Education Through a Neural Lens!
It's easy to ignite learning when we understand how to ignite the brain
Mission / Vision / Commitment
Mission: We knock down the barriers of stress, bias and emotional reactivity with powerful, practical and proven brain-based learning strategies so that all students can learn.
Vision: To bring safety, structure and a sense of belonging to every student and classroom by uniting the neuroscience of learning with the power of teaching.
Commitment: We Commit to ...
- creating a culture of affirming environments - face to face and remote
- affirming educators' humanity and identities
- empowering and investing in in educators - autonomy, mastery, purpose
- building an inclusive community of people who care about education, educators, students & human potential
Pledge: Using Neural Education’s research-based methods and practices, rooted in cognitive-neuroscience, classrooms can become low-stress, safe and productive learning environments where all students can be seen, their voices heard and their potential realized.
What We Do
Inspire Teachers
to ignite their classroom using research-based brain science methodologies which allow them to manage the classroom by managing the brain.
Provide K-12
Professional Development
to help educators realize a new paradigm - a way of thinking about teaching and learning using a neural lens.
Translate Neuro-scientific Research
(how the brain processes and retains information), into accessible classroom practices and processes.
Improve Educational Outcomes
for all students by empowering them to access their own potential as they understand themselves and see themselves as learners.
"Neural Education offers a deeper understanding of the brain's amazing capacity. When this understanding informs the classroom, lessons come alive - joy and meaning are brought back to learning."
Terry Bergeson - WA Superintendent of Public Instruction 1996-2008
Pacific Lutheran University - Former Dean, School of Education and Kinesiology
How We Do It
We translate neuroscience research into practical teaching and learning tools that can be applied to real classrooms with real results!
Understanding how the brain works, what stimulates it and how to harness the connections in a positive way enables teachers, parents, and students to flourish.
- Summer Institutes
- Professional Learning Communities
- Parent / School Outreach
- Seminars / Webinars
- Conferences
- Peer-reviewed Papers
All Institutes are currently being held virtually.
Summer Institutes
In this one-week immersive course, a framework and foundation in evidence-based Neuroscience is taught that empowers educators. Every participant will gain insight into the science behind how children learn and be given practical and proven skills to identify and re-engage students.
35 Clock hours eligibility! Standard or STEM clock hours.
Learn how to:
- Create a stress-free classroom for all
- Eliminate disciplinary referrals
- Increase Academic Performance
- Help students self-engage with voice and agency
This Advanced Neural Education Institute offers graduate educators the opportunity to widen and deepen the neural lens that was introduced in Basic Neural Education Institute. Concepts and techniques that were explored earlier will be honed and polished for application in the classroom. In addition, participants will leave the institute with an action plan for classroom implementation and school-wide dissemination.
20 Clock hours eligibility! Standard or STEM clock hours.
Learn How to:
- Advance your application of neuroscience fundamentals
- Scale neuroscience within your school community
- Help Students access deep learning
"In my 25 years of being in education, this is HANDS DOWN the VERY BEST professional development I've been part of...ever!!"
Karey Richardson, Principal - Stahl Junior High
Professional Learning Communities
Join us for our monthly 2020-21 Neural Education PLC series - ALL educators are welcome!
We look forward to partnering with you as we continue to connect neuroscience to teaching and learning.
Each month we will explore a relevant and timely topic through presentations by Certified Neural Educators, discussion groups, and curated flipped-classroom resources. By participating you will:
Making a Difference
Impact of applying Neural Education Principles
Neural educators view teaching and learning as collaborative practices that grow cognitive capacity with the goal of helping every student reach their full potential.
- Classrooms are viewed as greenhouses that promote neural growth
- Student behavior is re-framed to be seen as the brain’s way of communicating overload/stress/anxiety
- Lessons become opportunities to co-create - giving students autonomy and purpose
- School communities shift to focus on relationship building which fosters academic growth
- Classroom management is seen as a side-by-side endeavor with the goal of cultivating neurotransmitters
"Learning about the brain allowed me to understand my own behavior in relation to the behavior of my students. Consequently, I was able to change my beliefs about student behavior by looking through a neural lens. Now I see the student, not the behavior."
Karen Foley, Elementary Teacher - Lincoln Elementary
"We have high poverty and ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) climate. I’m seeing how knowledge about learned helplessness helps my children move beyond the “I’m no good” freeze stage. What is interesting for me is that kids who used to give up on the learned helplessness kids are now reinvigorated to teach them resilience by practicing it themselves."
Debbie Dougherty - Toppenish Middle School
Awards
Regional WASA Community
Leadership Award
Washington Association of School Administrators (2020-2021)
In recognition of community members exhibiting outstanding contributions to education.
Phi Beta Kappa Pathfinder Award
Puget Sound Association - Phi Beta Kappa
(2017-2018)
Honors those who encourage others to seek new worlds to discover, pathways to explore, and untouched destinations to reach.
EEAW Diversity in Action
Award
Environmental Education Association of WA (2010-2011)
In recognition of individuals who demonstrate cultural awareness and who encourage a multicultural approach to education.
How YOU can Help
AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon with the same products, prices, and shopping features as Amazon.com. The difference is that when you shop on AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to the charitable organization of your choice.
- Sponsor a teacher!
- Sponsor a portion of a Summer Institute
- Be a vendor at a Summer Institute
- Donate money where it is needed most (Click the Donate Now button at the top of the page.
Volunteer your time!
We have lots of ways you can help!
Share what we are doing
There are lots of ways!
Who We Are
Founder
Chairman of the Board
Kieran O'Mahony
PhD, BcID, FRGS,
Program Co-Creator
Board Vice-president
Missy Widmann
MEd, EdD Candidate
Board of Directors
Kieran O'Mahony - Chairman
Missy Widmann - Vice President
Ed Bland - Treasurer
Christine Young - Secretary
Ashley Valentine
Paul O'Beirne
Maria Mackey
Kimberly Phillips
Nathan Hoerschelmann
Anne Tipper - Advisor
Featured Sponsors
PLU seeks to educate students for lives of thoughtful inquiry, service, leadership and care—
for other people, for their communities and for the Earth.
Celtic Life & Heritage Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public benefit corporation whose purpose is to preserve the Irish Celtic heritage for the benefit of Americans of Irish descent; and for all others who are interested in amazing stories, rich history, and would love to experience the goodness of an Irish Blessing.
The Foundation celebrates and preserves Irish Celtic heritage primarily through themed education modules (available for public, private, and home schools) along with short media vignettes, and most recently the Irish card game Seanchaí.
WAETAG empowers educators and communities to support and champion for the educational and social emotional development of talented and gifted students.
SPU is a Christian university fully committed to engaging the culture and changing the world by graduating people of competence and character, becoming people of wisdom, and modeling grace-filled community.