THINKING ABOUT THE THINKING BRAIN Lesson 2

THE BRAIN Here is a drawing of a human brain. Notice that there is a left side and a right side of the brain, and notice all of the folds that we mentioned in our first lesson that serve to increase surface area. PAUSE (demonstrate with sheet of newspaper - crumple up to small ball size of fist) Now let’s drill down deeper and take a peek inside your brain.

A DENSE NETWORK OF BRAIN CELLS The brain, when you look down inside, is actually a dense network of neurons, or brain cells, that are connected. Did you hear me say the scientific name for a brain cell? Who heard me and knows the term for a brain cell? (Neuron) There are about 85 billion brain cells or neurons in the average human brain. Who can go to the board and write the number 85 billion? PAUSE (85,000,000,000) That is correct, 9 zeros makes for a very LARGE number. Now let’s go even further into the brain to look at just one brain cell, or neuron.

axon transmitters (axon terminals) PARTS OF A NEURON dendrites cell body (soma) This is a diagram of one brain cell, a neuron, with its parts labeled. There are several important parts. First, the cell body or Soma is in the upper left. That’s the center of the cell that houses the genetic material. The cell receives messages through the dendrites, The tentacle-like structures that reach out to receive chemical signals from other brain cells. Just like you send a signal of readiness when you reach out your hands to someone else to receive a tossed ball, the brain cells have their arms reaching out to receive the chemical signals. These dendrites change chemical signals to electrical ones to send information to the cell body or soma, which then puts out its own signal along its long cable, called the axon. The axon carries the electrical message from the soma out to its axon transmitters or axon terminals, located at the end of the axon in the space between neurons. axon transmitters (axon terminals) axon

NEURON (Brain Cell) VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/w atch?v=6qS83wD29PY Now we are going to watch a video about how thinking takes place. You should recognized most of the brain terminology used in this video and hopefully are beginning to better understand about how your brain thinks.

axon transmitters (axon terminals) PARTS OF A NEURON dendrites cell body (soma) Now let’s see if you can remember the names of the parts of a brain cell. The cell receives messages through these tentacle-like structures that reach out to receive chemical signals from other brain cells. (dendrites) Chemical signals are received from other brain cells by the dendrites, which change the message to an electrical signal that is sent to the center of the cell that houses the genetic material. (cell body or soma) The soma then sends an electrical signal along its long cable, which is called what? (axon) The axon sends that electrical signal out to the end of the axon where these structures, (axon transmitters) release a chemical into the space between the cells. axon transmitters (axon terminals) axon

SYNAPSE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhowH0kb7n0 Synapse = connecting space between neurons Chemicals carry the signal across the space. The synapse is the connecting space between neurons. It is very small - less than 40 nanometers in width. A human hair is huge by comparison at 75,0000 nanometers! The synapse is where the chemical impulse is transmitted from one neuron (brain cell) to the next. Now we are going to watch a video about how this transmission happens between brain cells. SHOW VIDEO The axon transmitter changes the electrical signal to a chemical one that crosses the synaptic space to the dendrites of the next cell. That cell picks up the signal and converts it to an electrical message which it sends back to its own cell body. When you think thoughts, this process repeats itself over and over— electrical to chemical to electrical signals - traveling through your brain from one cell to another. Now that you can see how the process works, you may be wondering what this has to do with how the brain learns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhowH0kb7n0

HOW THOUGHTS ARE TRANSMITTED As I mentioned earlier, the neurons in your brain are connected in a dense network, like a web, and these brain cells communicate with each other by passing signals. Each neuron is connected to anywhere from one and one thousand other cells. Overall in your brain, there are over one trillion connections. Who can go to the board and write the number 1 trillion right below the 85 billion? PAUSE (1,000,000,000,000) That is correct, 12 zeros makes for an even LARGER number than we had before. When you have a thought, it sends a signal from one set of neurons to another. Then your brain turns the signals into thoughts or actions, and this is how your brain thinks. These messages can travel as fast as 1000 feet per second, or 680 miles an hour, the speed of a fast jet plane. Your brain is the most complex 3-pound mass in the known universe! Now, how cool is that?

BRAIN THINKING BALL TOSS Toss a ball to one person in the group, who then throws it to another person in the group who is not next to him/her. Continue to pass the ball from one person to another until everyone has had a turn. Make sure you remember the order in which you passed the ball. Raise your hands the moment the ball has passed through everyone. Record your time for completion of 1st round: The Challenge: Pass the ball around again in the same order and try to do it faster than the 1st time. Time for completion of 2nd round: ? Time for completion of 3rd round: ? Let’s play a ball toss game, to show how cells make connections with each other for thinking and learning. (Read 1st 3 prompts and play the first round of the game) PAUSE OK, now let’s do it again throwing the ball in the same order to the same person you threw it to last time, but try to get a faster time. Ready, Go! PAUSE Now try it again for a third round. PAUSE What happened?  Each time you practiced, using the same pattern, you were probably able to go faster. This is exactly what your brain does to learn. The more you try, practice, and study, the more your brain uses the cell connections, thinking speeds up, you learn more, and in the end become smarter. Now that you know how your brain learns, you can use your grit to keep trying even when the learning gets difficult, and with a growth mindset you know that you can learn anything! In our next lesson on Thinking About The Thinking Brain we will learn how you can help your brain function better.

REFERENCES King, R., & King, D. (2011). Step-It-Up-2-Thrive. Thrive Foundation for Youth, Menlo Park, CA. 2-Minute Neuroscience (2014, July 22). The neuron. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUgZq9PkDp1xaEivtcfJPSg 2-Minute Neuroscience (2014, July 22). Synaptic Transmission. Retrieved from References