The Teenage Brain and Lesson
Planning
The human brain doesn't stop
developing until at least 25 years of age. In addition, the brain is an organ
with a great deal of plasticity, meaning that the brain is constantly
restructuring itself in response to various stimuli in the environment. Stimuli
can vary widely and include: exercise, stress-levels, sleep, mood, hormones,
and, yes, school. Teens have a reputation for impulsive behavior, taking risks,
testing authority, extreme self-consciousness (at the expense of being open to
other perspectives), and a persistant to drive to seek independence. Unlike the
adult brain, the prefrontal cortex of the teenage brain is still developing. Since
this region of the brain is resposnible for decision-making, inhibition of
risky behavior, and appropriate social interaction, this may explain, in part,
the strong drive for teenagers to engage in these behaviors.
As a teacher, I can help shape the brains
of my students by modeling and explicitly teaching how to collaborate in groups
and form a class community. Not only will this help students develop
socialization skills, but it will establish a warm and supportive class
community where every student feels respected and valued. The brain learns best
in a low-stress environment in order to support students as they take risks,
make mistakes, and learn from their mistakes. I can present different
perspectives to my students from the content, from my past experiences as a
scientist, and from the students. I can also design my lesson plans to fun,
interesting and focused on the students. I want the students to have ownership
in what they do to teach them how to be independent and how to handle
responsibility. Having ownership in what students learn by giving them choices
in topics they learn about, assignment due dates, or test formats empowers the
student to have control over their learning. The lessons will be structured
around hands-on activities in groups. Students enjoy socializing and can group
activities can help develop productive cooperativity and communication. In
addition, students learn best by doing something your hands. I learned science
the best when I was in the lab doing experiments. I want to duplicate this
experience for my students.
Engage the Students, Activate the
Learning
With everything in mind about the
teenage brain, one important goal I have as a teacher is to strengthen neuronal
connections to help commit new content to long-term memory storage. This in
mind, my lessons must first captivate the interest of my students and their
teenage brains. I begin with an anticipitary set to connect student background
to the new content. I also begin with a brief review of the previous lesson, helping
students understand the connections between different lessons. For my lesson on
photosynthesis and cell respiration, we will review the concept of energy and
ATP from the lesson before. Then, we will watch a short, 2:00 video about the
ocean, phytoplankton, and photosynthesis, followed by a discussion of how
phytoplankton supplies the oxygen for every other breath we breathe.
Accessing Memory Lanes and Lesson
Planning
We are more likely to remember something if we've seen it in
several different ways. This builds connections between neurons, providing the
brain with multiple pathways to access the same memory. During adolescence, the
brain undergoes remodeling, decreasing the amount of gray matter, where neurons
and synapses (the spaces between neurons) are housed. Scientists believe this
is because weak neuronal connections are pruned, while strong neuronal
connections are strengthened, similar to defragging your computer or organizing
your filing cabinet. As a teacher, I need to teach the content in short chunks
and in a variety of ways in order to increase the likelihood that students will
remember it. Most importantly, I need to help students understand how the content
I’m teaching in the classroom is relevant to them in real-life. In addition,
graphic organizers, music, movement, teacher enthusiasm, humor, music, and
games are all techniques I plan on using in order to activate several different
areas of my students’ brains to help them remember how photosynthesis and cell
respiration are similar and how they are different. Specifically, having
students construct posters in groups that compare and contrast photosynthesis
and cell respiration would be an activity that would include many of the ideas
listed above.
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