Brain-Based Learning

BRAIN-BASED LEARNING

There are some principles that drive learning. Every human being is driven to search for meaning. We all create patterns from our environment, and we all learn to some extent through interaction with others. Because ours is a social brain, it's important to build authentic relationships in the classroom and beyond. Complex learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat. We want to deeply engage learners with their purposes, values, and interests (Caine in D'Arcangelo, 1998, pp. 23-24).

The brain is the center for learning. Everyone knows that. The brain is also very social. It wants to (typically) interact with other brains. It is important, therefore, that educators understand the way the brain functions as a brain and the manner in which the brain accesses and uses the diverse bits and pieces of information that it encounters.

The brain is always active. It is constantly accessing information and interpreting its environment. The brain is continuously interacting with its surroundings to "learn" how to function appropriately in the environment in which it finds itself. The brain takes in information through the senses (sight, smell, touch, taste, sound) and translates that information into a response. Sometimes the response is appropriate; sometimes the response is inappropriate.

The brain never sleeps, but it needs rest. It rests, but does not "sleep;" although at times, it goes into deep rest (or sleep).

There are three main parts to the brain (the cerebrum, the cerebellum and the brain stem) which are divided into two hemispheres connected by a bridge called the corpus callosum. The cerebrum is the cognitive brain. The cerebellum is the emotional brain. The cerebrum is where thinking and learning take place. The cerebellum (in the amgydala and hippocampus) is where memory (long term and short term) is stored and from which our emotional responses (anger, fear, sorrow, love) come. The brain stem provides an automatic "housekeeping" function. The brain stem keeps the heart beating, tells the body to breathe, regulates cold and warm, controls voice.

The cerebral hemisphere is divided into the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere. The left hemisphere helps us remember facts; the right hemisphere puts meaning to those facts. The left hemisphere is analytical and logical. It likes to deal with abstract information. The right hemisphere is random and global. It likes information to be specific.

Basically, the brain is an oblong organ that weighs about three pounds. It has an obvious fissure down the center that spearates it into two hemispheres. Its covering, a wrinkled, one-quarter-inch-thick blanket of cells, is called the cerebral cortex, and it is divided into lobes, each of which performs many different functions. In the back of the brain, the occipital lobes process visual stimuli. On the sides near the ears, the temporal lobes process auditory stimuli. Up a little higher and toward the back of the brain are the parietal lobes where interpretation and integration of sensory stimuli occur. Just behind your forehead are the frontal lobes where higher-level thinking, problem solving, and planning for the futrue occur. Somewhere in this entire cerebral cortex lies your ability to be consciously aware of what you're thinking and doing. Researchers don't yet know what consciousness is; it's a current focus of memory research (Wolfe in D'Arcangelo, 1998, p. 21.

A key to remember when thinking about the brain is that each brain is unique. Because of that uniqueness it processes information in ways that makes sense to itself. What makes sense to one brain, may not make sense to another brain, at least not in the same way.

The brain's uniqueness is central to understanding brain-based learning. Each brain takes in the same information and then processes that information randomly, i.e., in a way that makes sense to that brain, and only that brain. Each brain constructs information that it takes in from its environment in a way that makes sense to that brain only. The curriculum of a "brain-based" classroom, then, should be thematic and integrated with a great deal of interaction with others.

There is much written about the brain and how it functions. Some of the foremost writers are Richard Restak, Leslie Hart, Geoffrey and Renate Caine, Howard Gardner, Eric Jensen, Robert Sylwester, Paul MacLean, Pat Wolfe, Marian Diamond. Articles and books by these writers can be found in the resources folder. Also, the following web sites are excellent resources about the brain:

The Brain:
http://members.aol.com/Rss51540/brain.html

Tools for Teachers:
http://www.geocities.com/educationplace/theory.htm

Geoffrey and Renate Caine:
http://www.cainelearning.com

Reference:

D'Arcangelo, M. (1998). The brains behind the brain. Educational Leadership, 56 (3), pp. 20-25.