T495 – Neuroscience Basis of Social and Emotional Learning
Recent discoveries in the field of neuroscience are at the heart of social and emotional learning (SEL). We now know: there is no division between “heart” and mind, or between the emotional and cognitive functions of the brain. There is no learning without emotional safety and meaningful human connection. Therefore, the most knowledgeable and skilled SEL practitioners must possess a basic understanding of the brain and body, and recent discoveries regarding them. Such an understanding will have at least two results: 1) concretizing the importance of SEL with science including a tangible, sculptable human physiology and; 2) increasing empathy for students by learning why their often seemingly irrational behaviors are actually quite rational given the neurochemical messages and survival mechanisms underlying them. This course is designed to help students gain the foundational understanding of the neuroscience basis of social and emotional learning.