Behind every piece of information or action a student learns or learns to do, is a wealth of complicated structures in his brain. As an educator, you should think of yourself as a neuroscientist, navigating your students’ brains in order to grow and change them with each new lesson. This is called, brain-based learning. In order to take on this important task, it is important that you first understand the parts of the brain and the roles they play in learning and cognition.

“The human brain is the best-organized, most functional three pounds of matter in the known universe,” says educator Robert Sylwester in his book, A Celebration of Neurons: An Educator’s Guide to the Human Brain. “It’s responsible for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, computers, the Sistine Chapel, automobiles, the Second World War, Hamlet, apple pie, and a whole lot more.”

While the average brain consists of over 100 billion nerve cells, trillions of support cells and dozens of structures that all assist in the learning process, the limbic system is a specific area that we can take a closer look at to see how learning occurs in the brain.

The limbic system: The limbic system is actually a set of brain structures that, according to the Psychology department at the University of Delaware, includes: 

• The hippocampus: The hippocampus is essential for main education functions including learning and memory.
• The amygdale: There are two amygdala in the brain. They are essential to feeling emotion such as fear, impulse, and rage. They also help us perceive emotion in others.
• The thalamus: The thalamus sits between the cerebral cortex and the midbrain and acts as a conductor, receiving sensory information and transmitting it to the cerebral cortex and vice versa.
• The hypothalamus: The hypothalamus is located just above the brainstem and controls several involuntary and vital functions in your body. The alerts it gives your body are important to signal you to action. Mainly it controls body temperature, hunger, thirst and sleep cycles.
• The pituitary gland: The pituitary gland is only the size of a pea but plays a major role in brain function. It is at the base of the brain at the bottom of the hypothalamus. The pituitary gland mainly regulates hormones and thus plays a role in growth, puberty, metabolism, blood pressure and sugar levels.

How Our Brain Parts Relate to Learning  

1. The amygdale and the prefrontal cortex act together to control emotion. In adolescents the prefrontal cortex is not yet fully formed and thus children and teens lack the control over impulses that adults have. To clear the path to learning, adults need to act as an artificial prefrontal cortex. Help your students stay organized and on task and work with them on calendars and to-do lists as their impulses may draw them to other activities.

2. Children’s growth hormones are especially active while they sleep. During this time, the majority of new nerve growth in the brain is taking place. In order to fully internalize new information, students literally need to sleep on it! Sleep allows their brains time to grow and develop so they can better absorb what they’ve been taught. Make sure your children get plenty of sleep in order to make his or her education most effective.

3. The human body has high-low cycles controlled by the thalamus that last about 90 to 110 minutes. At the top of this cycle, students have more energy and are the most attentive and as they reach the bottom of the cycle they have the least energy and are the least attentive. Try to switch activities or lessons at regular intervals to help hold your student’s attention. Keep it structured though. Multitasking means your student is not giving his full-attention to one task and thus not fully encoding it to his brain.

4. New information enters the brain through neuron (nerve cell) pathways. If students are paying attention and processing the information, the hippocampus then sends a signal to store the information as long–term memory. When memories are being accessed, the same neuron pathways are used to get to the information. Because of this, the more frequently that information is accessed, the stronger those pathways become and the easier it is to recall information. Use repetition in your teaching in order to strengthen these pathways. Frequent rehearsals of using information, rather than cramming all the information in at once like before a test, is the best way to make it easy to remember.

Other sources: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/nsdivide.html

Children go through developmental stages in art helping them hone their budding skills and explore their creativity. Once a child figures out they can make somewhat representational squiggles, they have embarked into the Preschematic stage of art. These potato shaped figures with stick arms and legs might not seem like much, but are a child’s first representations of people. Encouraging his drawings aides in his future cognitive and creative development.

The Preschematic Stage of Art

Viktor Lowenfeld, author of Creative and Mental Growth, describes the Preschematic stage as a time when the schema (the visual idea) is developed. A child, between the ages of four and seven, creates drawings during this stage that depict what he finds most important about the objects he views, such as someone’s hair or unique clothing. A child exploring the Preschematic stage doesn’t have full understanding of the dimension and size of objects, so he may draw a person as tall as his house. Color use is also more emotional than logical, expressing a child’s desire for creativity and enjoyment in his art.

