I believe that part of what perpetuates the use of "brain-based learning" and other fads similar in nature is a two-fold problem. First, there is anecdotal "spread". In other words, it sounds good and maybe a teacher or two got lucky in using something like it so they tell their story to others who need something to help their students. The teacher seeking assistance says "well, it sounds good and it worked for Mrs. Smith and Mr. Jones, so it must be good to use." The second part of the problem is connected to the first part. Our teacher candidates see faculty as removed from the classroom and find it difficult to connect what we teach in class to what they see in the field. They see their cooperating teachers doing what was mentioned in the first part of the problem, they see "brain-based education" (such as it is) in action and they don't see teachers using what we are teaching in the college classroom. What are they going to do? They are going to mimic what their cooperating teacher is doing and now we're back to the first part of the problem once again. The key is to interrupt the cycle in some way and show both in-service and pre-service teachers a more evidence-driven way of teaching.
I believe that part of what perpetuates the use of "brain-based learning" and other fads similar in nature is a two-fold problem. First, there is anecdotal "spread". In other words, it sounds good and maybe a teacher or two got lucky in using something like it so they tell their story to others who need something to help their students. The teacher seeking assistance says "well, it sounds good and it worked for Mrs. Smith and Mr. Jones, so it must be good to use." The second part of the problem is connected to the first part. Our teacher candidates see faculty as removed from the classroom and find it difficult to connect what we teach in class to what they see in the field. They see their cooperating teachers doing what was mentioned in the first part of the problem, they see "brain-based education" (such as it is) in action and they don't see teachers using what we are teaching in the college classroom. What are they going to do? They are going to mimic what their cooperating teacher is doing and now we're back to the first part of the problem once again. The key is to interrupt the cycle in some way and show both in-service and pre-service teachers a more evidence-driven way of teaching.