This booklet/ presentation is not endorsed and not representative of the views of the Fulbright

program, International Institution of Education, U.S. State Dept. or of the Ministry of Education,

Singapore.

This is the sole property Joseph Olan

Not to be distributed without consent.

Brain-based Teaching Strategies: Engaging the 21st

Century Learner

Joseph Olan

Fulbright D.A.

April 2015

By

A Reference Guide for Secondary Educators in Singapore and the U.S.

1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.

Introduction…………………………………………………………..2Erro

r! Bookmark not defined.

Desired Outcomes……….............................................................2

2. Positive Emotional Climate………………………………………..….3

Relationships, Relationship, Relationships………………….......3

Developing Intrinsic Motivation in learners……………………..4

3. Authentically Engaging the 21st Century Learner…...........................5-6

Strategies: Introduction of Lesson……………………………….7

Strategies: Sustained Engagement …………………………........8

4. Driving Lessons: Questioning Strategies ……………………………..8

Feel. Understand. kNow. (FUN)…………………………….…...9

Popcorn……………………………………………………….......9

Asking Thinking Questions (Levelled)…………………………..10

6. Recommended Reading…………………………………....……….....11

This booklet/ presentation is not endorsed and not

representative of the views of the Fulbright

Program, International Institution of Education, or

of the Ministry of Education, Singapore.

2

INTRODUCTION

It was engaging! I was able to understand and participate

-Sec. 4 Student ( Girls High School 2015)

The aim of this capstone project is to serve and equip educators in Singapore and

U.S secondary schools in engaging 21st century learners through evidence-based

strategies in Mind, Brain, and Education Science (MBE). Through the use of

brain-mapping studies (research) and neuroimaging educators and are able to

inform their instruction with evidence-based strategies to teach and engage

students more effectively. There is still much progress to be made in this field of

study but tremendous advancement has already been made in the last decade.

Educators who understand the relevance of using brain-mapping research to

inform their instructional practices will be equipped to utilize certain aspects of

the learning processes of the brain like attentiveness, executive skills

development, memory retrieval, etc... This information is invaluable since key

insights can be made and Best-practices modified to effectively teach students in

support of developing their lower and higher cognitive processes, their emotional

and social intelligence, and overall development (Tokarczyk, 2009).

The effective use of Brain-based teaching strategies derived from Mind, Brain,

and Education Science will give rise to authentic student engagement and

knowledge and skill development while preparing them for the challenges and

demands of the 21st century. Developing and sustaining an atmosphere which is

truly conducive to authentic engagement is vital for student’s academic,

emotional and social well-being (Goleman, 2005).

Desired outcomes

Educators who sustain an authentically engaged environments for substantial

periods of time should observe a steady rise of the following in their learners:

Attentiveness/Curiosity

Initiative/Adaptability

Critical Thinking

Intrinsic Motivation

Effective oral/written communications

Risk-taking/Creativity

3

POSITIVE EMOTIONAL CLIMATE

“Optimal brain activation occurs when subjects are in positive emotional states or when

material hold personal meaning, connects to their interests, is presented with elements of

novelty, or evokes wonder”

- Dr. Willis

Information that is processed in the frontal lobe of the brain where executive functions

are centrally located first goes through the Limbic system (emotional center). When

sensory information is processed by the thalamus and is more than transient awareness it

continues to the amygdala for emotional cueing (Carpenter, Williams & Wilkins, 1991).

If positive emotional cueing is linked to information then increased brain activity in long-

term memory centers are stimulated. According to Judy Willis, if negative emotional

cueing from stress-provoking emotion is taking place while learning then information

given at that time will not reach the long-term memory centers of the frontal lobe as

effectively. Under extreme stress- provoking emotion functional magnetic resonance

imaging (fMRI) scans have shown a condition commonly called the affective filter. The

affective filter is a state in which students are not responsive to processing, learning, and

saving new information (Willis, 2006).

Also, the significance of Bloom’s Taxonomy as a classification structure or domains for

learning remains one of the most widely used system of its kind. Out of the three domains

of Bloom’s Taxonomy: Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor only cognitive and

psychomotor have been continually addressed to increase standardized testing or

standards-based reform. The Affective domain which, takes student feelings, emotions,

and behavior into account when learning lower and higher order cognitive processes is

seldom utilized or reflected upon in developing students. According to A.H. Sequeria,

(2012) the quality of learning is related to the process of learning, and how learning is

brought about. Learning is a process and a product (Sequeria, 2012).

