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HELPING KIDS BUILD a better brain…

HELPING KIDS BUILD a better brain…. Ground Rules. Ask questions whenever you feel like it (I am expecting them ). Feel free to come and go as needed. Don’t worry about a phone ringing – use it as a reminder to take a deep, relaxing breath . Orientation.

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HELPING KIDS BUILD a better brain…

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  1. HELPING KIDS BUILDa better brain…

  2. Ground Rules • Ask questions whenever you feel like it (I am expecting them). • Feel free to come and go as needed. • Don’t worry about a phone ringing – use it as a reminder to take a deep, relaxing breath.

  3. Orientation This is a one hour presentation. We will explore: • The Amazing Brain • 3 Important Things to Know About How the Brain Functions, Grows and Changes • Activities and Attitudes that Build Better Brains • Implications for Classroom and School Practices and Culture

  4. Orientation: A bit more • The Amazing Brain • Some basic neuroscience • 3 Important Things to Know About How the Brain Functions, Grows and Changes • Neuroplasticity: how the brain grows • The Brains Bias: why negative events are ‘stronger’ • The Brain as a Social Organ: relationship is central to everything • Activities and Attitudes that Build Better Brains • Emotionaland Social Skills, Calm, Optimism, StrengthsFocus, Healing, Well-being Motivations • Basically all the stuff we know is good for everyone • Implicationsfor Classroom and School Practices and Culture • Role Modelling and Relationship • Communication and Environment • Class and School Systems and Culture

  5. The BRAIN: It is Amazing… • 1.3 kg of tofu like material • 1.1 trillion cells • 100 billion neurons • 1 neuron has 5000 connections – synapse • 500 trillion synapses • Average neuron fires 5-50 times per second • = quadrillion bits of information moved within your brain in one breath Neurons gather and transmit electrochemical signals -- think of them like the gates and wires in a computer.

  6. Quadrillion 1 000 000 000 000 000 bits of information per breath

  7. More complex than an exploding star

  8. The Brain: it’s very hungry! • 2% of the body’s weight but uses 20% of the oxygen and 25% of the glucose in the blood. • It is just as metabolically active when you are asleep as when you are concentrating hard. • It needs lots of building blocks every day – good food!

  9. Keep in mind… …that the organ we are talking about is doing the understanding of the concepts and ideas of the organ we are talking about!

  10. Why Learning About the Brain is Important ?

  11. As you learn and think about these concepts and ideas, consider what implications there are for:* Parenting…* Education…* Your particular situation… Consider…

  12. Experiences Build Brains 1. Genes provide the blueprints but then experiences shape the building of the brain. 2. Simple circuits build first; the more complex circuits build on that foundation. So we need to get the foundations right. 3. The more we repeatedly connect circuits the stronger they become. The more circuits we connect, the more cohesive, integrated the brain is.

  13. 3 Important Things to Know About How the Brain Functions, Grows and Changes: The ‘Plastic’ Brain – our brain’s keep changing due to our experience Brain Bias – Negative experiences are naturally stronger The Brain is a ‘Social’ Organ – Brains are built to connect

  14. The ‘Plastic’ Brain

  15. The Mind • What is the MIND? The Mind is the flow of information within the nervous system. • The mind is what the brain does. • They are an inseparable pair. They ‘co-arise.’ (information is non-physical – the meaning of the red light as opposed to a physical colour)

  16. Neuroplasticity made simple…

  17. Therefore… • The mind(MENTAL EVENTS) changesthe physical structures of the brain! • We build: > neural roads > >neural highways > > neural superhighways

  18. Implications? • Take a moment to reflect or chat and make some notes on implications for you and others.

  19. The Brain Bias

  20. BRAIN BIAS • Negative experiences are like velcrofor the brain • Positive experiences are like teflon. • Unfortunately, the biasof our brain tilts memories towards the negative, even when most of our experiences are positive. • WHY?

  21. OR

  22. Negativity Bias: Consequences • Negative stimuli get more attention and processing. • We generally learn ‘to react’ faster from pain than pleasure.

  23. Implications? • Take a moment to reflect or chat and make some notes on implications for you and others.

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