Brain Log

What: In class we had the opportunity to research a portion of the brain and teach peers about it. I researched "Hippocampus" which is in the forebrain of the Limbic system, and its roles include short-term memory, spatial navigation/ orientation, some emotions, and some new memories. Although, I couldn't learn everything about the hippocampus, what I found to be most interesting was the hippocampus is the first part of the brain to deteriorate with Alzheimer's Disease. Gee, who knew?
In groups we divided the brain into 12 sections and shared our information/research about the our particular section. What I really learned in the group is how complex and interrelated the brain parts are- if we lose one small part of our brain we may be changed forever in a million different ways!

In class we continued to discuss the brain. I learned half the things I knew about the brain were actually not true. I was also surprised to learn that it develops back to front (physical development and emotional development way before logical/decision making development), but it completely made sense to me and will help me understand or empathize with teenagers.
We discussed a lot about the neuron and its components: cell body- the body of the neuron, dendrite- stem like things that connect with the synapse, axon- the tail looking part that is important in function (this part of the body that you want lots of good fat on to help productivity), and synapse- which channels with the dendrite to make brain connections.
It was interesting and helpful to know that Learning is actually the synapse change or learning is the result of changes/ growth in the neuron's connectivity and firing characteristics.

So what:
For me the message of this class was to understand what is happening when your student is or is not learning. The more understanding I have of how the brain functions, the more adaptation I can give to help my students learn at their best with their brain. Prof. Cox discussed with us how to involve our students in multiple classroom learning activities to stimulate the brain for learning, as she said, "different interactions + different media = different neural development." Thus as a teacher I have to provide many different kinds of learning activities to help develop their ability to learn.

Now what:
If multiple kinds of learning are best for brain stimulation and learning, then I will incorporate many different kinds of learning for students. To help my student be engaged I must engage their brain, so activities that are fun, interactive, physical, interesting or stimulate prior knowledge will be beneficial to their learning. As a teacher I want to help them be at their best learning, to help them understand how to learn and why they learn. In the future when I plan lessons I will make sure to incorporate many different learning strategies for brain stimulation and learning.