Twelve Brain Principles That Make the Difference

In A Nutshell

series

The Hungry Brain: The Nutrition/Cognition Connection

Susan Augustine

inFormative Assessment: When It’s Not About a Grade

Robin J. Fogarty and Gene M. Kerns

The Adult Learner: Some Things We Know

Robin J. Fogarty and Brian M. Pete

How to Differentiate Learning: Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment

Robin J. Fogarty and Brian M. Pete

A Look at Transfer: Seven Strategies That Work

Robin J. Fogarty and Brian M. Pete

Close the Achievement Gap: Simple Strategies That Work

Brian M. Pete and Robin J. Fogarty

Nine Best Practices That Make the Difference

Brian M. Pete and Robin J. Fogarty

Twelve Brain Principles That Make the Difference

Brian M. Pete and Robin J. Fogarty

Data! Dialogue! Decisions! The Data Difference

Brian M. Pete and Catherine A. Duncan

Cooperative Learning: A Standard for High Achievement

R. Bruce Williams

Higher Order Thinking Skills: Challenging All Students to Achieve

R. Bruce Williams

Multiple Intelligences for Differentiated Learning

R. Bruce Williams

Copyright © 2003 by Corwin Press

First Skyhorse Publishing edition 2015.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Print ISBN: 978-1-63450-359-4

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0131-1

Contents

Acknowledgments

Dedication

Introduction

Part One: Climate for Learning

Challenge/Threat: Learning Principle 1

Emotions/Cognition: Learning Principle 2

Focused/Peripheral: Learning Principle 3

Part Two: Skills of Learning

Parts/Whole: Learning Principle 4

Spatial/Rote: Learning Principle 5

Parallel Processing: Learning Principle 6

Part Three: Interactions With Learning

Physiology: Learning Principle 7

Brain Uniqueness: Learning Principle 8

Social/Experience: Learning Principle 9

Part Four: Learning About Learning

Meaning: Learning Principle 10

Patterning: Learning Principle 11

Conscious/Unconscious: Learning Principle 12

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

On a theoretical note, of all the information available about how the brain works, perhaps one of the most insightful pieces for educators is the meta-analysis of the research on the brain and learning by Renate and Geoffrey Caine. The twelve principles that govern how the brain learns and remembers provide an invaluable guide for instructional decision making. For their magnificent contribution and generous spirit, we are grateful to the Caines.

On a more practical note, we are grateful to the many hearts, hands, and minds who have made this book possible, especially Dara Lee Howard, who has provided organization, editing and, at times, some writing, and Jon Hensley, who has created a striking cover. To all, our heartfelt thanks.

Brian M. Pete

Robin J. Fogarty

Dedication

With love,

to Maple Ann,

strong and presiding,

like the maple tree

on Maple Hill Road

Introduction

There is the cartoon about the little boy who brags to his friend about how he has taught his dog, Stripe, how to whistle. Subsequently, he replies to the Doubting Thomas friend, who points out that Stripe is not whistling, I said I taught him. I didn’t say he learned it. To the authors, this picture is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes. It epitomizes the entirety of the teaching/learning process. Teachers teach! But students must learn! These are two very different sides of the same coin.

This book is part of a two-book series. The first book in the set is titled Nine Best Practices That Make the Difference and focuses on the teaching part of the teaching/learning process. This book, Twelve Brain Principles That Make the Difference, focuses on the learning part of the teaching/learning equation.

More specifically, this book is about how the brain learns best and all the things teachers can do to facilitate the learning part of the teaching scene. This Nutshell presents a unique organization of Renate and Geoffrey Caine’s twelve brain principles. The twelve principles are arranged in four specific quadrants as shown in Figure Intro.1. Each quadrant speaks to a particular aspect of the high-achieving classroom and highlights how instructional decisions are governed by the twelve principles.

Figure Intro.1. Four quadrants of brain principles.

Quadrant 1 addresses the environment for learning, stressing both the emotional climate and the enriched environment. This quadrant includes three complementary principles that foster a climate for optimal learning: Principle 1 addresses the concept of challenge engaging the mind; Principle 2 discusses the link between emotions and cognition; and Principle 3 highlights the learning environment and its role in the focused attention and peripheral perception of students.

Quadrant 2 speaks to the standards of learning and the context, content, and process skills for which each K-12 teacher is accountable. Embedded in the concept of necessary concepts and skills for various grade levels or disciplines are the three accompanying principles: Principle 4, which notes that the brain learns parts and whole simultaneously; Principle 5, which documents the rote and spatial memory systems; and Principle 6, which discusses the role of the brain as a parallel processor. All three of these principles speak to the teaching techniques that foster memory and learning.

Quadrant 3 encompasses the concept of hands-on learning that is constantly and continually facilitated as an integral part of any lesson. Included in this quadrant are three principles that dictate ways needed to address the eager learner: Principle 7, which highlights the need for being aware of the entire physiology in the learning setting; Principle 8, which