. They need to understand that mental energy controls and how they are performance consistent, that attention involves processing controls and determination and lastly, production controls.
Each person has a limited amount of mental energy available to use for any given task. The mental energy needs to be allocated to help students to execute tasks and process information efficiently. It is worth noting that if any particular task begins to use up all the mental energy performance declines.
Memory which has several different models that facilitate the understanding that memory has three main components including Short-term memory, working memory, and long-term memory. Memory is inessential and used to file away information, so they can be found later on when needed.
The teacher should, therefore, provide lecture notes to students in advance of instruction prior to the lecture. They should regulate their speed of talking so as to meet student processing speed, also check for understanding frequently during class hours and allow students to take extra time to task as needed if need be. Keeping things concise and simple increases the chances of remembering and implementation.
The language which involves the ability to communicate effectively with others and helps understand what a person communicates or what they desire to communicate. It includes Receptive language i.e. The ability to take in and process language and expressive language which involves the ability to generate language output, orally and in written form.
It is true language that teachers are able to communicate and interpret the feelings of
their students by studying the words they use and the tone of their voice. This enhances the selection of appropriate topics, maintaining discussions and hence using the right language in the right environment. Especially in social behavior as a subject.