Brain Based Learning

Hope everyone enjoys this article on Brain-Based Learning. Linda W.
What is "Brain-Based Learning"? by Lisa Chipongian
The Organ of Learning
To many, the term "brain-based learning" sounds redundant. Isn’t all learning and teaching brain-based? Advocates of brain-based teaching insist that there is a difference between "brain-compatible" education, and "brain-antagonistic" teaching practices and methods which can actually prevent learning.
In his book, Human Brain and Human Learning (1983), Leslie Hart argues that teaching without an awareness of how the brain learns is like designing a glove with no sense of what a hand looks like–its shape, how it moves. Hart pushes this analogy even further in order to drive home his primary point: if classrooms are to be places of learning, then "the organ of learning," the brain, must be understood and accommodated:
All around us are hand-compatible tools and machines and keyboards, designed to fit the hand. We are not apt to think of them in that light, because it does not occur to us that anyone would bring out some device to be used by human hands without being sure that the nature of hands was considered. A keyboard machine or musical instrument that called for eight fingers on each hand would draw instant ridicule. Yet we force millions of children into schools that have never seriously studied the nature and shape of the human brain, and which not surprisingly prove actively brain-antagonistic. (Hart 1983)
Granted, the brain is infinitely more complex than the hand. Although Hart does not deny the brain’s vast intricacy, and he admits to his own deliberate simplifications regarding the brain’s design, he argues that some knowledge, even if it is partial and simplified, can still be applied "to design brain-fitting, brain-compatible instructional settings and procedures." Such settings and procedures would emphasize "real-world" exposure. The school, in Hart’s words, would become an "exciting center where there is constant encounter with the richness and variety of the real world" as opposed to a "dreary egg crate of classrooms…almost empty of anything real one might learn from."
Page 1:
The Organ of Learning
Page 2:
Twelve Brain/Mind Learning Principles
Page 3:
Where Did the "12 Principles" Come From?


Practical Use of Brain/Mind Principles


Three Conditions for Learning
Page 4:
Real-Life Examples


Teaching and the Organ of Learning

Brain Compatible Learning and Environments

Susan Kovalik is an innovative leader in education who has had the courage to push forth with the concept of Integrated Thematic Instruction (I.T.I.) integrated with multiple intelligences, Bloom's Taxonomy, and a micro-society within the school framework-thus creating Bodybrain Compatible Learning and Environments. I hope you check out her website and the following is taken from Susan's Website. According to Kovalik's philosophy:

Overview:

Three independent areas of best knowledge and best practice form the structure of the model.
Growing Responsible Citizens1. Research on the biology of learning has given us a window on learning never before realized in the history of civilization.
Translate the biology of learning into practical application
Implement the nine bodybrain-compatible elements 2. Teaching strategies that align with the way the human brain learns have the greatest impact.
Design the physical classroom to support long-term learning
Create workable teams of students
Develop classroom management that uses agreements, procedures, Lifelong Guidelines and LIFESKILLS 3. Curriculum development by classroom teachers makes learning meaningful.
Anchor curriculum to a yearlong theme and rationale
Align district and state learning goals within the theme
Orchestrate being there experiences tied to meaningful content being there.
Reach out to the community

Click on the graphic to view a flash presentation.

The ITI model begins with an understanding of four learning principles derived from bodybrain research:Click each one for more information.

Intelligence is a function of experience

Learning is an inseparable partnership between brain and body
Emotion is the gatekeeper to learning and performance
Movement enhances learning

There are multiple intelligences or ways of solving problems and/or producing products

Learning is a two-step process:
Step one: Making meaning through pattern seeking
Step two: Developing a mental program for using what we understand and wiring it into long-term memory

Personality impacts learning and performance
For more information on these brain research concepts, check out Associate Ann Ross'sExplanation of ITI's Brain Research Concepts

Brain Compatible Learning and Environments

Brain Compatible Learning involves employing integrated instruction with an emphasis on using the multiple intelligences, Bloom's Taxonomy, and aligning your state standards in order to create and write a conceptual curriculum. Also, integrated in the ITI program is a mico-society within the school framework, and a governance structure. According to Susan Kovalik:

Integrated Thematic Instruction (ITI) is a comprehensive school improvement model designed to increase student performance and teacher satisfaction. The primary purpose of the model is to grow responsible citizens. Over the past 25 years, ITI has been implemented in thousands of schools across America, Europe and Asia.
The ITI model is a brain-compatible instructional model grounded in the biology of effective instructional strategies, and the development of conceptual curriculum.

I posted the web address to everyone. I will add more information about this wonderful model in the weeks to follow. Hope everyone enjoys.

Kathy and Josh

Thanks so much for responding to my post. I appreciate your understanding about privacy especially in our world today. While this appears to be fun, there's always that hint of caution that our private lives need to be protected. I truly believe this blog posting should not be a requirement of this class. Thanks for sharing. I'm going to try and post something about brain compatible learning and environments as this is my passion for children. Engaging children's emotions in learning can only increase student achievement. Have a great day.

Hi Everyone,
My name is Linda and this is my first blog I've ever created. However, I really don't like this, as I'm a very private person and really don't like this part of technology. Since this is a requirement for this class, I am posting this blog. Have a great day.