Are we wasting our adolescents by requiring them to sit still and listen?

Recently, I posted about how my school is using Facebook and Pinterest as part of our professional development.  (See the whole post HERE.) I’ve decided to pass on some of the best videos and articles I come across to you each Sunday evening.  Here is this week’s professional development post:

 

I am a huge fan of evolutionary brain science.  I think we can learn a lot about how to teach young children if we can learn about how their brain works.  Evolutionary brain science explains how the brain works in a way that makes sense to me, and gives me clues at how I can make learning “stick” for my kids.  This quick video – it’s only about 4 minutes – is completely worth the watch (oh, and it’s a cartoon!).  It gives the down and dirty onto child and adolescent brains, explained using evolutionary brain science.  The key point it makes is that it is not scientifically sound teaching to make adolescents sit still, listen, take notes and memorize, so how can we make middle and high school into a place where kids are really learning? 

 

If you’re interested in more professional development videos – follow my Professional Development Pinterest board.