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 Week Two

In the second week of the Institute, I feel like our understanding of the brain and education has improved quite a bit, that people are starting to open up bit by bit. That is, not just revealing more about themselves, but perhaps letting go of some of their hardened preconceptions and misconceptions about the brain.

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One of the topics that I was interested in was researching what type of relationship, if any, there is between the brain and sports. Here are some preliminary articles I found:

Sports Can Improve Brain Function

Week Two Thoughts

At the beginning of this week we started we some important points from the week before. One of the most influential points that was mentioned (I would say in terms of responses from the teachers and myself) was “the brain as an explorer” that learns from both inputs and outputs. I think this term that was mentioned by Paul . I think this idea resonated with the teachers the most because it made the brain seem much less intimidating. Rather than viewing the brain as this organ that dictates their every move they could now replace this thought with the brain as an explorer which in my opinion is much more inviting.

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Thoughts about the Summer Science Institutes

This summer I had the honor of participating in the Bryn Mawr College K-12 Summer Science Institute. Because of this I had the opportunity to meet a handful of wonderful teachers and discuss issues and topics in education.  The institute was definitely successful in many ways which will be highlighted below, yet there are also some aspects which could have been changed. They, too, are also highlighted below.

“But what do you do?”

I've been thinking about a lab activity on catalase enzyme and struggling to find an interesting and compelling reason why students need to know about the idea of enzymes and the subtler points about enzyme kinetics.  To put a fine point on it, I want a very particular problem or question that cannot be answered fully without the understanding of enzymes.  What follows in my latest train of thought.

Reflections on the Summer Science Institute

Before the Institute …

Thinking back on my three weeks spent at Bryn Mawr’s Summer Science Institute for K-12 Teachers, one of the most important things I learned was how to do a proper “brain drain,” a listing of words or phrases that immediately come to mind when a certain word is said. So why not start off with a bit of brain draining to help describe the Institute and what it accomplished?

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