Preschematic stage artwork resembles blobs or amoeba shapes with large smiling faces and short arms and legs. Don’t be alarmed with exaggerated features, such as an extremely large nose or mouth – or if the child omits features completely.  In other instances, a child may draw a head representing a whole human being, because he finds the head to be the most important part of their body, which he uses to eat, talk, see and hear. When a child draws a self-portrait during the Preschematic stage he often draw himself as the largest shape, as he feels he is the most important, which displays healthy development.

During the Preschematic stage the schema (the internal representation of the world) along with cognitive development are causes the young child’s brain to develop in grand ways. Jean Piaget, a Swiss philosopher and psychologist, finds children go through fixed stages of cognitive development. During the Preschematic stage, Piaget places a child at the Preoperational stage where he is unable to yet form abstract conceptions, and must have hands-on experiences and visual representations in order to form basic conclusions.

Right-Brain/Left-Brain Development

With the right-brain in charge of creativity, but the left more dominant with control over math, rational thought, and linear thinking, the young child entering the Preschematic stage needs help to stimulate his visual cortex and promote use of his creative right-brain, developing a whole human. By introducing and discussing art with the child, he is stimulated to learn more about, and question, the world around him. Involving the child in making decisions about an art activity keeps him interested in creating art and promotes his self-esteem.

Hands-On Activities

Encourage a child to explore the Preschematic stage, along with his Preoperational stage of development, through engaging in lots and lots of hands-on activities to boost cognitive development and self-confidence. Sean Brotherson, a Family Science Specialist, finds that children need simple hands-on experiences for their brains to develop. Activities such as building with blocks, organizing objects based on color or shape, or taking a nature walk along with picking leaves off the ground are wonderful ways to jump-start brain development and get both sides of the brain working together.

Art Activities for the Preschematic Stage of Art

 Family Portrait

•  Encourage the child to create a family portrait based on a photograph, giving him a visual representation to work with. Look at a family picture together discussing the people in the picture and interesting characteristics of each person, encouraging his observational skills.
• Offer the child markers to use for drawing the family portrait so he can create strong, bold lines. Allow the child to fully explore his preschematic expression of color by using them as he wishes, even if not representational. Encourage the child’s color recognition skills by asking him about the colors he uses as he draws, further helping his cognitive development.
• Once the portrait is finished, help the child write a short paragraph about what he drew engaging the left-brain to work with his creative right-brain.

Nature Collage

•  No matter the time of year, getting outside and combining science and art benefits the development of the budding young brain. Provide the child with a small basket for him to pick up items while walking discussing different plants and animals observed, benefiting his preoperative brain.
• Let the child select a large sheet of colored construction paper and invite him to glue the items he collected in any arrangement of his choosing, which gives him hands-on experience for his cognitive development.
• Once the items have been glued to the paper, offer the child a black marker to carefully outline the items in the collage, helping hone his fine-motor skills.

The Preschematic stage is full of discovery and expression. Benefit a child’s development by encouraging him to explore his creativity and learn through engaging hands-on activities, along with spending quality time together, this benefits everyone involved.

By Sarah Lipoff. Sarah is an art educator and parent.

At twenty four months, your baby can remember the faces of the people closest to him or her. Often, this is why a child will cry when separated from their primary caregivers. This visual stage is very important to future development. “The ability to see and hear forms a crucial part of brain development in children. At this stage, parents must introduce the child to various colors, shapes and sounds to stimulate this area of brain,” according to Buzzle.

There are many other ideas you can use to introduce your child to other influential factors.

Influential factors

There are a few different types of brain-related development happening during childhood.  How children learn and grow with these factors depends on a few different things.

“These important factors include genetics, food and nutrition, responsiveness of parents, daily experiences, physical activity and love. In particular, parents should be aware of the importance of furnishing a healthy and nutritious diet, giving love and nurturing, providing interesting and varied everyday experiences, and giving children positive and sensitive feedback,” the North Dakota State University Extension Office supplement on Understanding Brain Development in Young Children said.

Four types of childhood learning

Each interaction a caregiver has with a child is important for fostering childhood learning. The following are four different types of learning experienced in childhood:

Motor skills

The ability to move and walk encompasses motor skills directly. “Activities like rolling over; crawling, walking, running and jumping are gross motor skills. These skills usually involve using the entire body or several parts of the body at one time,” Esther Boylan Wolfson, Director of the Early Childhood Development Center said on Wholefamily.com. 

Muscle strength and tone are also vital areas to evaluate when assessing your child’s motor skills.

Specific activities: Gymnastics and tumbling classes, drawing, learning to tie shoes and using scissors.

