1. Me and My Brain: How and Why We Learn Thursday 28 August, 2008

2. Ordered Sharing Did you ever learn anything that did not engage any of your senses? How?

3. Basic Brain Physiology Your brain is the most complex organ in your body. It is a bunch of nerves – What is a neuron? – What is the difference between an axon and a dendrite? – What is plasticity?

4. Testing our senses… What are your reactions to the following words? – Candy – Parents – Grades – Sports – Dances Why do we have reactions to these words? Inhibiting and Excitatory Neurons

5. How our senses work…

6. Being the brain… Each of you is going to set about a task! At each table are cards with the following parts of the brain: – The Pre-frontal Cortex – The Amygdale – Cerebellum – The Visual Cortex – The Hippocampus – The Frontal Lobe – Broca’s Area Split up into tables based on your brain part…

7. Find out about yourself… Each table will become a brain part. So, find out the following about yourselves: – What is your function? – What is your size? – What is your location? – What is interesting about you (something else of interest)? You have about 20 minutes…

8. Brainiac Social Now that you’ve learned something about each of these lovely parts of your brain, go out and meet someone else. In character, as your part of the brain, you have the next five minutes to get up and meet other parts of the brain. See if you can learn something else about each of these physiological parts or perhaps find your brain part’s better half.

9. Reflection How does the physiology of our brain determine how and why we learn? How can we use our knowledge of plasticity, neurons and various parts of the brain to learn more effectively?