Brain Awareness Week

MARCH 20th  

Mary Turos’s Take on Neuroscience:
“As neuroscientists learn more about the developing brain and what stimulates neural connections, it becomes more and more necessary to weed through the information to find methods to apply to the current “one size fits all” mentality.”  Traditional education continues to root itself in philosophy, rather than what science tells us about the brain.  As teachers struggle to find ways to motivate learners every day,  it seems logical to look to brain research to bridge the gap between science and education.

Neuroscience has given us interesting information about the brain's development and function. Scientists now seem to agree that learning should be a lifelong process.”

Thank you for being a part of Baltimore’s Brain Awareness Week! 
If you found this week’s brain bytes informative and interesting, consider adding yourself to Confident Student’s newsletter email list and receive more of the same each month.  And look for announcements for next year’s Brain Awareness Week activities! 

With more brain awareness activities -- and a growing respect for brain-based learning, living and treatment -- we can improve our world, one mind at a time.    

BRAIN BYTE:  Did you know?
The brain is actually incapable of “multi-tasking.”
It may surprise you to learn that something so many brag about today is, in fact, a fallacy.  A series of studies in recent years has used brain imaging to understand how the brain handles discrete tasks that are performed simultaneously.  The results suggest that multitasking has a cost in terms of efficiency, learning, and neural activity devoted to each task.  In fact, studies reveal that the brain’s executive control center in the frontal lobes is incapable of processing two decision-making operations at once, effectively creating a bottleneck in information process that delays the execution of the second task until the first one is complete.

NEED MORE NEUROSCIENCE?
Webcast:  Speaking of Science: The Teen Brain – Jay N. Giedd (May, 2008)
http://www.dana.org/events
Jay N. Giedd, M.D., National Institute of Mental Health, discusses The Teen Brain at the Dana Center. Other panelists were Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University, and Stephen A. Maistro, Ph.D., Syracuse University. The Teen Brain is part of the Speaking of Science Series, co-sponsored by the Dana Foundation and Syracuse University.

Jay Giedd is a neuroscientist at the National Institute of Mental Health. He spearheaded research showing for the first time that there is a wave of growth and change in the adolescent brain. He believes that what teens do during their adolescent years -- whether it's playing sports or playing video games -- can affect how their brains develop.  “It's a time of enormous opportunity and of enormous risk. And how the teens spend their time seems to be particularly crucial. If the "Lose it or use it" principle holds true, then the activities of the teen may help guide the hard-wiring, actual physical connections in their brain. ...”

NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS
Morphonix
http://morphonix.com
Mophonix is an award-winning developer of immersive learning games that make the complex concepts of brain science fund and comprehensive to children and teens.
Explore the nanotravel adventure specifically designed for ages 7 – 11.  Or play a secret agent infiltrating a top-secret neuroscience research facility.

Neurokids
http://neurokids.org
NeuroKids is an awesome website for kids -- by kids -- who love playing games, doing activities, and exploring the world right inside them.  At NeuroKids, go on exciting field trips and meet famous neuroscientists and authors.  Read Shennendoah’s & Bo Erik’s Blogs, check out letters written to them by neuroscientists, and all the other cool things these two kids are up to in their quest to help teach other kids about neuroscience. 

Silver Ribbons…  

• Show you care about someone with a brain disorder or disability.
• Help break down the barriers to treatment and support.
• Help eliminate the stigma against those who suffer.
• Show you believe there is HOPE through education and research.