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Brain-based Learning ?



Please excuse this cross posting to both the PhysLrnR and Phys-L.

It has been argued that the subject of this post "Brain-based
Learning ?" is a redundancy since all(or nearly all) learning must
occur in the brain. Nevertheless, this jargon(1) is (regrettably):

(a) in the literature (see, e.g., ref. 2); and on the web - my search
engine netted 50 hits on "brain-based learning"),

(b) is being used to promote questionable pedagogical methods. For
example, William Hayes wrote in a 10/19/00 Biopi-L(3) post "Brain
based Learning":

"The Education School at DSU . . . .(Delta State University). . . .
is really pushing "Brain based learning" as the way to go. . . . .
they have rehashed a bunch of old 'reforms', claimed the methods are
based in research (without providing lists of refereed journal
articles . . . . . .), made some really broad generalities, then
taken those and applied them to specifics to which they may or not be
applicable, then claimed this is the way to go with our teaching."

The following is a paraphrase (with updates and corrections) of my
2/12/2000 PhysLrnR post "NSF's ROLE, Brain Research":

"There may be some PhysLrnR's and Phys-L'ers who are unaware of the
NSF's recent 8-million dollar NSF 00-17 "Research on Learning and
Education" (ROLE) program that 'will support research along a
four-quadrant continuum that includes (1) BRAIN RESEARCH AS A
FOUNDATION FOR RESEARCH ON HUMAN LEARNING; (2) fundamental research
on behavioral, cognitive, affective, and social aspects of human
learning; (3) research on science, mathematics, engineering, and
technological (SMET) learning in formal and informal educational
settings; and (4) research on SMET learning in complex educational
systems.' (My CAPS.) An announcement is on the web at
<http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf0017>.
The deadline dates for preliminary proposals were 3/1/2000 and 9/1/2000.

In my opinion and that of others (4-8), some caution should probably
be exercised with regard to both 'brain research as a foundation for
research on human learning,' and "brain-based leaning" teaching
reforms. In the extreme, Asimov's vision(9) of brain programming will
probably not be realized anytime soon."

More references in this area can be uncovered by a keyword searches
(click on the portable document file's binocular icon) for "brain,"
"cognitive," and "reform" in ref. 10. In particular, Ted Marchese has
given a sage treatment of the neuroscience/education connection.(11)

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>


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REFERENCES
1. R. Sylwester, "Useful and Harmful Jargon," in "Connecting Brain
Processes to School Policies and Practices," on the web at
<http://www.brainconnection.com/topics/?main=tophome/type-col>; see
also "Can Learning About the Brain Help Schools?" ibid.

2. Jensen, (a)"Brain-Based Learning" (Brain Store, 2000); (b)
"Teaching With the Brain in Mind" (Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development, 1998); (c) "Introduction To Brain-Compatible
Learning," (Brain store, 1997); (d) Jensen Learning Corporation at
<http://www.jlcbrain.com/>.

3. Biopi-L is a web discussion forum with about 550 subscribers
interested In Biology Education, with archives at
<http://listserv.ksu.edu/archives/biopi-l.html>

4. J.D. Bransford, A.L. Brown, R.R. Cocking, eds. "How People Learn:
Brain, Mind, Experience, and School" (Nat. Acad. Press, 1999); on the
web at <http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9853.html>. See esp. Chapter 5,
"Mind and Brain": "It is often popularly argued that advances in the
understanding of brain development and mechanisms of learning have
substantial implications for education and the learning sciences. In
addition, CERTAIN BRAIN SCIENTISTS HAVE OFFERED ADVICE, OFTEN WITH
TENUOUS SCIENTIFIC BASIS, THAT HAS BEEN INCORPORATED INTO
PUBLICATIONS DESIGNED FOR EDUCATORS (see, e.g., Sylwester.....(ref.
5)...)." (My CAPS.)

5. R. Sylwester, "A Celebration of Neurons: An Educator's Guide to
the Human Brain," (Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development, 1995), esp. p.p. 139-141 "From Brain Theory and Research
to School Policy and Practice": "CURRENT BRAIN THEORY AND RESEARCH
NOW PROVIDE ONLY THE BROAD, TANTALIZING OUTLINES OF WHAT THE SCHOOL
OF THE FUTURE MIGHT BE. . . .Educators who are willing to study the
new cognitive science developments, and then to explore and
experiment in their search for appropriate educational applications,
will have to work out the specifics in the years ahead." (My CAPS.)

