I had the pleasure of sitting through a lecture about brain strengthening. I learned that a lot of what I held in certainty is wrong. As it turns out, multi tasking actually hurts the brain. Furthermore, the overthinking has the same effect–as does wrote mechanics. The way to innovate and grow the brain is to innovate and to critically think. The brain is naturally curious and wants to work. This is as important in the boardroom as it is in the classroom as it is in the bedroom.
I’ve always been the victim of lengthy meetings. Classical thinking says the team meeting is a place where people are supposed to get things out in the open, feeling free to think through their problems. What if this thinking is dead wrong? The speaker, Dr. Sandra Chapman (Make Your Brain Smarter), made the suggestion that we should liit meetings to 30 minutes. Tell each person who must speak that they need to limit comments to 5 sentences. In other words, come to the table having thought about and engaged the brain to consider the comments. This will limit time and empower the meeting goers greatly.
Dr. Chapman suggested, ‘The brain is quickly jaded by routine, but it thrives when facing challenges.’ We also know that learning and discovering meaning is a constructive process. When peole are engaged actively in the process then the process is more likely to yield results. So, what does this mean for the classroom? Incentivize transformative thinking: Reflect, Rework, Revisit, Reinvent — come up with something innovative and reward people for that.
I want to suggest Dr. Chapman’s website: Brainhealthdaily.com This is an excellent way to connect to the conversation about the brai and about learning. We discover more about the inner-workings of the brain everyday, which means it is important to learn about the brain constantly.