The brain is something that everyone has but there is only so much we know about it. However, what we do know about the brain and its functions is extremely helpful in developing strategies such as brain-based learning.

Much of what we know about the human brain and its functions has only been developed within the past fifty years.

The left brain / right brain theory, in which the left brain is analytical and logical, while the right brain is visual and intuitive, was not developed until the 1960s and is still being researched today. 

In a 1990 book by Paul MacLean, the upper brain is supposed to be responsible for sophisticated thinking. Many conclusive research efforts in the 20th century have since been debunked, especially in the treatment of mental disorders and brain health.

Since the 1990s, educators have become increasingly involved in applying neuroscience to how their students learn in the classroom. Brain-based learning isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” method to student success; it is small changes and revisions to your curriculum that can be easily implemented to benefit a large variety of students.

Brain-based learning does not discriminate

All learners, including adults and those with disabilities benefit from brain-based learning. It supports students with different interests, from the creative to the analytical, boosting both academic success and brain health.

Brain-based learning is an educational method that merges three key fields:
Psychology: The study of the mind and behaviour.
Technology: Using scientific knowledge for practical purposes, like in education.
Neurology: The science of the nervous system and brain.

Enhance teaching by integrating insights from psychology, technology, and neurology with our understanding of brain functions. As the world evolves, so does our learning. Isn’t it time our teaching methods evolve too?

Student Success

Brain-based learning is an innovative way to engage, develop, and deepen students’ understanding students have often been divided into two categories: there are the students who are attentive in class, hard workers and pave their way to success. They participate actively in discussions and absorb lecture information like a sponge.

It’s true: no two students learn in the same way. To put a “one-size-ts-all” label on learning is a counterintuitive strategy for student success. But to teach any student, it is important to know how students learn the material in the first place – down to the scientific methods by which the human brain absorbs and processes information.

“Brain-based learning” is a term that refers to teaching strategies, lessons and programs based on quality scientific research into how the brain functions.

And then some students need the motivation to engage; they have the potential to be productive students but often think outside common teaching strategies. Brain-based learning acknowledges that students’ learning styles change with time, as they develop and mature, physically and mentally.

Brain-based learning can be implemented into teaching strategies in 10 different ways.

These 10 strategies are summarised by Sara Hileman, in the acronym B.R.A.I.N. B.A.S.E.D. (Hileman, S. (2006). “Motivating Students Using Brain-Based Teaching Strategies”; The Agricultural Education Magazine, 78(4), 18-20).

The content of this article is outlined as follows:

Each section is divided into two parts.
a) Its definition, function in the brain and benefits to learning.
b) How to practically implement brain-based learning into your student’s curriculum.

Read 3 of the strategies below OR grab the free mini ebook and read all 10 strategies

Download, read and implement all 10 brain-based learning strategies. They are super easy to implement into any teaching programme or teaching style. All you have to do to access the ebook and other FREE resources, is join the ILTT Tribe. It’s FREE to join and we add at least one FREE resource per month.

1 – Brain Time Clock

a) What’s a brain time clock?

We’ve all been there before: after a long day of work or learning, we feel burnt out and fatigued, even if the day is comprised of sitting in the office or classroom. Students experience this too, especially after long school days.

But why does this mental and physical fatigue happen even when students are seated quietly at desks, with little to no physical exertion? 

Let’s look at the science of sleep. The human brain runs on cycles called ultradian rhythms. An ultradian rhythm is a recurring cycle repeated throughout the 24-hour day, closely linked to circadian rhythms that influence our sleep cycles based on the natural environment around us.

Ultradian rhythms, unlike circadian rhythms which cycle once a day, cycle much more rapidly — once about every 90 to 120 minutes! 

They influence attention, interest, cognition, memory, visual perceptions, moods, and behaviour.

So, if students are passively learning for hours on end, their ultradian rhythms are being worn out. The expectation that they are always at attention and engaged in passive or lecture learning is counterintuitive to how the brain works.

It is these ultradian rhythms being overworked that often contribute to brain fatigue and “burn out.”

b) How to harness your students’ brain time clock?

It is recommended that passive learning be taught for no more than 12 to 15 minutes at a time and be varied properly with instructional learning. 

For example, lecturing for 12 to 15 minutes is okay – but hours on end will leave students tired. In the meantime, instructional learning can be used to engage students in step-by-step or hands-on material.

Since ultradian rhythms cycle once every 90 to 120 minutes, another important aspect of nurturing the “brain time clock” is to unplug in that same time fully. 

This means pausing both instructional and passive learning and invigorating the brain with physical or creative activities.

“Unplugging,” however, doesn’t include allowing for time with electronics. 

Students shouldn’t be checking their phones during these breaks but should aim for an activity that engages them both physically and mentally. Using a phone, laptop, tablet, or other electronic devices can derail the 90 to 120-minute break.

