How The Brain Works And The Way It Help Student’s Study. By Arifah binti Hassan 169351
CONTENT 1. Introduction
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2. Quick fact about brain
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3. Mechanics of The Brain And
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How Student Can Respond.
4. Surprised facts about way brains work –And how student can learn from it.
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5. Ways The Memory Plays Role
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In Learning.
6. Conclusion
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7. References
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1-Introduction The human brain is a unique creatures. It has a similar structure to the brains of other mammals, but in relation to body size, it is larger than any other. Large animals such as whales and elephants have larger brains in absolute terms, but when measured using the encephalization quotient, which compensates for body size, the human brain is almost twice as large as the brain of a bottlenose dolphin, and three times as large as the brain of a chimpanzee. The human cerebral cortex is a thick layer of neural tissue that covers most of the brain. This layer is folded in a way that increases the amount of surface that can fit into the volume available. The pattern of folds is similar across individuals, although there are many small variations.Its dominant feature, the cerebral cortex is a thick layer of neural tissue -
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nearly symmetrical with left and right hemispheres - that covers most of the brain. It is divided into the following four regions: the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes. Within each lobe are numerous cortical areas, each associated with particular functions such as movement, cognition or language, and our vision, hearing, smell, taste, and somatic senses. Inside the brain, the limbic system controls our emotions and motivations. Below the cerebral cortex, the cerebellum relays information to the muscles to control movement, and the brain stem connects the brain to the spinal cord. The brain performs an incredible number of tasks include controls body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate and breathing. It accepts a flood of information about the world around you from your various senses (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching). It handles your physical movement when walking, talking, standing or sitting. It lets you think, dream, reason and experience emotions. Brain aid in student’s learning process. Student can learn and know what they need to do according to way their brain works in order to achieve successly the goal that they have set.
2-Quick fact about brain. Average weight: 1.5 kg | volume: 1130 cm3. Represents only 2 per cent of body weight, but receives 15 per cent of the cardiac output and consumes 20 per cent of total body oxygen. Utilizes up to 25 per cent of the energy used by the human body in the form of glucose, more than any other organ. Contains 160,000 km of blood vessels. Consists of approximately 75 per cent water. Consists of about 100 billion neurons - same as the number of stars in our galaxy - and anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 synapses for each neuron. The cerebellum contains half of all the neurons but comprises only 10 per cent of the brain. There are no pain receptors in the brain, so the brain can feel no pain. The brain can stay alive for 4 to 6 minutes without oxygen before cells begin to die. 3
3-Mechanics of The Brain And How Student Can Respond. The brain, an organ about the size of a grapefruit, is composed of 3 primary parts: the brain stem or “reptilian brain”, the limbic system or “mammalian brain”, and the cerebral cortex, the “executive branch” of the brain. While it is easy to look at the brain by studying these three component parts and their functions, it is important to understand that the brain is a complex system. While certain areas of the brain are specialized for certain operations, all the component parts of the brain work together as an integrally related system. All information enters the brain in the form of sensory input that is delivered to the brain via the spinal cord, the superhighway of the nervous system. Information enters the brain through the brain stem and travels through the limbic system on its way to the cerebral cortex. In the cerebral cortex the brain puts together and makes sense of what the senses perceive. It is here that conscious thought and higher level learning happens. The brain stem and limbic system act as both filters and conduits for the sensory input, and, what happens in these parts of the brain as information is traveling through them, plays a significant role in determining what learning and thinking ultimately occurs in the cerebral cortex. It is important to understand how these systems function and impact sensory input in the learning process.
