Image:
Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2011
Brain-based learning theory evolved from early work in the 60’s and 70’s integrating psychology
and neuroscience. Leslie Hart argued that teaching without an understanding of how the brain learns is
like designing a glove with no sense of what a hand looks like. If classrooms are to be places of learning,
then the brain must be understood and accommodated (Hart, 1983). In the early 90’s David Sousa asked
the question, isn’t all learning brain-based? (Sousa, 2010). Given birth from these ideas, Mind, Brain, and
Education Science has become the new brain-based education. Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa and Judy
Willis are two well respected voices in today’s conversation.
Want to know more? Some good optional reads:
Tokuhama-Espinosa, Tracey. Mind, Brain, and Education Science: A Comprehensive Guide to the
New Brain-based teaching, 2011. ISBN 978-0-393-70607
Willis, Judy. Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning: Insights from a Neurologist
and Classroom Teacher, 2006. ISBN 978-1-4166-030-2
Sousa, David A. Mind, Brain, and Education: Neuroscience Implications for the Classroom, 2010.
ISBN 978-1-935249-63-4
Hart, Leslie. Human Brain and Human Learning, 1983. ISBN 9780962447594
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Mind, Brain, and Education Science (Brain-based Learning)
http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxEnola-Dr-Judy-Willis-Neuros
http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Authors/Judy-Willis.aspx?id=31085086001&nvid=a18b1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqCpUgmK2YU
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211949312000075
Brain Structure
http://blogs.nature.com/boston/2012/04/03/getting-brainy-in-boston-neuroscience-news-andtwitter-facbook-lists
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/human-biology/v/anatomy-of-a-neuron
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/human-biology/v/neuronal-synapses--chemical
Immunity and Learning
http://discovermagazine.com/2013/march/18-immunity-intelligence#.USOkqmcouB6
Mindset
Dweck, Carol. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, 2007. ISBN
http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxEnola-Dr-Judy-Willis-Neuros
Mirror Neurons
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/mirror-neurons.html
Neuroplasticity
http://www.brainfacts.org/Sensing-Thinking-Behaving/Learning-andMemory/Articles/2011/Neuroplasticity
http://www.brainfacts.org/Sensing-Thinking-Behaving/Learning-andMemory/Articles/2011/Neuroplasticity-and-Learning
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