Neuroplasticity - just for fun

The Plastic Brain: The Brain That Changed

The Feed SBS

The Brave Project

Relevance: Neuroplasticity is a field that we will be hearing a lot more about in the coming years. What is it? It is the idea that the brain can reorder and reorganize itself throughout our lifetime by the formation of new neural connections. It is the ability of the brain to expand its possibilities and connections through new experiences.

In the film link above, you will meet Andy, a young man with cerebral palsy, and Lee, his 'trainer'. When we first meet Andy, we see the difficulty he has with walking. Through Lee's physical training, we see the results of neuroplastic training through the encountering of new experiences. In Andy's story, we see how his brain has reordered itself, creating new neural connections, allowing Andy to walk with less difficulty, albeit not with a normed gait.

I find this such a fascinating field of science. I hope you enjoy this film as much as I did.

A Research-Based Case for Recess

A Research-Based Case for Recess
By Olga S. Jarrett
US Play Coalition
Link Here

  This article talks about how important it is for students to get to go to recess everyday because it is often the only time that students are allowed to play in an unstructured environment. It also said that students are learning important skills at recess like  social skills, sharing, and decision making. When students are allowed to make up their own games during recess they learn respect for the rules, self discipline, control of aggression, problem solving and planning strategies.
  It was difficult for the researcher to compare data because there were so many variables between schools such as socioeconomic status and race. In some studies there were schools that had children performing better on literacy tasks after they have had recess and children tend to raise their hands more often after recess.
  This is important for educators to keep in mind because sometimes taking away recess is used as a form of punishment for a range of misbehaviors from talking too much in class to not finishing their work during class time.