Neuroscience for Optimal Learning

Strategies for Developing Students' Attention, Emotional Strengths, Memory, and Executive Functions

July 13 - 17, 2026

Santa Barbara, CA

Institute Leaders in Santa Barbara Include:

Judy Willis, MD, MEd

Malana Willis, MEd

The Program Schedule CE Credits Travel Registration

Cost is $2,195 per person through May 22, 2026 and $2,395 per person after May 22, 2026. Save $200 per person when registering a group of 3 or more.

Join Us This Summer in Santa Barbara for a Hands-on Workshop

From July 13 - 17, 2026, Learning & the Brain is offering a Summer Institute on the oceanside campus of UCSB.

Join us for an interactive training that examines the roles of attention, emotion, memory, and executive function in learning, and explores how insights from neuroscience can be translated into effective classroom practice.

This introductory-level Institute focuses on brain-based approaches to teaching and learning, with an emphasis on fostering student engagement, emotional self-regulation, sustained effort, and durable understanding. Participants will also examine top-down executive functions—including organization, planning, decision-making, critical analysis, and creative thinking—and their role in academic success.

Through lectures and facilitated discussion, participants will explore neuro-logical approaches to understanding and meeting the academic, social, emotional, and executive function skills students need to thrive. As an introductory level course, this Institute does not address specific learning differences. Designed to be hands-on, participation is limited to 45 attendees.

At This Institute, You Will

Use insights from neuroscience to engage and maintain student attention and focus

Examine ways to ignite student motivation and engagement

Reflect on interventions for building students’ understanding of their brains and learning processes

Explore strategies for improving emotional awareness and self-management

Apply the compelling video game model of individual achievable challenge levels and incremental progress to increase student effort and perseverance

Discover tools to help students make successful memory connections between new input and prior knowledge

Design learning experiences that foster lasting memory retention and deep conceptual understanding

Develop strategies for building executive functions across the curriculum to enhance students' attention, focus, emotional self-management, organization, judgment, critical thinking, and creative, flexible problem solving

The Summer Institute Is for

PreK-12 Teachers, Administrators

Teacher Educators

College, University Professors

About the Institute

This Learning & the Brain Summer Institute will be led by Dr. Judy Willis and assisted by Malana Willis. You will be offered an intensive professional development experience, drawing on findings in affective and social neuroscience.

This program is designed to help individuals and school teams develop the knowledge, skills, and strategies necessary to responsibly apply neuroscience and cognitive science findings to the classroom to improve teaching and learning.

Active participation is expected throughout this Institute. Class sessions will begin Monday afternoon after a lunch with the other participants. On subsequent days, classes will be held in the morning with afternoons free to explore Santa Barbara.

Attendees will be housed and all sessions will take place at the Sierra Madre complex on the Goleta, CA side of the UC Santa Barbara campus. Lodging, some meals, and course materials are provided. See the online schedule for meals provided.

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 undergraduate dormitory accommodations on the UC Santa Barbara campus. The dormitory rooms are located in the recently opened Sierra Madre complex located on the Goleta side of the UC Santa Barbara campus. Participants are assigned to their own bedroom in a shared two-bedroom apartment with each participant having their own bathroom. Linens are provided. All facilities are ADA compliant. The Institute provides four nights lodging with an arrival date of July 13 and a departure date of July 17. If you would like to arrange for an early arrival and stay over on the night of Sunday, July 12, 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. Please check the online schedule for information on the meals provided. Note: The UCSB campus is a smoke-free campus.

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 the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Judy Willis, MD, MEd

A board-certified neurologist combined her 15 years as a practicing neurologist with ten subsequent years as a classroom teacher to become a leading authority in the neuroscience of learning. With her unique background as both in neuroscience and education, she has written nine books and more than 200 articles about applying neuroscience research to classroom teaching strategies.

After graduating Phi Beta Kappa as the first woman graduate from Williams College, Willis attended UCLA School of Medicine where she was awarded her medical degree. She remained at UCLA and completed a medical residency and neurology residency, including chief residency. She practiced neurology for 15 years before returning to university to obtain her teaching credential and Master's of Education degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She then taught in elementary and middle school for 10 years.

Malana Willis, MEd

Taught across the elementary grades at schools in Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Oakland, CA. She received her Masters Degree in Education and Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from UC Berkeley and her BA in psychology from Williams College. She has been writing and presenting on the topic of neuroscience and education with her mother, Dr. Judy Willis, since 2010. Their most recent book is Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning: Insights from Neuroscience and the Classroom - Revised and Expanded Edition (2020).

Newsletter & Event Emails

Neuroscience for Optimal Learning

Strategies for Developing Students' Attention, Emotional Strengths, Memory, and Executive Functions

July 13 - 17, 2026

Santa Barbara, CA

Institute Leaders in Santa Barbara Include:

Join Us This Summer in Santa Barbara for a Hands-on Workshop

At This Institute, You Will

The Summer Institute Is for

About the Institute

Accommodations and Meals

Professional Development Credit

Judy Willis, MD, MEd

Malana Willis, MEd