The brain stem Where the reticular activating system (RAS) located .It acts as a gateway for the data to pass to the brain, is where basic body functions for survival are handled. The RAS receives input from sensory nerves that come from nerve endings in your eyes, ears, mouth, face, skin, muscles, and internal organs and meet at the top of your spinal cord. These sensory messages must pass through the RAS to gain entry to your higher, thinking brain. Breathing, heart rate and instinctual body responses are all regulated here. A key to making your brain work optimally,then,
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is to keep yourself physically healthy and well rested and to develop awareness your emotions.Then you can approach learning calmly and with positive emotions. Practice focusing and observing yourself, for example, by taking a short break from work to check in with your emotions. Just take a few minutes to think about what you’re feeling. If it’s a good feeling, take time to enjoy it and look how your good emotional state affects your thinking. Do you understand more and get ideas about what you might do with the information you’re learning? If you don’t like the way you’re feeling, think about times you’ve felt a similar negative emotion such loss of something ,tired and anxiety. What has helped you return to a better mood in the past? Even though you’re not sleeping, you can think of such brain breaks as “syn-naps” because they let your brain replenish neurotransmitters like dopamine. Dopamine is one of the brain’s most important neurotransmitters. Messages connected to new information travel from neuron to neuron as tiny electrical currents. Like electricity, these messages need wiring to carry them. But there are gaps, called synapses, between the branches that connect nerve cells and there’s no wiring at these gaps. Chemical neurotransmitters like dopamine carry electrical messages across the gap from one neuron to another. This transmission is crucial to your brain’s capacity to process new information. Your brain releases extra dopamine when an experience is enjoyable. As positive emotions cause dopamine to travel to more parts ofyour brain, additional neurons are activated.Thus a boost in dopamine not only increases your own sense of pleasure, but also increases other neurotransmitters, such as acetylcholine, that enhance alertness, memory, and executive functions in the prefrontal cortex.As you become aware of your emotions, you build brain networks that help you control your actions with your thinking brain. It also helps to do something active during a short break. Certain activities, such as interacting with friends, laughing, physical activity, listening to someone read to you, and acting kindly increase dopamine levels. You’ll boost your learning if you get them into your day. Experiencing pride at accomplishing something is also correlated with higher dopamine. It will increase your learning power if you pursue activities that give you a sense of accomplishment. Think about your personal strengths, such as artistic ability, 5
leadership, helping classmates resolve conflicts, athletic skill, or even qualities like optimism, kindness, and empathy. Use these skills to do projects you want to do and you’ll find you can use your brain power more successfully to make judgments and solve problems.In addition to this vital role, the brain stem also serves as a kind of “town crier” to the higher parts of the brain. As sensory information enters the brain, the brain stem alerts the rest of the brain that information is coming through. The brain stem is the “alertness center” of the brain system. It tells the brain that it is time to pay attention.
The limbic system is where emotions step into the picture and play a significant role in the passage of sensory input through the brain. Operating as a climate control center and a mediator of emotions, the limbic system plays a primary role in determining exactly what pieces of incoming sensory stimuli the brain can and will pay attention to. Like the brain stem, no thinking happens here, but in its function as a determiner of what the brain pays attention to, the component parts of the limbic system play a significant role in regulating memory and learning functions. The thalamus serves as a filter of sensory data by regulating emotions; the hippocampus is primarily concerned with memory and providing a meaningful context for our emotions; Here, your brain links new sensory input to both memories of your past and knowledge already stored in your long-term memory to make new relational memories. These new memories are now ready for processing in your prefrontal cortex. Your prefrontal cortex contains highly developed nerve communication networks that process new information through what are called executive functions, including, analysis, organizing, problem solving, planning, and creativity. The executive function networks can convert short-term relational memories into longterm memories. When you are focused and in a positive or controlled emotional state, your executive functions can more successfully organize newly coded memories into long-term knowledge. Reviewing and practicing something you’ve learned helps. Nerve cells (neurons) forge information into memories by sending messages to other neurons through branches ( axons and dendrites) that almost touch the branches of each neighboring neuron. It takes lots of connections between 6
