How Children Learn Science

1. The brain’s unique

structure and the function
it plays in learning
2. Brain-based learning.
A Fish Story
A Fish Story
Traditional Views about How
Children Learn Science
There are two traditional and very
broad ways of thinking about how
children learn.
One is known as behavioral theory,
and
the other is known as cognitive
theory.
If you wish to be successful in
teaching children science, you
will need to use elements of
both and integrate these ideas
with constructivism
Behavioral Theory
The behavioral approach suggests that what a
child does, and consequently what a child learns,
depends on what happens as a result of the child's
behavior. From this perspective, your job as a
teacher is to create a classroom in which good
things happen when children work with science
materials, interact with one another in cooperative
group work, and complete science projects. If
children enjoy these experiences, receive praise
from peers and the teacher, and are successful,
they will be learning and developing a positive
attitude. In order to have more experiences and
receive more praise, they will continue to work
hard.
Behavioral Theory
From the behavioral perspective, the teacher's job
is to create a science-learning environment in
which certain behaviors and the acquisition of
knowledge, concepts, and skills are increased and
reinforced. Tangible reinforcers include receiving
good grades, winning certificates and prizes in
science fairs, earning points for free time, earning
the privilege of taking care of the classroom
animals for a week, and so forth. Intangible
reinforcers include recognition of good work and
praise from the teacher and the child's peers and
parents.
Cognitive Theory

Cognitive theorists believe that what

children learn depends on their
mental processes and what they
perceive about the world around
them. In other words, learning
depends on how children think and
how their perceptions and thought
patterns interact.
Cognitive Theory

To understand the cognitivist view, try

this: Look at the drawing on the right.
What does it look like? Now ask other
people to look at the drawing. What
do they believe it is?
The Brain’s unique structure
What kind of students are best
served by brain-based learning?
Children of all learning styles benefit from this kind
of learning. In fact, children with a variety of
learning disabilities find that brain-based learning
helps them apply what they know to what is being
learned in class in non-traditional ways. They are
able to take the same information and use it in a
way that if befitting to them. Without the
constrains of pencil and paper only, students are
freed up to express and freely exchange ideas
with other students. This kind of learning,
encourages this students as well as provides
successful experiences.
What kind of students are best
served by brain-based learning?
Also receiving benefits from brain-based learning,
is the gifted student. The gifted student also sees
things in a different ways. They need the
opportunity to explore and accomplish tasks in
non-traditional forms. They can become easily
bored which often leads to discipline
problems. Teachers have been known to "bribe" a
student to complete an otherwise boring
task. Students no matter their learning styles are
not generally motivated by extrinsic motivation
generally show less long term interest in the
activity than those who are intrinsically motivated.
Brain-based learning

Definition
This learning theory is based on the
structure and function of the brain. As
long as the brain is not prohibited
from fulfilling its normal processes,
learning will occur.
Brain-based learning
Discussion
People often say that everyone can
learn. Yet the reality is that everyone
does learn. Every person is born with
a brain that functions as an
immensely powerful processor.
Traditional schooling, however, often
inhibits learning by discouraging,
ignoring, or punishing the brain's
natural learning processes.
BBL
The core principles of brain-based learning state
that:
The brain is a parallel processor, meaning it can
perform several activities at once, like tasting and
smelling.
Learning engages the whole physiology.
The search for meaning is innate.
The search for meaning comes through patterning.
Emotions are critical to patterning.
The brain processes wholes and parts
simultaneously.
BBL
Learning involves both focused attention
and peripheral perception.
Learning involves both conscious and
unconscious processes.
We have two types of memory: spatial and
rote.
We understand best when facts are
embedded in natural, spatial memory.
Learning is enhanced by challenge and
inhibited by threat.
Each brain is unique.
The three instructional techniques
associated with brain-based
learning are:
Orchestrated immersion--Creating learning
environments that fully immerse students in
an educational experience
Relaxed alertness--Trying to eliminate fear
in learners, while maintaining a highly
challenging environment
Active processing--Allowing the learner to
consolidate and internalize information by
actively processing it
How Brain-Based Learning
Impacts Education
Curriculum--Teachers must design learning
around student interests and make learning
contextual.
Instruction--Educators let students learn in teams
and use peripheral learning. Teachers structure
learning around real problems, encouraging
students to also learn in settings outside the
classroom and the school building.
Assessment--Since all students are learning, their
assessment should allow them to understand their
own learning styles and preferences. This way,
students monitor and enhance their own learning
process.
What Brain-Based Learning
Suggests
How the brain works has a significant
impact on what kinds of learning
activities are most effective.
Educators need to help students have
appropriate experiences and
capitalize on those experiences.
What Brain-Based Learning
Suggests
Teachers must immerse learners in complex, interactive
experiences that are both rich and real. One excellent
example is immersing students in a foreign culture to teach
them a second language. Educators must take advantage of
the brain's ability to parallel process.

Students must have a personally meaningful challenge.

Such challenges stimulate a student's mind to the desired
state of alertness.

In order for a student to gain insight about a problem, there

must be intensive analysis of the different ways to approach
it, and about learning in general. This is what's known as the
"active processing of experience."
A few other tenets of brain-based
learning include:
Feedback is best when it comes from
reality, rather than from an authority figure.
People learn best when solving realistic
problems.
The big picture can't be separated from the
details.
Because every brain is different, educators
should allow learners to customize their
own environments.
The best problem solvers are those that
laugh!
Designers of educational tools must
be artistic in their creation of brain-
friendly environments. Instructors
need to realize that the best way to
learn is not through lecture, but by
participation in realistic environments
that let learners try new things safely.
The teacher is not only a
communicator but a model. To
communicate knowledge and to
provide a model of competence, the
teacher must be free to teach and
learn

-- Jerome Bruner, The Process of

Education
We think we learn from teachers, and we
sometimes do. But the teachers are not
always to be found in school, or in great
laboratories. Sometimes what we learn
depends on our own powers of insight.
Moreover, our teachers may be hidden,
even the greatest teacher.

-- Loren Eiseley, "The Hidden Teacher" in

The Star Thrower