Two decades ago, Eric Jensen, who was then a middle and high school English teacher, participated in a workshop that, he says, “knocked my lights out.” And it changed his career. The workshop focused on ideas for educating young people based on information about how the brain works. Jensen says he was so impressed with this concept that he co-founded an experimental academic enrichment program for teens called SuperCamp. Since its inauguration in 1980, SuperCamp has graduated 35,000 students.

In 1988, Jensen left SuperCamp to devote himself fulltime to the Jensen Learning Corp., which he describes as a "bridge" for educators. The mission, Jensen explains, is to translate the “best of brain research” into language educators can understand and then package it into 3, 5, and 6-day workshops. “Our focus is on the science of teaching and learning,” says Jensen. “We call it applied educational neuroscience.”

Jensen is also the author and co-author of several books for educators about how to apply brain science to learning and education, including Teaching with the Brain in Mind and his newest book, Arts with the Brain in Mind.

BrainConnection: What do you hope educators will most understand about "teaching with the brain in mind?"

Eric Jensen: I'd like teachers to become far more effective by understanding and applying the research behind learning and the brain. They don't need to become biologists--just attentive to what learning is all about.

BC: How do you define "brain-based education?”

Jensen: I define brain-based education as a multi-disciplinary approach based on what we currently know about how our brain learns.

BC: How receptive do you think educators are to ideas about brain-based learning, and how has that changed in the 20 years since you have been doing this work?

Jensen: The most receptive is the group of teachers who has been teaching for at least five years and who know, from experience, that what I'm talking about makes sense. The least receptive are brand new teachers and ones who are just ready to retire and want to get out of education. What's changing is that more and more newer teachers than ever before are becoming brain savvy.

BC: What are some of the biggest misconceptions educators and others have about education based on how the brain learns? Isn't all teaching and learning making an impact on the brain?

Jensen: Misconceptions include thinking that brain-based learning is all about boring biology (it's not--it's about making a difference). Other myths include thinking that it's either old hat (it's not) or just recycled good teaching (if common sense was so common, why do we need to teach it?).

Yes, all teaching makes an impact on the brain--for that reason we ought to find out how the impact is made and under what circumstances. Does music influence serotonin? Which music should I play and when? Does the brain "overload easily?" How much should I teach? These are simple questions that suggest we ought to know more about this topic.

BC: Pat Wolfe talks about brain-based education as knowing the difference between what she calls "fad or foundation"; she warns educators not to rush to accept fashionable trends, but to try to understand brain research and how to use it effectively. What is your sense of that? How big do you think is the danger of teachers using unproven techniques?

Jensen: I think that teachers should learn what they do and how they do it. They should know some science behind their profession. Yet many are not interested in this field and most won't get enough background to make smart decisions. Is too little information dangerous? It's certainly not preferable. But I'd rather teachers make errors of enthusiasm by at least making an attempt to learn, than to make the error of apathy.