STRATEGIES FOR ENGAGING STUDENTS’ BRAINS AND ACCELERATING LEARNING
There is one major concept supported by hundreds of years of history. When students are actively engaged with content, their ability to comprehend and remember that content is increased exponentially. Yet, we live in a period where high-stakes testing and accountability are emphasized to the exclusion of more engaging strategies. Many teachers are concerned with covering vast amounts of content in a day or in a period. A famous educator by the name of Madeline Hunter stated years ago, If all teachers are doing is covering content, then they should get a shovel and cover it with dirt because it is dead to memory.
With over half a century of experience in education and thirty years of studying this amazing organ called the brain, I have learned that there are twenty ways that take advantage of the way brains learn best. These strategies, however, were not all addressed in one book. Teachers would not have had time to read twenty different books and apply the information to daily instruction. Therefore, in 2003, I wrote the book, Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites: 20 Instructional Strategies that Engage the Brain. The book, published by Corwin, became an international bestseller and served as a reference for over half a million teachers throughout the world. The fourth edition of this book is now published and the name changed to Engaging the Brain: 20 Unforgettable Strategies for Growing Dendrites and Accelerating Learning.
These nonnegotiable strategies for the brain are as follows:
Brainstorming/Discussion
Drawing/Artwork
Field Trips
Games
Graphic Organizers/Semantic Maps/Word Webs
Humor
Manipulatives/Experiments/Labs/Models
Metaphors/Analogies/Similes
Mnemonic Devices
Movement
Music/Rhythm/Rhyme/Rap
Project/Problem-based Learning
Reciprocal Teaching/Cooperative Learning
Roleplays/Drama/Pantomimes/Charades
Storytelling
Technology
Visualization/Guided Imagery
Visuals
Work Study/Apprenticeships
Writing/ Journals
These strategies work for the brain for many reasons. Some of those reasons are as follows:
They correlate with the way the brain was designed to learn. Human beings had brains before the inception of this artificial place we call school. Therefore, when strategies that are inherent in real life are used in school, understanding is facilitated. For example, before history was in writing, it was passed down through storytelling.
Society is replete with mnemonic devices, such as FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), NFL (National Football League), and more recently, AI (Artificial Intelligence). Social media has added more acronyms such as LOL (Laughing Out Loud) and OMG (Oh! My God!).
Human beings were designed for movement. In fact, anything we learn while in motion stands a better chance of ending up in long-term memory. This is the reason that people seldom forget how to drive a car, ride a bike, or play the piano. One teacher related to me that her mother has dementia and no longer recognizes her or her grandchildren, yet, as a pianist, she can still go the piano and play songs she once played. Students who seem unable to remember content appear to remember the lyrics of the songs they love. This is because of the powerful effect of music on the brain.
They increase academic achievement for all students. These strategies appear to maintain effectiveness with all content areas and in all grade levels. They work with regular education, special education, and gifted students. They work with preK or precalculus. Regardless of who or what a teacher is teaching, the strategies make such a difference! Teachers are realizing higher test scores while students are recalling content not just for tests, but for life!
They decrease behavior problems. Some students misbehave because they are bored. Other students misbehave because they feel inadequate. When a teacher uses the strategies, the ones who are bored are actively engaged in learning and the ones who feel inadequate are successful.
They make teaching and learning so much fun! Rather than listening to a boring lecture for the majority of the period, students could be working in cooperative groups to design a role play of their understanding of a concept; playing a game, like Jeopardy, to review content prior to a test; drawing scientific concepts; or doing a dance of the Number Line Hustle to learn how to add positive and negative integers.
With the exception of a few strategies, the remaining ones do not add expense to the school’s budget. No additional textbooks or computer programs need to be purchased. It does not cost anything to tell a story while teaching, to conduct a whole-class discussion, or to place students in cooperative groups when comparing homework assignments.
Subsequent blogs will be devoted to an in-depth look at these strategies and their application to the classroom. My most recent book, Engaging the Brain: 20 Unforgettable Strategies for Growing Dendrites and Accelerating Learning, is replete with more than 200 pieces of research regarding the strategies and more than 250 activities for integrating them in the classroom. Whether teaching students or adults, I cannot teach any other way. Neither should you!
For additional research and more specific examples of instructional activities that engage students in the 20 brain-compatible strategies, consult the 4th edition of my best-selling book, Engaging the Brain: 20 Unforgettable Strategies for Growing Dendrites and Accelerating Learning.
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