Click below to explore OpenColleges’s interactive Brain Map. Filled with facts about the brain as well as strategies for leveraging those brain features to take ownership over learning. Enjoy. An interactive infographic by Open Colleges
Your Brain on Childhood — An Evolutionary History
We love Gabrielle Principe’s book, “Your Brain on Childhood: The Unexpected Side Effects of Classrooms, Ballparks, Family Rooms, and the Minivan.” Not only is her storytelling engaging and creative, it is also peppered with so much research that one almost needs an organizational chart to keep track of it all. While it is largely geared toward exploring the cognitive … Read More
Memory, Social Cognition, and Predicting the Future
A recent article in Harvard Magazine reports on the research of psychology professor, Daniel Schater, who is delving into memory, social cognition and how the mind imagines the future. From the article: During the past decade, Schacter says, a revolution has occurred in the field of memory science: researchers have shown that memory is responsible for much more than the … Read More
Superhuman or Normal Variation?
This fascinating infographic highlights a few seemingly superhuman feats of the mind. While we do not disagree that they are amazing, we can’t help but think, “But, of course. With over 7-billion people on our planet, such variation is expected. Spend any time in a classroom and you will see such brains in development!” Which leaves us wondering two things: … Read More
Storytelling’s Impact on Empathy (and the Architecture of the Brain)
Paul Zak, who TED Talks describes as, “a pioneer in the field of neuroeconomics,” shares his thoughts and insights on the power of storytelling to affect change in the architecture of the brain in the below video — a collaboration between him, filmmaker Kirby Ferguson, and animator Henrique Barone for the Future of Storytelling conference. He opens with a powerful … Read More
Brief Review of L. Todd Rose’s “Square Peg”
“Behavior isn’t something someone ‘has.’ Rather, it emerges from the interaction of a person’s biology, past experiences, and immediate context.” L. Todd Rose, from his book, Square Peg For students with learning differences schools can be (and often are) incredibly trying places. Imagine being a kid who wants to do well — motivated, eager to please, and enjoys interacting with … Read More
John Cleese Explains the Brain
Below is a video from John Cleese’s very “informative” brain podcast (actual content begins around 35 seconds). You’ll notice, of course, that nearly every sentence is almost entirely gibberish. It is humorous to us in large part because . . . John Cleese is a masterful humorist who can make gobbledygook sound sensical, and . . . It is a low stakes … Read More
Oh, The Places You’ll Find Yourself — Spatially Speaking
Below is a TED Talk by Neil Burgess, a neuroscientist at the University College in London, who researches, as described on the TED website, “how patterns of electrical activity in brain cells guide us through space.” [ted id=1349] Supplemental to the grid cells Dr. Burgess discusses are additional neurological systems that give us a sense of our surroundings. Dan Peterson, … Read More
15 Things About the (Human) Brain
As we get excited for Brain Awareness Week next week, we thought it might be fun to take a quick look at our amazing brain. Below is an info-graphic from onlineschools with 15 facts you may or may not have known. Number 9 is a great reminder for parents, educators, and health conscious people — we think what we eat.
12 Brain Rules
Below are the 12 Brain Rules developed by John Medina. Each link will take you to his site and to more information about each of the rules. You can find the original list in his book “Brain Rules” and on his Brain Rules website. Enjoy. EXERCISE | Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power. SURVIVAL | Rule #2: The human brain evolved, too. WIRING … Read More