neurons to relate each neuron’s tiny bit of information to that of other neurons so that all the bits add up to a complete memory. When you review or practice something you’ve learned, dendrites actually grow between nerve cells in the network that holds that memory. Each time you review that knowledge, this mental manipulation increases activity along the connections between nerve cells. Repeated stimulation—for example, studying the times tables many times—makes the network stronger and that makes the memory stay in your brain. Practice makes permanent. When you review new learning through actions, using the knowledge to create something, solve problems, or apply it to another subject, this mental manipulation strengthens the neural pathways and your brain becomes even more efficiently wired.and the amygdala is concerned with connecting memory and emotion, a process of providing an emotional context for information and memory. The amygdala is like a central train-routing station; it’s a system for routing information based on your emotional state. When you experience negative, your amygdala’s filter takes up excessive amounts of your brain’s available nutrients and oxygen. This puts your brain into survival mode, which block entry of any new information into your prefrontal cortex. For example, suppose your day starts off badly. You overslept, had no time for breakfast, and have too many things to do before school. You’re worried about whether our friends will sit with you at lunch and afraid that the mean kid in your class will say hurtful things to you. It’s not only your body that suffers on this kind of day: Your brain is also stressed. This stress closes off the pathways through the RAS and amygdala that direct information into your thinking brain and memory centers. Unless you restore a positive mood, you won’t learn much on this particular school day. But if you can turn things around to become calm and focused, your amygdala will “decide” to send new information to your prefrontal cortex . Slow down and take a moment to reflect instead of react when you take a test at school or face social conflicts with friends.You might take a deep breath and visualize yourself in a peaceful place. Another technique that helps you choose what to do with your emotions is to imagine you’re directing yourself in a play. This technique helps you move away from using your reactive brain and tap your thinking brain, where memories that might help you are stored. Your teachers play a role too. If your teachers set up lessons to include some fun activities so that you feel good during a lesson, your amygdala will add a neurochemical enhancement, like a memory chip, that strengthens the staying power of any information presented in the lesson. People actually
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remember more of what they hear and read if they are in a positive emotional , state when they hear or read it.
The cerebral cortex is where thinking happens. The cortex is the wrinkly outer layer of the brain, the “gray matter”. It is divided into two sections, each of which cover one of the two cerebral hemispheres. The left hemisphere controls the muscles on the right side of the body, and the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body. The left hemisphere is primarily concerned with detail, and logical, analytical and sequential functions, while the right hemisphere tends to focus on more creative, artistic, whole picture functions. Both hemispheres are connected through the corpus collosum, a thick bundle of neurons that allows for efficient transfer of information from one hemisphere to the other. The hemispheres are further divided into four major areas or lobes: frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal. All four are specialized for certain brain functions such as problemsolving in the frontal lobes, sensory processing in the parietal lobe, visual processing the in occipital lobe, and hearing and language in the temporal lobe. These component parts of the cerebral cortex allow us to put together and comprehend what the senses perceive. This is where conscious thought and active learning take place.
4-Surprised facts about way brains work –And how student can learn from it. The brain is an amazing organ, but it’s not equipped to process the billions of bits of information that bombard it every second. Filters that has in brain protect it from becoming overloaded. These filters control the information flow so that only approximately 2,000 bits of information per second enter the brain. One of the things that surprises us time and time again is how we think our brains work and how they actually do. So here are 9 of the most surprising things our brain does and what we can learn from it:
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1-Stress can change the size of our brain (and make it smaller) Stress is actually the most common cause of changes in brain function. It was surprised to find this out when looked into how stress affects our brains. There also some research that showed signs of brain size decreasing due to stress. One study used baby monkeys to test the effects of stress on development and long-term mental health. Half the monkeys were cared for by their peers for 6 months while the other half remained with their mothers. Afterwards, the monkeys were returned to typical social groups for several months before the researchers scanned their brains.For the monkeys who had been removed from their mothers and cared for by their peers, areas of their brains related to stress were still enlarged, even after being in normal social conditions for several months. Although more studies are needed to explore this fully, it’s pretty scary to think that prolonged stress could affect our brains long-term. Another study found that in rats who were exposed to chronic stress, the hippocampuses in their brains actually shrank. The hippocampus is integr al to forming memories. It has been debated before whether Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can actually shrink the hippocampus, or people with naturally smaller hippocampuses are just more prone to PTSD. This study could point to the stress being a factor in actually changing the brain. As a student, slow down and take a moment to reflect instead of react when we take a test at school or face social conflicts with friends. We might take a deep breath and visualize ourself in a peaceful place. Another technique that helps we choose what to do with our emotions— something only humans can do— is to imagine we’re directing ourself in a play. We are the director sitting in a balcony seat watching an actor (the emotional you) on stage below. What advice would we give the emotion-filled actor on the stage if he or she had been pushed by a classmate and wanted to hit back.This could help us to cope with our emotion to prevent it from affect our learning.
