I need to address that traditional teachers are not using brain based
learning/strategies (brain research) in their classrooms/school.

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Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 20 Sep 2003 22:48 PDT

Hello joden-ga,

Could you please expand your question. I've found references to "brain
based learning strategies" but I don't know what kind of information
would be helpful to you. Who are "traditional teachers" and what is
their approach to teaching. Are you writing a paper? Are you trying to
convince someone? The more information you share, the more likely I
will be able to get you what you need. Thanks.

czh

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Clarification of Question by joden-ga on 21 Sep 2003 05:59 PDT

I have a ton of brain based learning information.  I need a reference
or two saying teachers are not using brain research information. 
Teachers are teaching the way they always have.  ie desk and chairs in
row, sitting in the same place everyday, listening to the teacher talk
and doing worksheets and not talking.   I have the information that
teachers should chage.  I need info on the fact they are not.  My
opinion is they are old and set in their ways, and changing teaching
styles is too much work.  Does that help.

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Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 22 Sep 2003 14:37 PDT

Hello again joden-ga,

Thank you for the clarification. It definitely helped me to take the
research further. As I understand your question, you want to be able
to quote/cite someone saying that teachers are sticking with outmoded
teaching methods instead of implementing brain based learning. I’m
sorry to disappoint you, but I haven’t found any such references in
the brain based learning literature. If anything, there is a lot of
information about teachers enthusiastically embracing this new
approach. Although I didn’t find any references confirming that
teachers are not implementing brain based learning as they should
according to your perspective, I was able to find some articles and
authors who are skeptical about brain based learning. Would these
references be of interest to you?

I investigated further the question of general teacher resistance to
changing to new teaching methods. I was able to find some articles on
this subject. Would this be useful to you?

Please clarify further. I hope to find what you need. Thanks.

czh

It may be useful for you to go to your local library and read a recent
(2 or 3 months ago, I can't remember)  issue of Scientific American
that was dedicated to the topic of Building Better Brains.  One of the
articles in that issue dealt specifically with the latency of new
information on how we learn reaching into the classroom where it
arguably has the biggest impact.  While I don't remember specifically,
since I was not interested in pursuing this particular topic, all SA
articles include both author contact info and related reading
references for additional followup.  I imagine that all of that would
be of great interest to you.

John Holt and Raymond Moore are men you may want to research as well.
John Holt was involved in school reform for a while, became
discouraged with it, and turned to homeschooling as a solution to what
schools were not providing. Raymond Moore helped to legitimize
homeschooling and was a former US Dept. of Education Employee.

A few thoughts/comments. I apologize for not providing references,
links, etc. However, you should be able to develop some information
based on the following.

First, I'm approaching this from the perspective of special education
and my experiences there. There are other ways to approach your
question, too. But, starting off, one major issue is the difference
between the "educational model" and the "medical model" in special
education. To oversimplify greatly, the medical model looks for
solutions/interventions using medical/health care tools. For kids with
AD/HD, for instance, that might include medication (stimulants),
behavior modification, and so forth. The educational model (to grossly
and perhaps unfairly oversimplify) at best tries to comply with legal
requirements (IDEA and ADA, among others) using classroom techniques
to provide an adequate educational experience to the kids. Not saying
that the medical model is the "correct" one, but the two models have
very different aims, purposes, and approaches.

Second, the educational bureaucracy is just that...a bureaucracy. And
bureaucracies are very slow to change. And when they do--at least in
the educational sphere--they seemingly do without the evidence-based
research to fully support their decisions. Not sure how old you are,
but in the 1960s there was the disastrous "new math." Shortly after
that was an experiment with open classrooms. These were the "flavor of
the month" and didn't work at all. Change seems to be hit-and-miss
when it occurs at all.

Third, you might look into books dealing with different forms/types of
intelligence. Also look into the general concepts involving
Myers-Briggs. Both of these (and many others as well) suggest that
different people have different ways of learning, of acquiring
information, and of processing it. The educational establishment is at
times unwilling or unable to accommodate these different approaches.
For example, to oversimplify, if you're a teacher and you have 30
students in your class...24 learn best through lecture, 3 learn best
through hands-on/tactile, and 3 learn best through analysis...what's
the most effective teaching method? If you lecture, you'll probably
succeed with the 24 and maybe with a few of the others. But if you use
tactile/hands-on methods, you'll probably succeed with the 3 and maybe
a few others. Some of the more enlightened teachers recognize this.
But what can they do except teach to the majority and hope that the
others somehow can keep up?

Anyhow, you might do some research on those issues; it may point you
in the right direction.

Good luck.