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A New Window to View How Experiences Rewire the Brain   Howard Hughes Medical Institute
This is a report from Howard Hughes Medical Institute about how their researchers have developed and used sophisticated microscopy to view the brain in the process of learning and how the brain reorganizes in response to new experiences.

Mind/Brain Learning Principles    Renate Nummela Caine and Geoffrey Caine
Renate and Geoffrey Caine outline twelve principles that must be considered in the design of any learning program.

What is "The Art of Changing the Brain?"  James E. Zull
The art of learning is the arrangement of the right conditions and challenges in ways that engage the learner, students have the chance to use their whole brain. 

Response of the Brain to Enrichment    Marian Cleeves Diamond
Although the brain possesses a relatively constant macrostructural organization, the ever-changing cerebral cortex, with its complex microarchitecture of unknown potential, is powerfully shaped by experiences before birth, during youth and, in fact, throughout life.

The Significance of Enrichment    Marian Cleeves Diamond
Diamond describes the physiological changes in the brain in response to differences in environment.

Enrichment in Action    Marian Cleeves Diamond
Dr. Diamond shares information about her work in Cambodia that further strengthens her case for providing an enriching environment to stimulate brain growth.

What are the Determinants of Children's Academic Successes and Difficulties?    Marian Cleeves Diamond
How can parents and teachers provide conditions that will most effectively promote growth and change in our children's brains? How can parents help a child develop his or her full potential and set a pathway of lifelong learning? In this article, Marian Diamond, neuroanatomist describes ways in which parents and teachers should create a climate for enchanted minds to obtain information, stimulate imagination, develop an atmosphere to enhance motivation and creativity and experience the value of a work ethic.

Male and Female Brains   Marian Cleeves Diamond
Are there significant differences between the male and female brain?

Why Einstein's Brain?    Marian Cleeves Diamond
The excitement of discovery is infectious -- Marian Diamond describes how she came to be interested in studying the ratio of glial cells to neurons in Einstein's brain back in the early 1980s.

Successful Aging of the Healthy Brain    Marian Cleeves Diamond
Dr. Diamond shows us how to keep our brains active and healthy throughout our lifetime.

The Brain . . . Use It or Lose It    Marian Cleeves Diamond
No matter what form enrichment takes, it is the challenge to the nerve cells that is important. Data indicate that passive observation is not enough; one must interact with the environment.

My Search for Love and Wisdom in the Brain    Marian Cleeves Diamond
The force of basic human needs for love and wisdom can be examined in the parts and functions of the human brain.  Changes in emotions and environment are integrated into the physical structure of the brain, linking love and wisdom to experience and perception. 

Optimizing Memory in the Adult Brain for Effectiveness in a Multitasking Society    Donalee Markus
The author is a psychologist who has worked for many years with Dr. Reuven Feuerstein in his pioneering "teaching intelligence" program. She describes new skills she has developed for improving memory in the adult and senior years.

Questions to Neuroscientists from Educators    Dee Dickinson
Prepared for the Krasnough Institute, Johns Hopkins University

The USA Junior Chess Olympics Research: Developing Memory and Verbal Reasoning    Robert Ferguson, Ed. D.
The author supplies statistics to show the brain building benefits of chess.

Teaching Study Skills with Brain Science    Timmi Jo Forbes, et al.
The author uses neuroscience in the classroom so that special needs students can discover for themselves how they can learn.

Learning How To Use the Brain     Ronald Kotulak
The field of brain research has undergone a profound revolution now that new imaging tools allow scientists to see the brain at work. Science writer Ronald Kotulak outlines what we are learning about the brain and how we learn and asks why schools are not making better use of this information.

The Treasure at the Bottom of the Brain    Henrietta C. Leiner and Alan L. Leiner
New tools have allowed researchers to learn more about brain function. The cerebellum, underestimated for centuries, now seems to be the complex "computer" that helps the brain function efficiently and effectively.

Misunderstood Minds     Mel Levine
Struggling students are often misunderstood by the adult world. Dr. Levine created All Kinds of Minds to apply the latest neuro-developmental research to the understanding and management of differences in learning. The Institute provides families and teachers with a framework, a common language and tools to enable this large, needy and highly vulnerable segment of America’s schoolchildren to become more successful learners.

Questions and Answers About the Talaris Research Institute     John Medina
The scientific piece of the Talaris project and a description of its outreach component are explained.

Embryological Development of the Human Brain    Arnold B. Scheibel, MD
Dr. Scheibel tells the fascinating story of how the brain develops in human beings from conception to birth. He makes clear that this complex, rapidly developing process is affected continually by the environment in which it is taking place. What mothers eat, drink, and feel -- and the environments which they themselves experience--affect daily the neural development of their unborn child.

An Interview With Robert Sylwester
Dee Dickinson interviews Dr. Robert Sylwester from the University of Oregon, one of the foremost synthesizers of brain research applied to education, on how he came to be interested in brain theory.

The Downshifting Dilemma: A Commentary and Proposal    Robert Sylwester
Recent cognitive neuroscience developments are altering our understanding of a variety of brain systems and processes. The widely used metaphor of downshifting doesn't adequately communicate current understandings of how students respond to stressful situations. The new terms reflexive and reflective better describe our dual response system and its more complex function.

Unconscious Emotions, Conscious Feelings, and Curricular Challenges   Robert Sylwester
Emotions and their role in the classroom are discussed. 

Language Learning Impairment: Integrating Research and Remediation    Paula Tallal, Ph.D.
A computer game program called Fast ForWord™ has been shown to significantly improve the central auditory processing and speech and language skills of language learning impaired children. This novel remediation technique grew out of a collaboration between Dr. Paula Tallal and Dr. Michael Merzenich. Their research show that improvements are replicable and continue over time and are achieved in a relatively short, intensive program.

Fidalgo School in Anacortes,Washington: A Success Story    Chris Borgen
A description of a school curriculum based on recent brain research.

Applying Our Knowledge    Dee Dickinson
More on Fidalgo Elementary.

Recommended Reading

Bibliography

Brain-Based Learning and Research Bibliography   Steve Krasner

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking, editors

Education on the Edge of Possibility   Renate Nummela Caine and Geoffrey Caine

MindShifts: A Brain-Compatible Process for Professional Development and the Renewal of Education    Geoffrey Caine, Renate Nummela Caine, and Sam Crowell

Magic Trees of the Mind: How to Nurture Your Child's Intelligence, Creativity, and Healthy Emotions from Birth Through Adolescence    Marian Diamond and Janet L. Hopson

The Learners' Way: Brain-Based Learning in Action    Anne D. Forester and Margaret Reinhard

Begin With the Brain: Orchestrating the Learner-Centered Classroom    Martha Kaufeldt

Exceeding Expectations: A User's Guide to Implementing Brain Research in the Classroom    Susan J. Kovalik and Karen D. Olsen

A Celebration of Neurons: An Educator's Guide to the Human Brain    Robert Sylwester

A Biological Brain in a Cultural Classroom    Robert Sylwester

Brain Matters: Translating Research into Classroom Practice    Patricia Wolfe

Related links

Neuroscience for Kids
Created for students and teachers.

Neuroscience Coloring Book
Great for making diagrams, overhead projections, and just for finding out what things like the brain, Synapses and neurons look like.

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Last modified: July 11, 2010