Whether you’ve read my other articles in the Early Childhood Education category or researched this topic online, you probably have questions about how the terms “brain-friendly” and “learning styles” fit into your work with your child. preschool child. Certainly the goal of both is to help your child learn, so what’s the difference? Is one better than the other?

“Learning Styles” is the oldest concept and represents the results of several research studies trying to determine how we learn. You’ll find a summary of these findings in my article “Learning Styles: Should I Get My Child Tested?” (The answer is no). These concepts were essentially guesses, based on behavioral observation, about how the brain receives and stores information. Conjectures about how the brain learns.

I recommend that you read that article to familiarize yourself with the terminology because you are likely to come across some or all of these concepts as you study early childhood education further. You may even find teachers in your child’s future who still hold on to these concepts. Some of these attempts to explain how we learn have more merit than others; there is some truth in each one; but neither provided the full answer. The concept of learning styles has lost popularity in the field of education. In my research for this article, I was surprised by the number of articles and videos that referred to “debunking” this concept of learning styles.

Having taught in public schools in the 1990s, when we were encouraged to test our students’ learning styles, and students were often placed in classes where their learning style matched the teacher’s style, the idea of that learning styles were “debunked” initially seemed impossible. . However, this change in attitude about education is the result of new developments in brain scanning technology, brain surgery, and brain research. We no longer have to guess how the brain learns. We have a lot of research and practical verification of techniques that have been shown to be effective for learning to occur.

The field of brain-based learning and education is only a couple of decades old; and the field is not without its critics; but even Harvard University now offers master’s and doctoral programs through its MBE (Mind, Brain, and Education) program. The study of brain-based education is about learning what techniques parents and educators should use to better engage the brain in learning.

Now that we know how the brain actually learns, it’s important that you use brain-friendly techniques as you work with your preschooler. You don’t need a teaching degree to use brain-friendly techniques. I will now summarize here the things you should consider when working with your child. The brain needs colour, exercise/movement, a variety of activities, novelty, processing time, music, limiting stress, information in small “chunks”, plenty of rest, introduction to “the arts”: dance, theater (acting things out) and art, frequent check-ups, good nutrition and more. There are many specific techniques that teachers use in their classrooms, but this list will give you a head start on working at home.

There are a few things to notice from the list:

1. These activities actually use all the different concepts of learning styles, which is why you don’t need to assess your child and why I didn’t list them. Using brain-friendly techniques addresses what you need to know about learning styles.
2. You are already using many of these techniques. You are already working in short periods of time, giving time to processing, a lot of review, movement, different types of activities, monitoring your child to avoid stress, etc.
3. Skill worksheets and exercises are NOT brain-supported. There are hundreds of sites online that offer worksheets for your preschooler. However, unless these worksheets are colorful, novel and varied activities, short, self-checking to avoid practiced mistakes, and you are willing to monitor every moment of their use, you should avoid using them!

If you want to learn more about brain-based learning, I recommend reading Eric Jensen, David Sousa, and/or John Medina.

The answer to the initial question is that “brain-friendly” is the learning concept you need to incorporate into your work with your child. Note that I haven’t even mentioned math because these techniques are for ALL learning. Always remember to stay positive with your child, show enthusiasm for learning and avoid boredom in your child. Boredom actually destroys brain cells, and we certainly don’t want that!