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Conclusions: The "Brain-based Learner"
Sonoma County Department of Education
Sonoma County Department of Education
The "brain-based learner" downshifts under threat, learns via peripheral events, has a unique brain, learns via conscious and unconscious processes, has various types of memory, and learns best when content is embedded in experience. This is the person who is in our classrooms.
If this is true, what is learning? We came up with the notion that learning is the expansion of natural knowledge. We wanted to make the point that we are always expanding from what we know. Natural knowledge is what we use to make sense of our lives. It is what we know deeply and meaningfully. Learning as the expansion of natural knowledge means not just information that we memorize; it means something we can use.
Then we asked, "What is involved?" We looked at meaning because we saw meaning as the most critical issue in learning. There are three elements: surface knowledge consists of information and procedures. This is what education has been pretty much limited to. If we have enough of this stuff put into the learner, the learner will somehow process it and retain it. Deep meaning includes the drives, purposes, values and beliefs of the learner -- their ways of patterning and seeing the world. When this "deep meaning" connects with "surface knowledge," you have what we call felt meaning, which is this "Aha!" experience that we now define as learning.
Real learning as seen from the point of view of the brain in operation is to see the hemispheres synchronize. The brain waves synchronize at that aha! moment: what I am feeling, what I am thinking, what is my hypothesis -- all this connects with the information and I say, "Ah, I get it."
This is what is involved in the expansion of natural knowledge. It's ok for the child to memorize certain things, but until that connects with their meaning and their predisposition, the real shift in learning doesn't happen. The child can study all kinds of things about science, but until they make sense, it is memorized stuff and you really can't generalize from there to other experiences.
Then we looked at what has to happen in the learning environment, in the classroom, for the expansion of natural knowledge to take place. How do you maximize the conditions for learning? We identified three key factors: immersion in complex experiences; low threat/high challenge; and active processing.
Orchestrated immersion in complex experiences means that I, as a teacher, sit down ahead of time and work out the lesson. I have to think about it beforehand and put together the materials in order to create the kind of natural learning environment that allows my students to make the most of the connections and construct their own meanings. I also prepare the instructions beforehand so I will not interfere with the group. Once I do that, the lesson takes care of itself and feels natural. Why is it "complex"? Complex means that they go through all kinds of levels. In terms of the brain principles, students' emotions are involved as they remember something; they are patterning in their own way; they are making multiple connections. So "complex experiences" means that they are interacting, the learning is activity-oriented; they are globally searching for meaning and using the library for resources. This is a different way of teaching.
The other thing that is needed in order to make maximum use of the brain is what we relaxed alertness. There is low threat involved in the activity. You don't announce that a test will follow. You don't have to make a list which will be right or wrong. The results of the activity are open-ended, whatever you come up with is valuable. But just removing the threat is not good enough; you must also provide a challenge.
Active processing is metacognition -- sitting back and saying, "What did I learn and how did I learn that? What other connections are there? How else can I do this?" This is very important to consolidating learning, expanding on it and making additional connections. This is what the critical thinking advocates are developing. We go beyond that to include reflection and analyzing interpersonal issues as well.
There is no one way to do Brain-Based Instruction. There are rules, however. The very nature of teaching for the expansion of natural knowledge means that the learner is at the center of any teaching that makes genuine connections.
In the years to come, all of us -- teachers, researchers, administrators, parents, and communities -- will have to alter our view of learning. This means going beyond our own experiences as learners in school and literally "inventing" or orchestrating learning environments that finally capitalize on our brains' immense capacity to learn.
If this is true, what is learning? We came up with the notion that learning is the expansion of natural knowledge. We wanted to make the point that we are always expanding from what we know. Natural knowledge is what we use to make sense of our lives. It is what we know deeply and meaningfully. Learning as the expansion of natural knowledge means not just information that we memorize; it means something we can use.
Then we asked, "What is involved?" We looked at meaning because we saw meaning as the most critical issue in learning. There are three elements: surface knowledge consists of information and procedures. This is what education has been pretty much limited to. If we have enough of this stuff put into the learner, the learner will somehow process it and retain it. Deep meaning includes the drives, purposes, values and beliefs of the learner -- their ways of patterning and seeing the world. When this "deep meaning" connects with "surface knowledge," you have what we call felt meaning, which is this "Aha!" experience that we now define as learning.Real learning as seen from the point of view of the brain in operation is to see the hemispheres synchronize. The brain waves synchronize at that aha! moment: what I am feeling, what I am thinking, what is my hypothesis -- all this connects with the information and I say, "Ah, I get it."
This is what is involved in the expansion of natural knowledge. It's ok for the child to memorize certain things, but until that connects with their meaning and their predisposition, the real shift in learning doesn't happen. The child can study all kinds of things about science, but until they make sense, it is memorized stuff and you really can't generalize from there to other experiences.Then we looked at what has to happen in the learning environment, in the classroom, for the expansion of natural knowledge to take place. How do you maximize the conditions for learning? We identified three key factors: immersion in complex experiences; low threat/high challenge; and active processing.
Orchestrated immersion in complex experiences means that I, as a teacher, sit down ahead of time and work out the lesson. I have to think about it beforehand and put together the materials in order to create the kind of natural learning environment that allows my students to make the most of the connections and construct their own meanings. I also prepare the instructions beforehand so I will not interfere with the group. Once I do that, the lesson takes care of itself and feels natural. Why is it "complex"? Complex means that they go through all kinds of levels. In terms of the brain principles, students' emotions are involved as they remember something; they are patterning in their own way; they are making multiple connections. So "complex experiences" means that they are interacting, the learning is activity-oriented; they are globally searching for meaning and using the library for resources. This is a different way of teaching.The other thing that is needed in order to make maximum use of the brain is what we relaxed alertness. There is low threat involved in the activity. You don't announce that a test will follow. You don't have to make a list which will be right or wrong. The results of the activity are open-ended, whatever you come up with is valuable. But just removing the threat is not good enough; you must also provide a challenge.
Active processing is metacognition -- sitting back and saying, "What did I learn and how did I learn that? What other connections are there? How else can I do this?" This is very important to consolidating learning, expanding on it and making additional connections. This is what the critical thinking advocates are developing. We go beyond that to include reflection and analyzing interpersonal issues as well.There is no one way to do Brain-Based Instruction. There are rules, however. The very nature of teaching for the expansion of natural knowledge means that the learner is at the center of any teaching that makes genuine connections.
In the years to come, all of us -- teachers, researchers, administrators, parents, and communities -- will have to alter our view of learning. This means going beyond our own experiences as learners in school and literally "inventing" or orchestrating learning environments that finally capitalize on our brains' immense capacity to learn. "http://www.talkingpage.org/artic011.html"
