On our Professional Day, the entire faculty of St. Francis Prep put their heads together and identified the techniques we use that are compatible with Brain research. What follows is a brief summary of some of the activities we believe promote Brain Based Learning in our classrooms.

What does this principle mean? The brain’s priority is always survival Threat throws the brain into survival mode at the expense of developing higher order thinking skills Techniques: Avoid any circumstances that will embarrass a student Do not set unrealistic deadlines Do not compare one student with another

Faculty Suggestions:

• Greet students at the door by name
• Ask if they are feeling better when they present an absence pass
• Don’t call on a student because you know that he doesn't know the answer
• Post agenda for the day so that the students will know exactly what is expected of them
• In Foreign Language class, allow for a broad spectrum of mistakes as long as there is communication
• Divide long-term projects into smaller segments—this will make meeting deadlines easier and develop a sense of responsibility.
• Create a "comfort zone" for students-- accept more mistakes when they begin to learn a skill
• Teach students time management skills
• Use the teacher’s personal experiences to show how adults avoid stress
  
  
  
  

What does this principle mean? Emotions drive our attention, health, learning, meaning, memory and survival. While excessive emotions can impair rational thinking, the absence of emotions and feeling is equally damaging to the functions of reasoning and rationality Positive emotions create an excitement about and love of learning Techniques: Storytelling Projects which can be made unique to each child Games which involve positive competition Material discovered by solving a mystery

Faculty Suggestions:

• Have students use skits to depict learned events
• Journal writing and reflective essays after lessons are good ways to express emotions
• "Family Feud," "Jeopardy," and "Baseball" games can be used to review a unit
• Use group contests where responsibility is shared
• Simple praise for class participation produces good feelings
• When studying such things as treaties, bills of rights, etc., have students write their own documents. This generally results in exchange of emotions as students agree/disagree with documents written.
• Show the students the most difficult problem of the unit. Tell them, "We will be able to solve this. Maybe not right now, but we will use the knowledge we already have along with what we will learn in the next few days. We will be able to solve this."
• Challenge the students to show enthusiasm; they pick up on your energy.
  
  
  
  

What does this principle mean? The brain does not store memories; it recreates them. We do not have "memory banks." Some pathways are more easily retrievable Retrieval is better in contextual, episodic, and event-oriented situations. Use of motor learning, location changes and music are additional options Memory pathways are divided into the "explicit" and "implicit." Explicit: Semantic (words, symbols, abstractions, textbooks) and Episodic (locations, events, circumstances). Implicit: Procedural (physical skills; bicycle-riding, hands-on learning) and Reflexive (non-conscious learning, emotional, conditional responses, i.e. "hot stove effect"). Techniques: Attach a strong emotion to the learning of material Introduce short modules of learning instead of long ones Act out learning in a skit or an engaging role-play Add more "What’s in it for me?" to increase the incentives for learners Provide learners with choices

Faculty Suggestions:

• Real life simulations are especially useful in statistics. Allow students to actually perform the tasks.
• Music and videos aid memory—play music during certain skills lessons. Show video to review material
• Have students translate modern songs from the target language to English and analyze the differences
• Music, period oriented or topical, played while doing seat work creates atmosphere
• Make up lyrics to a familiar song to aid in remembering facts from unit
• Museum visits allow for first hand knowledge of art, artifacts, etc.
• Have students keep a journal-interactive notebook. One side class notes, opposite page student reflections
• After a debate, have students summarize debate and hand in reflections
• Present real court cases to students, withholding the final decision. Let students discuss the facts of the case and come to a decision; then give the actual outcome.
  
  
  
  

What does this principle mean?

