I love learning how the brain works.
I think it’s cool that when we learn
about how the brain works,
we’re actually using the brain
to learn about the brain.

Did you know that memories
are not stored intact, in one place?
They’re dismantled and stored
in the various sensory locations.
Then, when one of those
aspects is triggered,
the various other sensory memories
are teased and the memory emerges
wholly formed.
That’s why when we hear a song on the radio,
it can trigger strong memories.
Or why when I wake to the smell of coffee,
I’m instantly transported to my grandma’s house.

The implications are great.
It’s the very basis of multisensory,
hands-on learning,
which is at the core of my
constructivist educational philosophy.
So much of traditional education is based
on the lecture/note taking format.
Students “sit and get” or do a worksheet.
But they don’t learn this way.
They have to interact with the material
in order to construct their meaning.
And when they use multiple senses,
the brain stores the memories in more locations,
making it easier to retrieve the information
when needed.

Costa and Kollick’s Habits of Mind
also teach us about the brain.
These are the 16 learning dispositions
that make for successful people of all ages.
One of my favorites is metacognition.
When we think deeply about our thinking,
we are much more reflective.
We have to question, ponder, ruminate,
connect, infer, wonder.
Metacognition moves us higher
on the Bloom’s taxonomy of higher-level thinking,
from merely remembering to understanding,
applying, analyzing, evaluating and even creating.
It is in thinking about our thinking
that the growth lies.

We even have the power to
change our thinking and
even to change our brains.
Instead of letting our thinking run
full course when we face uncomfortable situations,
the book Efficacy Therapy challenges us to
stop, relax and regroup.
It’s a healthy reminder that we can,
in fact, change the way our brains work.
Our brain is an organ,
is alive and
we have the power to train it in
whatever direction we want.

Why not go somewhere positive?
Like something as substantial as
learning a musical instrument,
or something a bit lighter,
like maybe a new card game?
Then, we can
ponder, reflect, wonder and …
tackle the big stuff, like
effective problem solving.
Prodigious.