Brain-Based Learning in the Modern Classroom

Let's be totally honest about the concept of Brain-Based Learning as a methodology of teaching several kinds of lessons: it's about time! Look, you may be a believer in 'Science' and 'empiricism' and 'facts' because people (and this includes educators) fear change and are ready to accept the traditional, known and accepted ways to impart knowledge onto our students. However, when you give a lecture to a class of 10 year-old kids about the probability of an infinite universe, you'd better be ready to stimulate more than their ears to facilitate learning, unless you simply enjoy hearing yourself talk. If we target the Limbic System of the brain, which controls emotion and interacts with the cognitive areas of the brain without causing a lot of stress in the classroom, then we can stimulate a better form of learning. Additionally, if we create an environment filled with all sorts of visual stimuli (big windows facing the sunlight), keep it mostly quiet, provide visual displays of our concepts (use a map or a Prezi!), find a way to foster an application of the lesson (let the students teach themselves in fun ways with apps or other creative tools), and then ask them what they thought about all of it so that we can gauge their retention, we would be using their brains to create memories that they'll keep for a long time. Let's put in a little extra effort and make this the new reality.