The more we understand about how the brain functions through Neuroscience and cognitive psychology the better we can design our teaching and assessments.

At Knowa, Dr. Schenck conducts research, and studies both original research and tested applications in order to make appropriate use in education. Dr. Schenck has been guided by what students actually retain long after the instruction and assessments are past, and what most influences that learning. The final learning outcome, what we want students to walk out with in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes, is used as the starting point for designing our workshop practices. We are interested in the appropriate, practical application of tested mind/brain theory to increase student performance.

Workshops Address These Fundamental issues:

• Increasing student performance, by using the brain's natural learning systems (Givens), the best tested instructional strategies.
• Creating a learning community where all learners participate and are actively involved, by using strategies that work with the emotional systems and perception to build motivation.
• Capturing and maintaining attention to ensure sustained learning, by using the natural needs for movement, social interaction, and emotional significance.
• Designing instruction that build multiple connections to long-term memory so that it can be retrieved when needed by using the natural processing and cognitive properties of the brain.
• Designing better assessments that truly reflect what a student has learned,by using cognitive strategies that align instruction, reviews and assessment.

Our workshops use several complimentary models of how the mind/brain learns, to address these fundamental issues teachers and administrators face.
The models used may be found in the works by Barbara Given, Robert Marzano, Michael Gazzagnia, Joseph LeDoux, Kurt Fischer, and others.