The Case for Brain

Based Learning in the

Classroom
How the Brain Sets the Stage for
Student Learning and Motivation
EED 681
Classroom Management
Professor Susan Belgrad
 “Think of the children in your life
and imagine what they might
become one day--doctor, teacher,
astronaut, father, engineer,
caregiver, farmer, mother. The
world is open to each child, and
teachers, parents and other caring
adults hold the keys to opening the
doors of learning and growth for
children.”
“Let it be yours to give them
bread;
Mine, to give them
themselves.”

W. F. Froebel
Parents, Caregivers and
Teachers Influence
Children’s Learning and
Attitudes about Learning
Experience and stimulation shape our
brains by creating patterns of thinking,
says Dr Schor. "The unique way in which
each of us solves problems, interprets
information, and responds to the
environment follows the patterns
established early with guidance from our
primary caregivers," he says.
 Influencing the child’s
quest for knowledge
And those patterns of thinking determine
our social and emotional makeup as well as
our intellectual growth and goals to achieve,
according to psychologist Carol Dweck. This
discovery is possibly one of the most
significant and exciting aspects of recent
cognitive research. "Just as we use certain
patterns of thinking to decipher words on a
page, we use certain patterns of thinking to
interpret social circumstances and to regulate
our emotions as well," he says.
Adults Make the Difference in
Every Child’s Life Outlook and
Life Chances!!
The caregivers and educators who
affect children from the outset of life do so
in helping them create their life
mindset."What's new is the notion that the
way in which we interpret social situations
and relate to others is established in
patterns of thought and in the structure of
our brains as well." Dr. Schor
 Motivation Depends on
Neurobiology!
Neurobiologists have discovered a biological
basis for the widely held notion that a loving,
secure, stimulating environment fosters
healthy development, while a chronically
neglectful, physically damaging, or
emotionally abusive environment can produce
significant, lasting harm. The brain becomes
conditioned, via neuronal connections
established during the early years of
supportive or negative experiences, to
respond according to certain patterns.
Cortisol in the Child’s Brain
Makes a Big Difference in
Learning and Behavior
Chemical levels of cortisol in the brain and
blood help determine how a child will respond
to challenges in the environment. In this way,
chronic stress, including the chronic stress
encountered by a child in a stressful,
neglectful or abusive environment, can impair
brain development. Research has found that
children with chronically high levels of cortisol
experience more cognitive, motor, and social
delays than other children.
Nature and Nurture Make a
Difference in a Child’s Life
"Early, frequent, and intense
stress tunes the brain to set stress
regulation mechanisms at high
levels," says Dr Lally. "This often
results in a child operating in a
persisting fear state." Such a child
may act more aggressively to
environmental stress, and may be
less able to modulate that response.
 What students in your
classroom need from
you . . .
Because "learning takes place
within the context of relationships.
The primary relationships—parents,
caregvers and teachers have to be
good ones."

“First I love them, then I teach

them!”
 What students in your
classroom need from you . . .
A good relationship must have certain
key ingredients, Dr Lally believes. "The
most important thing caregivers can do for
children is to provide nurturance, support,
security, and predictability," he says.
"Those four things decrease the secretion
of cortisol, and they can even compensate
for abuse and neglect. Children need
relationships with one or two or three
people they can depend on over time."
Opening the Windows of Learning
- an Enriched Learning
Environment
A brain based learning environment
is the second cornerstone of a child's
continuing brain development in
childhood. Teachers can do a
number of things to open the
windows of learning for children..
 Some key ideas of brain
based teaching practice are

Children need simple, hands-on

(minds-on) experiences for their brains
to develop. This means that all subject
area lessons need to be led in such a
way that a variety of learning
modalities are stimulated and engaged!
 Repetition Promotes
Learning
Children learn through repetition. Repetition of
an experience tends to set neural
connections.
Why? Because a child's brain is "wired" to
encourage repetition of sounds, patterns or
experiences that provide security, and thus
develop strong neural pathways in the brain
that become the highways of learning. Such
repetition is good for your students and a
practical, easy approach to helping every
child's growth and learning.
 Why Is This So
Important?
The connections between brain cells in a
child's brain are developing constantly.
Current thinking suggests that about 30
percent to 60 percent of our brain's wiring
depends on heredity, while about 40 percent
to 70 percent develops based on interactions
with the environment, including parents and
teachers.

Care and guidance provided to the child at

home and school are much more likely to
influence certain aspects of the brain.
 Kids Under Construction!
Brain Compatible
Classrooms
Teaching the way the brain learns best:
“Imagine an environment where
thinking is abstract, complex, respected
and stimulated; where learning is active
and never passive and where learners
are immersed in the joy of discovery.”

Janet Aaker
Smith