Cognition and Language Learning

Approaches for Classroom Environment

Printable version found in the Course Objectives | Research | Materials folder

Adapted from Brain Compatible Strategies, Eric Jensen, 2004

Engaging the Spatial-Episodic Memory

To tap into the brain’s parallel visual system and record as much information as possible via what is seen and where you see it, teach students to contextualize their learning. When they contextualize it, they move it from theory to practice. In doing so, they sort, compare, contrast, retrieve, imagine, and all sorts of other brain activities occur that help the information retrieval process. Here are some suggestions for contextualizing learning and increasing what students remember.

• Change the classroom seating from time to time, rearrange the desks from facing one another, to circles, to placement along the sides in a sort of box. Change the seating for different learning circumstances.
• Teach outdoors when possible, under a tree on a nice afternoon or in the bleachers. A change in environment will help their brains sort incoming data into another context, and thus they’ll remember it longer.
• Use props, costumes and music to effectuate tone, voice, or emphasize something important. They won’t forget you did it, and they’ll never forget why!
• Plan events and themes that are curriculum-related and coincide with holidays, seasons, or other school milestones.

Visual and Peripheral Impact

The brain registers over 36,000 images per hour. Just our eyes alone can take in thirty million pieces of information per second. It makes using moving images and audio for instruction particularly powerful. “The effects of direct instruction diminish after about two weeks but the effects of your visuals and peripherals continue to increase during the same time period” (p. 18). Studies continue to reinforce the important influence of posters, symbols, pictures and drawings displayed throughout the classroom. Below are some suggestions for harnessing the power of visuals and peripherals:

• Use posters to display colorful and inspirational messages, reinforcement of process, teamwork protocols, discoveries, achievements of historical figures or anything else positive. Have students contribute to them with ideas, or make them and swap them out throughout the year.
• Organize the content of a lesson into a poster and have students copy it down in ways that are personally meaningful – a brief checklist inside their notebooks, reworded their own way, as a thinking web.
• Place group work up on the walls in addition to individual student work. This will also reinforce the value of teamwork while graphically representing their achievements.
• Place positive affirmations throughout the room – “Your success is my success!” or “Slow and steady wins the race!”  and the like. Have students research and/or create their own positive messages.
• Have students develop murals or graffiti that convey positive messages around the classroom.
• Show short video clips (3 to 7 minutes in length) that convey powerful messages related to the content to be learned, or content already learned. It will enhance retention and understanding.

The Power of Music

Music can and does change and energize our brain. Its power can’t be underestimated. In study after study, it’s been found to boost intelligence. Music is crucial for spatial tasks, and has proven to boost intelligence using Mozart compositions. Below are some suggestions for integrating music into your classroom environment:

• Play positive, energizing music as the class settles in.
• Keep soft, classical music playing in the background as students do their work – while they read independently, write, or perform other tasks.
• When teaching something dramatic, or with drama, play Romantic or Classical music to reinforce the ambiance or theme.
• Play Mozart piano sonata before students perform spatial tasks, like manipulating objects, building, composing, or completing puzzles.
• Play lyrically applicable music to calm the class, liven the class, or conclude learning. Consider “I’ve Had the Time of My Life, or “Happy Trails.”

Aroma Learning Therapy

Aroma has been the subject of study for its effects on the brain for years. All studies have concluded that it has an impact, and a primal one, on the amygdala and thalamus, the glands that respond to danger, pleasure and food. Our sense of smell immediately funnels messages to the brain, faster than any other sense – like a first responder, our sense of smell is the first sense to arrive on a scene, and funnels lasting memories to the brain. “A person can actually react to an aroma before being aware of having inhaled it!” (p. 55).

• Use lemon, cinnamon or peppermint to effectuate attention and/or mood.
• Use fans to circulate the scent throughout the room.
• Change aromas around to keep students’ attention, or capture it again.
• Stick to the natural scents as much as possible, such as lavender – they minimize effects of allergies, and are easier to digest in the system.