The expectation that students be fully engaged in learning tasks from the first minute of the class period until the last is known as “bell-to-bell instruction.”

It’s a widely-accepted practice in education, but does neuroscience actually support it?

Bell-to-bell instruction works from the premise that our class time with students is precious and limited, and therefore needs to be maximized. I think we can all agree on that: wasting students’ time and dragging out transitions isn’t beneficial.

But let’s dig deeper into what it means to “make the most of every moment” with students. What if the best way to maximize our instructional time is by NOT attempting to pack every single moment with more work?

The value of offering breaks and downtime to students is self-evident to most educators, and yet many schools and districts don’t permit it.

So, I’ve curated the brain research showing that breaks are absolutely essential for maximal learning and productivity.

I’ll share 6 big takeaways from the research around how the brain learns, and 6 practical ways to incorporate that research into your classroom. My hope is that this podcast/article can be shared to open up conversations about how our schools can better meet the needs of students.

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