Research Journal of Recent Sciences ________________________________________________ ISSN 2277-2502
Vol. 1 (ISC-2011), 368-370 (2012)
Res.J.Recent Sci.

Short Communication

Igniting Students’ Potential through Viable Instructional StrategiesA Roadmap for Excellence in Education
Varghese George Mary1 and Pandya R. Shefali2
1

Pillai’s College of Education and Research, Chembur, INDIA
2
Department of Education, University of Mumbai, INDIA

Available online at: www.isca.in
(Received 24th November 2011, revised 9th January 2012, accepted 28th January 2012)

Abstract
The emerging educational horizons in the 21st century world have opened up new vistas of education especially in our country. The
global era that we are passing now has undoubtedly its own imperatives on all aspects of education. The schools and colleges are
demanding environments because so many different personalities gather together in a confined area where they are expected to
interact according to established rules of accepted emotional and social behavior. The purpose of teaching is to increase the
capacity to develop new configurations of knowledge grounds to the teacher as well as the students. Each learner has a different
process and may not proceed linearly through the teaching learning process, instead makes loops or zigzag. Only an effective
teaching methodology can create such loops in the cognitive domain of students. The teaching methodology should be strong
enough to craft numerous neural connections which can ensure learning assimilations. It is far more important that students
explain their thinking to teachers than teachers explain their thinking. In this research the investigator has used Brain-based
Learning as innovative teaching methodology. The Brain-based learning is an interdisciplinary answer to the question of, “What is
the most effective way of the brain’s learning mechanism?” Brain-based learning is an effective teaching technique that represents
abstract or complex content matter in to simple and meaningful scaffolds and it has the potential to delay the learning platue since
it provides great scope for interaction among and between students and teachers. The present research focuses on the ‘Effect of
Brain-Based Learning on Academic Achievement in Biology, Stress and Study Habits of VIII Standard Students’. The study carried
out with the following objectives; i) to develop instructional material based on the principles of brain-based learning’. ii) To
compare experimental and control groups on pre-test scores of a) Academic Achievement b) Stress c) Study Habits.iii) To compare
experimental and control groups on post-test scores of a) Academic Achievement b) Stress c) Study Habits. The present study has
formulated the following null hypotheses: 1). There is no significant difference between experimental and control groups on pretest scores of a) Academic Achievement b) Stress c) Study Habits of students .2) There is no significant difference between the
experimental and control groups on post-test scores of a) Academic Achievement b) Stress c) Study Habits of students. The study
reveals that brain-based learning is a constructive, domain specific strategy to holistic education. It has the potential to stimulate
the optimal learning among students in very relaxed and enriched learning environment. The article discusses on the major effects
of Brain-based Learning on the academic achievement, stress and study habits of students and the implications of these research
outcomes to the benefits of students and teachers as major stakeholders.
Keywords: Brain-based Learning, academic achievement, stress, study habits.

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