Teaching The Fringe

It is a widely known that the children who are in primary and elementary school s today are going to need skills for jobs that aren’t even invented yet, so any education that we are providing today needs to be pursuing technology. The concept of using brain-based learning to meet those needs is an interesting one. Brain-Based Learning refers “to teaching methods, lesson designs, and school programs that are based on the latest scientific research about how the brain learns, including such factors as cognitive development—how students learn differently as they age, grow, and mature socially, emotionally, and cognitively”(Education Reform, 2013) I can see if the principles of brain-based learning are applied in a classroom that they can indeed have a positive outcome on learning and there has been some research done that has indicated that children with reading difficulties have really benefited from this approach (Fink, 2006).

The twelve principles of Brain-Based Learning as presented on by the Sonoma Dept. of Education are as follows: 1) the brain is a parallel processor; the brain is a complex adaptive system, 2) learning engages the entire physiology; we have to account for the health of our students and that the brain is social brain, 3) the search for meaning is innate; it is programmed in us as a survival mechanism to seek the meaning of things, 4)the search for meaning occurs through patterns; our brain seeks to have organization and categorization and resist “meaningless” patterns, 5)emotions are critical to patterning; our brains cannot separate emotions from cognition but rather they are intertwined, 6) every brain simultaneously perceives and creates parts and wholes; educators must engage both hemispheres of the brain simultaneously, 7) learning involves my focused attention and peripheral perception; children learn from everything and educators need to provide rich learning environments, 8) learning always involves conscious and unconscious processes; we learn not just from what we are told but also what we experience, 9) we have two types of memory, spatial and sets of systems for rote learning; we have specialized memory systems which need to stimulated and educators need to consider them when designing lesson plans, 10)brain remembers best when facts are embedded in to spatial memory; learners are more successful when lessons are more dynamic , 11) learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited threats; stress can sometimes be positive to learning, and 12) each brain unique; there is no one set type of student but rather everyone will bring their own unique learning style and approach (Sonoma County, 2013).

Students today are more and more becoming digital learners. It is a simple fact that teachers cannot escape. Teacher are no longer required simply provide facts and content rather teachers are relied upon to provide their students with the ability to process the content and make it meaningful. Looking at the brain-based principle that “the search for meaning is innate”, gives a good insight of the type of learning climate teachers need to create. When teachers provide the students with exciting and meaningful ways to learn, students will innately use the digital tools they have around them to satisfy their desire for discovery and challenge. Tools such as computers, smartphones and tablets can provide the students the ability to seek out new rich sources of learning. Technology has increased our ability to gain information and it incumbent on the teachers to use this resource to better the knowledge base of their students. There are many practical ways to apply this principle in your classroom; I have often given my students internet scavenger hunts on a variety of topics. For example, during an elementary level geography lesson on world capitals, I got my students to search out facts about a list of capitals and then put together a presentation on the one capital. The students will expand on the topic by finding out unique and strange facts about capital city they have chosen.

Another principle of brain-based learning that we could apply to the topic at hand, is that “the brain understands and learns best when facts and skills are embedded in natural spatial memory”. The spatial memory is a memory system that allows for instant retrieval of experiences. Students thirst for experiences that come off the blackboard and are brought to life in the classroom. A Speak Up report conducted in 2012 found that 75% of student in the K-12 system are using educational games as a way of learning. In that same report, 29% of students have used YouTube in some fashion or another to aid them in completing their homework. Furthermore, scientists at NanYang Technological University have found that an hour of playing a video game helps improve overall cognitive abilities. In the study researchers looked at spatial memory, visual attention, the ability to filter out distractions, multiple-object tracking and multitasking. They found that each area was improved by playing games in all of the 75 participants (Patterson, 2013). We can see that students have already made the step to become digital learners and teachers need to adapt.

There are ample ways of applying this principle into the classroom, such as having students utilize their smartphones to search and download applications such as Socrative. This application has a variety of educational games they you can actually play with the entire class rather than the students playing individually. The game can be facilitated by the teacher and the results can be presented on main screen for all the students to see. In the same Speak Up report, it showed that 80% of students from grade 8 to 12 are mobile phone user; it seems to me that it only makes sense to take advantage of an opportunity to get students thinking and improving their cognitive skills. Gamification is also a way to apply another brain-based learning principle in that “the search for meaning comes through “patterning”. Games are able to provide students with a fail-safe environment in which to learn. If we look at cognitive processes through the ideas of Benjamin Bloom and his taxonomy we can see that games provide many of the elements he suggests are required for learning. Such as creating, evaluating, analysing, applying, understanding and remembering. Games such as the MineCraft provide students the opportunity to enhance their learning through a variety of activities they need to complete (Kim, 2012).

There is still a lot of debate surrounding Brain-Based Learning but it is easy to see that the principles if properly applied would be able to enhance the learning of students. If implemented along with technology then this approach could provide valuable benefits to students. Some styles like Whole Brain Learning have come under fire but I personally can see the value in researching Brain-Based Learning more and taking more opportunities to apply the principles in a classroom setting.

Brain-Based Learning Definition. (2013, August 28). The Glossary of Education Reform</i>. Retrieved June 13, 2014, from http://edglossary.org/brain-based-learning/

Fink, R. (2006). Why Jane and John Couldn't Read--And How They Learned. A New Look at Striving Readers. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

From Chalkboards to Tablets: The Emergence of the K-12 Digital Learner. (2013, June 1). Retrieved June 18, 2014, from http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/SU12-Students.pdf

Kim, P. (2012, January 1). Designing a New Learning Environment. <i>Bloom's Taxonomy of Education Technology Games and Simulations</i>. Retrieved June 18, 2014, from https://novoed.com/education/blog_posts/14665?data_type=report

Oei AC, Patterson MD (2013) Enhancing Cognition with Video Games: A Multiple Game Training Study. PLoS ONE 8(3): e58546. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0058546

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