Brain-based learning enhances metacognition by aligning teaching strategies with how the brain naturally processes, stores, and retrieves information. Techniques like reflection, chunking, and multisensory learning help students become more aware of their own thinking processes. By understanding how their brains work, students can better plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning. This self-awareness leads to improved problem-solving, self-regulation, and academic performance.

Learning grounded in insights into the functioning of the brain, commonly referred to as brain-based learning, constitutes an approach that can significantly enhance the development of metacognition, understood as the capacity to reflect upon and consciously regulate one’s own cognitive processes. The application of findings from neuroscience enables a more profound understanding of how the brain processes information, how memory traces are formed, and under what conditions deeper comprehension of subject matter occurs. This knowledge may meaningfully contribute to increased learning efficiency while simultaneously fostering skills associated with metacognitive regulation.

When instruction is designed according to the principles of brain-based learning, a context emerges in which learners may be systematically guided towards awareness of their own learning strategies, identification of both strengths and limitations in knowledge and skill acquisition, and selection of suitable approaches corresponding to specific cognitive demands. An educational model that takes individual neurocognitive differences into account thus naturally stimulates metacognitive activity by means of analysing learning preferences and providing feedback directed not solely at outcomes but primarily at the learning process itself.

In this context, it is appropriate to highlight that many of the principles inherent in brain-based learning are directly applicable within forms of instruction to which I have devoted considerable attention in my academic work. In particular, I have explored experiential learning, open learning, tandem learning, the psychological use of colour in education, and comparable approaches that inherently support metacognitive awareness, affective engagement, and the development of executive functioning. These models offer practical applications of neuroscientific knowledge in school settings and illustrate how the theoretical framework of brain-informed education may be transformed into meaningful, reflective and learner-centred educational practices.

Simultaneously, this approach places strong emphasis on consistent reflection throughout the learning process, which may take the form of self-assessment, discussion of selected strategies, learning diaries, or visualisation of cognitive steps. Such practices strengthen executive functions of the brain, particularly those areas involved in planning, decision-making, progress monitoring, and error correction. Consequently, learning does not remain a mechanical process of information intake but becomes an active, intentional, and consciously directed act.

Emotions also play a particularly important role within the framework of brain-based learning, as emotional states significantly influence attention, memory, and motivation. The creation of a safe, supportive, and trust-based environment activates the limbic system and promotes the regulation of affective dimensions, which are closely linked with brain regions responsible for metacognitive control. Reflecting on one’s own emotions and their impact on the quality of learning further deepens the ability to consciously manage mental effort and learning strategies.

Brain-based learning therefore does not merely represent a technologically or methodologically modern approach; it also serves as an effective tool for fostering deeper self-awareness and the development of metacognitive competencies essential for lifelong learning, adaptation, and personal growth. In response to the question of whether brain-based learning can support metacognition, the answer is unequivocal: not only can it do so, but through its thoughtful implementation in educational practice, it accomplishes this in a highly effective and sustainable manner.

It might be reasonable to consider first whether "brain-based learning" is a reputable concept. The features described so far seem not to be *that* surprising. The names mentioned could easily be replaced with Piaget, Aebli, Bruner, and an armada of educationists who were working on that subject and still are. Thinking *about* thinking, and thinking about another topic does not need insights from the neuroscience to take place and to be supported. Functioning communication processes in the interactional field "classroom" supports learning, wheter meta or locally. And, actually, many findings rather confirm established educational assumptions than to state something new. I doubt, by the way, that the neuroscientists reasonably would expect, that they can develop educational theories. They don't know how to teach, the know how to analyse brains.

Dear Joachim, thank you for your thoughtful and critical response. I truly value the depth of your perspective and especially your reminder that many ideas associated with brain-based learning are, in essence, well-known and well-established within the traditions of educational psychology and pedagogy. You are absolutely right to point out that renaming or rebranding old insights does not in itself bring added value, and I fully share your scepticism towards any form of superficial novelty.

At the same time, I do believe that neuroscience can offer meaningful contributions, not by attempting to create educational theories from scratch, but by enriching our understanding of how and why certain approaches work. The real strength of brain-informed education, at least as I see it, lies in the dialogue between neuroscience, cognitive psychology and pedagogy. Not in isolation, but through mutual respect and critical cooperation.

What I find particularly helpful is the way neuroscience sometimes confirms what we already know from practice and theory, but adds clarity or depth to it. For instance, learning about how emotions influence attention and memory, or how executive functions are activated during reflection, does not replace pedagogical insight, but it gives us additional tools for designing more responsive and supportive learning environments. It helps us better understand individual learning differences and reinforces the value of reflection, feedback and emotional safety in the classroom.

I completely agree that neuroscientists are not educators, and that expertise in brain imaging does not automatically translate into good teaching. But I also think that when we, as educators, engage critically and thoughtfully with what neuroscience can tell us, it becomes possible to shape practices that are not only psychologically sound, but also biologically informed. Not because the brain dictates how we should teach, but because understanding it a little better allows us to fine-tune how we support learners.

Thank you again for your contribution. I believe that precisely these kinds of respectful, questioning conversations are what move educational thinking forward. I would be very interested to continue this exchange, and hear more about which aspects you feel remain problematic or potentially overstated.

With warm regards, Wendy

Václav Šimek

Dear Wendy, I fully agree. Interdisciplinary collaboration is valuable and also fun. It is much more fruitful, for instance, to think about "dyscalculia", and the acquisition and perception of quantities and number symbols in general with informations about the intraparietal sulcus. (Of course, the example comes quick because I stumbled upon recently :-) )

I was a bit cheeky, because I searched for "brain-based learning" -- the term in the question appears quite odd, to me -- and immediately I was confronted with undercooked, bold informations.

The term "brain-based learning" sounded like a marketing label, and this impression was confirmed by duckduck.go's top results. And googlescholar was not very informative. - "Brain-based learning" sounds, as there could be further candidates as foundation of learning, the legs?

It is a pleasure to read your kind response and appreciate its balance. And I hope, my informal tone is not irritating.

Best regards, Jochen.

Dear colleague, not at all, I take it as a factual discussion. All with a smile.