Relationships, Relationships, Relationships

In conjunction with schools Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) programs

educators should model the 6 core values of Respect, Responsibility, Resilience,

Integrity, Care, and Harmony in the classroom so as to build sincere teacher student

relationships (MOE, 2014). The following tips can enhance these relationships

(Tokuhama-Espinosa, T. 2014).

Check-ins: frequent conversations about academic and nonacademic concerns.

Nurturer v. Facilitator: Have a balanced understanding of student’s emotional

and social well-being in relation to their academics (Goleman, 2005).

Relationships, Relationships, Relationships: Develop sincere teacher-student

relationships based on modelling the 6 core values.

4

CCA interest: An invested interest in the Co-curricular activities (CCA) in

which an educators’ students participate is also a meaningful way to help

develop a meaningful teacher-student relationship.

DEVELOPING INTRINSIC MOTIVATION IN LEARNERS

Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand

-Chinese Proverb

Nurturing intrinsic motivation in students is one of the most difficult tasks educators face. Once intrinsic motivation has been

developed self-efficacy “yes I can belief” will flourish (Tokuhama-Espinosa, T. 2014). A simple formula to increase the potential

of developing intrinsic motivation in students is:

•Intrigue. Connect to students interests and fascinate their curiosity

• Inform. Periodically inform students of the relevance the knowledge and skills have to the learning goals

•Inspire. Stimulate their minds and make relevant modern day connections to their learning)

•Involve. Involve students in their academic evaluation of their performance so they may address the processes of learning

(metacognition) (Tokuhama-Espinosa, T. 2014).

Students who regularly track their learning gaps, proficiency of academic learning standards, and short term personal and

academic goals have a much higher chance of progressing: 1. Have an academic folder for students to track own progress in class

of above mentioned. 2. Periodically have students update folders and have them produce a short self-reflection to track progress.

3. During feedback and evaluation sessions reiterate the importance of sustained growth and avoid sustained focus on final mark

or ranking. 4. Allow students to critique own performance: highs and Lows.

Breaking evaluation schemes down into “processes”, and “progress” keeps motivation HIGH (Guskey, 2011). By blurring the

lines of success and failure in classes’ student’s effort and sense of accomplishment will flourish. This also will strengthen

student resiliency toward letdowns which is vital for in school and in life for it begets confidence to succeed (Henderson, N., &

Milstein, M. 2003).

Figure 1

Intrinsic

Motivation

Intrigue

Inform

Inspire

Involve

5

AUTHENTICALLY ENGAGING THE 21ST CENTURY LEARNER

All Learning has an emotional base

-Plato

A brain that is consistently stimulated and challenged (proximal challenges that are

slightly above student abilities but within reach with proper facilitation of learning) is an

engaged brain. Neural plasticity dictates that the brain continually “grows” when faced

with new environments, stimulations, and challenges.

The greatest aspect of any lesson or learning experience is the learning goal or key take

away. This should always include a process of learning (hard or soft skill) and should be

reiterated during lesson to show the relevance of knowledge and skills being learned

(Doidge, N. 2007). This is a vital part of the lesson for it gives students significant

meaning to what they are learning (Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer, & Bjork, 2008).

To minimize cognitive “drift” (inattentiveness and disengagement) educators should

always maintain a flexible sense of urgency. This keeps students alert and attentive

especially if lesson has multiple transitions (Chun, M., & Turk-Browne, N.B. 2007). A

seamless transition between various segments of the lesson also minimizes distractions

and cognitive “drift” as well. Segment learning (lesson) using various modalities of

learning or experiential learning is crucial to maximize student engagement (increases

engagement and allows for neurotransmitter replenishment if one area of brain has been

over stimulated) and gives rise to numerous neural connections and enhances the priming

process (Willis, 2006). Educators who understand and utilize the priming process (prime

the pump) will see tremendous growth in students’ ability to store (memory-storage),

retrieve, and reflect on information (Smallwood, J., Fishman, D.J., & Schooler, J.W.

2007). This process utilizes various areas of the brain to encode information more

efficiently which has been repeated in various ways (Betucci, 2006).