• Intelligence is the ability to elicit and construct useful and meaningful patterns
• The brain has innate hunger for meaning. It creates this meaning through patterns, associations, connections, similarity, and differences
• Raw data initially cause stress until the brain can find a "place" for it
• The brain wants the big picture

Techniques: Expose students to upcoming material far in advance of beginning it; use previews, outlines, mind maps Give a global overview of all the new material before beginning individual parts. Have students create outlines and maps of material Give students time for reflection at the end of a class and a unit; closure is important Know students’ prior knowledge; then connect new material to already-learned material Teach students how to think; the brain will do what it must to survive and find meaning

Faculty Suggestions:

• Review previous day’s work at beginning of class
• Give groups different types of word problems with more than one way to solve
• Give new problems that are similar to problems covered earlier
• In music class, when introducing movements from new pieces, the teacher should discuss the composer, other works and a sense of the full piece.
• Demonstrate connections between classical and contemporary pieces of art and music
• Have students find a "modern" or "past" correlation to events being covered.
• Brainstorm the definitions of words
• As soon as current topic is tested, hand out outline and list of terms for the next topic (previewing)
  
  
  

What does this principle mean? Individuals learn as a single, integrated organism. Mind, emotions, and anatomy all come into play during learning All learning is dependent upon the body’s physiological state. Movement, nutrition, attention cycles, hormone levels, and metabolic activity all have a modulating effect on learning Techniques: Orchestrate low-and high-energy levels. Constant lecture does not provide for enough down time Help learners understand the relationship between nutrition and learning and memory. Shorten required attention time Increase choice in learning Boost relevance, choice, and engagement Utilize more implicit learning through the use of such things as posters, music, and projects Use cross laterals to wake up the brain

Faculty Suggestions:

• Give two to five minute breaks for every twenty minutes of work time
• Have students move about as they work on various projects
• Allow students to get up and get their own materials
• Students can construct their own musical instruments
• Lots of board work to move students around
• Draw free-hand maps on board from memory
• Have girls stand on chair to demonstrate "women on a pedestal" concept in medieval times
• Demonstrate different battle formations using students as soldiers
• Get students up and do jumping jacks
• Use contests which require changing locations in the classroom
  
  
  

What does this principle mean?

• Meaning is more critical to the brain than information
• The brain wants to find a place for and connection with new material
• Meaning is generated through patterns, emotions, and relevance
• When faced with relevant and changing survival conditions (real or imagined), the brain will learn optimally

Techniques: Connect new material to already-learned material. Build relevance into lessons: connect meaning to students’ lives Use examples to illustrate material from students’ lives and what they know Tell stories with personal meaning—for the students and you.

Faculty Suggestions:

• Relate your subject to other subjects, e.g. how math and English are related
• Use magazines and newspapers to switch from a text or workbook
• During art class, use music and literature to connect with the visual element
• Storytelling holds interest and conveys "big picture" --puts material in context
• Brainstorm at beginning of topic to elicit already known facts
  
  
  

Principle: The Social Brain

What does this principle mean?

• Intelligence is valued in the context of the society in which we live
• The human brain is programmed to develop better in concert with others
• Our brain has evolved to use language as our primary means of communication
• Communicating ideas, concepts, etc., to others helps stimulate many areas in the brain, including memory. (Teaching something is the best way to learn.)

Techniques: Let students work in groups, teams, pairs Allow students to explain and teach concepts to others Brainstorming encourages all to participate, share and discuss ideas Use cooperative learning to foster social as well as academic skills through face to face student interaction Introduce challenging skills or material that encompasses more than one right answer. Let students debate—defend the merits of all answers Promote individual accountability by giving students roles and responsibilities within the group Encourage groups to come up with a consensus statement at the end of a lesson

Faculty Suggestions:

• Have groups write their own word problems
• In physical education classes, pair students to discuss rules and develop strategy
• Emphasize reciprocal teaching techniques among students
• In foreign language classes, conversations should be held in groups with a situation or question given to create dialog
• Use group quizzes to review material learned in a video
• Set up groups heterogeneously. Have more advanced students tutor other students within the group
• Group roles such as leader and recorder should rotate every exercise
• Do essays in groups; give each student in the group a part of the essay. Group must present the final product
• Give team tests as a review