Brain-Based Learning and Teaching

Keywords: left brain, right brain, brain, hemisphere, learning styles, brain dominance, teaching style, formal education, brain-based learning

In the article, “Building a Better Brain is within Every Student’s Power” author Judy Willis states that when people empower themselves with a basic understanding of how their brain learns and remember it gives them the most potent keys to success in school, careers, relationships, and every other aspect of their lives. Many things help the brain learn like influences on intelligence, emotional state, a positive emotional state, incremental progress, and knowing how to construct patterns.

1. Brain Based Research: What does this tell us about young children 's brains and how they best learn? What ideas do teachers of young children need to keep in mind?

I read the article, “Secrets of the Brain”, found in the February 2014 issue of National Geographic written by Carl Zimmer. I chose this subject because I have been fascinated with the brain and how it works. The research of the brain has been ongoing for many centuries now. The history in this article is interesting. It explained how scientists used to understand the brain and its inner workings. For example, “in the ancient world physicians believed that the brain was made of phlegm. Aristotle looked on it as a refrigerator, cooling of the fiery heart. From his time through the Renaissance, anatomists declared with great authority that our perceptions, emotions, reasoning, and actions were all the result of “animal spirits”—mysterious, unknowable vapors that swirled through cavities in our head and traveled through our bodies.” (Zimmer, p. 38)

The advocates of brain-based education support a varied group of educational practices and approaches, and they try to base claims about important practice in recently found facts about the human brain. They dispute that there has been remarkable new outcomes associated with the development and organization of the human brain and this work can enlighten educational practice in significant ways. (“Brain-Based Education”).

BrainConnection.com is dedicated to providing accessible, high-quality information about how the brain works and how people learn. Many discoveries are being made in areas that relate to the human brain, including language, memory, behavior, and aging, as well as illness and injury. We believe that access to this information can provide practical tools for teaching and learning as well as valuable insights into almost every aspect of our daily

It's fascinating that humankind has had an easier time entering outer space than trying to develop a complete understanding of the human brain; and this paucity of information is what drove me to pursue the field of psychology, the fact that resting in my head is one of the world's most ironic enigmas. How can we know so little about the thing that makes us who we are? On the first day of my AP psychology course, my teacher informed us that “In this class you may be left with more questions than answers, and if you can't handle that, this may not be the class for you.” And when he said that, it was clear to that I was in the right place. You see, a riddle is no fun if the solution is obvious.

An ignorant thing to say is “forget the old and focus on the new.” Civilization has set forth the belief that when something is old and non-civilized, then it has no use. Nowadays, human beings are looking for modern and industrialized ways to teach themselves or get information into the brain without focusing on the brain itself. It is true that the human brain has greatly evolved to the point where human beings can produce all kinds of machines, but at the same time, they still rely on the primitive brain to make basic decisions like eating or sleeping. The primitive brain is at the lowest part of the brain, just above the spinal cord, and its functions is to regulate vital body functions such respiration and it also sends sensory information

Goals and Missions. The website states “we offer a wide variety of age-appropriate child care programs designed to help your child's physical, cognitive and emotional development”. This is a private school that offers a program to children between six weeks and twelve years old. This school uses a curriculum named Brain Waves Exclusive Curriculum. According to the website, “the philosophy is “Hug First, Then Teach” as we understand that secure and safe emotional attachment is vital for the growth and development of your child’s brain”. The classroom has many stimulating materials for exploration and to develop sensory experiences.

Learning has its challenges, but in the end, anyone can get an education. It all depends on how much work they are willing to put into it. They have to put forth the effort and study. Everyone has a different way of learning and some people will give up if they’re not understanding the lesson easily. But, if they really want to explore more of a subject they will put in the effort to get where they want.

This weeks reading discussed the brain and many complicated factors that go along with it. The brain has been an important area of study for decades and there are many different perspectives when it comes to how it works. Brain imaging, like what is discussed in the reading provided by Dr. Gordon Rose entitled "Postcards From the Brain" has shown us more information about how the brain works, but it has also led to many perspectives related to how consciousness works, and hard versus easy problems in the brain. It debates whether hard problems even exist. Furthermore, the reading provided, also describes language in a baby's brain, how mimicry works, and disorders throughout human development. These sections all involve slightly different perspectives when it comes to how our mind works.

Before this psychology class I never really thought about how our brain works and the different components that it controlled. I just kind of figured it was there and it did things automatically beyond my control. I knew that your brain in the key component of your body that made everything function and controlled every little detail of our bodies. The brain is something that’s always been just the brain to me, there was no real detail beyond that. I never really gone in depth with the different things that it controls and how it works. Memory, sleep, learning, emotions, etc. has always been just words that I knew the basics of.

The science of neurobiology and technology of brain-imaging are rapidly advancing the understanding of cognition: how people think and learn. Brain-imaging techniques allow access into the mysterious mechanisms of the brain, and it is now possible to observe what occurs in the brain “as it performs tasks such as solving a math problem, reading a book, or improvising a melody” (Limb). This neurobiological research also indicates that, in the brain, emotion and intelligence are intricately synchronized processes (“Social-Emotional”). Brain-based learning programs apply this principle of simultaneous cognitive and social-emotional development by emphasizing how the brain learns innately, and are based on what is currently known about the

Future of the Mind gives a tour of the research and latest breakthroughs in neuroscience and educates

alertness in their classroom atmosphere, which means that students feel a low threat with a very high challenging state of mind. Secondly, an orchestrated immersion or a multiple, complex, and authentic experience should be felt by students in the class. Lastly, students should be in a state of active processing, which is, making meaning through experience processing. (http://www.eduscapes.com)