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Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ix Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xi Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiii CHAPTER 1 Brain Research Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Physiology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Functioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Nature Versus Nurture (Heredity Versus Environment) . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Emotions and the Intellect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 The Brain and the Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Theories of the Intellect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Memory, Learning, and the Human Brain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Be a Critical Consumer of Research on the Brain and Learning . . . . . 48 CHAPTER 2 Defining Brain-Compatible Classrooms . . . . .51 Implications for Schooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 The Framework of the Brain-Compatible Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Defi nition of Brain-Compatible Classrooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 CHAPTER 3 Setting the Climate for Thinking . . . . . . . . 77 Brainwave #1 Emotions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Brainwave #2 Enriched Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 CHAPTER 4 Teaching the Skills of Thinking . . . . . . . . 121 Brainwave #3 Types of Skills and Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Brainwave #4 Development of Skills and Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 B R A I N - C O M P A T I B L E C L A S S R O O M S CHAPTER 5 Structuring the Interaction with Thinking . .157 Brainwave #5 Active Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Brainwave #6 Experiential Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 CHAPTER 6 Thinking About Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Brainwave #7 Refl ection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Brainwave #8 Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 CHAPTER 7 Teacher Appraisal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 Appraisal Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 Setting the Climate for Thinking: Teacher Appraisal/Satisfactory . . . 250 Teaching the Skills and Concepts of Thinking: Teacher Appraisal/Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 Structuring the Interaction With Thinking: Teacher Appraisal/Excellent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 Teaching About Thinking: Teacher Appraisal/Superior . . . . . . . . . . . 252 Comparing Danielson and Fogarty Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 Appendix A: Suggested Videos to Illustrate the Four-Corner Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Appendix B: The Brain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 If you are alive and well in the new millennium, you know that the decade of the 90s was known as The Decade of the Brain (Klein 1997). The ex-ploration of our “universe within” was in full swing. From designer drugs such as Prozac and Zoloft to catchy terms such as EQ and MRIs, the media was abuzz with the almost daily dis cov er ies of how the brain functions and how that functioning can be monitored, im proved, and even re-created. Popular mag a zines published articles on brain-related stories and featured editions that devoted whole issues to the mysteries of the human brain.
In fact, the nation and the world are fascinated by the fi ndings in brain research. Such fi ndings include discovering that people can go to sleep when me la to nin sim u lates the dusklike qualities of light that trig-ger sleep; un der stand ing why most males prefer not to ask for directions when lost, based on how male/female brains function; and learn ing about the windows of op por tu ni ty from birth to three years of age that facilitate the wiring and re wir ing of the infant brain for learning language and mov-ing about.
Brain references are popping up everywhere. People are aware of the dendrites in their brains and they talk about growing dendrites through problem-solving scenarios and, kiddingly, of killing dendrites with alcohol. The medical world is tapping into the research, and there are ground-breaking discoveries connecting brain chemistry and disease. Even ed u -ca tors are tuning in to brain-friendly strategies for learning.
With all this interest in the brain and the vast amount of information about the brain inundating the media, the need for an informative and prac ti cal book for teachers seems imminent. Thus, it is the purpose of this book, Brain-Compatible Classrooms (2nd edition), to bring the message of brain re search and its implications for the classroom to educators in a user-friendly format.
B R A I N - C O M P A T I B L E C L A S S R O O M S Yet, a word of caution is needed. The landscape of brain research chang es almost daily. Be aware that in for ma tion pre sent ed in this book is open to debate and alteration as new insights emerge. Take re spon si bil i ty to read more on your own, concentrating on the resources cited within the past three years. Be a wise consumer.
In my search for understanding about how the brain works and how class rooms can become more brain-friendly, I want to acknowledge some lead ers in the fi eld: the pioneering work of Bob Sylwester and the caring advice he gave me, the gen er ous sharing of Pat Wolfe, the wealth of ideas provided by Eric Jensen’s books, and the bridge to learning provided by Geoffrey and Renate Caine’s principles of brain re search.
In my quest for quality, I want to thank my editing and design staff for both editions: Jean Ward for our early conversations on this new edition; Donna Ramirez for her skillful trans la tion of both my hand-writing and my disk; Dara Lee Howard for her insightful com ments and drawings; Bruce Leckie for his ingenious layout and design; Dave Stock man for his daring cover art; Amy Kinsman for her editorial contribution on the fi rst edition; and Laura Gabler, and Heidi Ray for their thor ough ness and eye for consistencies.
In my journey toward lifelong learning, I want to mention three oth- ers: Brian for enduring endless hours of “brain tapes” as we traveled in the car, and Tim and Jeff for their unknowing contributions to my aware ness of the brain and its inner workings.
This, the second edition of Brain-Compatible Classrooms, (BCC), is a book with a bit of a his to ry. It is a reconceptualization of an earlier work titled Patterns for Think ing, Patterns for Transfer (Fogarty and Bellanca 1993). Based on a frame work of four elements, Patterns presented a classroom model that ad vo cates teach ing for, of, with, and about thinking.
In essence, that same model is restructured in BCC. Offi cially called the four-corner framework, this model addresses the same four el e ments: setting the climate for thinking, teaching the skills of thinking, struc tur ing the in ter ac tion with thinking, and thinking metacognitively about think-ing. However, in BCC, the framework is grounded in the emergent brain research, as well as in the sound pedagogical theory present in Patterns. Chapter 1 of BCC presents the basics of brain research in a brief dis cus sion that is intended to provide an introductory awareness of the human brain and how it works. It begins with a thumbnail sketch of the physiology of the brain and the brain cell and proceeds to the functionality of how the brain/mind thinks, learns, and remembers. While this opening sec tion serves to begin the conversation about the human brain, hopefully, it also serves as a bridge to further readings in the fi eld of brain research.
Chapter 2 builds on this research base by applying the fi ndings to the four-corner framework. Using a brilliant synthesis of brain research, Caine and Caine (1991, 1994) have developed twelve principles that have com- pel ling im pli ca tions for the classroom. These twelve principles guide the creation of the frame work and are summarized in Figure 0.1. In sum, the climate for thinking is governed by a safe climate and an en riched environment; skills of thinking encompass not only the types of skills but the developmental path of those skills; interaction with think-ing targets active and experiential learning; and thinking about thinking high lights the refl ection and assessment aspects of the high-standards classroom.
B R A I N - C O M P A T I B L E C L A S S R O O M S Brainwaves in the Four-Corner Framework
CTION LEARNING
COGNITION
Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 extrapolate the principles assigned to each of the four areas. Chapter 3 discusses extensive strategies and options for setting a peak learning climate, and chapter 4 exposes the essential life skills and the natural path from novice to expert to peak performance. Chapter 5 explores explicit strat e gies for active learners and the curricular models of authentic learning, while chapter 6 discusses the roles of refl ec-tive thinking and bal anced assessments needed for learners to demon-strate deep un der stand ing and relevant transfer.

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