Visual capabilities

Visual skills are gained over time.

“Most children, when born, have limited visual development. They may be able to see shapes or contrasting colors like black and white, but most can’t see primary colors like red or blue before they are a month or two old,” according to EyeDoctorGuide.com. Therefore, it takes awhile in the development of a child for visual capabilities to begin to appear.

Specific activities: Learning colors and shapes, sorting and folding laundry and looking at pictures are main elements of visual child development.

Emotional capacity

Helping your child become a social and appropriately emotional individual is something he will carry the rest of his life. In Erikson’s Eight Stages of Development, from The Child Development Institute, there is much to be acquired. Attributes such as hope, will, competence and others make up the list, among others.

Specific activities: Learning appropriate responses like “thank you” and “please,” playing with other children and helping your child make friends at play-dates and other events.

Language

Doing sign language with your baby or child may help them develop better motor skills, a PBS report states. Another technique, fingerspelling, is also being used. “Fingerspelling is the use of hand positions to represent letters of the alphabet,” the report said.

Learning such a thing could lead to early reading skills.

“Sign language and fingerspelling deliver additional clues for learning to read. Reading is an acquired skill that requires a planned sequence of skill development. The use of sign language and fingerspelling is a strategy that can be integrated into almost any existing reading program,” PBS said.

Specific activities: Singing songs and rhymes, reading books and encouraging storytelling exercises, no matter how simple.

More on Early Child Development

Renowned Swiss biologist and psychologist Jean Piaget developed a theory based on the idea that the developing child builds cognitive structures, or mental “maps” or schemes for understanding and responding to physical experiences within his or her environment. These schemes increase in sophistication as a child develops. Piaget’s theory identifies four developmental stages which you can read more about here on Funderstanding.

By Kelly McLendon. Kelly is studying Environmental Policy and Journalism. She can be reached at mclendon.kelly@gmail.com.

Did you know if you are being chased by an animal or you are thrown into another situation of survival, you’ll use your limbic system to deal with the danger? It manages your emotions and motivations as well.

The limbic system is located beneath the cerebral cortex. This system is the center for emotional thinking. The limbic system is directly involved with what makes you laugh. Brain based learning research has revealed that the best problem solvers are those that laugh! It is also where most of your emotions, like happiness, sadness and anger stem from. Memory is also stored here.

Emotional Intelligence 

“Another intriguing aspect of the limbic system is that it feeds off of your emotion. The stronger your feeling is toward a certain event or experience, the stronger it reacts to that particular emotion. It is quite conceivable that we can even train human behavior by manipulating this simple behavioral aspect of your lower brain,” a BrainBlogger.com article said. This could be useful information for those interested in learning how to increase our emotional intelligence (EQ), purported to be a more useful indicator of success than IQ.

What Makes Babies Smile

This system is also responsible for making babies smile. “Between four and ten weeks of life, the limbic system and motor networks are sufficiently mature to make for baby’s first emotional smile. Across all cultures, the social smile pops up at the same time,” an article on Babble.com said.

Connection between Temperament and Brain

Studies also show that the temperament of babies can predict the type of attitude they may have as adults.

“In a study that could help clar­i­fy the com­plex rela­t­ion­ships be­tween the brain, en­vi­ron­ment and be­hav­ior, re­search­ers have found that four-month-old in­fants’ tem­per­a­ment pre­dicts some as­pects of their brain struc­ture 18 years lat­er,” a World Science article said.

But that’s not to say environmental factors aren’t also important.

 “In the first year alone, your baby’s brain grows from about 400g to a stupendous 1000g. While this growth and development is in part predetermined by genetic force, exactly how the brain grows is dependent upon emotional interaction, and that involves you,” a Psychology Today article said.

Cerebral Cortex and Social Influences

In the same article, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA Medical School Allan N. Schore said, “The human cerebral cortex adds about 70% of its final DNA content after birth, and this expanding brain is directly influenced by early environmental enrichment and social experiences.” A higher level of Emotional Intelligence helps one more easily navigate social situations, among other benefits.

As if controlling smiling and emotional development weren’t enough, the cerebral cortex is also responsible for road rage and other anger-inducing situations. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn to control it.

“Humans have a cerebral cortex that gives us the capacity to reason, if we give it a chance. When angered, we can command our cerebral cortex to evaluate our anger — to determine if we need to take action to right a wrong, or to change our reaction to the situation,” an ABC News article on Anger Management stated.