Figure 1.1

Learning Goal

Sense of Urgency

Seamless

Transitions

Segment

Learning

Priming Process

6

Figure 1.2

Segmenting lessons with varying modalities of learning increases neural connections to

those parts of brain being utilized. “Neurons that fire together, wire together”

(Hebbian Theory, 1949).

Fig. 1.3

Frontal lobe-Higher Cognitive

processes

Broca area-Speech processes

Temporal lobe-Language

comprehension. Recognition/memory

*Wernicke area-Comprehension of

speech Emotion association. Sensory

processes.

Parietal lobe-Perception, spatial

mapping number representation

Occipital lobe-Visual processes

7

STRATEGIES: INTRODUCTION OF LESSON

Real-world activities like conducting investigations, designing experiments, creating

metaphors and analogies, examining cause and effect patterns, analyzing perspective,

and engaging in creative thinking through the visual and performing arts

-Dr. Hardiman

The following are great strategies to authentically engage students at the beginning of a

lesson but can easily be used throughout lesson (Willis, 2006):

Use Big Picture Concepts: Mapping

Find opportunities for students to make personal connections to ideas,

concepts, or aspects of lesson to themselves, family, community or

nation.

Novelty/Hooks: Great way to stimulate the brain. Video clips, audio

clips, quote, joke, etc…something that excites the senses and spark

curiosity.

Analogies/Metaphors

Exploratory questioning: Use of questions in the beginning of a lesson

engages students when they are exploratory in nature such as an opinion

or emotional response.

The following segment of a lesson was taken from a class conducted for 83 normal tech.

students during a 70min. class period. The first 8 minutes (sense of urgency) of the lesson

the students were introduced to the learning goal, shared their personal meaning of tension

(personal connection), chose four words to best describe the Cold War (big picture), then

watched a short engaging rap video (hook) about the key point of the Cold War up to the

Cuban Missile crisis, and then defined the Cold War in one sentence based on video

(Sembawang Secondary School, 2015).

Learning goal: I will be able to sequence the Cuban Missile Crisis and understand the

context and key players in relation to the Cold War. Figure 1.4

8

STRATEGIES: SUSTAINED ENGAGEMENT

This lesson overall was great because it is interesting, fun, and engaging

-Sec 2 Student ( Secondary School, 2015)

To increase the potential for all students to be authentically engaged throughout a lesson

and to minimize cognitive “drift” (Sarter, Gehring, & Kozak, 2006) educators could

blend one or more the following to accompany their best-practices for optimal

engagement (Betucci, 2006). The following are not meant to entertain or lessen the level

of rigor in a class but rather to accommodate multiple intelligences, enrich the learning

experience and allow for risk-taking and creativity to flourish (Huen Mei Yiu, Chnwai,

2010). These should only be used in conjunction with learning goal or the topic being

learned.

Emotional or personal relevance: Encourage emotional and or personal

connections to be made to subject matter. Increases intrinsic motivation to learn.

Graphic organizers: Vary types and frequency.

The Arts/performing arts: Act-outs, abstract art to portray ideas or divergent

thinking (Smith, 2012).

Pop-culture: Use of movies, music, creating comics to assess learning.

Personal reflections: Chunked writings that allow for free flow quick writes

Bridging Conceptual-Mapping: Conceptualized mapping to enhance critical

thinking Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2014).

DRIVING LESSONS: QUESTIONING STRATEGIES

Education is not the filling of a vessel but the lighting of a flame

-Socrates

Questioning is the hallmark of student engagement and has been since humans first began

to wonder about their surroundings and purpose in life. Effective questioning elicits a

sense of wonder and stimulates curiosity. When educators first engage students they

should use exploratory questions to gauge their prior knowledge, understanding, and or

opinion. This will spark their interest and are more likely to participate as the lesson

flows. Educators must be open to different views and types of responses thus should ask

open ended questions when opportunities arise. This will give rise to divergent thinking

and will eventually help develop intrinsic motivation to learn. Educators must always be

cognizant of students’ abilities and allow for modified questioning such as question

stems. The following are three strategies which can be used in conjunction with other

questioning techniques (Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2014):

9

Feel. Understand. kNow. (F.U.N.)

An easy to approach to eliciting responses from students is by allowing a choice in how

responses are given. This technique is a subtle way for students to participate who might

be usually be apprehensive. This is also a great way for educators to gauge level of

understanding by class. By using the F.U.N. questioning technique students may respond

to academic questions in one of three ways.

