Principles of Brain-Based Learning
We offer the following brain principles as a general theoretical foundation for brain-based learning. These principles are simple and neurologically sound. Applied to education, however, they help us to reconceptualize teaching by taking us out of traditional frames of reference and guiding us in defining and selecting appropriate programs and methodologies.
Principle One: The brain is a parallel processor.
It is always doing many things at one time (Ornstein and Sobel 1987). Thoughts, emotions, imagination, and predisposition’s operate simultaneously and interact with other modes of information processing and the expansion of general social and cultural knowledge.
Implications for education
Good teaching "orchestrates" the learner's experience so that all these aspects of brain operation are addressed. Teaching must, therefore, be based on theories and methodologies that guide the teacher so as to make orchestration possible. No one method or technique can by itself adequately encompass the variations of the human brain. However, teachers do need a frame of reference that enables them to select from the vast repertoire of methods and approaches that are available.