Whether you’re trying to build your emotional intelligence, survive an attack, or just simply have fun, keep in mind that when it comes to the cerebral cortex and limbic system, it can be pretty emotional.

By Kelly McLendon

There are many interrelated parts that make up the brain, providing essential functions necessary to human life. Human brain functions are responsible for humans being able to talk and reason, as well as process visuals and emotions. When you make a decision, you probably don’t think about how much you’re using your brain to make that choice. The cerebral cortex, your brain’s primary structure, is highly involved with how you learn “new information, form thoughts and make decisions,” according to A Guide to Brain Anatomy, Function and Symptoms.

There are four main brain structures:

The cerebrum: This is the largest part of the brain, making up about “90 percent of the brain’s weight,” according to Mind Disorders. It is,“responsible for higher brain function, which includes the interpretation and reception of the nerve impulses, initiating voluntary movement, memory, thought processes, and logical reasoning.” according to MedicaLook. The cerebrum also controls emotional and instinctual responses.

-Also controls language and reasoning skills

The cerebellum: This is the second largest part of the brain and it is located below the cerebrum. Balance and coordination are this area’s main function. “Disorders related to the damage of the cerebellum often result in ataxia (problems with coordination) and dysarthria (unclear speech resulting from problems controlling the muscles used in speaking),” Mind Disorders said.

-Controls movement and balance

Limbic system: This system is the center for emotional thinking and contains the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, amygdala and hippocampus.

The hypothalamus regulates hunger, thirst and anger in the body, among others.

The amygdala plays another role. “The amygdalas are two almond-shaped masses of neurons on either side of the thalamus at the lower end of the hippocampus. When it is stimulated electrically, animals respond with aggression. And if the amygdala is removed, animals get very tame and no longer respond to things that would have caused rage before,” Webspace’s “General Psychology” The Emotional Nervous System said.

The hippocampus is all about building memories. This is the place where memories are stored, both in the short-term and the long-term.

The pituitary gland is about as small as a pea and is located at the brain’s base. The gland has three lobes: anterior, intermediate and posterior. “Each lobe of the pituitary gland produces certain hormones,” the University of Maryland Medical Center Endocrinology Health Guide said. For example, in the intermediate lobe, the melanocyte-stimulating hormone controls skin pigmentation.

Also controls:

-Body Temperature

-Sleep patterns

-Emotions/memory

The Brain Stem: The brain stem is another crucial area. “The brain stem plays a vital role in basic attention, arousal and consciousness. All information to and from our body passes through the brain stem on the way to or from the brain. Like the frontal and temporal lobes, the brain stem is located in an area near bony protrusions making it vulnerable to damage during trauma,” the Centre for Neuro Skills said.

Also controls:

-Breathing/ heart rate

So the next time you walk, talk or write, keep in mind, those are all skills directly from your brain. It may not seem like it is all that important to think about your senses, but when you think of the big picture and how nearly every movement you make has to do with the functioning of your brain, you can start to see how much of an impact each of the four main structure’s has on your day to day living.

By Kelly McLendon. Kelly is studying Environmental Policy and Journalism. She can be reached at mclendon.kelly@gmail.com.

Test your skills by thinking outside of the box with brain teasers, also known as brain games.

Maintaining Brain Fitness

Brain teasers allow students to utilize their critical thinking skills, use downtime more wisely and enhance their creative thinking, while also sharpening their minds. Having a sharp mind is extremely important later in life, according to Neuroscience professor Michael Merzenich, PhD.

“To keep our senses and memory healthy, it is very important that we spend time each day in intensive, effortful learning that requires our close attention. Under these conditions, our faculties can be remarkably well conserved,” he said, on PositScience.

The Benefits of Teasers

Intellectual activity may help fend off Alzheimer’s disease, according to The Franklin Institute. A Case Western Reserve study said “those more mentally and physically active in middle-age were three times less likely to later get the mind-robbing disease.”

“Increased intellectual activity during adulthood was especially protective. Examples included reading, doing puzzles…”

A 2003 study in the New England Journal of Medicine uncovered “that mentally stimulating activities such as reading, playing cards and board games, and doing crossword puzzles may prevent or minimize memory loss from aging,” a report from WebMD said.

While students are young when they are working on puzzles and brain teasers in the classroom, the ultimate benefit may not occur until several decades later.

How You Can Use Them in Your Classroom

Using brain games in your classroom can help with many ailments and issues.

The box game Sudoku stimulates the brain by challenging you to use strategy to figure out what number should go inside a box.

