Questions Kids Ask About Their Brains

Answers That Help Students Learn and Teachers Teach

Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

288 Seiten

2024
Teachers' College Press (Verlag)
978-0-8077-6965-2 (ISBN)

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Great teachers will tell you that you can learn a lot about students from the questions they ask. This book shares 400 of the most important questions kids ask about their brains, along with answers that can be shared with students from ages 3 to 18. What hidden talents do I have? Where does our inner voice come from? How many things can we think of at the same time? Where does the brain keep memories? Why are some people more creative than others? Each of these questions tells teachers a little story about how their students think which can be used to inform classroom practice and improve learning outcomes. The book is grouped into two parts. Part I addresses how your brain makes you who you are (identity, structure, growth, function, emotions and feelings). Part II is about how to optimize its function (memory, attention, and executive functions; learning, excelling and roadblocks). Questions are followed by Big Ideas, which are key understandings of how the brain functions. Integrated throughout the book are more than 60 Implications For Teaching that spell out the usable knowledge from each section. Each chapter ends with a list of resources to reinforce the Big Ideas with students, and the closing chapter suggests specific activities to help students embrace this information for themselves. Whether you are a teacher, counselor, college student, parent, or kid, the information in this book will help you love and admire your own brain and feel empowered to improve it every day.

Book Features:

A window into students’ thoughts and concerns about themselves as learners and beings in today’s complex world.
A special chapter for classroom teachers with activities and guidance for integrating the information into P–12 lessons.
Big Ideas for readers looking for solutions they can quickly implement in their classroom.
Detailed answers, along with QR codes to the research articles behind them, for readers looking for more in-depth knowledge about learning and the brain.
Insights from a year-long international study in 21 countries that asked kids what they wanted to know about their own brains.

Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, PhD, is an instructor at the Harvard University Extension School in a course called the Neuroscience of Learning: An Introduction to Mind, Brain, Health, and Education. She has taught at kindergarten through university levels, is the associate editor of the peer-reviewed journal Science of Learning, and is an international educational consultant. Her books include Bringing the Neuroscience of Learning to Online Teaching: An Educator’s Handbook and The New Science of Teaching and Learning.

Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Preface xi

Questions as a Gateway to the Mind xi

How to Read This Book xii

1. The Pedagogy of Listening 1

A New “Theory of Brain” to Complement “Theory of Mind”? 3

Where the Questions Come From 4

2. Life Changes the Learning Brain 6

What You Know Influences What You Can Know 7

Educators, Mind, and Brain 10

3. Identity: Who Am I? 12

Similarities and Differences 12

Nature via Nurture Plus Free Will 15

Perception 26

Self-Awareness 28

Summary 34

Resources to Extend Learning 35

4. Structure: What Is the Physical Structure of the Brain? 36

Color and Texture 37

Weight and Size 38

Divisions of the Brain 42

Hemispheres and Laterality 53

Neurons and Synapses 58

Blood and Nerves 63

Summary 66

Resources to Extend Learning 66

5. Growth: How Does the Brain Develop? 67

Babies’ Brains 67

Children’s Brains 72

Adolescent Brains 77

Adult Brains 82

Old Age 83

Brain Death 87

Afterlife 90

Summary 91

Resources to Extend Learning 92

6. Function: How Does the Brain Work and Stay Healthy? 93

Brain–Body Connection 93

Control and Choice 94

Sleep and Dreaming 98

Nutrition 114

Physical Activity 119

Summary 122

Resources to Extend Learning 122

7. Emotions and Feelings: What Does My Brain Have to Do With My Feelings? 123

Emotional Processing 123

Emotional Triggers 131

Emotional Load 136

Relationships 141

Negative Emotions 144

Positive Emotions 153

Motivation, Boredom, and Procrastination 158

Summary 166

Resources to Extend Learning 167

8. Memory, Attention, and Executive Functions: What Are the Building Blocks of All Learning? 168

Memory 169

Attention 186

Executive Functions 194

Summary 202

Resources to Extend Learning 203

9. Learning: How Does Stuff Get Into Our Brains So We Can Use It in the Future? 204

Processing 204

Connectivity 206

Cognitive Load 210

Maximum Potential 213

Innate Intelligence 214

Best Learning 218

Speed and Range 219

Genius, Gifted, and Talented 222

Creativity and Imagination 224

Problem-Solving 226

Training and Studying 228

Summary 232

Resources to Extend Learning 232

10. Problems That Impede Learning: Why Are There Brains That Work a Little Bit Differently? 233

Dyslexia 234

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) 236

Executive Dysfunction 241

Headaches, Brain Damage 241

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) 245

Addiction 246

Psychopaths 248

Brain Health 250

Summary 251

Resources to Extend Learning 253

11. Final Thoughts 254

References 257

Index 259

About the Author 271

Erscheinungsdatum	18.05.2024
Verlagsort	New York
Sprache	englisch
Maße	162 x 235 mm
Gewicht	572 g
Themenwelt	Schulbuch / Wörterbuch
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Entwicklungspsychologie
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Pädagogische Psychologie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
ISBN-10	0-8077-6965-7 / 0807769657
ISBN-13	978-0-8077-6965-2 / 9780807769652
Zustand	Neuware