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Neuroscience & the Classroom: Making Connections

Professional Development > Neuroscience & the Classroom: Making Connections > 1. Different Brains > 1.6 Brooke’s story

Education

K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, College/Adult

Brooke’s story

Brooke Smith, who has only the right hemisphere of his brain, compensates for his differences in surprising ways.

At the age of 11, Brooke Smith had the left side of his brain removed. The left hemisphere of the brain is generally considered the locus of detailed, procedural tasks, such as language and reading. Brooke’s story brings up many questions, among them, how did he regain his speech so effectively, and why is he now able to read? The answers have to do with the plasticity of the brain and to something less tangible: the brain’s response to a positive, dedicated support system that never gave up on Brooke.

Series Directory

Neuroscience & the Classroom: Making Connections

Credits

Produced by Science Media Group at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in association with the Mind, Brain, and Education program at the Harvard GSE; and the Brain and Creativity Institute and Rossier SOE at the University of Southern California. 2012.
  • Closed Captioning
  • ISBN: 1-57680-894-7

Sections

1.1 A Brief History of Neuroscience

Antonio Damasio, Kurt Fischer, Abigail Baird, and John Gabrieli take us on a brief historical journey from phrenology to Phineas Gage to the more complex neuron theory that has been derived from observing the living brain in action.

1.2 Tools of Neuroscience: EEG

Electroencephalography — How do we study the brain in real time?

1.3 Tools of Neuroscience: MRI/fMRI

Magnetic Resonance Imaging — Seeing inside the living brain.

1.4 Reading a Word

As we read a word, MEG (Magnetoencephalography) reveals a complex chain of events across many parts of the brain.

1.5 Tools of Neuroscience: MEG

Magnetoencephalography — A new method of functional brain imaging with high resolution in both time and location.

1.6 Brooke’s story

Brooke Smith, who has only the right hemisphere of his brain, compensates for his differences in surprising ways.

1.7 Nico’s story

Nico Sainz-Trápaga, who has only the left hemisphere of his brain, has also compensated for his differences and is active in art and fencing.

1.8 A Tale of Two Cases: Brooke and Nico

As children, Nico and Brooke demonstrated the plasticity of the brain in the ways they process verbal language and intonation.

Course Guide: Unit 1: Different brains

Course Guide

Units

Unit 0 Introduction: The Art and Science of Teaching

The introduction lays out the goals of the course, defines a partnership between teachers and scientists, and suggests a method that teachers can use to apply research to classroom challenges.

unit 1 Different Brains

We all have different brains, different profiles of cognitive strengths and weaknesses that affect how we perceive and solve problems. Two dramatic success stories of boys missing half their brain provide insight into how all of us learn and suggest new ways to think about teaching.

unit 2 The Unity of Emotion, Thinking, and Learning

Emotion, thinking and learning are inseparable. Emotion is the rudder for thought and the key to memory. This unit explores the purposes of emotions by answering the questions, what is emotion, and why do we have it? The unit provides insight into motivation and the role of intuition in problem-solving.

unit 3 Seeing Others from the Self

We understand the goals of others by simulating their actions on our own neural systems. This unit looks at mirror neurons, empathy, and the social nature of learning. It also discusses the need to align teacher and student goals in the classroom and the importance of reflection, or inner-directed attention, in developing meaning and motivation.

unit 4 Different Learners, Different Minds

This unit challenges us to reconsider labels like "normal" and "disabled" by looking at the important connection between individual strengths and weaknesses and the context in which we must solve problems. Weakness in one context can be strength in another.

unit 5 Building New Neural Networks

Building new understandings or skills means building and rebuilding new neural networks. How that process occurs is the focus of this unit, which emphasizes the crucial link between performance and context and suggests that the traditional notion of learning as a linear development of isolated skills is misleading.

unit 6 Implications For Schools

This unit examines what some teachers have done to transform research principles into specific lessons and practices to improve student learning. Rather than suggesting that these illustrations are universally applicable to any school, the unit challenges educators to experiment by creating answers to their own questions.

unit 7 Conclusion: A Community of Educators

This unit discusses the Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) movement that brings researchers and educators together so that research informs education and so that teachers' actual experiences in classrooms inform research. It explores the attitudes and conditions that create productive partnerships for meaningful change to occur.

Complete Course Guide Neuroscience & the Classroom: Making Connections

Complete Course Guide

Course Overview Neuroscience & the Classroom: Making Connections

Course Overview

Join us for conversations that inspire, recognize, and encourage innovation and best practices in the education profession.

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