1. Feel: What and why do I Feel toward topic, idea, or skill in question (link)?

2. Understand: What do I Understand about question (comprehension)?

3. kNow: What do I need to kNow to Understand the question (clarity)?

Popcorn

Educator gives a question to class or group of students that calls for a one word opinion

or one word emotion for the answer (depending on question). As answers are being said

out-loud teacher repeats as many one word answers as fast as possible back to class. This

gives the whole class or group a focal point and connection to topic or idea. This

technique is requires a great deal of attention by educator. The following is an example

taken from a class a week after Mr. Lee ’s passing (April 2015).

Teacher: “Class what is the first word that comes to mind when you hear the words Mr.

Lee (Lysa, 2002)?

Students: Minister, Leader, Singapore, Father, Important, Strong, Gone, Resting, Missed,

Great, etc…

Teacher: Repeated words to whole class as soon as she or he hears them. Thus bring

whole class to a focal point in lesson.

According to Dr. Charan Ranganath, recent studies with Functional Magnetic Resonance

Imaging (fMRI) have shown:

• Interest (inquisitiveness) in a question increases levels of dopamine in the brain

(stimulates ALL learning centres in the brain).

• Metabolic activity in Hippocampus increases (memory formation)

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter which stimulates all learning centres in the brain and also

helps regulate movement and emotional responses!

10

ASKING THNKING QUESTIONS (LEVELLED)

This questioning technique is great for students to begin to develop and formulate their

own low-level connections and in-depth associations in a levelled step-by-step manner

according to their ability. This strategy is great when developing intrinsic motivation and

can easily be adapted for any subject or topic. Typically, used best when students work in

pairs or individually on readings, projects, and homework.

Figure 1.5

Gareth Surgey, 2012, Creative Commons.

11

RECOMMNED READING

What Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) Can Do for Teaching

Dr. Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, Ph.D.

Director of IDEA (Instituto de Enseñanza y Aprendizaje or Teaching and Learning

Institute), and

Professor of Education and Neuropsychology at the of the University of San Francisco in

Quito, Ecuador

The following is an excerpt from Mind, Brain, and Education Science: A comprehensive

guide to the new brain-based teaching (W.W. Norton) a book based on over 4,500 studies

and with contributions from the world’s leaders in MBE Science.

“What a thing is and what it means are not separate, the former being physical and the

latter mental as we are accustomed to believe.”

—James J. Gibson, “More on Affordances” (1982, p. 408)

Evidence-Based Solutions for the Classroom

How do we learn best? What is individual human potential? How do we ensure that

children live up to their promise as learners? These questions and others have been posed

by philosophers as well neuroscientists, psychologists, and educators for as long as

humans have pondered their own existence. Because MBE science moves educators

closer to the answers than at any other time in history, it benefits teachers in their efficacy

and learners in their ultimate success.

Great teachers have always “sensed” why their methods worked; thanks to brain imaging

technology, it is now possible to substantiate many of these hunches with empirical

scientific research. For example, good teachers may suspect that if they give their

students just a little more time to respond to questions than normal when called upon,

they might get better-quality answers. Since 1972 there has been empirical evidence that

if teachers give students several seconds to reply to questions posed in class, rather than

the normal single second, the probability of a quality reply increases.[1] Information

about student response time is shared in some teacher training schools, but not all.

Standards in MBE science ensure that information about the brain’s attention span and

need for reflection time would be included in teacher training, for example.

The basic premise behind the use of standards in MBE science is that fundamental skills,

such as reading and math, are extremely complex and require a variety of neural

pathways and mental systems to work correctly. MBE science helps teachers understand

why there are so many ways that things can go wrong, and it identifies the many ways to

maximize the potential of all learners. This type of knowledge keeps educators from

flippantly generalizing, “He has a problem with math,” and rather encourages them to

decipher the true roots (e.g., number recognition, quantitative processing, formula

structures, or some sub-skill in math). MBE science standards make teaching methods

12

and diagnoses more precise. Through MBE, teachers have better diagnostic tools to help

them more accurately understand their students’ strengths and weakness. These standards

also prevent teachers from latching onto unsubstantiated claims and “neuromyths” and

give them better tools for judging the quality of the information. Each individual has a

different set of characteristics and is unique, though human patterns for the development

of different skills sets, such as walking and talking, doing math or learning to read, do

exist. One of the most satisfying elements of MBE science is having the tools to

maximize the potential of each individual as he or she learns new skills.

