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Affect of stress on brain scientific essay
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Importance of Brain Breaks
Brain breaks are a must have in any classroom in the modern day. Brain breaks refocus students and allow blood to freely flow through the brain allowing for a better learning experience for students. They can really help you refocus, weather you are in elementary school, middle school, or high school. There are many types of brain breaks, and many different ones for different purposes. Some examples of brain breaks are yoga, crosswords, any physical movement, puzzles, and anything else that can challenge the brain. Brain breaks are an essential part of education today, students retain sixty percent more of what they learn in class with brain breaks implemented into everyday learning. Student performance in class
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When we implement brain breaks, it gives students the opportunity to take a break, or get their mind back where it needs to be to learn. An activity as basic a deep breathing can be considered as a brain break, this basic activity has been shown to increase focus in class. A few more examples of other brain breaks are moving, puzzles, drawing, singing, and there are tons more. Moving for example may re-energize your students, puzzles may refocus your students, drawing may inspire creativity, and singing may even inspire others. There are tons of reasons to use brain breaks to their full advantage in class. An article explains brain breaks with this quote “Brain breaks help students develop the social-emotional skills they need to master rigorous …show more content…
When new information comes into the brain it must pass through the amygdala to reach the prefrontal cortex. When students become anxious or overwhelmed; the amygdala surges until it becomes a stop sign. It then begins to become more difficult for that student to learn as easily without becoming distracted or disruptive; however, one internet article says “Brain breaks can be planned to restore the emotional state needed to return the amygdala from overdrive into the optimal state for successful information flow”(Willis). The whole purpose of a brain break is to prevent this from happening in the first place and to ensure that our brains are in the optimal state to learn
As I wearily sat in my seat, writing an essay on the importance of electricity in the modern world, I caught myself glancing repeatedly at the clock that was so carefully perched above the teacher’s desk. “Ten minutes, only ten more minutes left until school is over and I get to go home!” I told myself. In most schools, the average school day is about eight hours long. Eight hours of continuously sitting in a chair taking notes during lectures, doing classwork, projects, etc. During these eight hours of school, students deserve a short, outdoor break in which they can isolate themselves from the stress of working all day and just relax. Studies have shown that people who take short breaks throughout the day to do light, outdoor breaks are more productive than those who do not. A short, outdoor break will benefit students due to the fact that students will have time to relax; students will be able to focus more, concentrate, and be more productive; and teachers will have more time to prepare for the next class coming.
Overall this was a great book. I have a great deal of interest in the brain. It is a truly amazing and fascinating organ. Its complexity bewilders not only researchers, and many neuroscientists but me as well. I also have somewhat of a passion for fitness and to learn how beneficial exercise can be, not only to our body’s health but the brain as well. It gives me a new understanding about a “workout”. The author did a great job explaining all of the very complicated processes that are involved in exercise’s wondrous benefits. Even though some of the information may have been boring, the way it was presented was not. This book was a great read and overall I would recommend it to any interested in exercise or the brain.
In Bad Science, Goldacre argues about brain gym that children don’t need Brain Gym to spot nonsense. He concentrates on criticizing an educational program that, however initially delivered in the United States, is presently ejecting in hundreds (if not thousands) of schools the whole way across the U.K. Brain Gym, has been depicted as a "string of complicated and exclusive activities for children that upgrades the experience of whole brain learning” (Goldacre, p.16). There are 26 physical activities which teach quick and regularly emotional changes in concentration, memory, sorting out and more by developing neural pathways in the participants' brains. Brain Gym is an arrangement of splendidly great fun activity break thoughts for children,
A study done at the American College of Sports Medicine reported that “fourth and fifth grade students who ran around and otherwise exercised vigorously for at least 10 minutes before a math test scored higher than children who sat quietly before an exam.” Physical activity is said to improve much more than physical health, and is known for the improving one’s memory and focus. Another article mentioned that physically active students tend to outperform their peers in the classroom who are not active. The article also mentions that “physically active students have larger brain volumes in the basal ganglia and hippocampus, areas associated with cognitive control and memory (Medical News, 1).” Exercise has been known to help students concentrate better in their classes, and accomplish their homework later
Smith, Hallie. MA CCC-SLP. The Benefits of Downtime: Why Learners’ Brains Need a Break. “Scientific Learning.” 13 December 2013. Web. 12 April 2014.