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2-It is literally impossible for our brains to multi-task Multi-tasking is something we’ve long been encouraged to practice, but it turns out multitasking is actually impossible. When we think we’re multi-tasking, we’re actually context-switching. That is, we’re quickly switching back-and-forth between different tasks, rather than doing them at the same time.The book Brain Rules explains how detrimental “multi-tasking” can be: Research shows your error rate goes up 50 percent and it takes you twice as long to do things. The problem with multi-tasking is that we’re splitting our brain’s resources. We’re giving less attention to each task, and probably performing worse on all of them: When the brain tries to do two things at once, it divides and conquers, dedicating one-half of our gray matter to each task.
Here is how this looks like in reality. Whilst we try to do both Action A and Action B at the same time, our brain is never handling both simultaneously. Instead, it has to painfully switch back and forth and use important brainpower just for the switching.When our brains handle a single task, the prefrontal cortex plays a big part. Here’s how it helps us achieve a goal or complete a task: The anterior part of this brain region forms the goal or intention—for example, “I want that cookie”—and the posterior prefrontal cortex talks to the rest of the brain so that your hand reaches toward the cookie jar and your mind knows whether you have the cookie.
A study in Paris found that when a second task was required, the brains of the study volunteers split up, with each hemisphere working alone on a task. The brain was overloaded by the second task and couldn’t perform at its full capacity, because it needed to split its resources. When a third task was added, the volunteers’ results plummeted: The triple-task jugglers consistently forgot one of their tasks. They also made three times as many errors as they did while dual-tasking.
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3- Your brain does creative work better when you’re tired On the other hand, if we’re trying to do creative work, we’ll actually have more luck when we’re more tired and our brain isn’t functioning as efficiently. This sounds crazy, but it actually makes sense when we look at the reasoning behind it. It’s one of the reasons why great ideas often happen in the shower after a long day of work. If we’re tired, our brain is not as good at filtering out distractions and focusing on a particular task. It’s also a lot less efficient at remembering connections between ideas or concepts. These are both good things when it comes to creative work, since this kind of work requires us to make new connections, be open to new ideas and think in new ways. So a tired, fuzzy brain is much more use to us when working on creative projects.This Scientific American article explains how distractions can actually be a good thing for creative thinking: Insight problems involve thinking outside the box. This is where susceptibility to “distraction” can be of benefit. At off-peak times we are less focused, and may consider a broader range of information. This wider scope gives us access to more alternatives and diverse interpretations, thus fostering innovation and insight.
4. Naps improve your brain’s day to day performance We’re pretty clear on how important sleep is for our brains, but what about naps? It turns out, these short bursts of sleep are actually really useful.Here are a couple of ways napping can benefit the brain: Improved memory
In one study, participants memorized illustrated cards to test their memory strength. After memorizing a set of cards, they had a 40-minute break wherein one group napped, and the other stayed awake. After the break both groups were tested on their memory of the cards, and the group who had napped performed better. Much to the surprise of the researchers, the sleep group performed significantly better, retaining on average 85 percent of the patterns, compared to 60 percent for those who had remained awake. Apparently, napping actually helps our brain to 11
solidify memories. Research indicates that when a memory is first recorded in the brain—in the hippocampus, to be specific—it’s still “fragile” and easily forgotten, especially if the brain is asked to memorize more things. Napping, it seems, pushes memories to the neocortex, the brain’s “more permanent storage,” preventing them from being “overwritten.” Better learning Taking a nap also helps to clear information out of our brain’s temporary storage areas, getting it ready for new information to be absorbed. A study from the University of California asked participants to complete a challenging task around midday, which required them to take in a lot of new information. At around 2p.m., half of the volunteers took a nap while the rest stayed awake.The really interesting part of this study is not only that at 6 p.m. that night the napping group performed better than those who didn’t take a nap. In fact, the napping group actually performed better than they had earlier in the morning. What happens in the brain during a nap. Some recent research has found that the right side of the brain is far more active during a nap than the left side, which stays fairly quiet while we’re asleep. Despite the fact that 95% of the population is right-handed, with the left side of their brains being the most dominant, the right side is consistently the more active hemisphere during sleep.Even though we’re not sleeping, we can think of such brain breaks as “syn-naps” because they let our brain replenish neurotransmitters like dopamine (which we’ll discuss shortly). As we become aware of our emotions, we build brain networks that help us control our actions with our thinking brain.So,learning process will be more efficient.
