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The Brain

Running Head: THE BRAIN

The Brain
Shanae Teasley-McKnight
Grand Canyon University
TEC 510
May 18, 2008

Abstract
This paper will discuss the brain and its affect on learning, environments (including movement), emotions, stress, and making meaning. This paper is in a table format with a section that discusses technology support of the information summarized for each of the categories. This paper will also provide detailed explanations of the types of activities that a teacher can suggest for home and for the school environment to optimize the effects of the brain.

The Brain
The human brain is the most complex organ in the human body because it regulates virtually all-human activity. The human brain is vast and complex. It contains neurons that allow electrical and chemical communication with nerve cells. Nerve cells rely on synaptic connections for their communications (Phillips, 2006). The human brain is the source of the conscious, cognitive mind. The mind is “the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, judges” (Heritage Dictionary, 2000). Beyond cognitive functions, the brain regulates autonomic processes related to essential body functions such as heartbeat and bowels (Mayer, 2006). Autonomic processes, the cognitive mind, environment, attention, and stress all play a role in students learning.
Category Information Technology Support (Home and School)
Learning According to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, the verb learning means “to acquire knowledge of or skill in by study, instruction, or experience; to gain (a habit, mannerism, etc.) by experience, exposure to example, or the like” (2008). In order to learn, the brain must analyze and store information to make connections to prior knowledge or future experiences. “Learning involves both excitatory and inhibitory processes” (Jensen, 2005, p. 18). In these processes, three neurons communicate at a contact point also known as synapse. As many...