Application of MBE in Neumind

As parents of a child attending Neumind, you should feel confident in your decision to have your child participate in the educational system Neumind provides.  The philosophy of Neumind is founded on a sincere desire to facilitate the learning and development of your child in the manner the new fields of brain science are indicating.

The Neumind Philosophy states:

Neumind firmly believes that the path to life long success requires the nurturing of the child’s total experiences by providing distinctive and innovative mind enhancing education, thus improving their lateral thinking, creativity and leadership skills.

A key phrase in this statement of philosophy is - the path.  This phrase is important because by defining the path you will have a sort of road map to show you where you, Neumind and your child are going. The path you are travelling with your child and Neumind is one that is fairly new.  The model Neumind is emulating in the building of their educational path is called Mind Brain Education (MBE) which is integrating cutting edge scientific research from a variety of disciplines.

In a way, the path for educational programming offered by Neumind can be depicted as a sort of round-about with several paths flowing into Neumind educational programming.

As you can see from the diagram, the Neumind educational programme capitalizes upon the research findings from multiple brain science perspectives and in doing so, offers your child the best of educational approaches available today.  You should be aware that the education your child is receiving from Neumind is not typical of the educational practices around the world.  Neumind is stepping out into the forefront of the educational change that is beginning to revolutionize how children are taught, learn and ultimately participate in the larger global community.

In order to understand how educational practice is enlarging the path and opening its arms to the knowledge that is available from the disciplines identified in the diagram, it will be helpful to briefly describe each specific area of science.  Future articles will take each field of science and describe it in more detail but, for the purpose of this article, a brief explanation will be sufficient.

The field of Neuroscience studies the brain and nervous system. Because the nervous system controls all our thoughts, perceptions, bodily functions and every move we make, neuroscientists want to understand things like: how do we learn and remember; how does the brain process information; how do neurons talk with one another etc.  When educators understand the answers to these questions, they will be able to look at a child’s learning from a different perspective and maybe alter how they teach that child.

Cognitive Science is the interdisciplinary study of mind and intelligence. This perspective includes the fields of philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, linguistics and anthropology. The field of cognitive science is generally interested in the study of these issues: artificial intelligence, attention, language processing, learning and development, memory, perception and action.  The connection between cognitive science and educational practices seems pretty obvious from the list of learning intense issues the field studies. 

The field of Positive Psychology is a fairly new branch of psychology that focuses on studying about the strengths and virtues that make it possible for individuals and communities to thrive. The community of Positive Psychology researchers have developed the “Character Strengths and Virtues” (CSV) handbook which classifies positive psychological traits called virtues and strengths and these include:

Functional application of positive psychology includes assisting children to accurately identify their strengths and to use these strengths to enhance their learning and maintain their well-being.

Another important perspective is Whole Brain Learning.  As an instructional method grounded in neurolinguistics, Whole Brain Learning is based on how the hemispheres of the brain function.  The left brain specializes in verbal, logical, and analytical thinking. It loves to name and categorize, is good at symbolic abstraction, recognizing speech, and the three “Rs” of reading, writing, arithmetic. The right brain specializes in visual, spatial, perceptual, and intuitive processing. The right brain seeks to see the whole picture and is quick to determine the spatial relationships of all the parts as they relate to the whole. Whole Brain Learning deliberately provides students with integrated left/right brain instruction to help them learn holistically.

Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University feels the customary belief about intelligence is too limited thus, he proposes the theory of Multiple Intelligences comprised of eight different intelligences. These are: linguistic intelligence – word smart, logical-mathematical intelligence – number/reasoning smart, spatial intelligence –picture smart, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence – body smart, musical intelligence – music smart, interpersonal intelligence – people smart, intrapersonal intelligence self smart, naturalist intelligence nature smart and existential intelligence - pose and ponder questions about life, death and ultimate realities.

Neumind adds to the path the pavement stones of connecting to the leading minds for their students, motivating students to learn and grow, and making learning meaningful.  Most of all, Neumind nurtures the child's total experiences to life long success. With a passion to unlock children’s greatest potential through the dynamic interaction between scientific research and practical knowledge, the faculty strives to conceptualization and implementation in classroom practice. There is no question that integrating multiple perspectives into the educational programme at Neumind is important but, if the faculty and staff at Neumind were not adding the elements of love, motivation and meaningfulness, the overall outcomes of your child’s education would be diminished.

Children need to feel loved, respected and safe in their learning environment.  Without this their ability to learn to their maximal potential is minimized. Brain research verifies that children who live in stress and fear learn less efficiently and thus less effectively. Neumind ensures children feel safe and confident so the path they are led down leads to academic and life-time success.