Teaching With the Brain in Mind

6 How
52
Threats
and Stress
Affect Learning
Apart of the Hippocratic Oath says that the
first rule in medicine is to do patients no
harm. That may well apply to educators,
too. Excess stress and threat in the school environment
may be the single greatest contributor to
impaired academic learning. That’s a strong statement,
but when you understand the many potential
threats for students and how the brain reacts to
each, it makes sense. This chapter focuses on the
negative impact of threats and high stress on the
brain, behavior, and learning.
Why Common Threats Fail
Threats have long served as the weapon of choice
to regulate human behavior. When schools were
optional, threats were less relevant; a student who
was upset might have simply left. But today, students
find that they must endure threats because
their presence at school is mandated by law.
Teachers’ most common threats to students
include detention, lowered grades, or loss of school
privileges. Detention has clout only if one of two
variables is present: either the student could better
use the time or staying after is a miserable experi-
KEY CONCEPTS
◗ What is stressful to the
brain?
◗ How does stress affect
students?
◗ How threats affect
learning
◗ What is learned
helplessness?
◗ Reducing the impact of
stress and threat