A Teacher's Guide to the Learning Brain

Translating Psychology and Neuroscience Research for the Classroom

Leading the Institute in Boston Is:

The Program Schedule CE Credits Travel Registration

Cost is $1,695 per person through May 23, 2025 and $1,795 per person after May 23, 2025. Save $100 per person when registering a group of 3 or more.

Join Us This Summer in Boston for a Hands-on Workshop

From July 14 - 18, 2025, Learning & the Brain is offering a Summer Institute on the campus of Boston University.

How can we design lessons that truly captivate students, sustain their focus, and build lasting knowledge? Join us for a dynamic, hands-on institute where you'll explore the latest brain research and transform the way you teach.

Over the course of a week, we’ll study and build three essential pillars of learning: schema theory, attention, and memory.

Schema Theory: Discover why schema formation is the hidden key to deep understanding: it explains how to structure lessons that help students organize and retain new knowledge.
Attention: Rethink traditional views of focus by exploring a scientific understanding of attention. The building blocks: alertness, orienting, and executive attention.
Memory: Learn how working memory serves as the brain’s construction zone and how to optimize long-term memory through powerful encoding and retrieval techniques.

This institute balances cutting-edge research with practical classroom applications—ensuring you leave with strategies you can implement immediately. With a highly interactive format and a limited cohort of 50 participants, you'll engage in discussions, activities, and collaborative problem-solving with fellow educators.

Join us this summer and reimagine how learning happens! This institute is hands-on and is limited to 50 participants.

At This Institute, You Will

Understand and apply the core concept of “schema formation” at the heart of learning

Develop insights and strategies to anticipate, identify, and mitigate working memory overload

Nurture long-term memory formation—that is, learning—with research on encoding, retrieval, and consolidation

Explore the science of attention to focus on alertness, orienting, and executive attention

Apply these concepts to your own professional work

Understand psychology and neuroscience research articles, with a particular focus on developing effective and informed skepticism

The Summer Institute Is for

K-16 Teachers and Academic Administrators

School Psychologists, Learning Specialists, and Counselors

Academic Support Staff

Independent Learning Consultants

About the Institute

This Learning & the Brain Summer Institute, led by Andrew Watson, explores how established findings from psychology and neuroscience can be translated into effective classroom strategies. The program places a strong emphasis on the practical application of brain research, grounded in a spirit of healthy skepticism.

Participants will actively engage in group discussions, reflecting on their own teaching practices and applying research insights to lesson plans, syllabi, assessments, and day-to-day classroom work. Throughout the Institute, attendees are encouraged to bring in materials and questions from their own experience, culminating in brief presentations on the final day.

Active participation is expected throughout this Institute. Class sessions will begin Monday afternoon. On subsequent days, classes will be held in the morning with afternoons free to explore Boston.

Attendees will be housed and all sessions will take place at the 10 Buick Street complex on the campus of Boston University in Boston, MA. Lodging, some meals, and course materials are provided. See the online schedule for meals provided.

Professional Development Credit

Earn up to 20 hours toward professional development credit for various professionals. For details on credit offered, visit our CE credit page or call our office at 857-444-1500 ext. 1. Note: credits are not provided by Boston University.

Accommodations and Meals

Interaction between faculty and participants outside the classroom is an integral part of the Institute. To foster this total immersion learning environment, participants are housed in shared apartments with their own bedrooms in a dormitory on the campus of Boston University in Boston, MA. The apartments contain four bedrooms and two bathrooms and are located at 10 Buick Street. The institute provides four nights lodging with an arrival date of July 14 and a departure date of July 18. If you would like to arrange for an early arrival and stay over on the night of Sunday, July 13, the extra cost would be $125. If you are interested in making your own accommodations off-campus, please call us at 857-444-1500 x1. Boston University is located in the city of Boston, close to Kenmore Square and Fenway Park and along the "T" with easy access to all the sites of Boston. All facilities are ADA compliant. Please check the online schedule for information on the meals provided.

Andrew C. Watson, MEd

Andrew C. Watson, MA, EdM, began teaching in 1988, studying psychology and neuroscience in 2008, and combining those interests in 2012. He currently works as a high-school teacher and as a consultant—explaining the classroom implications of brain science to teachers, students, administrators, and parents. Since 2016, Andrew has written and edited the Learning & the Brain blog. He has also written 3 books: The Goldilocks Map, Learning Begins, and Learning Grows.

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