Spatial intelligence games work another aspect by allowing you to work on your visual memory. Memory games are some of the most effective brain exercising tools.  If started at a young age, memory games can help prepare your students for a long future of learning.

“The ability to memorize phone numbers or solve math problems requires training,” according to Math and Reading Help. “Through the employment of specific exercises a child can be trained to remember more with less effort. Working on memory skills from a young age will help prepare a student for the future.”

Brain concentration games may also help students who have a difficult time focusing and paying attention in class.

In Dr. Robert Myers, Child Psychologist’s “5 Simple Concentration Building Techniques for Kids with ADHD,” he suggests that these types of games are beneficial.

“Children’s games such as Memory or Simon are great ideas for improving memory and concentration. They are quick and fun. Memory motivates the child to remember the location of picture squares and Simon helps them memorize sequences of visual and auditory stimuli. Through repeated playing, brain circuits are “exercised” and challenged, which strengthens connections and thus improves function,” he said.

Where to Find Games

There are many places to find brain games, both in-store and online.

Discovery Education’s Brain Boosters allow your students to play reasoning and logic games online from their website. Games for the Brain is a very simple Web site that has many games to choose from as well. In addition, The Milton Bradley Memory board game mentioned by Dr. Myers can be purchased from many retail locations.

But if you are feeling creative, you can use ProProfs to create your own game!

By Kelly McLendon

The classroom is taught the way it is today because of the different ‘ages’ in history. Ages like the Industrial Revolution and Information Age have had profound and lasting impacts on the history of education.

Teaching methods are beginning to change, ever slowly, however.

“Over the last two hundred years, the common school and its one-size-fits-all curriculum have evolved into a larger union school with wide course offerings,” according to School: The Story of American Public Education, a PBS series.

But classrooms still have a long way to go.

Education in the Industrial Age

In the Industrial Age, education was handled much differently than today. There were one room school houses and farming was the main livelihood in society.

This age changed what was required from the workforce. Society needed lots of people to work in factories and so the factory model of learning was established. The factory concept applies directly to education today. Companies needed to provide somewhat educated workers and the principles of mass production were implemented. The factory model was a system of education. These companies took a person, trained them and when the person came out at the end of the training, they were certified to go work in the factory setting.

Also popular during the Industrial Age was the mass production model, which focuses on scoring well on exams and essentially memorizing data to repeat it at a later time.

Skinner’s Behaviorism

Besides the mass production model, the popular psychology term behaviorism also came into play in the educational sector. 20^th century teacher and researcher B.F. Skinner believed in behaviorism, a concept that states that anyone can learn anything and the mind of the learner is blank.

Skinner believed a person’s prior experience was irrelevant and that a capable instructor can break down any concept, repeat it and any person can learn it, regardless of the knowledge they had before. John B. Watson was the founder of behaviorism.

Additionally, Skinner worked with operant conditioning, which correlates to enforcing behavior in school children today. If a child is asked to stay after school for acting out in class, this would be an example of operant conditioning. The student would see that he or she will get punished for their actions and they may be unlikely to commit whatever act they did that got them in trouble, again.

Skinner, however, also had the idea that positive reinforcement was better than punishment. By not necessarily rewarding the student and instead praising him or her for positive behavior, Skinner would have found this more beneficial because of the general definition.

“A behavior will increase if it is followed by positive reinforcement. It will decrease if it is followed by punishment. Operant conditioning is thus ‘learning by consequences,” according to Changing Minds.

The principles of operant conditioning are still used to explain teaching and learning techniques used in the classroom today.

“Positive communication is a tool to reinforce good behavior and eliminate bad behavior; it builds self-esteem and inspires confidence in children,” according to Family Education.

New changes

The education of the Industrial Revolution Era did not last, simply because things change, especially with a new Age of time.

Age of Information

The Age of Information took the country by storm in the 1970s. Noam Chomsky believed behaviorism did not make sense and he aimed to prove the point that people are not born with a blank slate or an innate ability to learn. He believed a person would learn a language whether they liked it or not. With Chomsky’s new behavior code, people began to have a whole new way of looking at how students learn.

Drawing from experience: From Laura Ingalls to Noam Chomsky

The days of the Little House on the Prairie one-room schoolhouse may be over, but today’s challenges are new. An educator must consider the mind of the learner. It is not always one size fits all learning. Students have different learning styles and instead of focusing on the current ‘age,’ educators may need to tailor diverse learning styles to individual students. This philosophy allows teachers to draw from their experience, instead of using a comprehensive approach that may not suit every student.

