BRAIN-BASED LEARNING LIKELY TO REVAMP EDUCATION

Added : ( Fri Feb 25 2005 )

'Brain-based' learning theories promise to reinvent individual, small group and classroom education. "Neurobiological learning theory, the crowning result of two centuries of collective philosophical, medical, clinical and classroom work is being born," says physician, educator and linguist, Dr. Daniel S. Janik. 

Most contemporary teaching and learning theories are based on new inspirations or the latest fashionable idea of how to promote learning, but this Neurobiological Learning (NL) theory is based on how the brain actually works. “Only recently, with the advent of advanced medical imaging technology, have educators been able to 'see' inside the brain as learning actually occurs,” says Janik. “That distinct advantage changes the way we teach, learn and do educational research. That single, new perspective is shaking the very foundations of education.” 

The author of both A Neurobiological Theory and Method of Language Acquisition and Unlocking the Genius Within: Neurobiological Trauma, Teaching and Transformative Learning,Janik recently announced the development of a unified, 'effective' learning theory based on his special theory of neurologically-based language acquisition. "My contribution was to identify trauma as a common element of teaching. Traumatic learning seems more 'effective' but actually gets in the way of creativity, discovery, knowledge and wisdom. This originally came from clinical observations of trauma survivors during psychological recovery from the trauma," he explains. "The shortcomings of many current, hotly-debated, 'fashion' educational theories appear to be unwanted side-effects of unrecognized, traumatically-based teaching and learning." 

According to Mr. Joel Weaver, Director of Intercultural Communications College (ICC) in Honolulu, Hawaii, the application of Dr. Janik's interpretation of neurobiological learning in the classroom has proven nothing less than amazing. "We invited Dr. Janik to apply his new theory and method at ICC to 'test it in the fire' so to speak. As we watched students move to NL-based classes, and suddenly begin to relearn how to learn almost on their own, the term 'transformational learning' popped up and stuck! Dr. Janik’s classes are examples of how we at ICC are dedicated to bringing effective, non-traumatic learning in the classroom. Creativity and personal investment in the learning process have always been hallmarks of the classes at ICC, but now we are seeing them happen explicitly through application of transformational leaning principles. We are proud to be part of what Dr. Janik calls the new 'German School' of neurobiological learning, and offer it to the brightest minds from the East and West."

Dr. Janik explains, "My first love was medicine: how the body actually works. Observing trauma survivors move through the process of psychological recovery, acquiring a new language to 'speak the unspeakable,' it struck me that traumatic learning was one of the most effective forms of learning there is. The problem was that the dastardly side effects. The whole situation reminded me of the famous educator, C. P. Snow, who questioned why modern, effective teaching seemed to be increasingly hampered by a 'lack of creative zest." In the 1960s, when Snow and concerned parents began alerting the educational world of this situation, there was no way to 'look under the hood' and see what was actually going on inside the brain. Yet that's exactly what contemporary medical imaging has provided us: a way to look inside the brain as learning occurs."

"These two factors, a new understanding of clinical recovery from trauma and the advent of medical imaging, inspired me to critically re-examine our current theories of first and subsequent language acquisition. What I didn't expect was how easily and rapidly they extended to learning in general," says Dr. Janik. "I didn't plan to develop a new educational learning theory, but I finally had to give up trying to justify the many 'fashionable' teaching theories (none of which, as parents and educators were constantly telling us, seemed to altogether work) and instead put together a new theory based on how learning actually takes place in the brain. Neurobiologically speaking, learning doesn't occur in the ways we thought and, in many cases, the ways we wished or imagined it would. Because trauma is historically one of the most effective forms of teaching and learning, I focused on understanding traumatic learning in the clinic, classroom and within the brain. The hardest part of this work was translating neurobiological learning theory into a form of effective, but non-traumatic learning - searching for a second learning pathway if you will. What resulted when we applied NL theory in a distinctly non-traumatic manner was curiosity-based, discovery-driven, mentor-assisted, transformational learning!"