The split brain syndrome has been performed on humans ever since the late 1930s. The procedure for the split brain syndrome involves severing the corpus callosum which is a thick band of nerve fibers that divides the cerebrum into two different hemispheres, the left and right. The corpus callosum connects the left and the right sides of the brain allowing communication between both hemispheres. The reason the split brain procedure is performed, is to prevent epileptic seizures from spreading from one hemisphere to another. When severing the brain both sides of the brain stop communicating to each other. Many people begin to question whether this also splits consciousness. The split brain procedure does have much disunity that may cause some hardships with reading, writing, etc. on a daily basis. So I would argue that split brain patients do not have a totally unified consciousness.
Brain recovery involves actions that follow brain injury or trauma. Injury to the brain may be caused by external forces such as blows to the head that may cause the brain to move inside the skull (Johnson, 2013) or tumours that exert pressure onto the brain or may results from genetic disorders (Cain, Wasserman, Minorsky, Jackson, & Urry, 2008). Examples of brain injuries include stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease to name a few.
Weighing only 3 pounds, the human brain is the most complex structure known to man. It is what sets humans apart from the rest of the other animals. It is a powerful organ that allows us to learn, store memories, think creatively, and communicate with one and another. Physical damage to any organ in the human body can be detrimental and that is no different with the brain. However, once the brain is damaged, there is often nothing that can be done. Damage to the brain is not only done physically, but a person 's lifestyle, in particular, living in poverty has negative effects to the brain.
My other course I teach, F.C.S. Connections (requirement for our juniors in the high school) I personally believe I provide brain breaks for them. The content within this course provides students information on temperament, personalities, family and dating relationships, communication and conflict management skills, personal financial management, and empathy training. This course meets the framework for movement from brain breaks to teaching content. However, the foods course does not even come close to comparing. I personally feel comfortable with starting at providing brain breaks in my Foods 1 course. The reason behind having brain breaks is for the students to take a break from the content. During lab days, I have no problem having my students up and moving around but during lecture days, I need to improve. My goal is to have one brain break during each lecture day, my course takes place during an 80 minute block. My strategy to accomplish this goal is that after learning one concept or completing a worksheet/activity, I would have my students do a brain break before moving onto the next content. By taking a few minutes to take a break, my students will be able “to refocus the brain, lessen the feelings of being overwhelmed by the content, reenergize the body and the brain, and provides an opportunity for laughter and fun” (Lengel & Kuczala,
During cognitive development it is important that teachers allow time for students to have breaks in between classroom tasks such as recess and other extracurricular activities. Learning large amounts of material is easier for children to understand when it is taken in as chunks. Assign children with short tasks and switch from demanding activities to less demanding activities (Biehler & Snowman, 2000).
Staying active or exercising is a great way to make the most of your brain. By staying active I
Children can burn off bottled up energy at recess that they have accumulated while sitting through their teacher’s lessons. Lahey mentions that “studies have found that students who enjoy the benefit of recess are more attentive once they return to class”. This is helpful because the child will be focused on what they are learning instead of fidgeting in their chair. Also, providing breaks to students while they are learning can result in longer attention spans. Recess is a break that recharges the brain and allows elementary students to control their desire to adventure. Young children are easily distracted, so recess regulates this by providing them with their own free time. Students become more self-contained after they return from recess due to their tiredness. This is useful in class because children will be less hyperactive. The absence of recess would not permit students to learn self-control
An example of the first finding, that music learning changes the brain, is research clearly showing that through such learning, auditory and motor areas in the brain grow larger and interact more efficiently. After novice pianists have just a few weeks of training, for example, the areas in their brain serving hand control become larger and more connected. It quickly became clear that music can drive plasticity in the human brain, shaping it through training and learning.
The Split Brain Theory was coined by Roger W. Sperry, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1981. During his study of epilepsy, he discovered that by cutting the corpus callosum in half he could reduce the severity of epileptic seizures in patients (1). Because people are said to prefer one side of thinking over the other, educators need to apply this theory to both sides of the brain in order for learning to be effective. For example, if educators want to appeal to the right-brain thinker then they could implement the use of songs, poetry, or use of props when learning a concept, especially in groups. On the other hand, when appealing to left-brain thinkers, one could implement the use of a crossword puzzle for vocabu...
Weintraub, Karen. "'Brain games' can boost seniors' memory, focus." USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.