1. Brain Basics 101

2. Reptilian Brain: The “Preverbal Brain” Brain Stem Oldest and smallest region Controls life itself Governs basic, but critical survival needs Heart actions Digestion Circulation Breathing Deeply instinctual and ritualistic Executes the flight, fight, or freeze response
Oxygen to the brain and body is the primary function
of the reptilian system.

4. The Limbic Brain: the "Emotional" Brain
Common to all mammals
Brain's emotion factory
Activated by imagery, music
and colors
Stores all memory information
Retention of information can be significantly increased when it's presented in an emotionally charged context!

6. The Neocortex Brain: the "Thinking" Brain
Constitutes five-sixths of the total brain mass
Controls such high-level processes
Logic
Creative thought
Language
Abstractions
Planning
Integration of sensory information
Slower under pressure
This is the “motherlode”

8. So…
...who cares?

9. The Triune Brain Theory and Education
Traditional education was designed for Neocortex functions
This misses a basic brain fact:
Reptilian brain is an interconnected pathway to the Limbic brain which is an interconnected pathway to the Neocortex
Brain-based learning experiences pay attention to the power of the whole brain by simultaneously:
Responding to the learner's physical and sensory needs
Creating activities that link emotions to the acquisition of new
information
Designing curriculum that requires students to form their own
knowledge/meaning

11. Check-In

12. Check-in
Tell somebody next to you two things you have learned thus far that you didn’t already know.

13. The Brain as a Computer
The brain, when it is operating with healthy reptilian and limbic centers, can focus on new information for an average of minutes. Like a computer, during that time, it “gathers information” on the “desktop” of short-term memory.
After minutes, the brain needs “downtime” to “organize” the new information it has received into “file folders” that make sense to the receiver based upon previous experiences and perceptions of reality.
This means that you need to get up and moving every minutes when studying and learning.