The effect of brain based learning of academic success and retrieval of information in science

Today, there is a rapid change in reaching information and spread ofinformation. This rapid spread not only changes the conditions of social life, but alsolays new functions on the institutions of education. In this respect, the institutions ofeducation aims at training individuals who have critical and rational thinking, whoquestion the events and their environment, who are aware of the problems and try tofind solutions to these problems. Science is one of the courses that aims at providing theindividuals with the above mentioned qualifications.In Science course, it is aimed at teaching the students ways of reachinginformation rather than just teaching them the existing information. This is possiblewith teaching the students problem solving and thinking skills. In other words, it isnecessary for the students to acquire scientific process skills in Science course.However, it does not seem possible with the traditional approaches that Science coursecan prop up the development of the mentioned skills. That the students can doresearches, conduct experiments, make discussions and carry out observations isprobable with student-centered teaching approaches. One of these approaches is brain-based learning, which tries to explain under which conditions effective and lastinglearning takes place.Brain-based learning is a theory that sees the findings of the brain researches asguiding principles for having an effective teaching and learning environment. Brain-based learning, which focuses on the ways the brain learns best rather than the ways ofteaching, provides the students with a safe and rich learning environment supportingboth individual and group works.The present study aims to investigate whether brain-based learning in the 5thgrade Science course has an effect on academic success and retention of previouslylearned information. The research, which was shaped based on the `pre- and post-testcontrol group model?, was conducted in 2004-2005 academic year at KütahyaAbdurrahman Paşa Primary School in 5-A and 5-B grades determined as experimentaland control groups. 22 students from each group matched with each other participatedin this study. In the present study, the following data collection instruments were used: aquestionaire for the students to be matched for the solution of the problem, and anachievement test composed of multiple-choice questions to measure the students?academic success and retention level. In additon, lesson plans and teaching materialswere developed for the Science course to be conducted based on brain-based learning.The study was carried out between May 2nd, 2004 and May 23rd, 2004 for sixclass hours per week and 18 class hours totally. During this period, brain-based learningapproach was used in the experimental group while the traditional teaching method wasused in the control group. At the end of the experimental process, when the activitiesrelated to the unit were all covered, the achievement test was applied to both groups asthe post-test. 3 weeks after the application of the achievement test, it was applied againto measure the retention level.The data obtained were analyzed using the SPSS program. The means andstandard deviations were calculated for each group. `t- test? was used for between groupcomparisons and the significance level was taken as .05.The following results were obtained in the present study:• There was a significant difference between the the achievement level ofexperimental group with which brain-based learning approach was used andcontrol group with which the traditional teaching were used; students in theexperimental group were found to be more successful than the ones in thecontrol group.• There was a significant difference between the retrieval level ofexperimental group with which brain-based learning approach was used andcontrol group with which the traditional teaching were used; students in theexperimental group were found to be more successful than the ones in thecontrol group in terms of retrieving the previously learned information.