26 July 2011
Brain-Based Learning
Brain-based learning is an area of educational psychology which directly addresses the impact of prior experiences, interests and thought processes on learning. New evidence has been found to demonstrate that the student’s learning takes place best when the learning is associated with prior learning or experiences (Hardiman, 2001, p52). In practice, this means the assimilation of external experience in learning – one school discussed in connection with this idea is Roland Park, an elementary/middle school in Baltimore; they encourage children to experience emotions whilst learning in order to better enhance their long-term memory of the lesson (Hardiman, 2001, p53). Brain-based learning practically utilises experiences, memories and prior learning in order to augment new learning and to help the brain manage it more effectively by adding it to existing schema and not needing to create brand new ones. In short, it is an idea designed to target children’s learning specifically but could also be used for adult learning just as well. Brain-based learning is a significant way of improving the retention of information in children.
The theory works on a strong, factual basis: the limbic system, which is the brain’s emotional centre, in connected by neural pathways to the frontal lobes which play a big part in the learning process, and in connection to that, it has been shown that when an individual is under stress, their brain produces chemicals which can negatively affect memory and learning (Hardiman, 2001, p52-3). Therefore, the recommendation for this to become an effective and useful piece of information, is to create a learning environment in which the students feel safe, happy and content whilst encouraging them to associate good emotional memories with their learning in order to create the perfect circumstances for the student to learn.
In brain-based learning, there are a number of significant factors which have a bearing on how successfully learning takes place. Meaningful learning is a concept which discusses the importance of how a student engages with the subject matter – activities involving the student making decisions, investigating, conducting experiments and solving real-world problems (Hardiman, 2001, p54) and by making an activity more meaningful, we engage the part of our brain called the ‘hippocampus’ which help to decide which information is worth retaining or not (Jensen, 2007, p34). Background knowledge must also be utilised in new learning – if the student already has some prior learning, it means that new knowledge is assimilated more easily and is put to use more quickly (Hardiman, 2001, p53). However, in order for this to work well, the teacher must make some assumptions (or at best, educated guesses) about the standard and extent of background knowledge in their students for it to be truly successful (Blakemore & Frith, 2005, p149) otherwise the learning could be pitched at too high a level for the student. The student will also experience different levels of processing which require them to examine information more deeply for it to be processed, retained and extended upon at a later date (Hardiman, 2001, p54). The development of neural connections is concerned with prioritising those which are important and needed – “new learning means opening and setting neural connections for important events and closing others that are no longer important” (Blakemore & Frith, 2005, p31) implying that the more important the event (i.e. the more emotionally engaged the student is with it) then the more likely the brain will retain the information for future use. The final two key areas of relevance and activating prior knowledge is largely down to the skill of the teacher – if earlier schema are activated then the new knowledge will be assimilated easily, particularly if the two events are relevant to one another.
When planning a lesson, the teacher must attempt to consider the past experiences, learning and the specific interests of their students. It is important that this is done so that the new information is learned in a context with is already familiar to the student which allows the new learning to be assimilated more efficiently ready for it to be used quickly and properly (Hardiman, 2001, p53). The science behind this indicates that basically, learning happens when neural connectors grow and develop. They do this when they are stimulated by electricity running through them and nerve cells, as well as the release of chemicals “discharged into the synapse between neighbouring cells” – in short, the more times that a neural connection is ‘trail blazed’ then the more embedded the learning becomes in the consciousness of the student (Hardiman, 2001, p53). Therefore, it is vitally important that when a teacher is planning a lesson, they spend time considering prior learning and experiences which will enable the student more deeply assimilate the newer knowledge.
Brain-based learning is designed to better improve the retention of information in students’ minds. The brain is an amazing piece of equipment which, when stimulated correctly, allows for the efficient and prolific acquisition of knowledge. For students – particularly younger ones – the assimilation of new knowledge with old experiences is an effective way of quickly enhancing learning.
References
Blakemore, S-J. & Frith, U. (2005). The learning brain: lessons for education. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Hardiman, M.M. (2001). Connecting Brain Research with Dimensions of Learning. Educational Leadership, pp.52-55.
Jensen, E. (2007). Introduction to Brain-Compatible Learning. California: Corwin Press.
