WHOLE BRAIN LEARNING LESSON PLAN
- One copy per student of the comprehension passage and exercise sheet (see below for
printable lesson). Audio-cassette of background music (baroque music is preferable).
Teachers may either print out
the lesson and have students
read it themselves, or use it for your own lesson.
Introduce the topic by explaining that modern learning methods should take account of all that we know about the way the brain works. Have the students read the comprehension passage. Give them the exercise sheet and ask them to make a mind map of the information in the text. Play the background music quietly.
Ask them to share their mind maps with the person next to them. Ask people to volunteer their feelings about the mind-mapping exercise to music in comparison with the reading exercise.
Most traditional-style teaching is done through lecturing, reading and writing. Yet we know that these activities appeal to only the left hemisphere of the brain. If the whole brain can be involved in learning, then retention of information, understanding and subsequent performance is greatly enhanced.
The brain functions best under certain conditions, so the learning environment has to be considered as well. Priorities for the brain are firstly physical safety, then emotional security, and then higher-order thinking. The higher-order activities involved in learning cannot function well, however, unless the first two are satisfied. Students do not learn well if there is an element of fear in the learning environment and that includes fear of the teacher’s sarcasm or disapproval.
Lesson Printable Materials -
Print out the teaching lesson pages and
exercise worksheets for
use with this lesson: