Questions Kids Ask About Their Brains

Great teachers will tell you that you can learn a lot about students from the questions they ask. This book shares 400 of the most important questions kids ask about their brains, along with answers that can be shared with students from ages 3 to 18. What hidden talents do I have? Where does our inner voice come from? How many things can we think of at the same time? Where does the brain keep memories? Why are some people more creative than others? Each of these questions tells teachers a little story about how their students think which can be used to inform classroom practice and improve learning outcomes. The book is grouped into two parts. Part I addresses how your brain makes you who you are (identity, structure, growth, function, emotions and feelings). Part II is about how to optimize its function (memory, attention, and executive functions; learning, excelling and roadblocks). Questions are followed by Big Ideas, which are key understandings of how the brain functions. Integrated throughout the book are more than 60 Implications For Teaching that spell out the usable knowledge from each section. Each chapter ends with a list of resources to reinforce the Big Ideas with students, and the closing chapter suggests specific activities to help students embrace this information for themselves. Whether you are a teacher, counselor, college student, parent, or kid, the information in this book will help you love and admire your own brain and feel empowered to improve it every day.

Book Features:

• A window into students’ thoughts and concerns about themselves as learners and beings in today’s complex world.
• A special chapter for classroom teachers with activities and guidance for integrating the information into P–12 lessons.
• Big Ideas for readers looking for solutions they can quickly implement in their classroom.
• Detailed answers, along with QR codes to the research articles behind them, for readers looking for more in-depth knowledge about learning and the brain.
• Insights from a year-long international study in 21 countries that asked kids what they wanted to know about their own brains.

Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, PhD, is an instructor at the Harvard University Extension School in a course called the Neuroscience of Learning: An Introduction to Mind, Brain, Health, and Education. She has taught at kindergarten through university levels, is the associate editor of the peer-reviewed journal Science of Learning, and is an international educational consultant. Her books include Bringing the Neuroscience of Learning to Online Teaching: An Educator’s Handbook and The New Science of Teaching and Learning.

“Children have so many questions, including about their minds and brains! Finally, here’s an accessible and practical book that helps provide answers for supporting their development and learning.”
—Paul Howard-Jones, professor of neuroscience and education, University of Bristol

“Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, in her book Questions Kids Ask About Their Brains, provides an invaluable, entertaining, and informative resource for students and teachers—in fact, for anyone—to learn about this magnificent organ we all carry with us 24/7. Our brain shapes who we are, and this book provides insight into how our brain operates, examining its functions related to emotions, memory, learning, personality, and learning difficulties. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in understanding the workings of the remarkable asset that is our brain.”
—Barbara Arrowsmith-Young, lecturer and author of The Woman Who Changed Her Brain

“In education, we often forget to ask the student end-users what they want to know and learn. Questions Kids Ask About Their Brains elevates the student voice with evidence that can help educators demystify how learning happens for our students. Once again, Tracey's work bridges the gap between research and practice. This book provides a new way to think and design instruction and the school experience for the academic, social, and emotional questions kids have about how their brains learn, work, change, and thrive.”
—Glenn Whitman, history teacher and co-author of Neuroteach: Brain Science and the Future of Education

Contents

Acknowledgments  ix

Preface  xi
Questions as a Gateway to the Mind  xi
How to Read This Book  xii

1.   The Pedagogy of Listening  1
A New “Theory of Brain” to Complement “Theory of Mind”?  3
Where the Questions Come From  4

2.  Life Changes the Learning Brain  6
What You Know Influences What You Can Know  7
Educators, Mind, and Brain  10

3.  Identity: Who Am I?  12
Similarities and Differences  12
Nature via Nurture Plus Free Will  15
Perception  26
Self-Awareness  28
Summary  34
Resources to Extend Learning  35

4.  Structure: What Is the Physical Structure of the Brain?  36
Color and Texture  37
Weight and Size  38
Divisions of the Brain  42
Hemispheres and Laterality  53
Neurons and Synapses  58
Blood and Nerves  63
Summary  66
Resources to Extend Learning  66

5.  Growth: How Does the Brain Develop?  67
Babies’ Brains  67
Children’s Brains  72
Adolescent Brains  77
Adult Brains  82
Old Age  83
Brain Death  87
Afterlife  90
Summary  91
Resources to Extend Learning  92

6.  Function: How Does the Brain Work and Stay Healthy?  93
Brain–Body Connection  93
Control and Choice  94
Sleep and Dreaming  98
Nutrition  114
Physical Activity  119
Summary  122
Resources to Extend Learning  122

7.  Emotions and Feelings: What Does My Brain Have to Do With My Feelings?  123
Emotional Processing  123
Emotional Triggers  131
Emotional Load  136
Relationships  141
Negative Emotions  144
Positive Emotions  153
Motivation, Boredom, and Procrastination  158
Summary  166
Resources to Extend Learning  167

8.  Memory, Attention, and Executive Functions: What Are the Building Blocks of All Learning?  168
Memory  169
Attention  186
Executive Functions  194
Summary  202
Resources to Extend Learning  203

9.  Learning: How Does Stuff Get Into Our Brains So We Can Use It in the Future?  204
Processing  204
Connectivity  206
Cognitive Load  210
Maximum Potential  213
Innate Intelligence  214
Best Learning  218
Speed and Range  219
Genius, Gifted, and Talented  222
Creativity and Imagination  224
Problem-Solving  226
Training and Studying  228
Summary  232
Resources to Extend Learning  232

10.  Problems That Impede Learning: Why Are There Brains That Work a Little Bit Differently?  233
Dyslexia  234
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)  236
Executive Dysfunction  241
Headaches, Brain Damage  241
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)  245
Addiction  246
Psychopaths  248
Brain Health  250
Summary  251
Resources to Extend Learning  253

11.  Final Thoughts  254

References  257

Index  259

About the Author  271

Questions Kids Ask Their Brains contains scannable QR codes to over 30 supplemental online resources, including short features on technical topics, additional questions and answers, lists of user-friendly resources (books, articles, audiobooks, podcasts, videos, games), and an index of the questions answered in the book, as well as a listing of all references cited in the book. Click here to view a document that collects all the individual online resources in one file.