The Inseparable Bodybrain Partnership: Emotions & Movement
EMOTION
The gatekeeper to learning & performance. Most of the brain systems participate in emotion & its connection to cognition.
MOVEMENT
The mobility of the body grows the brain & the motion centers in the brain are responsible for sequencing thought
Emotion as Gatekeeper to Learning & Performance
Boys focus on movement while girls focus on the question of "What is it?"
A Word About Movement & Gender Differences
Movement To Enhance Learning
What Brain Research is Telling Us
Aerobic exercise triggers brain chemicals essential for forming new memories & wiring learning into long term memory
Years of Research
Emotions filter incoming sensory input, regulating what the cerebral reflex attends to, processes, & stores in long term memory
Emotions are processed throughout the entire brain and ALL of its structures
How Emotion Affects Learning
The thalamus receives, sorts, & forwards almost all input from the sensory organs.
The cingulate gyrus in the brain reviews incoming sensory data from the 19+ senses & determines whether the data has emotional significance
The prefrontal cortex analyzes possible choices & makes the decision as to the best action for the body-brain to take
The amygdala receives information from the thalamus and then send signals to the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus release chemicals that prepare the body for flight, fight, or freeze.
The hippocampus is responsible for helping form and find long term memories
The prefrontal cortex is in charge of the brain; it coordinates and integrates almost all of the brains basic brain functions.
Emotions in the Classroom
Emotion drives attention.
The prefrontal cortex becomes particularly active during emotional experiences
Study trips & being there experiences in education allows students to take in sensory data. The brain is always scanning the environment for sensory data.
The reticular activating system (made up of the brainstem, thalamus, & sensory cortex) filters the amount of sensory input that make it to the cortex.
Teachers should greet all of their students at the door to test their "emotional temperature"
Teachers should provide curriculum that students can experience both emotionally & cognitively. This type of curriculum encourages involvement of the prefrontal cortex & helps it to determine what should be moves to long-term storage.
Collaborative learning, simulations, music, & drama enable students to more actively engage their brains.
Students should be taught to practice dep breathing and different movement activities to cope with testing anxiety.
Information Substances: The Rest of the Story
We cannot separate emotion from cognition or cognition from the body.
Emotion drives attention & attention drives learning, memory, and problem solving
Virtually all locations where info from the 5 senses enter the nervous system, there are high concentrations of neuropeptide receptors; peptides filter the input of our experiences.
Some neuroscientists speculate that less than 2% of neural communication actually occurs at the synapse
The aspects of absence of threat & the sense of community are essential for a classroom in order to have an effective learning environment for students.
The body and brain have an inseparable learning partnership.
A Word About Emotions & Gender Differences
Girls are more likely than boys to do their homework, even if the assignment doesn't interest them
Boys are less likely to affiliate with adult goals & aims than girls
Stress improves learning for males but impairs learning for females
Unlike women, the pair of the brain where emotions happen isn't well connected to the part of the brain where verbal processing & speech occur
The eye structure of boys is geared to motion is
Assigning seat-work to male students is the opposite of an effective learning environment for boys
Action replaces language for boys in many ways
The needed curriculum and instructional fixes for boys (such as aerobic exercise) also improve the learning environment for girls
Movement is fundamental to the very existence of a brain
The entire front half of the brain is devoted to organizing action, with the frontal cortex learning, routinizing, and processing motor and mental functions in parallel
Movement is crucial to every brain function (memory, emotion, language, learning)
The ability to mimic (which is a significant tool on learning) is movement based