Chomsky believed that there were some things no amount of learning could teach. In an interview from 1983, he said there was a relationship between heredity and the environment for the progression of human language.

“The language organ interacts with early experience and matures into the grammar of the language that the child speaks. If a human being with this fixed endowment grows up in Philadelphia, as I did, his brain will encode knowledge of the Philadelphia dialect of English. If that brain had grown up in Tokyo, it would have encoded the Tokyo dialect of Japanese. The brain’s different linguistic experience — English versus Japanese — would modify the language organ’s structure,” Chomsky said in the interview.

Into the Future

Going ahead into the next few decades, many technological advances will be made. These advances, such as the release of the iPad, may change the factory model into a workshop one, some suggest.

Others aren’t nearly as convinced.

“The model is premised on the belief of “progressive” educators that the best way to encourage deep and enduring understanding is through “discovery learning” in a small-group setting, where students puzzle out problems and acquire knowledge on their own,” according to a New York Teacher.

Therefore, what will happen with the history of education in the future is still yet to be determined. But one thing is for sure: with a multitude of theories and various ways of teaching created by educators, there certainly seem to be many ways for students to learn and adapt in the classroom.

By Kelly McLendon. Kelly is studying Environmental Policy and Journalism. She can be reached at mclendon.kelly@gmail.com.

Brain-based learning theory is guided by the assumption that “research in neuroscience should guide learning and assessment.” (Gulpinar, 2005) Much of brain-based learning (or BBL) theory stresses the importance of environment and learning climate and engaging students by reducing stress and getting them to a state of “relaxed alertness.” Here is where you can find our overview of brain-based learning theory.

According to Dr. Leslie Wilson who taught graduate courses on BBL for many years at University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, not all teachers are graduating with a knowledge of BBL theory or how to implement it. Wilson says that the U.S. K-12 educational system has remained relatively unchanged since the 1890s, with little of the newest research on BBL being implemented across a wide swath.  Here are Dr. Wilson’s tips for optimizing learning.

So, how does a teacher, with no BBL training implement some of the practices in his or her classroom? Dave Lockett, the principal of the Jefferson School for the Arts, a charter school that integrates the arts into the learning of all subjects (check out this YouTube video about the school), says that many of the classroom practices developed since the school became a charter school six years ago are based on brain-based learning theory.

Creating a Learning Environment

Lockett says that the incorporation of music into classroom activities is one way to activate the brain. Research has shown that humans physiologically react to music with heartbeats matching the tempo of music. (That’s probably why it’s easier to workout to Lady Gaga than Kenny G!) For a revved up classroom with a lot of participation, look for music at about 180 beats per minute. For a more calming effect, choose music with 90-100 beats per minute.

Other atmosphere considerations can include temperature, lights (for example, blinking lights hanging around a classroom can be distracting) and students’ hydration. Wilson says, “Water is the best neural conductor and that in order to have those neurons firing properly students need to be well hydrated. Water fountains are now placed in many elementary class rooms. Older students are allowed to bring water to class. Denying kids access to fountains and water used to be the rule, and machines dispensed sugary drinks – no more!”

Learning by Teaching

Another way to incorporate BBL into the classroom is to have students engage with and teach each other new concepts rather than sitting in their desks listening to a teacher drone on and on. Lockett says that in Jefferson’s classrooms, students are often asked to discuss a question/concept with a partner before the teacher asks who knows the answer. He says after a bit of discussion, the number of students willing to participate and answer questions increases from 30 percent to about 80 percent. Students also do better on tests when they have learned by quizzing each other on the subject matter.

Taking a Brain Break

One final tip for incorporating BBL into the classroom is the importance of “settling time.” Brains need breaks in order to incorporate information learned and connect the neural networks. Much of this is done during REM sleep, however with the disturbing trend of schools reducing or eliminating music, art, P.E., and recess, children are getting far less settling time than they did in the past. The decrease in these activities is often due to regulations that force instructors to teach English, math, science, social studies, etc., for so many minutes per day that they simply don’t have time for the other subjects anymore. Many of these changes came on the heels of the No Child Left Behind Act, but Lockett predicts that educating without settling time will cause test scores to drop.

A key principle to remember is that students should always be engaged in their education. No one ever learned anything sitting at a desk, staring into space. Variety and student involvement are necessary for maximum learning.

