I don’t want to spend a lot of time telling you what you may already know about Brain-Based Learning. There are many sites on the Internet pertaining to this subject. What I will do is give you some suggested strategies that you can use right now in your classroom.

Thanks to countless educators, neuroscientists, psychologists, and cognitive scientists, we now have at our fingertips definitive information about the brain and the learning process. We as teachers must now transform school by cultivating a brain-friendly classroom. Many teachers may already use this type of learning in their classrooms and not even know it. The most essential ingredient is to develop an environment that compliments brain-based learning is for educators to genuinely understand and apply the knowledge from recent research.

Only after understanding how the brain works can educators proceed with the following steps to design a challenging and intellectually stimulating classroom that is conductive to brain-based learning. As a teacher, you need to do the following:

Create a positive environment. An environment where students feel emotionally secure and physically safe so that meaningful learning can occur.

Eliminate mental cobwebs. Before beginning each lesson or activity the teacher needs to prepare student’s brains to receive new data. Specific exercises can increase the brain’s oxygen level, release targeted neurotransmitters that are essential for learning and clear the mind of extraneous information. Laughter and purposeful movement is a good start no matter the student’s ages.

Provide Feedback. Students need chances for dialogue, or reflective feedback. It is important in this activity to allow students to connect new information to their previous experience. Classroom games and movement can foster feedback. Ball tossing can be used for Q & A. You throw the ball after a question when the student catches it they give you the answer.

Use the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Remember every child can learn but not in the same way. Some may learn visually (spatially), some kinesthetically (bodily), some interpersonally, some intrapersonally, some musically (rhythmically), some in a naturalistic way, and some may learn logically (or mathematically). They might learn better while sitting in natural lighting, or in a darker room, with or without music, sitting on the floor or even lying down. This is hard to do for some of the more traditional teachers who like all students sitting in desks and learning in the exact same way. Brain-based research proves that this doesn’t always work for all children.

Maximum learning takes place when the brain receives the following: fresh water, lots of oxygen, protein with fatty acids and physical and mental exercise. This means the students should have water bottles that they can drink out of. Yes, at first they will be going to the bathroom frequently until their body gets used to it, but eventually the benefits will out way this problem. Also, they should have frequent brain breaks and have high protein snacks at their disposal such as peanuts.

Play classical music. Softly played in the background this can both stimulate neurons and enhance attention and calmness.

Understanding brain-based research has the potential to revolutionize education by focusing on what really matters; student learning and how the brain processes, stores, and retrieves information. If our aim is to encourage continuous learners who possess the necessary skills and knowledge to be productive citizens in the 21st Century, then educators must make use of this vital information; our children deserve nothing less.

Mrs. Degenaar

Elementary Special Education Teacher