Asking Questions: Tools for Brain-Based Learning
Although much of what we are now discovering about how the brain learns is new, the idea of asking questions as a way to keep students’ attention is not. Indeed, some teachers have been asking questions of their students for decades, even in the hallowed lecture halls of the world’s great universities. So why is there such discontent with much of what we call “higher learning?” Why are so many students so bored and so uninvolved in their own classroom instruction? A question should elicit a response and thinking of the appropriate response should actively engage the mind of the students, so what so often goes wrong with this picture? Some teachers and industrial trainers are adamant in their belief that they make effective use of questioning in their educational settings. Anyone involved in teaching of any kind needs to ask themselves the following questions: Why are you asking the … Read More..
Social Learning Theory and Student Success
Perhaps one of the biggest challenges as an instructor is not simply motivating learners, but continuing to engage, hold the attention, and inspire them to remain active participants throughout the learning experience. More recently, Social Learning Theories, and their practical application, are being explored as a means for improving learner success by offering a more interactive and guided – rather than dictated – learning environment. The instructional shift from dictatorship to instructional guide creates a “Student – Centered” learning environment which places learners back in control of their learning experience. Social Learning Perspectives Social learning perspectives consider three primary factors which influence the instructional – learner relationship: 1. Context – the resources we use to develop knowledge. Books Computers Personal Experience Interactions – social engagements, feedback, communication 2. Culture & Community – our beliefs, sense of community, communication, linguistic differences that contribute to our unique learning and interaction styles which … Read More..
In Search of Student-Centered Education – Are the Inmates Running the Asylum?
In a world in the middle of an information revolution the impact of which may dwarf the societal effect of the industrial revolution, the need for better models of education at all levels has become a paramount concern. Professional educators at all levels are bombarded with the latest research on brain-based learning and its implications for the way they teach. They are told the brain needs active involvement while at the same time learning that the brain needs rest between those short and taxing bouts of neural activity. They are told to provide richly stimulating learning environments filled with varying colors and textured learning materials, selected not by them, but by the students. They are told to provide breakout spaces for small group learning with separate tables for group conversation. They are told to make lesson plans exciting and above all else, meaningful to the students. They are told to … Read More..
Creating a Vision in Adult Learning Environments
Do adults learn better when they understand why they need to learn the subject matter? Do they learn better when they see the content as directly relevant to their lives? Despite the recent breakthroughs in research on how the brain actually learns, no one can answer these questions with 100% certainty. In the middle of the twentieth century, educational theorists began to believe there were differences between the way adults learn and the way children learn. They believed adults had a “need to know” why learning a body of knowledge was important to them. They further believed the more relevant the material was to the personal experience of the learner, the more motivated they are to learn. An employee who has just been promoted to a managerial position is supposedly more motivated to learn management principles and techniques than a learner who sees a management job as nothing more than … Read More..
Setting the Stage for Active Involvement in Your Learning Environment
These days, traditional lectures have taken on the aura of an ancient technology whose time has long ago come and gone. In fact, some claim lectures are like the carpet-beaters of old. They were not very good at cleaning carpets even in their day, but they were all we had. The lecture method of formal education has been under attack to varying degrees for more than one hundred years, but it is only within the last two decades we have some credible scientific evidence on how the brain learns. Advances in computerized imaging technology have made this research possible, and it confirms what many have long believed. The passive nature of a lecture presentation is not the most effective way to learn. The brain needs to be actively involved in the learning process. As long ago as the days of Socrates, some educators suspected this to be true and effectively … Read More..
