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You are here: Home / Archives for brain

Is the Traditional Day Best for our Teens?

October 16, 2015 By:Alison McNee

Tired-student-at-booksResearch: In 2014 the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a study that middle and high schools shouldn’t start earlier than 8:30 am. A new study moves that time to 10 am, which has caused quite a stir in the education community. Critics move quickly to disregard the research for the “realities” of time management. They fail, however, to reimagine school in different terms, where we don’t have to be bound by a traditional 7-hour day and we can pay attention to how kids really learn. Study after study confirms that the biological changes during adolescence require teens to get about 9 hours of sleep and re-wire them to both go to bed and wake up later. The effects of what can become irrevocable sleep loss include reduced cognitive responses, increased emotional responses, and increased risk of physical responses and disease. This adds up to grumpy teens who aren’t ready to learn and can’t work at their potential.

Practice: At Chrysalis we understand that every student is unique. We know that for learning to occur basic well-being must take priority, so we schedule according to each individual’s needs. Those who are able to start early are allowed to, but very few students at our high school start before 9 am. Likewise, those who need more sleep in the morning are allowed a later start. Sometimes we see that a particular subject just isn’t working as the first class of the day and we can shift it to the afternoon to take advantage of peak brain time. It’s all about optimizing the conditions for learning.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: brain, teen sleep

Affective Education

September 25, 2015 By:Alison McNee

head and brainResearch: Research on the brain’s affective filter demonstrates that a student’s emotional state is closely linked to their ability to learn. When the brain is in a positive emotional state students can learn more effectively and at higher levels of cognition. Neurologist Judy Willis concludes, “With such evidence-based research, the affective filter theories cannot be disparaged as ‘feel-good education’ or an ‘excuse to coddle students’—if students are stressed out, the information cannot get in. This is a matter of science.”
Practice: Our program incorporates the elements of an affective education, meaning that we are just as concerned with the personal and social development of the individual as we are with their academic or cognitive development. We know that when these are out of balance negative emotions can present themselves in a number of ways. We work to minimize the stress and anxiety around schooling and keep positive attitudes about learning and school.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Affective Education, Anxiety, brain, Evidence-Based Research

Book Review: Brain Rules, Dr. John Medina

April 21, 2011 By:Chrysalis School

By Karen Fogle

Book: Brain Rules

Big Idea:

There is an abundance of scientific research detailing how the brain works. This information is extremely important for anyone interested in maximizing their performance in various  environments.

Notes:

Brain Rules was written by Dr. John Medina, a developmental molecular biologist, affiliate professor at the UW and director of the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University. These interests combine to make a compelling picture of how our brains work and the Brain Rules we need to follow so our brains work their best. Add to this his sense of humor and this book is a must read. If you don’t have time to read the book or are in a great hurry for the information, go to his website brainrules.net and see the 12 brain rules demonstrated by John on video.

Quotes:

John’s thoughts on schools based on Brain Rule #3- Every brain is wired differently.

“Every student’s brain, every employees brain, every customer’s brain is wired differently. That’s the Brain Rule. You can either accede to it or ignore it. The current system of education chooses  the latter, to our detriment.  It needs to be torn down and newly envisioned in a Manhattan Project-size commitment to individualizing instruction. We might, among other things, dismantle all together grade structures based on age.”

“1.)The current system is founded on a series of expectations that certain learning goals should be achieved by a certain age. Yet there is no reason to suspect that the brain pays attention to those expectations. Students of the same age show a great deal of intellectual variability.

2.) These differences can profoundly influence classroom performance. This has been tested. For example, about 10% of students have brains wired to read at the age at which we expect them to read. Lockstep models based simply on age are guaranteed to create a counterproductive mismatch to brain biology.” (Medina)

Also a must read for parents of babies and children of all ages is John’s latest book, Brain Rules for Baby.

Filed Under: Quotes & Notes, Reviews Tagged With: brain, children, educational, learning, rules

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