Brain Talking: Classroom Activity to Engage Students in Deep and Meaningful Learning

Abstract

One of the best ways to take care of ourselves is to take care of our own brain. To do so, we need to individually learn both how our brain functions and how to know it is healthy and functional, at an optimal level, throughout our life span. After all, using Mariettle DiChristina’s (the chief editor of the Scientific American) words, our gelatin-like brain contains all that makes us who we are, including our hopes and dreams (2016, p. 6).  We do know that brain aging starts early (Sandres, 2016).  In the hopes of increasing brain health and learning about the human brain, we designed role play learning activities and sets of related assignments for students to learn about brain structure, function, and how such learning can enhance our understanding of how to protect our brain from various mental disorders/health problems and to optimize its function and in turn the quality of our own lives. If we want to stay fit, feel better, look younger, and live a healthy, longer life with sharp memory and high mental function, then the pathway to achieve all these is through meaningful understanding of our brain through purposefully well designed learning tasks.  We have designed a scenario through which students are actively engaged in a purposeful redesign of the human brain through a role-play pedagogical learning approach. Students adapt or change different parts of the brain and compete for permission to alter the structure and the function of a given part for a purposeful reason. Throughout the processes, students conduct research, work individually and in collaboration with others in groups. Students form and present informative and research-based supportive arguments in open forums. Through this role-play, teachers and instructors provide initial resources for the students, and then continue to provide effective feedback to support student learning and extend it to higher levels.  Role-play has been shown to increase interaction and engagement by placing students in an active role in the classroom as they act out behaviors, concerns, and actions associated with a character. Students who act out assumed roles have also been shown to gain new perspectives and grow a deeper understanding of what it would be like to be that character in real life (Cherif and Somervill, 1995). The hope is that by learning about the brain in early school years, not only do we stay mentally sharp but also we are able to continue to have new learning experiences and live life to the fullest throughout our entire life span.

Keywords: Brain, Role play, Active learning, Student’s engagement, Effective instruction, Brain disorders, Healthy life-span.