Figure 2.1 Discipline and sub-disciplines in Mind, Brain, and Education Science

Source: Bramwell for Tokuhama-Espinosa

Education is now seen as the natural outgrowth of the human thirst to know oneself better

combined with new technology that allows the confirmation of many hypotheses about

good teaching practices. Past models of learning, many of which came from psychology

and neuroscience, lay the path for current research problems being addressed today to

devise better teaching tools. For example, early in the development of psychology, Freud

13

theorized that part of successful behavior management techniques, including teaching,

was the result of actual physical changes in the brain, not just intangible changes in the

mind.[2] This theory has since been proven through evidence of neural plasticity and the

fact that the brain changes daily, albeit on a microscopic level, and even before there are

visible changes in behavior. These changes vary depending on the stimulus, past

experiences of the learners, and the intensity of the intervention. What were once

hypotheses in psychology are now being proven, thanks to this new interdisciplinary

view and the invention of technology. On the other hand, other past beliefs about the

brain have been debunked. For example, it was once fashionable to think of a right and a

left brain that competed for students’ attention and use. It has now been proven beyond a

doubt that the brain works as a complex design of integrated systems, not through

specialized and competing right- and left-brained functions. These examples show how

past beliefs are now partnered with evidence about the functioning human brain to

produce this powerful, new teaching–learning model.

The Five Well-Established Concepts of MBE Science

The following summary of the well-established concepts in MBE science comes from

MBE Science: The New Brain-Based Education, [3] which I wrote:

1. Human brains are as unique as faces.[4] Although the basic structure is the same, no

two are identical. While there are general patterns of organization in how different people

learn and which brain areas are involved, each brain is unique and uniquely organized.

The uniqueness of the human brain is perhaps the most fundamental belief in MBE

science. Even identical twins leave the womb with physically distinct brains due to the

slightly different experiences they had; one with his ear pressed closer to the uterus wall

and bombarded with sounds and light, and the other smuggled down deep in the dark.

There are clear patterns of brain development shared by all people, but the uniqueness of

each brain explains why students learn in slightly different ways. Many popular books try

to exploit this finding by using it as an “excuse” for the inability of teachers to reach all

learners. This is simply irresponsible. The uniqueness of each brain is not to be

overshadowed by the fact that humans as a species share clear developmental stages that

set parameters for learning.

2. All brains are not equal because context and ability influence learning.[5] Context

includes the learning environment, motivation for the topic of new learning, and prior

knowledge. Different people are born with different abilities, which they can improve

upon or lose, depending on the stimuli or lack thereof. How learners receive stimuli is

impacted by what they bring to the learning context, including past experience and prior

knowledge. This means that children do not enter the classroom on an even playing field.

Some are simply more prepared for the world from birth. This is a harsh reality to face

because it explicitly establishes a definitive framework for potential. The key, however,

is to maximize this potential. There are thousands of people who are born with the

potential or circumstances to be quite smart who do not live up to this possibility, while

there are thousands who are born with modest potential, but who maximize this

“limitation” well beyond expectations. Genes, previous experiences, and what the child

does with his or her potential contribute to the child’s success as a learner.

14

3. The brain is changed by experience. [6] The brain is a complex, dynamic, and

integrated system that is constantly changed by experience, though most of this change is

evident only at a microscopic level. You will go to bed tonight with a different brain from

the one you had when you awoke. Each smell, sight, taste, and touch you experience and

each feeling or thought you have alters the physical form of your brain. Although these

brain changes are often imperceptible unless viewed under a powerful microscope, they

constantly change the physical makeup of the brain. With rehearsal, these changes

become permanent—which can work in both positive and negative ways. Areas of the

brain that are used together tend to be strengthened, whereas areas that are not stimulated

atrophy. This truth gives rise to the Hebbian synapse concept (1949): Neurons that fire

together, wire together. The “wire together” part is a physical manifestation of how life

experiences change the brain. In short, it is nearly impossible for the brain not to learn as

experience—broadly defined as “knowledge or practical wisdom gained from what one

has observed, encountered, or undergone” [7] —changes the brain on a daily basis.

