Students’ response to the implementation of brain-based learning (the BBL) approach in history teaching

Abstract

This study focuses on how students respond to brain-based learning (the BBL) in History teaching to enhance cognitive, social, reflective, emotional, and physical aspects. The study used a survey-based approach and collected data through questionnaires, interviews, and two-month observations of three participating schools. Findings indicate that the teaching-learning process using the BBL approach helps educators understand students’ different characteristics and build a conducive classroom atmosphere that facilitates cooperation, historical reflection, as well as historical fact memorizing skills. However, it appears that this approach has not addressed students’ emotional intelligence, historical empathy, and stress management. Findings show that the students were still anxious when facing a History test involving a vast amount of data that required them to memorize facts even though they had been provided with training on different memorizing techniques. In addition, the students were not guided to express their feelings about a particular historical phenomenon. 
 
 Keywords: brain, history, learning, memorizing, textbook.