Eliciting and Sustaining Critical Thinking Through Brain-Based Teaching In Mathematics

Abstract

Brain-based teaching (BBT) was applied to determine if it elicits and/or sustains critical thinking while learning Mathematics. This study uses secondary data from the quasi-experiment of Vallinas (2015) conducted to 30 Grade 6 students whose permit of use was obtained prior to further analysis. In the experiment, teaching and learning process was based on the three basic fundamentals of BBT, namely, relaxed alertness, orchestrated immersion, and active processing. The last phase includes the “questioning and deep thinking”, “asking question as the basic condition required to think”, and “giving of meaning to a question”. Active participation of the teacher signifies the important component of BBT; hence, considered in making the 30 lesson plans used in the entire study. Eliciting skills were based on the scores in the 20-item probing questions while sustaining skills were based on the 10-item implication questions given after BBT. These questions were revisions of those provided in the lesson Guide for Elementary Mathematics of the Department of Education. Results reveal that females are motivated (elicited) to think critically more than females but both can sustain (keep on track) it once elicited already. Meanwhile, left-handed students likely elicited and kept on tract towards critical thinking in the same trend with the right handed one. Thus, BBT tends to create opportunity for both male and female or right-handed or left-handed students to enhance critical thinking once elicited and then sustained.