Additional sources:

Gulpinar, M.A. (2005). The principles of brain-based learning and constructivist models in education. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 5(2), pp. 299-306

By Emily Vietti

Astronomy, like the size of the solar system, is such a vast subject that it can be a challenging one to teach. It’s a fascinating topic and there are so many angles to choose when trying to effectively teach astronomy.

Our experience is that most public schools teach astronomy in a way that does not inspire awe and elicit the interest the topic warrants. Most astronomy courses are not interactive and this is definitely a topic that needs to be hands-on. Powerpoints and lectures won’t cut it.

So we created a lesson plan drawn from The Thousand Yard Model or The Earth as a Peppercorn created by Guy Ottewell.

This lesson gets kids outside and keeps them energized and engaged. The goal is to teach the size and scale of the universe in a way that is realistic – a challenging endeavor given the enormity of the topic!

Lesson Plan Title: How Big is the Solar System?

Concept / Topic To Teach: An understanding of the scale of the universe by teaching the relative size and spacing of the planets.

Goal: To help students obtain a clear understanding of the size of the sun and the other planets in our solar system. Help students grasp the concept of the vastness of our universe.

Age Range: This lesson plan applies to a vast age range – ages 6-18. The basic activity remains the same for all ages. The teacher’s discussion questions will vary greatly according to the audience. This particular lesson plan applies to ages 6-10.

Specific Objectives:

• Engaging students to be excited and in awe of the huge world we live in!
• Teaching basic concepts of measurement and distance (inches, yards, miles)
• Strengthening knowledge of planets in the solar system
• Increasing understanding of size of the sun and other planets
• Learning the scale of the solar system
• Encouraging children to explore the universe on their own (e.g., get a telescope for backyard viewing)

Materials:

• Sun - any ball, diameter 8.00 inches (a bowling ball is this size but that is too heavy, try an inflatable ball)
• Mercury -a pinhead, diameter 0.03 inch
• Venus - a peppercorn, diameter 0.08 inch
• Earth- a second peppercorn
• Mars -a second pinhead
• Jupiter – a chestnut or a pecan, diameter 0.90 inch
• Saturn – a hazelnut or an acorn, diameter 0.70 inch
• Uranus – a peanut or coffeebean, diameter 0.30 inch
• Neptune a second peanut or coffeebean
• Pluto - a third pinhead (or smaller, since Pluto is the smallest planet)
• Pieces of paper or cards to pin/place planets on
• Label each piece of paper with the name of the planets
• The pinheads will need to be pinned to labeled cards or paper to make them visible.
• A megaphone (not essential, but helpful)
• Find space near the school (playground/field) where you can walk one thousand yards (preferably in a straight line). It is not imperative that it be in a straight line if that is not possible. This may be tough to find.

Anticipatory Set (Lead-In):

Here are some questions to start the conversation:

• Does anyone know what makes up our solar system?
• Who can tell me what is the biggest planet?
• Does anyone know how far it is from the Sun to the Earth?
• Who knows something really interesting about the solar system that you want to share with the class?

Teacher’s Explanation:

• The solar system really is too big for us to imagine. It is more than 9,000,500 miles.
• From the Sun to the Earth is about 93,000,000 (93 million) miles.
• The average distance from the Sun to Pluto is much larger, about 40 times the distance from the Sun to the Earth.
• The Sun to Pluto distance is typically referred to as 3.7 BILLION. To give you a sense for how far this is, imagine you are driving to Pluto on the highway at the speed of 60 miles per hour, it is going take you about 7 thousand years to reach your destination!
• Planets are so small and the distances between them are unbelievably large.
• In order to understand the size of the planets and the distances between them, we’re going to go outside in a few minutes and imagine ourselves as the sun and planets. Before we do that, lets review a few things.

Step-By-Step Procedures:

1. Put the objects out on a table and place them in a row. Explain to the class that these objects will be used to create your class model of the solar system.
2. Now is a good time to review the number of planets -9- and their order.
3. You have probably already taught a mnemonic like “My very easy method just speeds up names” or “My very educated mother just served us nine.”
4. Ask the class “How much space do we need to make the solar system?” Children may think that spacing out the objects on the table is enough.
5. Now is the time to introduce the concept of scale.
6. Explain to the class - “This peppercorn is the Earth we live on.”
7. Ask the class “Does anyone know how wide the Earth is?” The Earth is eight thousand miles wide! The peppercorn is eight hundredths of an inch wide.
8. Ask the class “Does anyone know how wide the Sun is?” It is eight hundred thousand miles wide. This ball representing the sun is only eight inches wide. Explain that one inch in the model represents a hundred thousand miles in reality.
9. Explain to the class that one yard (36 inches/3 feet) represents 3,600,000 miles. Take a pace (one big step) and explain to the class that this distance in your scale of the universe model represents “three million six hundred thousand miles.”