Ultimately, students are humans. Humans are living beings – we function in cycles, like how birds fly south for the winter, or how whales swim across the world’s oceans with their young.

On a much smaller scale, implementing an understanding of ultradian rhythms in the classroom is one way that the human brain — and body — can become functional parts of the learning process, without brain fatigue or “burn out.”

2 – Repetition

a) But repetition is a tricky game to play

You don’t want to repeat material until it becomes redundant and boring, distracting from student attention and productivity. However, it is also unlikely that a student will learn the content once and be able to accurately and fully remember that information forever, or even until the exam.

The success of this brain-based learning strategy can be accomplished in different ways to strengthen connections in the brain. In fact, the brain remembers information best when it is repeated in multiple ways.

In presenting the information in multiple ways, the medium of the presentation is important. Video, images, charts and infographics are all productive mediums for repetition.

If information is shown in a video, then in text and images, in analytical charts, students will have different methods of grasping the information; their brains will also be reinforcing the information by strengthening connections.

Rehearsal of information increases retention since the brain rarely understands information the first time it encounters it. As Educators, we can improve this rehearsal by scheduling how the material is presented.

b) Schedule Repetition of Information

This presentation of information shouldn’t be timed at exact intervals. It should happen at gradually lengthening intervals, to exercise further and reinforce brain connections. Properly spacing out the priming, reviewing, and revising periods is a good method to promote the beneficial practice of this brain-based learning strategy.

Pre-exposure: By providing preliminary information about the topic in advance, students can prepare for the content and begin to make inferences. Something as simple as providing a syllabus can begin pre-exposure!

Previewing: An overview of the information at the beginning of the lesson will introduce the student to the information, without overloading them. The preview should be clear and concise.

Priming: This is the primary lesson or the direct teaching of information. This is where more detail, nuances and facts are provided in the information.

Reviewing: Now that the lesson has been covered, coming back and repeating the information becomes essential. Reviewing can be for an exam or assessment, especially to present the informative details taught beyond the initial overview.

Revising: After the lesson has been taught, educators can occasionally check that students have learned the material correctly, and for the long term.

By lengthening the intervals in which information is presented, students are actively made to recall key information on the spot.

3 – Active Learning

a) Engage students in active learning

Contrary to the thought that learning is only a mental process, students who engage in physical activity while learning can strengthen their mental performance. 

Educators who push students to be active in the classroom aren’t just improving physical health – they’re adding sensory stimuli that can improve students’ memory and retrieval while reinforcing information.

It’s a very intuitive fact that students who have healthy bodies will do better in the classroom. If a student is well-fed with a balanced diet and is not sick, they will have a better attention span and will participate more in class. However, physical fitness classes once every few days aren’t enough.

It is recommended that people should try to get anywhere between 60 minutes and 120 minutes of physical activity a day. Spending an hour to two hours being active can seem like a difficult feat when students are spending the majority of their days in the classroom or doing homework.

b) Physical activity improves student success

When Sensory Stimuli are added, they raise blood pressure and levels of epinephrine (also known as adrenaline). This can reduce drowsiness and restlessness while also reinforcing information.

Engaging in physical performance in the classroom can take on many forms: role play, acting, energising discussions, and games that make the students get up from their desks are all part of brain-based learning.

Getting students outside the classroom is important too. If a lesson can be taught outdoors or has applications to the natural world, students can benefit from the novelty of a different environment. In the natural light, they also will be producing more vitamin D, which can help improve brain function.

Active learning can be especially beneficial for students with learning disabilities, such as ADHD who experience hyperactivity and have difficulty paying attention.

Furthermore, adding the dynamic change of physical movement to the classroom can be tied into the brain-based learning repetition strategy.

You’ve read the first 3 strategies why not grab our free mini ebook and read all 10 strategies

Hey, you can read the rest of this Nerdy Science chapter and ALL ten strategies in a FREE copy of our mini eBook “The Benefits of Brain-Based Learning”.

The Nerdy X-tra Stuff

The science behind brain-based learning strategies

Much of what we know about the human brain and its functions has only been developed within the past fifty years. 

The left brain / right brain theory, in which the left brain is analytical and logical, while the right brain is visual and intuitive, was not developed until the 1960s and is still being researched today. 

Download and implement all 10 strategies. They are super easy to implement into any teaching programme or teaching style. All you have to do to access the ebook and other FREE resources, is join the ILTT Tribe. It’s FREE to join and we add at least one FREE resource per month.

Julie Schoen

The Benefits of Brain-Based Learning and Why Every Teacher Needs to Rethink How They Teach, by Julie Schoen – published on Medium

By keeping The Benefits of Brain-Based Learning Strategies in your “toolkit”, you commit to the idea that there is a smarter, healthier, more effective way actually to teach the students in your classroom. In doing so, your role as a teacher isn’t just relegated to the one-dimensional realm of “giver of information”. Instead, you become an invaluable mentor, someone who your students will remember and thank, for years to come.