Brain-based LearningDefinition This learning theory is based on the structure and function of the brain.

As long as the brain is not prohibited from fulfilling its normal processes, learning will occur. Discussion People often say that everyone can learn. Yet the reality is that everyone does learn. Every person is bornwith a brain that functions as an immensely powerful processor. Traditional schooling, however, often inhibitslearning by discouraging, ignoring, or punishing the brain's natural learning processes.The core principles of brain-based learning state that:1.The brain is a parallel processor, meaning it can perform several activities at once, liketasting and smelling.2 . L e a r n i n g e n g a g e s t h e w h o l e p h y s i o l o g y . 3 . T h e s e a r c h f o r m e a n i n g is innate.4.The search for meaning comes through patterning.5.Emotions are critical to p a t t e r n i n g . 6.The brain processes wholes and parts simultaneously.7.Learning involves both focused attention and peripheral perception.8.Learning involves both conscious and unconscious processes.9 . W e h a v e t w o t y p e s o f m e m o r y : s p a t i a l a n d r o t e . 10.We understand best when facts are embedded in natural, spatial memory.11.Learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat.12.Each brain is unique.The three instructional techniques associated with brain-based learning are:1. Orchestrated immersion --Creating learning environments that fully immerse students inan educational experience2. Relaxed alertness --Trying to eliminate fear in learners, while maintaining a highlychallenging environment3. Active processing --Allowing the learner to consolidate and internalize information byactively processing it How Brain-Based Learning Impacts Education Curriculum --Teachers must design learning around student interests and make learning contextual. Instruction --Educators let students learn in teams and use peripheral learning. Teachers structurelearning around real problems, encouraging students to also learn in settings outside the classroomand the school building. Assessment --Since all students are learning, their assessment should allow them to understand their own learning styles and preferences. This way, students monitor and enhance their own learning process. What Brain-Based Learning Suggests How the brain works has a significant impact on what kinds of learning activities are mosteffective. Educators need to help students have appropriate experiences and capitalize on thoseexperiences. As Renate Caine illustrates on p. 113 of her book Making Connections , threeinteractive elements are essential to this process: Teachers must immerse learners in complex, interactive experiences that are both rich andreal. One excellent example is immersing students in a foreign culture to teach them asecond language. Educators must take advantage of the brain's ability to parallel process. Students must have a personally meaningful challenge. Such challenges stimulate astudent's mind to the desired state of alertness. In order for a student to gain insight about a problem, there must be intensive analysis of the different ways to approach it, and about learning in general. This is what's known as the"active processing of experience."A few other tenets of brainbased learning include:Feedback is best when it comes from reality, rather than from an authority figure.People learn best when solving realistic problems.The big picture can't be separated from the details.Because every brain is different, educators should allow learners to customize their ownenvironments.The best problem solvers are those that laugh! Designers of educational tools must be artistic in their creation of brain-friendly environments.Instructors need to realize that the best way to learn is not through lecture, but by participation inrealistic environments that let learners try new things safely. Reading Renate and Geoffrey Caine, Making Connections: Teaching and the Human Brain .Leslie Hart,

Human Brain, Human Learning .

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There are interactive teaching elements that emerge from these principles.Orchestrated immersion: Learning environments are created that immerse studentsin a learning experience. Primary teachers build a rainforest in the classroomcomplete with stuffed animals and cardboard and paper trees that reach to theceiling. Intermediate teachers take students to a school forest to explore and identifyanimal tracks in the snow and complete orienteering experiences with a compass. Junior high teachers take a field trip to an insurance company to have studentsshadow an employee all day. High school teachers of astronomy have studentsexperience weightlessness by scuba diving in the swimming pool.Relaxed alertness: An effort is made to eliminate fear while maintaining a highlychallenging environment. Teachers play classical music when appropriate to set arelaxed tone in the classroom. Bright lights are dimmed. Vanilla candles are used tocalm students and peppermint scents are used to stimulate the senses. All studentsare accepted with their various learning styles, capabilities and disabilities. A relaxedaccepting environment pervades the room. Children are stretched to maximize theirpotential. Active processing: The learner consolidates and internalizes information by actively processing it.Information is connected to prior learning. The stage is set before a unit of study is begun by theteacher preparing the students to attach new information to prior knowledge so the newinformation has something to latch onto. (Jensen; Caine & Caine) Twelve design principles based on brain-based research Rich, stimulating environments using student created materials and productsare evident on bulletin boards and display areas. Places for group learning like tables and desks grouped together, to stimulatesocial skills and cooperative work groups. Have comfortable furniture andcouches available for casual discussion areas. Carpeted and areas with largepillows who prefer not the work at a desk or table.

