THE HUMAN BRAIN

PART 1: PARTS OF THE HUMAN BRAIN

PARIETAL
LOBE

FRONTAL
LOBE

OCCIPITAL
LOBE

TEMPORAL
LOBE

BRAIN STEM

CEREBELLUM

FRONTAL LOBE
Higher order functions
Conscious thought
Critical thinking
Emotional response
Expressive language

SMELL PATHWAY

PARIETAL LOBE
Information processing
Pain sensation
Touch sensation
Speech
Face recognition

SOMATIC PATHWAY

TASTE PATHWAY

OCCIPITAL LOBE
Visual perception
Colour recognition
Depth perception
Motion detection
VISUAL PATHWAY

TEMPORAL LOBE
Auditory perception
Understanding spoken language
Memory acquisition and learning
Categorization of objects
AUDITORY PATHWAY

CEREBELLUM
Coordination of fine body movement
Balance and equilibrium
Memory for reflex muscle acts
Muscle tone

BRAIN STEM
Breathing, heart rate, swallowing
Autonomic nervous system (sweating, blood pressure, digestion,
temperature)
Alertness and sleep
Arousal
Startle response (reflexes to seeing and hearing)

PART 2: HOW THE MEMORY WORKS IN

LEARNING

Teaching grows
brain cells.

Why?

Because IQ isnt
fixed at birth.
Environmental
factors affect
intelligence and
brain development.

Physical changes in
brain also caused by
sensory input,
emotions, conscious
and unconscious
thoughts.

Thus, potential for

increased
knowledge, talent
and skills are
limitless.

High stress restricts brain processes

to survival state, higher thinking
process and emotional control
happen at the prefrontal cortex
(PFC).

The amygdala in the emotion

sensitive limbic system would not
allow information to pass into the
frontal lobe if it is in a state of high
metabolism/overactivity provoked
by anxiety.

Students do not have developed

reflection, judgement and
gratification delay to overcome the
lower brains strong influence
unlike adults.

Thus, when stress cuts out flow of

information to/from PFC students
actions become involuntary such as
when they act out or zone out.

Memory is constructed and stored by patterning.

The brain converts data from senses into learned
information in the hippocampus.
This encoding process requires activation of prior
knowledge with similar pattern.

This enables short-term memory to be created.

Pattern can be created through cross-curricular studies,
graphic organizers and spiralled curriculum.
Teachers who work to demonstrate patterns,
connections and relationship that exist between new
and old pattern will increase encoding probability.

Memory is sustained by use

Each time a student does an activity a certain number of neurons are activated.
The more times they repeat an action, the more dendrites grow and
interconnect.
This results in greater memory storage and recall efficiency.
Further promoted when new memories are connected to stored memories by
similarities.
Multisensory instruction, practice, and review promote memory storage in
multiple regions of the cortex, based on the type of sensory input by which they
were learned and practiced.
These are distant storage centers linked to each other such that triggering one
sensory memory activates the others.

THE FUTURE?

As the research continues it will be the obligation of those who

prepare our future teacher to ensure they understand and can apply
the best current and future teaching strategies.
This includes ensuring the teachers have the foundational
neuroscience knowledge to use the fruits of the expanding pool of
research to the betterment of all their own future students.

PART 3: HOW THE BRAIN WORKSAND HOW STUDENTS CAN RESPOND

Sensory information enters the brain

In a calm state, one can control what information
gets in/kept out of brain and control what
information reaches your PFC.

When your stress level is down and your interest

is high.

When you are anxious, sad, frustrated or bored.

Prefrontal cortex (thinking brain) makes up 17%

of brain, which can consciously process and
reflect on information.

The lower automatic brain (reactive brain) forms

83% of brain, which reacts to information
thought instinct rather than thinking.

Information is processed or remembered.

Ignore it, fight against it (act inappropriately) or

avoid it (daydream).

The first filter that

data passes upon
entering your
brain..the reticular
activating system.
If you fell
overwhelmed
your reactive
brain will take
over.

Located at brain
stem, it receives
info from sensory
nerves.

RAS

This is done by
focusing on the
sensory organ
most important at
the moment.

Successful learning
depends on keeping RAS
open to information you
want to enter to PFC.

What you can do

Keep yourself physically healthy and well rested.
Develop some control over your emotions.
Take a few minutes to think about what you are feeling.

The limbic system; your emotional core.

Information is sent here the sensory intake areas after passing RAS.

The amygdala channels information based on emotional state.

Fear, anxiety and boredom.

Causes amygdalas filter to take up more O2 and nutrients.

Brain enters survival mode blocking entry of new info into PFC.

What you can do

Take a moment to reflect instead of react when you face a problem.
Teachers can set up lessons to include fun activities to make the lesson
memorable.

The hippocampus is located next to the amygdala.

Here, your brain links new sensory input to both memories of your past and
knowledge already stored in your long-term memory.
This enables the creation of relational memories.
The PFC contains highly developed nerve communication networks that process
new information through what are called executive functions.
This include judgment, analysis, organizing, problem solving, planning, and
creativity.
When you are focused and in a positive emotional state, your executive
function has a higher chance to organize newly coded memories into longterm knowledge.

What you can do

Reviewing and practicing something youve learned helps.
Repeated stimulation; studying something many times over and over.

Messages connected to new

information travel from
neuron to neuron as tiny
electrical currents.

Like electricity, these

messages need wiring to
carry them.

But there are gaps, called

synapses, between the
branches that connect nerve
cells.

Why dopamine is important?

A boost in dopamine not only
increases your own sense of
pleasure, it also increases
other neurotransmitters, such
as acetylcholine, that
enhance alertness, memory,
and executive functions in
the PFC.

Your brain releases extra

dopamine when an
experience is enjoyable.

Chemical neurotransmitters
like dopamine carry electrical
messages across the gap from
one neuron to another.

What you can do

Interacting with friends, laughing, physical activity, listening to someone read
to you, and acting kindly increase dopamine levels.
Experiencing pride at accomplishing something is also correlated with higher
dopamine.

PART 4: BLOOMS TAXONOMY

Create

Evaluate

Analyze

Apply

Understand

Remember

KEYWORDS
AMYGDALA
DOPAMINE
EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS
LIMBIC SYSTEM
LONG TERM MEMORY
NEUROTRANSMITTERS
PREFRONTAL CORTEX (PFC)
RETICULAR ACTIVATING SYSYEM (RAS)

THE END