Teaching with the brain in mind

Meet your amazing brain. Basic brain anatomy ; How the brain changes over time ; Cooperation and competition in the brain ; How the brain learns

Preparing the brain for school. What to do to get a child's brain ready for school ; Sensitive periods in brain development ; Developing social and emotional skills ; The importance of nutrition ; The dynamic teenage brain

Rules we learn by. How to increase student engagement ; Variations on repetition ; The importance of prior knowledge and mental models ; Ways to take advantage of the body's natural rhythms ; The role of hormones ; Trial-and-error learning ; How positive and negative emotions affect the brain

Movement and learning. The mind-body link ; How exercise affects cognition ; The importance of play, recess, and physical education

Emotional states. Why emotions are now "mainstream" ; How emotions are processed in the brain ; The power of emotional states ; How to influence emotional states

Physical environments for learning. Neuroscience's new interest in physical environments ; How seating, temperature, lighting, noise, and building design affect learning ; Factors to consider when designing smarter schools

Managing the social brain. How social interaction affects the brain and cognition ; The effect of stress, bonding, bias, and peer pressure ; How to make school a more positive social experience

Motivation and engagement. Common causes of demotivation ; The brain's reaction to rewards ; The nature of intrinsic motivation ; Tools for motivation ; The SuperCamp model

Critical thinking skills. How gender, culture, disorders, and life experience shape a unique brain ; How the brain tackles problem solving ; How the brain's maturation process affects learning ; How the brain adapts to changing circumstances

Memory and recall. Links between memory and survival ; How the brain encodes and maintains memory ; The different kinds of memory ; Ways to enhance memory retrieval

Brain-based teaching. What to do before, during, and after teaching to take full advantage of what we know about the brain and learning

Schools with the brain in mind. Connecting brain research to curriculum, assessment, and staff development ; Supporting good instruction and good instructors ; Effecting change with the brain in mind.

The new winds of change. Background and theory update on brain research, the state and direction of research today. Tools for learning about the brain. How to interpret the new brain research

The learning brain. Brain basics; the size, content, lobes, and basic operations. Key vocabulary. What is built in and what's not? How we actually learn and remember

Getting ready to learn. The developing brain. Getting students ready for school. Emotional readiness. Motor skill readiness. The role of threat, sleep, and nutrition. How we can influence parents

Enriched environments and the brain. How enrichment affects the brain. Two conditions for enrichment : challenge and feedback. The role of language, motor activity, music, and the arts. What really builds better brains

Getting the brain's attention. The biology of attention. Getting attention but not keeping it. The brain's high and low attention cycles. An ADD/ADHD update. Implications for classroom discipline

How stress and threat affect learning. What is stressful to the brain? How does stress affect students? How threats affect learning. What is learned helplessness? Reducing the impact of stress and threat

Motivation and Rewards. What's the new research on motivation? What causes temporary demotivation? What does brain research tell us about rewards? How can we boost intrinsic motivation

Emotions and Learning. The role of emotions in the thinking and learning process. Why use the more emotionally laced learning. Emotions vs. feelings differences. Specific strategies for emotional engagement

Movement and Learning. The mind-body link. What does research say about the links between movement and cognition? Physical states; how does our body actually learn? The specific roles for movement, arts, and P.E. Why movement makes sense

The Brain as a Meaning-Maker. The natural mechanisms of making meaning. Three ingredients for optimal learning. How to encourage these ingredients

Memory and Recall. Why don't students remember more? Exploding the memory myths. How to use the brain's best systems for retrieval. Making learning last.