When Chris Biffle called out the word “Class!” on July 11 at Walsh University in Ohio, 450 teachers and administrators yelled back, “Yes!”

“Class class?” he said.

“Yes! Yes!” they replied.

“Classity classity,” he said.

“Yessity yessity,” they chanted back.

Biffle, one of the co-founders of Southern California-based Whole Brain Teaching LLC, is leading a two-day conference at Walsh about his method. He calls the technique “Class-Yes.”

The research page of Whole Brain Teaching’s website says “Class Yes” activates the prefrontal cortex of the brain and “readies students for instruction.”

It’s one of seven techniques the company says “are validated by contemporary brain research.”

The method might be fun, engaging, and popular, judging by teacher testimonials and company-conducted polls.

But the techniques are not validated by contemporary brain research, according to two experts in the relationship between neuroscience and education who reviewed the claims for the Akron Beacon Journal.

 

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2012/07/12/teachers-learn-ways-to-keep-students-attention-but-are-brain-claims-valid/?

http://www.ohio.com/news/local-news/teachers-learn-ways-to-keep-students-attention-but-are-brain-claims-valid-1.319731

Tom McDonald’s Comments:

We MUST follow the brain based, research proven, market proven learning methodologies!

What is debated (not validated),  as research proven:

• Tablets
  • “Maybe the most frustrating aspect is we can’t definitively say whether this program did or did not improve student outcomes, which is obviously the primary goal of any education reform.”
  • …”Cram says he hasn’t seen any dramatic improvements in learning since incorporating the iPad, but he anticipates that there will be soon”…
  • Project to evaluate use of tablets in schools
• Why The Left-Brain Right-Brain Myth Will Probably Never Die
• Learning Styles: Think You’re An Auditory Or Visual Learner? Scientists Say It’s Unlikely
• Working Memory Training:  Studies Dispute Benefits of Brain Training
• Flipped Learning/Classrooms:
  • Does it make sense?
    
  • The difference between live and taped lectures 
  • Don’t Use Khan Academy without Watching Educational Videos: this First
    

What is Validated as Research Proven:

• Learning Strategies in 2012 
• Learning on the Job: Myth vs Science
• Integrating Sales Training and Sales Implementation for Advanced Sales Participant Performance
• Truly Personalized Learning Technology
• Truly Personalized Intelligent Tutoring System
• Learning Research
• The Brain
  • Brain Research
  • Brain Based Learning Research

Where are you in the spectrum of brain based, learning research proven, market proven learning methodologies? Do you need to learn more about what is proven to work? If so, you are at the right place.

Tom

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To Discuss how these Solutions will add value for you, your organization and/or your clients, Affinity/Resale Opportunities, and/or Collaborative Efforts, Please Contact:

Tom McDonald, tsm@centurytel.net; 608-788-5144; Skype: tsmw5752