Link indoor and outdoor spaces so students can move about using their motorcortex for more brain oxygenation. Safe places for students to be where threat is reduced, particularly in largeurban settings. Variety of places that provide different lighting, and nooks and crannies. Manyelementary children prefer the floor and under tables to work with a partner. Change displays in the classroom regularly to provide a stimulating situationsfor brain development. Have students create stage sets where they can actout scenes from their readings or demonstrate a science principle or act out adialogue between historical figures. Have multiple resources available. Provide educational, physical and a varietyof setting within the classroom so that learning activities can be integratedeasily. Computers areas, wet areas, experimental science areas should be inclose proximity to one another. Multiple functions of learning is our goal. Flexibility: This common principle of the past is relevant. The teachablemoment must be recognized and capitalized upon. Dimensions of flexibility areevident in other principles. Active and passive places: Students need quiet areas for reflection and retreatfrom others to use intrapersonal intelligences. Personal space: Students need a home base, a desk, a locker area. All thisallows learners to express their unique identity. The community at large as an optimal learning environment: Teachers need tofind ways to fully use city space and natural space to use as a primary learningsetting. Technology, distance learning, community and business partnerships,all need to be explored by educational institutions. Enrichment: The brain can grow new connections at any age. Challenging, complexexperiences with appropriate feedback are best. Cognitive skills develop better with musicand motor skills. (DArcangelo) Utilizing both music and art: One of the key tenets of brain-based education is that attention follows emotion, and both music and art often tap into the emotional areas and thus are naturalconduits for remembering and connecting information. Music: Music can lower stress, boost learning when used 3 different ways: as a carrier - using melody or beat to encode content, as arousal - to calm down or energize, as a primer - to prepare specific pathways for learning content) impacts theimmune system, and is an energy source for the brain. Art: Art is an important part of brain-based education in that it provides many learners withavenues of expression and emotional connection and release. It is important at many levels. For instance, it is important in technology in order to create aesthetically pleasing PowerPoint presentations and multi-media displays that showcase work and make the information and facts presented memorable. Art can be metaphoric creating simple icons or images that ground larger more complex ideas. Multicultural awareness is improved through the study of art as it instantlyconnects viewers to different cultures. Indeed, due to the diverse power and inherent potential of art to create deep emotional connections and aid in memory retrieval, some educators think the artsshould be named as the fourth R. Use more diverse forms of assessment:

Maintaining portfolios is important for reflective improvement and self-assessment. These help teachers, parents and students observe demonstrated growth over time. Teachers also need to maintain appropriate content mastery through regular testingprograms. And, demonstrations, writing and art are ways of assessing studentsprogress, as are pre and post surveys and tests useful in assessing studentsprogress. Both verbal and written self-assessments are important parts of provingacademic growth, and interdisciplinary and crosscurricular projects provide realisticassessment tools. In essence, students should be exposed to multiple assessmentmethods. (Jensen) References: The statements above has been condensed, synthesized, and summarized from:Caine, G., Nummela-Caine, R., & Crowell, S. (1999) Mindshifts: A Brain-Based Process forRestructuring Schools and Renewing Education, 2nd edition. Tucson, AZ: Zephyr Press.Caine, G., Nummela-Caine, (1997) Education on the edge of possibility. Alexandria, VA: ASCD--Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.D'Arcangelo, M. (2000). How does the brain develop? A conversation with Steven Peterson. Educational Leadership , 58(3), 68-71. Jensen, E. (1998) Teaching with the Brain in Mind. Alexandria, VA: ASCD--Associationfor Supervision and Curriculum Development. Jensen, E. (2000) Brain-Based Learning. San Diego: Brain Store Incorporated. Jensen, E. & Johnson, G. (1994) The Learning Brain. San Diego: Brain Store Incorporated.