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5- Your vision trumps all other senses Despite being one of our five main senses, vision seems to take precedence over the others.Hear a piece of information, and three days later we’ll remember 10 percent of it. Add a picture and we’ll remember 65 percent.Pictures beat text as well, in part because reading is so inefficient for us. Our brain sees words as lots of tiny pictures, and we have to identify certain features in the letters to be able to read them. That takes time. In fact, vision is so powerful.. Not only is it surprising that we rely on our vision so much, but it actually isn’t even that good. As a student,reviewing and practicing something we’ve learned especially by vision as stated before helps. Nerve cells (neurons) forge information into memories by sending messages to other neurons through branches—called axons and dendrites— that almost touch the branches of each neighboring neuron. It takes lots of connections between neurons to relate each neuron’s tiny bit of information to that of other neurons so that all the bits add up to a complete memory. When we review or practice something we’ve learned by vision , dendrites actually grow between nerve cells in the network that holds that memory. Repeated stimulation—for example, studying the times tables many times by always keep look at it compared than write or hearing—makes the network stronger, just like muscles become stronger when you exercise them. And that makes the memory stay in your brain. Practice makes permanent.
6- We tend to like people who make mistakes more Apparently, making mistakes actually makes us more likeable, due to something called the Pratfall Effect.Kevan Lee recently explained how this works on the Buffer blog: Those who never make mistakes are perceived as less likeable than those who commit the occasional faux 13
pas. Messing up draws people closer to you, makes you more human. Perfection creates distance and an unattractive invincibility.Those of us with flaws win out every time. This theory was tested by psychologist Elliot Aronson. In his test, he asked participants to listen to recordings of people answering a quiz. Select recordings included the sound of the person knocking over a cup of coffee. When participants were asked to rate the quizzers on likability, the coffee-spill group came out on top.So this is why we tend to dislike people who seem perfect! And now we know that making minor mistakes isn’t the worst thing in the world—in fact, it can work in our favor.
7- Introversion and extroversion come from different wiring in the brain Introversion and extroversion are not actually related to how outgoing or shy we are, but rather how our brains recharge. Here’s how the brains of introverts and extroverts differ,research has actually found that there is a difference in the brains of extroverted and introverted people in terms of how we process rewards and how our genetic makeup differs. For extroverts, their brains respond more strongly when a gamble pays off. Part of this is simply genetic, but it’s partly the difference of their dopamine systems as well. An experiment that had people take gambles while in a brain scanner found the following: When the gambles they took paid off, the more extroverted group showed a stronger response in two crucial brain regions: the amygdala and the nucleus accumbens.
The nucleus accumbens is part of the dopamine system, which affects how we learn, and is generally known for motivating us to search for rewards. The difference in the dopamine system in the extrovert’s brain tends to push them towards seeking out novelty, taking risks and enjoying unfamiliar or surprising situations more than others. The amygdala is responsible for processing emotional stimuli, which gives extroverts that rush of excitement when they try something highly stimulating which might overwhelm an introvert. More research has actually shown that the difference comes from how introverts and extroverts process stimuli. That is, the stimulation coming into our brains is processed 14
differently depending on your personality. For extroverts, the pathway is much shorter. It runs through an area where taste, touch, visual and auditory sensory processing takes place. For introverts, stimuli runs through a long, complicated pathway in areas of the brain associated with remembering, planning and solving problems.