6. J.T. Bruer, "Education and the Brain: A Bridge Too Far,"
Educational Researcher 26(8), 4-16 (1997) [The "Educational
Researcher" is now online at <http://www.aera.net/pubs/er/>.]:
"...WE SHOULD BE WARY OF CLAIMS THAT NEUROSCIENCE HAS MUCH TO TELL US
ABOUT EDUCATION, particularly if those claims derive from the
neuroscience and education argument ..... (that)..... attempts to
link learning, particularly early childhood learning, with what
neuroscience has discovered about neurons and synaptic change .....
(it has discovered)..... a great deal but not nearly enough to guide
educational practice..... IF WE LOOK FOR A BASIC SCIENCE TO HELP
GUIDE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE AND POLICY, COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY IS A MUCH
BETTER BET .... LOOKING TO THE FUTURE, WE SHOULD ATTEMPT TO DEVELOP
AN INTERACTIVE, RECURSIVE RELATIONSHIP AMONG RESEARCH PROGRAMS IN
EDUCATION, COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, AND SYSTEMS NEUROSCIENCE .... IN THE
MEANTIME, WE SHOULD REMAIN SKEPTICAL ABOUT BRAIN-BASED EDUCATIONAL
PRACTICE AND POLICY, BUT LOOK MORE CAREFULLY AT WHAT BEHAVIORAL
SCIENCE ALREADY CAN TELL US ABOUT TEACHING, LEARNING, AND COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT. (Bruer heads the John T. McDonnell Foundation
<http://www.jsmf.org/>); see also J.T. Bruer "Schools for Thought: A
Science of Learning in the Classroom" (MIT Press, 1994). (My CAPS.)

7. J.T. Bruer, "The Myth of the First Three Years: A New
Understanding of Early Brain Development and Lifelong Learning" (Free
Press, 1999); See also at
<http://www.icehouse.net/lmstuter/page0046.htm>.

8. C. F. Chabris, "Prelude or requiem for the 'Mozart effect'?"
Nature 400, 826-827 (1999); on the web at
<http://wjh-www.harvard.edu/~cfc/MozartNature.pdf>;
W.J. Cromie, "Mozart Effect Hits Sour Notes," Harvard Gazette,
8/25/99; on the web at
<http://www.news.harvard.edu/science/current_stories/25.Aug.99/mozart. html>:
"It sounds too easy to be true. Play Mozart for your child and his
or her I.Q. will jump 8 to 9 points, even while she or he is still in
the womb...... Georgia now gives a cassette or CD of classical music
to the parents of every newborn in the state, more than 100,000
babies a year. A bill recently passed in Florida mandates that all
child care and educational programs that receive state funding play
30 minutes of classical music a day for children under five years of
age. Hudson Valley Community College in New York has a Mozart Effect
Study Area in its campus library, and many music stores boast a
'Mozart makes you smarter' section. It all started in 1993, when a
small research study ....[E.H. Rauscher, G.L. Shaw, and K.N. Rye,
Nature 365, 611 (1993) motivated by a 'neural model' espoused by X.
Leng and G.L. Shaw, Concepts Neuroscience 2, 229-258 (1991)]......
concluded that listening to only ten minutes of a Mozart piano sonata
temporarily raised the "abstract reasoning" ability of 36 college
students the equivalent of 8 to 9 points on a standard I.Q. scale.
That provided enough 'scientific evidence' for music marketers to
sing about."

9. E.F. Redish, "From here to the future: The impact of the computer
on college physics teaching," Academic Computing, November 1988,
pp.18-49: "Where are we going?... (One vision)...was
described....(by Isaac Asimov)...education was provided to the
student by direct computer input to the brain. A student's entire
education was provided on two 'education' days: one at age 8 when the
student was taught to read, and one at age 18 when the student's
profession was chosen by computer analysis of the student's brain
structure and transferred. The transfer was extremely effective, the
student becoming a perfect professional immediately."

10. R.R. Hake, "REsearch, Development, and Change in Undergraduate
Biology Education (REDCUBE): A Web Guide" at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~redcube>.

11. T. Marchese, "The New Conversations About Learning: Insights from
Neuroscience and Anthropology, Cognitive Science and Work-Place
Studies" in "Assessing Impact: Evidence and Action," (AAHE, 1997), p.
79-95; also at <http://www.newhorizons.org/lrnbus_marchese.html>.