Connecting Brain Research with Effective Teaching:

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Connecting Brain Research with Effective
Teaching
The Brain-Targeted Teaching Model
Dr. Mariale Hardiman Johns Hopkins
University Roland Park Elementary/Middle
School Mmhardiman_at_jhu.edu 410-516-6550
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Brain Target 1 The Emotional Climate

• While stress impedes learning, positive emotions
  contribute to long-term memory. The more intense
  the arousal of our amygdala, the stronger the
  informational imprint, which, in turn, enhances
  recall and learning.

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Brain Target 1 Best Practices

• Predictability Routines, rituals, consistency
• Personal Connection between teacher and student
• Trust and Acceptance
• Safe Classroom Environment
• Positive Language Encouragement
• to Shape Behaviors
• Supportive Corrective Language
• Peer Mediation/ Sharing Circles
• Class Meetings Control and Choice
• Humor
• Arts Integration
• Celebration
• Student self-evaluation checklist

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Brain-Target 1  
Write how you feel right now. ___________________
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___________________________
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_ _ _ _ _ _____________________________________
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______________________________________ _________
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______________________________________ _ _ _ _ _
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______________________________________ _ _ _ _ _
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______________________________________  
   
Draw how you feel right now.
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  Brain-Target 1  
    Why are you feeling this way?
  _______________________________________________
_______________________________   ________________
__________________________________________________
____________   ___________________________________
___________________________________________   ____
__________________________________________________
________________________   _______________________
__________________________________________________
_____   __________________________________________
____________________________________  
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BT-2 Enriched Environments

• The context communicates (Caine Caine, 2001).
  From corporate offices to media events, physical
  surroundings are an essential part of the
  messages that are communicated in society.

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Brain-Target 2 Best Practices

• Use horizontal and vertical spaces to add color
  and beauty while reflecting the current learning
  unit and student work.
• Change classroom displays frequently.
• Establish order and engage students in routine
  care of the classroom.
• Use soft background music when student are
  performing routine tasks.

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Brain-Target 2 Best Practices

• Soften harsh lights with lamps use natural
  light.
• Create flexible seating arrangements and design
  space to facilitate movement.
• Allow for water breaks.
• Decorate the room with plants, terrariums, or
  other common household items.

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Check your senses to see if you are ready to
learn!
Brain-Target 2
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BT-3Big Picture Concepts/ Concept Mapping

• How do we lead students to understanding global
  concepts of content goals?
• Use of nonlinguistic representation such as
  concept maps is one of most effective strategies
  (Marzano, Pinkering, Pollock, 2001).

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Brain Target 3 Best Practices

• Use content standards to design unit scope and
  sequences.
• Use scope and sequences to design learning units.
• Begin learning units by allowing students to see
  big-picture concepts.
• Use concept maps to allow students to understand
  concepts through nonlinguistic representation.
• Design broad learning goals allow students to
  design a personalized learning goal.
• Design specific objectives that state what
  students will know and be able to do as a result
  of instruction.

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BT-4Repeated Rehearsal

• The most important factor determining how well we
  remember information is the degree to which we
  rehearse and repeat that information (Squire,
  2002).

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Brain-Target 4 Best Practices

• Vary learning tasks that provide novelty to
  sustain attention and differentiate for the needs
  of the learners.
• Use multiple modalities and technology.
• Integrate arts into instructional activities to
  help sustain memory The arts integrate thought,
  feeling, and action Visual Arts seeing and
  doing Dance movement Drama acting out Music
  listening playing
• The arts help to make a memory imprint of concept
  and skills.

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BT-5Modular Brain Systems

• When we extend knowledge by examining it in a
  deeper, more analytical way, the brain uses
  multiple and complex systems of retrieval and
  integration.
• Brain scans demonstrate that different parts of
  the brain become engaged when we use complex
  thinking and problem-solving (Sousa, 2001).

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Brain Target 5 Best Practices

• Compare and contrast elements
• Classify information
• Inductive thinking drawing generalities from
  specific parts
• Deductive thinking making predictions based on
  generalizations
• Analyze error patterns

• Analyze perspective
• Create metaphors and analogies
• Conduct investigations design experiments
• Solve problems using real-world contexts
• Integrate visual and performing arts into
  curriculum

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BT-6 Evaluation Techniques Supported by Brain
Research
Provide students with immediate, frequent and
relevant feedback about their performance
(Marzano, Pinkering, and Pollock, 2001).
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Brain Target 6 Best Practices

• Use of a checklist
• Scoring tools such as rubrics
• Asking learners to self-assess using a scoring
  tool and then providing feedback
• Collective feedback time where you discuss
  feedback as a group
• Portfolio assessment

• Written comments on documents
• Conferences with guiding questions
• Post examples of varying proficiency levels and
  have students evaluate best responses
• Create a visual such as an illustration or graph
  to exemplify a point
• Peer review

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Research on Brain-Targeted Teaching
For a doctoral research study conducted at
Johnson Wales University, Dr. Peter Bertucci
(2006) conducted a mixed-method qualitative case
study as well as a quantitative ex post facto
study of the Brain-Targeted Teaching model.
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Findings From Research on Brain-Targeted Teaching

• Data suggest student outcomes include deeper
  conceptual understanding and better extension of
  knowledge, more engaged and happy students and
  strong state test performance.
• The program evaluation findings validate the
  utilization of the Brain-Targeted Teaching
  Model.Dr. Peter Berticci, 2006

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Findings from Research on Brain-Targeted Teaching

• In particular, striking differences were found in
  the percentage of students of poverty who
  performed at the advanced levels of reading
  achievement on the MSA. The study site clearly
  demonstrated significant gains in achievement
  compared to the control site.

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www.braintargetedteaching.org
Dr. Mariale Hardiman Johns Hopkins
University 410-516-6550 mmhardiman_at_jhu.edu