Clearing up the Confusion: So What is Brain-based Learning Anyway?

Guess it’s time to explain since folks keep asking: “What on earth is Brain-based learning anyway?”

Well, technically, it’s a theory that says kids have different ways of learning and if we teach to all of those ways of learning, every kid will learn and learn more effectively.

Some kids are visual learners, some are auditory, others learn best kinesthetically, and so on.

It’s another way of talking about Howard Gardner’s work in Multiple Intelligences.

However, I use it in a much broader sense. Anything we can do to boost brain power is, in fact, “brain-based learning.” So brain-based learning includes everything from eating food high in nutrients for the brain (protein, for example) to moving across the mid-line (Brain Gym exercises)

Stimulating the brain by doing something different or learning something new is brain-based learning. Even drinking water which increases the electrical conductivity of your brain cells fits the category.

This definition of brain-based learning works for everyone—not just visual learners or kinesthetic learners. We can all use it and so can our kids.

Want to know more about Brain Gym? Sign up for the FREE 1 hour Brain Gym TeleChat. It’s Thursday night, November 2, 2006. Can’t make it? No worries. If you sign up, you’ll still get the link for the Web audio and the handouts.