Brain-Based Learning
Multiple Learners
• Multiple intelligences
– Could do another workshop on that controversy
entirely
– Sometimes tied to brain-based learning, but not
always
So What is it?
• Seems to be whatever
• There are some common themes
Origins
• Hart (1983). Human Brain and Human
Learning
• Caine and Caine (1991) Making Connections:
Teaching and the Human Brain
Common Themes
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Glucose levels
Synaptogenesis
Safety (importance of emotions)
The key is establishing patterns
– The brain wants to make sense of patterns
• Everyone is different
Edutopia’s Six Tips
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Create a “safe climate” for learning
Encourage a growth mind-set
Emphasize feedback
Get bodies and brains in gear
Start early
Embrace the power of novelty
Brain-Based Learning Practices
• Just about everything
– From candy to color
• Focused on K-12, though we do hear about it
in higher ed.
• Team building activities; rituals especially the
physical
• High energy, multimedia rich classrooms
• Students focus on “real” problems
• Student customization and focus of curriculum
So what’s the problem?
• Mix of practical, theoretical, etc.
Focus on Feelings
• Concern that students are coddled
• Need to for positive emotions outweighs rigor
• Some “Brain-based” learners do suggest a
balance (e.g. “Relaxed alertness”)
Example
• “The Instructor, rather than evaluating for
correctness, provides feedback (an important
distinction) on content and form, and answer
questions like ‘How does this work make me
feel?’ rather than ‘Does this work say what I
want it to say?”
Keto, A. (2005). Integrating Brain-Based Learning in the College Composition
Classroom
Focus on multimedia
• Clark’s grocery truck
• Hard to separate medium and method
• Time taken to develop
Clark, R. (1994). Media will never influence learning. Educational Technology
Research and Development 42(2), 21-29. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/30218684
Cognitive load
• The task of negotiating and exploring a
domain is expensive
– In other words, students focus more on the
logistics than the content
• Experience does not give concepts meaning, if
anything ‘concepts give experience meaning’”
Financial motive
• For-profit companies like to use “Brain-based”
• “There are no formal guidelines to which
researchers, curriculum publishers, or private
educational consultants must adhere when
they make claims about brain-based
educational strategies.” – Judy Willis M.D.
Brain chemistry unknowns
• Correlation between synapse density and
glucose level established
– But that doesn’t imply a casual inference
Synaptogenesis
• Brain has been shown to be flexible
– Not necessarily a small window
Goswami, U. (2006). Neuroscience and education: from research to practice?.Nature
Reviews Neuroscience, 7(5), 406-413.
Neural density
• Exact relationship between neural density is
not understood
• Neural density may not tie to particular
learning outcomes
• We know which parts of the brain are active
during learning but not the interaction
– Still true but we have more precise images
Bruer (1997). Education and the Brain: A Bridge Too Far. Educational Researcher 26(8),
4-16
Which leads us to the problem…
• “People have been sold a bill of goods that
there is enough here to make curricular
decisions.” – Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek, Temple
University
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2007/10/13/the-case-for-chutes-andladders.html
In search of…
Results of
neuroscience
Elvis
Generalized practice
• “…the current fashion for brain-based
learning, in which value-laden claims about
learning are grounded in neurophysiology.”
Davis, A. (2004). The credentials of brain‐based learning. Journal of Philosophy of
Education, 38(1), 21-36.
Example
• Stress shown to affect later learning
development
• So what does that mean for the classroom?
Another Example
Is there anything there?
• Some of the things we encourage are
promoted by “brain-based” learning
Active learning
• Students doing more than rote learning when
possible
Real Problems
• “Engaged” learning
Encouraging students
• “Threat” vs. “Challenge”
Basic needs
• Who is going to argue against eating right?
Conclusion
• Research is interesting but there is a gap
between conclusions and what becomes
practices
• Those which are the safest practices have
been suggested without brain ties
What’s the solution?
• Tommerdahl, J. (2010). A model for bridging
the gap between neuroscience and
education. Oxford Review of Education, 36(1),
97-109.
Questions or comments?