8- Exercise can reorganize the brain and boost your willpower Sure, exercise is good for our body, but what about our brain? Well apparently there’s a link between exercise and mental alertness, in a similar way that happiness and exercise are related. A lifetime of exercise can result in a sometimes astonishing elevation in cognitive performance, compared with those who are sedentary. Exercisers outperform couch potatoes in tests that measure long-term memory ,reasoning, attention, problem-solving, even so-called fluid-intelligence tasks. Of course, exercise can also make us happier, as we’ve explored before: If we start exercising, our brain recognizes this as a moment of stress. As our heart pressure increases, the brain thinks we are either fighting the enemy or fleeing from it. To protect ourself and our brain from stress, we release a protein called BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor). This BDNF has a protective and also reparative element to our memory neurons and acts as a reset switch. That’s why we often feel so at ease and things are clear after exercising and eventually happy. At the same time, endorphins, another chemical to fight stress, are released in our brain. The main purpose of endorphis is tend to minimize the discomfort of exercise, block the feeling of pain and are even associated with a feeling of euphoria.A key to making our brain work optimally, then, is to keep ourself physically healthy and well rested and to develop awareness of and some control over your emotions thus can make our brain can functional optimally during learning process.
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9. We can make our brain think time is going slowly by doing new things This is a neat trick that relates to how our brains perceive time. Once we know how it works, we can trick our brain into thinking time is moving more slowly. Essentially, our brains take a whole bunch of information from our senses and organize it in a way that makes sense to us, before we ever perceive it. So what we think is our sense of time is actually just a whole bunch of information presented to us in a particular way, as determined by our brains. When our brains receive new information, it doesn’t necessarily come in the proper order. This information needs to be reorganized and presented to us in a form we understand. When familiar information is processed, this doesn’t take much time at all. New information, however, is a bit slower and makes time feel elongated. Even stranger, it isn’t just a single area of the brain that controls our time perception—it’s done by a whole bunch of brain areas, unlike our common five senses, which can each be pinpointed to a single, specific area. When we receive lots of new information, it takes our brains a while to process it all. The longer this processing takes, the longer that period of time feels. When we’re in life-threatening situations, for instance, “we remember the time as longer because we record more of the experience. Life-threatening experiences make us really pay attention, but we don’t gain superhuman powers of perception.”The same thing happens when we hear enjoyable music, because “greater attention leads to perception of a longer period of time.” Conversely, if our brain doesn’t have to process lots of new information, time seems to move faster, so the same amount of time will actually feel shorter than it would otherwise. This happens when we take in lots of information that’s familiar, because we’ve processed it before. Our brain doesn’t have to work very hard, so it processes time faster
5-Ways The Memory Plays Role In Learning. Memory is Sustained by Use Although short-term memory is constructed it still needs to be activated multiple times and ideally in response to a variety of prompts for neuroplasticity to increase its durability. Each time students participate in any endeavor, a certain number of neurons are activated. When they 16
repeat the action, the same neurons respond again. The more times they repeat an action, the more dendrites grow and interconnect, resulting in greater memory storage and recall efficiency.Retention is further promoted when new memories are connected to other stored memories based on commonalities, such as similarities/differences, especially when students use graphic organizers and derive their own connections. Multisensory instruction, practice, and review promote memory storage in multiple regions of the cortex, based on the type of sensory input by which they were learned and practiced. These are distant storage centers are linked to each other such that triggering one sensory memory activates the others. This duplication results of storage increases the efficiency of subsequent retrieval as a variety of cues prompt activation of different access points to the extended memory map. The construction of concept memory networks requires opportunities for students to transfer learning beyond the contexts in which it is learned and practiced. When information learned and stored in its own isolated circuit it is only accessible by the same stimuli through which it was obtained. These transfer activities activate memories to new stimuli and with other knowledge to solve novel problems. These simultaneous activations promote extended connections among memories that are the larger concept memory networks most applicable to future use. Pattern recognition facilitation and opportunities for knowledge transfer extends the brain’s processing efficiency for greater access to and application of its accumulated learning. These teaching interventions will prepare graduates for future incorporation and extension of new information as it is becomes available. Students who have the guided learning experiences needed to construct concept memory networks will be have the best preparation for their futures. As the information pool expands, these students will continue to comprehend new information, consolidate it into their neural networks, and recognize, develop, and globally disseminate its new applications.
