Free Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina Page B

differences can profoundly influence classroom performance. This has been tested. For example, about 10 percent of students do not have brains sufficiently wired to read at the age at which we expect them to read. Lockstep models based simply on age are guaranteed to create a counterproductive mismatch to brain biology.
    What can we do about this? Smaller class size
    All else being equal, it has been known for many years that smaller, more intimate schools create better learning environments than megaplex houses of learning. The Brain Rule may help explain why smaller is better.
    Given that every brain is wired differently, being able to read a student’s mind is a powerful tool in the hands of a teacher. As you may recall from the Survival chapter, Theory of Mind is about as close to mind reading as humans are likely to get. It is defined as the ability to understand the interior motivations of someone else and the ability to construct a predictable “theory of how their mind works” based on that knowledge. This gives teachers critical access to their students’ interior educational life. It may include knowledge of when students are confused and when they are fully engaged. It also gives sensitive teachers valuable feedback about whether their teaching is being transformed into learning. It may even be the definition of that sensitivity. I have come to believe that people with advanced Theory of Mind skills possess the single most important ingredient for becoming effective communicators of information.
    Students comprehend complex knowledge at different times and at different depths. Because a teacher can keep track of only so many minds, there must be a limit on the number of students in a class—the smaller, the better. It is possible that small class sizes predict better performance simply because the teacher can better keep track of where everybody is. This suggests that an advanced skill set in Theory of Mind predicts a good teacher. If so, existing Theory of Mind tests could be used like Myers-Briggs personality tests to reveal good teachers from bad, or to help people considering careers as teachers.
    Customized instruction
    What of that old admonition to create more individualized instruction within a grade level? It sits on some solid brain science. Researcher Carol McDonald Connor is doing the first work I’ve seen capable of handling these differences head-on. She and a colleague combined a standard reading program with a bright and shiny new computer program called A2i. The software uses artificial intelligence to determine where the user’s reading competencies lie and then adaptively tailor exercises for the student in order to fill in any gaps.
    When used in conjunction with a standard reading class, the software is wildly successful. The more students work with the program, the better their scores become. Interestingly, the effect is greatest when the software is used in conjunction with a normal reading program. Teacher alone or software alone is not as effective. As the instructor teaches the class in a normal fashion, students will, given the uneven intellectual landscape, experience learning gaps. Left untreated, these gaps cause students to fall further and further behind, a normal and insidious effect of not being able to transform instruction into apprehension. The software makes sure these gaps don’t go untreated.
    Is this the future? Attempting to individualize education is hardly a new idea. Using code as a stand-in for human teaching is not revolutionary, either. But the combination might be a stunner. I would like to see a three-pronged research effort between brain and education scientists:
    1) Evaluate teachers and teachers-to-be for advanced Theory of Mind skills, using one of the four main tests that measure empathy. Determine whether this affects student performance in a statistically valid fashion.
    2) Develop adaptive software for a variety of subjects and grade levels. Test them