According to Janik and his colleagues, Christina Widjaja, Margaret Bills and Hisako Saito, all instructors at ICC and neighboring colleges, applying both neurobiological and transformational learning (TL) theory and methods in the classroom resulted in some interesting, altogether surprising results. For example, it was found that strong, rigid curricula, long held to be the 'gold standard' of increased educational quality, was actually far less important than the quality and quantity of available learning resources. "What we found was that neurobiologically-directed students were learning 'in spite of the curriculum,'” says Saito. “What they really needed, wanted and desired was a rich and topically-interesting variety of learning resources. As teachers, we have been taught that students learn what we teach them. However, that is not what excites them. What excites them is making discoveries that result from their own curiosity. In this sense, curriculum often gets in the way of their learning. It bothers them when they can't or don't want to learn what's in a pre-negotiated learning contract, prefixed curriculum or daily lesson plan. These rigid structures actually stop them from making discoveries."

Margaret Bills adds, "Another surprise was that they didn't need teachers in the traditional sense. In fact, overt teaching seemed to generally get in the way of discovery-based learning. Our students sought mentors who could model for them the curiosity-based, discovery learning process. The kind of mentoring they were seeking, however, was quite different from many of our contemporary ideas about mentoring. They wanted someone to actually walk through the discovery process, shoulder-to-shoulder, frustration-by-frustration with them. They needed someone to demonstrate, for example, to expect and accept as normal that uncomfortable feeling--'pre-discovery dysesthesia,' as Dr. Janik calls it, that is the neurologically-based discomfort that inevitably accompanies academic curiosity and pre-discovery searching. We needed to work with the students to demonstrate that an ‘aha!’ discovery - what we call the 'popping up' phenomenon - will occur if they just keep searching and don't give up.” Bills goes on, “This is the opposite of what is 'taught' in most of our educational institutions. Our classrooms here at ICC, for example, tend to be busy, noisy, cluttered places of exploration with the 'teacher' engaged in demonstrating active learning, rather than the quiet, ordered classroom so often held as the ideal learning environment. In 'teaching' situations, for example, educators are commonly encouraged to distance themselves to some extent from learners and teach what they think students should know."

"Whenever we let didactic teaching retake hold over our classrooms, 'creative zest' immediately began to disappear,' says Janik. "As most trained researchers will tell you, learning is not really that 'hard,' but prior to discovery, it usually feels mentally and physically uncomfortable. Transformational learning helps one build tolerance for pre-discovery dysesthesia, which opens the door to discovery, knowledge, wisdom, and further curiosity. When effectively mentored, students learn to recognize, anticipate and even welcome the pre-discovery state in anticipation of the excitement of the hunt, and the thrill of discovery. That's creative zest in a transformational nutshell."

"I've largely acted as the 'control' in our development of this new approach,” says Christina Widjaja. "I try to make my courses the very best possible, incorporating traditional as well as the latest teaching theories, methods, strategies and techniques, but without applying the precepts of neurobiological learning. It's hard to be the 'control' when you see the effect transformational learning has on even 'hard to reach' students. The students see it, too, and, while many are initially apprehensive, almost all of our college-bound students eventually choose transformational study. Several told me that for them, it is the difference between studying about something and actually using it to intellectually grow in a classroom. In the end, using something like, in my case, American Academic English, is more productive than having to learn all about it."

"Neurobiologically-based transformational learning appears well-suited to effective acquisition of first and subsequent languages," says Janik. "For the past 4 years, we've also applied neurobiological / transformational learning theory and methods to disciplines like college English, mathematics, psychology, public speaking, art and the study of world and United State culture," says Janik. "The initial results are quite promising. Traditionally, the number of international students who meet the minimum US college and university entrance requirements and successfully complete their first year of study is rather low. Almost all of our graduates negotiate the transition and continue on to thrive in American colleges and universities. Providing access to this kind of success for our students is what it's all about, isn't it?"
Submitted by: Daniel S. Janik Add your press release for free.

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