When dealing with learners, it is helpful to understand physical stages that affect them in addition to learning theories and social contexts, learning environments and influences, and more. If an educator understands the chemical, biological and physical changes and stages that affect their learners, they can make better sense of possible solutions to problems that arise in the classroom because these factors combine themselves in various ways within the mind and body.
For example: if the is a student who is not performing in class, an educator can choose various pathways to address the issue. This teacher may call upon the student's past experiences and conceptual frameworks in a Vygotskian sense, where they are checking to see what previous data has constructed and where the student is in terms of the zone of proximal development for the concept/content area/task at hand. If the teacher finds that the student in question has a lower ZPD level, but that their conceptual framework supports the idea (i.e. the idea is clear to the student but the student is still not performing), they may come to the conclusion that it is motivation that is holding the student back. In this case, the teacher may try to inspire the student to foster intrinsic motivation, or through various extrinsic motivators. When considering the use of extrinsic motivators such as positive reinforcement of good behavior (progress towards performance of task) as Skinner would support, it would behoove the teacher to understand how repetitive use of positive reinforcement changes the 'neural net' within the brain, and the chemical and emotional repercussions that may ensue.
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