Neural Coupling in Math

The other night, while reading one of my new books, I came across something about neuro coupling. Apparently, it is what happens when someone tells a story, one that captures your attention type of story, your brain fires in the same way as the storyteller's at the same time.

Cohesion between the storyteller and the listeners brains is created by mirror neurons.  In addition, good stories pull in listeners through narrative transport.

Research indicates when people are presented with facts, only two areas in the brain are active but if you get the same facts presented in a story more areas of the brain light up.

Furthermore, under normal circumstances the brain tends to stray by engaging in daydreams but when there is an interesting story, the brain experiences no daydreaming.  None!

So how does one create Neural coupling in math when most of the time its taught as facts?  That was my first thought when I read about neural coupling but realized we could possibly create lessons to follow the parts of a story so we might build neural coupling with our students.

First is the introduction or exposition where we are introduced to the hero and the situation.  This is the make or break point for any book.  If the author does not grab your attention, you won't finish the book, so the introduction to a lesson should grab the student's attention.  Next is the main body where we introduce and guide students through the material.   The last part is the climax and ending where students show they have mastered the material.

The lesson has to be taught so we gain the attention of the student and keep it through the whole lesson.  We need to create the neural coupling at the beginning of the lesson and keep student involvement till the end.  This can be hard because most upper level math teachers have been trained to create lessons depending on who the current best practices guru is.  Oftentimes the lessons are basically the same as the previous guru but with new names.

It seems to me that if a neural coupling occurs through storytelling, it should also occur while watching a movie because the viewer often becomes involved in the same way we would while listening to a story.  This means we have a few ways to get students involved from the beginning.


This means when we plan a lesson we should begin with some sort of hook to engage students.  Teaching Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess has a wonderful collection of types of hooks a teacher can use to grab their attention.  I have used the movie trailer one to build interest in an upcoming topic.  He has enough ideas, a teacher can create a wide selection of hooks.

To keep them hooked, there are the 3 act tasks by various authors, Estimation and Splats by Steve Wyborney and other great activities.  In addition, there are some great videos out there that are designed to keep student interested.

The hard part is the practice but once they've done some work, they can show their understanding through Kahoot, Jeopardy, or other activity that engages them.  Once we have them engaged, they are more likely to be involved and learn the material.

Have a great day and let me know what you think.  I'd love to hear.