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The Human Brain is an incredibly complex machine, and it would take pages upon pages to detail all of the processes it performs. However, as students, there are certain things that you should know, as they might help you to understand how you learn new information:
An unofficial mapping
- There are three theories on the best way to teach people. What theory do you think your different teachers use?
- Behaviorism - All behaviors must be learned. Pavlov's dog is a good example of Behaviorism.
- Cognitivism - New information builds on old information, and shapes your view of the world.
- Humanism - People learn the best by setting their own goals
- A man named Howard Gardner believes in something called multiple intelligences, which basically means that people learn in certain types of ways. Understanding how you learn best can help you in school and for studying at home. The styles are:
- Linguistic - You learn best by speaking or writing, or with word puzzles.
- Logical - You are good with numbers and logic puzzles.
- Interpersonal - You like to mix with other people and learn in groups.
- Intrapersonal - You know a lot about yourself and how your strengths.
- Musical - You enjoy music and can recognize lots of different songs.
- Visual/Spatial - You're good at art and like learning at pictures to learn.
- Naturalistic - You like learning about plants and animals.
- Kinesthetic - You enjoy sports and moving around.
What kind of learner do you think you are? You can find more information and take an online quiz to see what kind of learner you are here. Mr. Baker's results are below!
- Scientists have recently discovered that your brain continues growing throughout puberty. In fact, there's an overproduction of grey matter (the part of your brain where most of the thinking takes place), which was thought to stop when you were 18 months old. Because of this, it's really important that you take care of your brain now.
- "Exercise" your brain: Just like muscles in your arms and legs, you need to train your brain to think better. The brain is hard-wired while you're a teenager, do you want it hard-wired for sports and math or for being lazy?
- During this period, there is also 'pruning' that happens in the brain. As Molly Edmonds notes in her article, your brain is a bit like an entertainment center with too many devices. To make things simpler, the brain removes unnecessary connections, the same way you'd remove an old VCR that nobody uses. This process helps you to think faster and more efficiently, which is a reason adults think differently than kids.
- Take care of yourself. Recent studies by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, teens that smoke or drink heavily are more likely to develop alcohol or other drug addictions later in life. Smoking behind the school may be cool now, but addictions are expensive and dangerous.
One more brain for those playing along at home.
- It's important to realize that people from different cultures consider intelligence differently. Some cultures value academic intelligence (book smarts) and some value practical knowledge (street smarts). Culture also plays a huge role in how you learn. Your culture is your experience, and if your culture does not have the things listed in a test question, you will not understand the question and do poorly on the test. That doesn't mean you're not intelligent, it just means that the test might not have been written for you. One of the hardest parts about writing tests is making sure that all of the students can understand and relate to the questions.
- For example, the teacher might have a question about pumpkin pie around Thanksgiving. If your family only eats sweet potato pie at Thanksgiving, the question doesn't have mean much to you, and you will have a harder time learning the material (Semel, 2012). Don't be afraid to tell your teachers that you don't understand the examples they're using!
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