Mnemonic Refresher

10.  This is a good time to review the scale and measurements. It may be helpful to create a handout of the scale or simply put this up on the chalkboard.

Real In model

11.  Ask the class, “Who remembers what the distance is between the Earth and the Sun?” In our model it will be 26 yards.

12.  Ask a student to start at one side of the room and take 26 paces. S/he comes up against the opposite wall at about 15 paces. This should help the class begin to grasp the concept of scale.

13.  Tell the class it’s time to create your solar system outside as there is clearly not enough room inside. Get the class energized and enthused by telling them its time to take a space journey. Lets stretch our legs and build our solar system!

14.  Before you leave, distribute the Sun, the planets, and the labeled paper to members of the class. Make sure that each student knows the name of the object he or she is carrying. As this model calls for participation from eleven students, you’ll want to pair up students and assign a planet to more than one child.

15.  Take the class to a pre-determined point where you can walk a thousand yards (preferably in a straight line) from one end to another. This may not be easy. A straight line is not essential and you don’t have to see from one end of it to the other. You may have to circle back. It may be more memorable if you label the thousand yards such as, “from the playground to the back parking lot.”

16.  Put the Sun ball down, and march away from it as follows. (After the first few planets, ask a student to be responsible for the pacing so you are free to talk and move around. Give this person a special name like “Pace Craft” or “Pace Explorer.”

17.   Take 10 paces. Call out “Mercury, where are you?” and have the Mercury person put down his/her card and pinhead.

18.  Take another 9 paces. Ask Venus to put down her peppercorn. At this point you may want to take out the megaphone so everyone can hear you. This is not essential but it may place less strain on your vocal chords.

19. Take another 7 paces. It’s Earth’s turn.

20.  Ask the class if they notice anything amazing so far? Point out that Mercury is so close to the sun but we never see it (except sometimes in the Sun’s glare at dawn or dusk). It is like a scorched rock and it is lost in space. And as for the distance between Earth and the Sun, can you believe that it warms us so well and we are so far from it?

21. Take another 14 paces. Mars.

22. Take 95 paces from there to Jupiter.

23.  As you or the Pace Explorer is taking paces, continually ask the class questions such as “Who knows an interesting fact about Jupiter?” What is so amazing about this? Point out that Jupiter is so large that you could fit all the other planets inside it. And in our model it is just a chestnut, more than a city block from its nearest neighbor in space!

24.  Another 112 paces. Saturn

25.  Another 249 paces. Uranus

26.  Another 281 paces. Neptune

27. Another 242 paces. Pluto

28.  At this point, the Pace Explorer has marched more than half a mile! The distance in the model adds up to 1,019 paces. A mile is 1,760 yards.

29.  Ask the class again “What observations they have about the model? Point out that the sun ball is no longer visible even with binoculars from the pinhead Pluto. The inconceivable size and wonder of space may now start to set in.

Follow-Up

An interactive exploration of the size of the solar system like this, may make your students eager for more. One way to keep up the momentum is to repeat the activity and vary it a bit. Perhaps ask student pairs to write up fun facts on their planet cards about the planet they represent. Have them share their facts and see who can guess which planet they are.  Or you can do the walk once more from the Sun to Pluto and them immediately in reverse, starting with Pluto. This will help reinforce the concept of the scale of the solar system through repetition.

Maintain their interest and enthusiasm by encouraging students to get binoculars and explore the universe at night. There are specific dates and times of the year when certain planets come into view. Sky and Telescope.com, Cloudynights.com and the Astronomy Calendar of Celestial Events 2010 are resources that provide these details, as well as much more interesting information about astronomy.

Please note that this lesson plan is a work in progress. We will add more suggestions to this document in order to increase the learning opportunity. This lesson plan on the scale of the universe is the first of many to come. We aim to provide lesson plans on conventional topics that are anything but conventional. Our goal is to make the learning effective, fun and inspiring. If you have any suggestions for this lesson plan, we’d love to hear from you. And if you are interested in us creating innovative lesson plans on other topics, we want to hear from you!

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