Looking for new ways to engage your children this summer? Discover here how you can develop their interests and life skills by doing simple every day activities! Read more…
Rejuvenating During the Holidays With My Brain on Nature
Jim McHardy
After the holidays, I am refreshed and more than a little excited. Not only were my vacation days rejuvenating but I now have a new awareness of the importance of my daily walks in the forest.
Creativity – Are We Failing Our Kids?
George Briggs
The Toronto Globe and Mail of Friday, Jan. 28, 2011 featured an article by Anne McIlroy titled Neuroscientists try to unlock the origins of creativity. In this article Anne poses the question “Does studying art and music make children more creative in math and problem solving? How do you train a young brain to make it more flexible?” Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity. If you have not seen Sir Ken’s 19 minute TED talk I would highly recommend that you do so. Robinson suggests that “creativity is as important as literacy in education” and I believe that creativity is one important characteristic that will enable our kids to be competitive in the global economy of the future.
Unplug over the holidays for a real brain workout
Penny Paucha
The brain has developed as a social organ; mediating our impulses and reading social cues was essentially a survival advantage. So what changes when we have technology mediating our social experience as with Facebook, online games, and texting? How does this change the neural game?
Keeping Kids Engaged
Penny Paucha
Paul Cappon, president and CEO of the Learning Council of Canada states that “it turns out that most of the students who do drop out of high school don’t drop out because they’re failing — they drop out because of lack of engagement.” This lack of engagement is endemic in public education – so while more high school students are staying in school, the real question is “How engaged are the students who are still in school and how can we improve their level of engagement?” Recent findings in neuroscience provide some pointers on what the brain requires for engagement. According to Dr. John Medina, author of Brain Rules, “there is no greater anti-brain environment than the classroom and cubicle.”
Taking kids to Brain School
sandrah
After over two years, Howard Eaton’s Brain School: Stories of Children With Learning Disabilities and Attention Disorders Who Changed Their Lives by Improving Their Cognitive Functioning is now in the hands of the public! Parents at Eaton Arrowsmith School sat down this past Monday Nov 22nd to listen to Howard Eaton, director of Eaton Arrowsmith School Vancouver and Victoria, read excerpts from his book and to pick up their copies. At times it was difficult for Howard to read the chapters without becoming emotional, as he reflected on the life changes that the students enrolled at Eaton Arrowsmith School have made by strengthening their cognitive capacities for learning…in essence, by rewiring their brains, thus enabling them to transition back to typical public and private schools with no or far reduced need for academic or social support.
