The Brain and how we learn fascinates me. I was inspired by a talk given at a TESOL Conference by Janet Zadina in 2009 called Language, Learning, and the Brain. Here are some notes from the presentation that I found online.
Both her work and another scholar's, James Zull (The Art of Changing the Brain), support a lot of my thinking that the way we integrate data and learn is a very complex and non-linear process. We can get data very fast but integrating it is another story that is still being explored. The brain is plastic. Learning is possible and necessary into old age. In an interesting article online she discusses how important emotions, bilingualism, the social aspect, and visualization is. "A growing body of research indicates that it is easier to learn if you visualize information. In addition to providing pictures to be associated with words that are being learned, utilizing visualization is an additional effective tool." The Multiple Pathways Model, Zadina. 
We know that our dreams, for example, are difficult to understand--what are they doing, how do dreams function in learning, why are they important. What do we take in and why? Is bilingualism or multilingualism better for the brain? Of course. Zadina's slogan at the conference was "bilingual is better." Also, I remember there was another talk about dyslexia by someone else, during which I learned that dyslexic brains may actually be called more advanced and these people are more hands-on/kinesthetic learners.
Here is a Ted Talks with Janet Zadina on neuroscience and school reform. She talks about stress, natural disasters, and how music and physical education are helpful to learning. Change is possible and inevitable because of the brain.
I will be writing my next blog about Jeff Duncan-Andrade, a great influence on my thinking about teaching as well.