4. The brain is highly plastic. [8] Human brains have a high degree of plasticity and

develop throughout the lifespan, though there are major limits on this plasticity, and these

limits increase with age. People can, and do, learn throughout their lives. One of the most

influential findings of the 20th century was the discovery of the brain’s plasticity. This

discovery challenges the earlier belief in localization (i.e., that each brain area had a

highly specific function that only that area could fulfill), which lasted for hundreds of

years. It has now been documented that neuroplasticity can explain why some people are

able to recuperate skills thought to be lost due to injury. People born with only one

hemisphere of the brain, who nevertheless manage to live their lives normally, are an

extreme example of this plasticity. Antonio Battro and Mary Helen Immordino-Yang,

offer documentation of people with half a brain. Antonio Battro’s work on Half a brain is

enough: The story of Nico (2000) is a remarkable documentation of one child’s life with

just a half a brain and defies previous concepts about skill set location in the brain.

Taking Battro’s lead, Immordino-Yang offers the detailed story of two cases in her recent

work, “A tale of two cases: Lessons for education from the study of two boys living with

half their brains” (2007). She shows how the entire brain works as a single large system,

and when parts are missing, as in the case of these two children who were born with only

half a brain each, then other parts of the brain can “take over” and learn functions with

which they are not normally associated.

Researchers such as Paul Bach-y-Rita make it clear that “we see with our brains, not with

our eyes” (as cited in Doidge, 2007, p. 14). That is, the brain as a whole is responsible for

sensory perception, not necessarily a single part of the brain. Bach-y-Rita explains this

point using a simple metaphor: Let’s assume that you are driving from point A to point B.

You normally take the most efficient route, but if a bridge is down or the road is blocked,

you take a secondary road. This secondary road might not be as fast as the “natural”

route, but it gets you to point B all the same, and it may even become the preferred route

if it is sufficiently reinforced.

Perhaps the author who has done the most to explain neuroplasticity to the public is

physician Norman Doidge, who has documented studies that “showed that children are

not always stuck with the mental abilities they are born with; that the damaged brain can

often reorganize itself so that when one part fails, another can often substitute; that is

15

brain cells die, they can at times be replaced; that many ‘circuits’ and even basic reflexes

that we think are hardwired are not.”[9]. Neuroplasticity has implications for brains that

have been damaged, but also for basic learning in classroom experiences and how we

think about education. Whereas it was popular in the 1990s to think of the “crucial” early

years, it is now acknowledged that learning takes place throughout the lifespan. Does this

point speak against the privileging of early childhood educational practices? Not at all; it

simply means that under the right conditions, the skills that identify normal

developmental stages should be seen as benchmarks, not roadblocks, because humans can

learn throughout the lifespan.

5. The brain connects new information to old.[10] Connecting new information to prior

knowledge facilitates learning. We learn better and faster when we relate new

information to things that we already know. This principle may sound like it needs no

evidence—we experience it every day. For example, let’s say you are going somewhere

you have never been before. When someone gives you directions, it is very helpful if they

offer you a point of reference that is familiar to you (“You’ll see the post office; from

there, turn right at the next corner”). Similarly, when a child learns, he or she builds off

of a past knowledge; there is no new learning without reference to the past.

It is unfortunate that new concepts are sometimes taught in schools in a conceptual

vacuum without anchoring the information to what students already know. This vacuum

is the reason that students who have a poor foundation in a particular subject will

continue to fail. How can a child who does not understand addition move on to

understand subtraction? To use a house-building metaphor, if we have a weak foundation,

then it is irrelevant how sturdy the walls are, or how well built the roof is; the structure

cannot be supported. This is an argument for quality instruction in the early years.

Without a firm foundation in basic mathematical conceptualization (or basic concepts in

language, values, artistic or social content, for that matter), then a student will have a lot

of trouble moving on to build more complex conceptual understandings.

The well-established concepts in MBE science are not new ideas. All five have been

around for decades, if not centuries. What is new is that all five concepts have been

proven without a doubt in neuroscience, psychology, and educational settings, adding to

their credibility for use in planning, curriculum design, classroom methodology design,

and basic pedagogy. What is new is their consistent application in best-practice

classroom settings. These five “truths” should guide all teaching practices as well as

future research on better teaching tools.[11]

16

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