Brain Compatible Learning Strategies

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• What do I know about my brain?
• Answer True or False
• The brain learns best by reciting and repeating
  information.
• 2. The brain is largely a finished product by age
  12.
• 3. During adolescence, the brain is becoming
  more efficient, but it is also losing some of its
  potential for learning.
• 4. The teen brain responds to stimuli
  differently than the adult brain.
• 5. Hormonal changes are responsible for teens
  emotional outbursts.

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• 6. We notice depression and mental illnesses
  more during the teen years because teens have
  more feelings.
• 7. The teen brain reacts in the same way to
  emotional threat as it does to physical threat.
• The average teen needs more than 9 hours of sleep
  every night.
• The reason teens struggle to get up in the
  morning is because they dont go to bed until
  late at night.
• 10. The teen brain should stop every 15 minutes
  to process new information.

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Learning Is Connecting
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How are teen brains different?
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Neural Pruning

• Starts in the womb when neurons over populate
• Neural pruning ends around age 3
• Like pruning a tree the strong survive
• Scientists see this happening again around 11
• More neural pruningover half by age 15

Use it or lose it!
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Stop!

• List what you do in a day.
• Create a pie chart.
• Divide up sleeping, reading, writing, studying,
  playing an instrument, playing a sport, listening
  to music, working, TV, movies and video games.
• How are you wired?

What fires together wires together.
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Whats happening with my emotions?

• Information is processed differently
• Rely on amygdala rather than frontal lobes
• React, dont process
• Fewer executive functions-motivation, planning
• Rapid changes in dopamine levels
• Face studies
• From driving to drugs
• risky business

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What emotion is this woman expressing?
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The teen brain responds differently to the
outside world.

• 100 of adults identified fear.
• Fewer than 50 teens saw fear
• Teens saw sadness, confusion, anger and shock
• Teens read visual cues differently
• Boys were more impulsive

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Too much emotion

• Produces adrenaline
• Produces cortisol-stress hormone
• Energy is re-directedfight or flight
• Difficult to think and remember
• Brain can not differentiate between emotional and
  physical danger
• If rejected, takes 32x before you feel safe

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Stop!Think about.a time when you or someone
you know over-reacted in a situation. How could
you havShare with your neighbor
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During adolescence mental illness can surface

• In the 10th grade, 64 of boys and 89 of girls
  report being concerned about a friend who is
  depressed.
• Higher percentage of depressed teens used drugs
  and alcohol
• Schizophrenia is thought to be
• triggered during neural pruning

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Research has shown that

• Writing about a problem helps rid our minds of
  upsetting thoughts and thus improves our ability
  to maintain and process information
• memory and learning

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We need our sleep...

• Our brains review and sort material
• while sleeping
• Information is stored and discarded
• Rats reconstructed their days in their dreams
• Studies have shown sleepers perform better
• Teens need 9.25 hours of sleep most get 7.5
• Melatonin levels differ

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How does the teen brain learn best?

• Scientists saw more activity in the
  Cerebellumphysical coordination
• Use movement
• Use emotion
• Take brain breaks
• 20 minute maximum attention span
• Review 10, 24 and 7
• Pause, reflect, discuss, connect
• Know your memory

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Puzzles Prime the Brain for Problem
SolvingWhen encountering a mental block, take a
brain break and focus on a puzzle or word game.
Puzzles, word games and brain teasers stimulate
activity in the frontal lobe and right
hemisphere, making neural connections more
flexible for future problem solving.
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Mind MappingMimics how our brains work

• Uses BOTH left and right hemispheres
• Visual
• Spacial
• Kinesthetic
• Shows
• Connections
• Relationships
• Associations

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Ticket Out the Door
Ideas that struck you
Questions you still have
Thoughts, connections or suggestions
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