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Teaching Grows Brain Cells Brain cell are believe to stop growth after age twenty. We now know that through neuroplasticity, interneuron connections (dendrites, synapses, and myelin coating) continue to be pruned or constructed in response to learning and experiences throughout our lives. These physical changes of brain self-reconstruction in response to experiences including sensory input, emotions, conscious and unconscious thoughts are so responsive that human potential for increased knowledge, physical skills, and “talent” in the arts is essentially limitless. There are conditions associated with the most successful strengthening of neural networks, such as guided instruction and practice with frequent corrective feedback. As neuroscience research continues more information will be available to guide teachers providing the brain with the experiences best suited to maximize its learning and proficiency. High Stress Restricts Brain Processing to the Survival State CEO is a higher thinking processes of executive functions that can manage and control our emotions. Like the rest of the PFC it is still undergoing maturation throughout the school years. Students do not have the adult brain’s developed circuits of reflection, judgment, and gratification delay to overcome the lower brain’s strong influence.Neuroimaging research reveals that a structure in the emotion sensitive limbic system is a switching-station that determines which part of the brain will receive input and determine response output. Brain-based research has demonstrated that new information cannot pass through the amygdala (part of the limbic system) to enter the frontal lobe if the amygdala is in the state of high metabolism or overactivity provoked by anxiety. It is important for teachers to know that when stress cuts off flow to and from the PFC, behavior is involuntary. It is not students’ choice in the reactive state when they “act out” and “zone out”.Through interventions to go beyond differentiation to individualization (see article about video game model) it is possible to decrease the stressors of frustration from work perceived as too difficult or boredom from repeated instruction after mastery is achieved. Further information from neuroscience research reveals other causes of the high stress state in school and suggests interventions to reduce the stress blocking response in the amygdala. 18
Memory is Constructed and Stored by Patterning The hippocampus is where the data that returned from brain are restored. This encoding process requires activation or prior knowledge with a similar “pattern” to physically link with the new input if a short-term memory is to be constructed. The neuroimaging research supported by cognitive testing reveals that the most successful construction of working (short-term) memory takes place when there has been activation of the brain’s related prior knowledge before new information is taught. When teachers work to clearly demonstrate the patterns, connections, and relationships that exist between new and old learning (e.g. cross-curricular studies, graphic organizers, spiraled curriculum) the probability of encoding increases. Teachers can help students increase working memory efficiency through a variety of interventions correlated with neuroimaging responses. For example, with opportunities to make predictions, receive timely feedback, and reflect on those experiences. These experiences appear to be increase executive function facilitation of working memory, such as guiding the selection of the most important information hold in working memory.
6-Conclusion The human brain is a unique creatures.The brain performs an incredible number of tasks include controls body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate and breathing. It accepts a flood of information about the world around you from your various senses It handles your physical movement when walking, talking, standing or sitting. It lets you think, dream, reason and experience emotions. Brain aid in student’s learning process. All information enters the brain in the form of sensory input that is delivered to the brain via the spinal cord, the superhighway of the nervous system. Information enters the brain through the brain stem and travels through the limbic system on its way to the cerebral cortex. In the cerebral cortex the brain puts together and 19
makes sense of what the senses perceive. It is here that conscious thought and higher level learning happens. The brain stem and limbic system act as both filters and conduits for the sensory input, and, what happens in these parts of the brain as information is traveling through them, plays a significant role in determining what learning and thinking ultimately occurs in the cerebral cortex. Besides that , when we know about the way our brains work,we can know and learn way to use our brain efficiently thus improve our behavior in daily life also in our learning process. Furthermore, memory stored in brain plays important role in learning. Thus,student should maximize the function of their brain in order to give out an output that can benefits the student life especially in their learning.
7-References 1- http://www.teachthought.com/learning/how-the-brain-works-and-how-students-canrespond/ 2- http://www.apa.org/education/k12/brain-function.aspx 3- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbic_system#Function 4- http://coachmattlindland.com/there-is-nothing-easy-about-becoming-the-best-2/ 5- http://www.teachthought.com/learning/how-the-memory-works-in-learning/
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