What we will learn:
• Facts about the brain
• Ways to help your own learning
• Ways to help your own brain
development
Modern Myths…
(We will explore)
•
•
•
•
People only use 10% of their brain
People are either right-brained or leftbrained which explains their natural
abilities
Everything people have ever experienced
is stored somewhere in their brain
At birth people have all the neurons that
they will ever have
Adapted from Pat Wolfe, 2001
Brain Research
• Describes the human brain and how
it works
• Uses science and scientific research
to help learning
Become a Researcher…
• Now it’s time to conduct some brain
research.
• Please go to my teacher website
• Click on Brain Research
• I will provide you with the
• directions
Let’s Check Our Answer…
• 2 major parts of the nervous system
– Central
– Peripheral
• Another name for “nerve cell”
– Neuron
• 2 structures of Central Nervous System
– Brain and spinal code
Let’s Check Our Answers
• How much does the brain weight?
– 3 pounds
• About how many nerve cells are in the brain?
– 100 billion
• The bump in the cortex is called
– gyrus
• The grove in the cortex is called
– sulcus
Let’s Check Our Answers
• The area of the brain responsible for
learning is the
– hippocampus
Cerebral
cortex
Corpus
callosum
midbrain
cerebellum
thalamus
pons
Spinal
cord
medulla
Let’s Check Our Answers
• The four lobes
–
–
–
–
Frontal
Parietal
Temporal
occipital
• 2 functions of left side of the brain;
– Language and math
Let’s Check Our Answers
• 2 functions of left side of the brain
– music and facial recognition
• The structure that connects right and left
hemispheres
– Corpus callosum
• The left side of the brain controls language
Let’s Check Our Answers
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Famous left-handers
http://www.indiana.edu/~primate/left.html
Health tips:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/brainf
it.html
Day 2
Let’s start with
a review…
Human Brain
• About 3 pounds
• 78% water, 10%
fat, 8% protein
• Less than 2.5%
of body’s weight
• Uses 20% of
body’s energy
“The nerve cell,
or neuron
resembles a
miniature tree…”
(p. 21)
Diamond & Hopson, 1998
Brain is changed by environment
• Dendrites can grow at any age
• Synaptic connections occur at any
age; but easiest when you are young
• Brain is adaptable
Plasticity
‘Use it or Lose it’
Synaptic Density
6 year old
2 year old
Diamond & Hopson, 1998
Memory Processes
Sensory
Holds information
for a fraction of a
second
Perception and
attention
Short Term
Long Term
Information remains Retrieval:
for about 15-20
seconds
More frequent
activation of neuron
Cocktail Party Effect patterns leads to
more efficiency
Chunking
Rehearsal: Rote and
Elaborative
Putting the Brain to Work
Attention
 The brain is much more like a sieve
than a sponge… (Sousa, 1995)
 Approximately 99% of all
information entering through the
senses is dropped (Wolfe, 2001)
 Things that get the brain’s
attention are meaning and emotion
Brain Based
Brain parts
Function
Cerebral cortex
Thinking, planning,
decision making
Cerebellum
Balance coordination
Brain stem
Controls breathing and
heart rate
Hippocampus
Learning and memory
Amygdala
Emotions, mood, energy
Examples
http://reconstructors.rice.edu/recon2/lessons/reconII_TM1_19.pdf
PET
Brain
Scan
(left side of brain)
Day 3
Let’s start with
a review…