Making Connections/ Neuroscience

I've been reading a lot lately about neuroscience and how the brain works. It's interesting how we store information. We talked at our iTunes conference about one of the Magnificent Seven strategies, "making connections", but I didn't expect to read about it in another journal article. While I was searching for a reading selection to use for our staff development, I found an article which discusses "making connections" in depth, and how you brain stores new information alongside of things you already knwo about. It creates neuropathways linking now info to old info. The brain is fascinating to me.

I am also a track coach, and I am always reading books about current training methods. I started reading a book called "Brain Training for Runners" by Matt Fitzgerald in August. It's pretty heavy reading so it has taken me awhile to get through, but I found a few bits of info we can take to the classroom:

First, I read about a study that was done which showed that people actually remember things better when they are moving, i.e. the concept of "muscle memory". The book mentioned how football players may be unable to remember simple facts in the classroom, but they are able to remember hundreds of complex plays because they are moving while learning them. The same is true for the dozens of form drills that track athletes do every day. You can apply this to the classroom by incorporating movement into your lessons.

The second thing I thought might be useful for students is a study that was done at Harvard. There were two groups performing a typing test 12 hours apart. The first group took the first test at 10am, practiced during the day, and then took the final test at 10pm. The second group took their first test at 10pm, slept 8 hours, and then took the final test at 10am with NO practice. Guess which group performeed better?

The first group improved 5%, while the second group improved 20%! The study talks more in depth about how your brain actually "practices" tasks while you sleep. So tell your students to quit pulling all-nighters and catch some Z's!