The effectiveness of brain-compatible learning on self-regulated learning and academic engagement in secondary school students

Studies show that the human brain has special performance for improving learning, and teachers who use new theories of brain-based education, enhance students' learning experiences to a high level. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of brain-compatible learning on self-regulated learning and academic engagement in secondary school students.

The present study was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The population of the study included all ninth grade male students of the junior high schools in Mako in the academic year 2019-2020.  Thirty sample (15 people for each group) was selected out of the total population through purposive sampling method and randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. Data collection tools included Academic Engagement Scale (AES) and Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). The training basis of brain-compatible learning, was the implementation of 12 principles of brain-based learning by Caine et al (2005), which were performed in a total of 8 sessions of 50 minutes. Data analysis was performed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS statistics.

Findings showed that brain-based education led to a significant difference between the groups, so that it showed a difference of 47% in self-regulated learning and 53% in academic engagement (p < 0.05).

The results showed that brain-compatible learning has led to an increase in the mean scores of experimental group in self-regulated learning and academic engagement, compared to the control group. Therefore, it can be argued that brain-compatible learning is effective on students' self-regulated learning and academic engagement. In an environment full of brain-centered components, learning has an upward trend and leads to positive effects on students' attitudes, academic engagement and self-regulation learning.