Importance of play

Came across more affirmation of the brain's need for play. This is a podcast with lots of links to books and articles on the subject.

Interesting shift with all this new knowledge about the brain that we have:
"Play used to be fun... now I have to do it for my mental health!" Hope it doesn't get to be that way. Rather we affirm the playfulness that is part of who/how God made us - resting (playing?) on the sabbath.

Have fun sometime today!

Neuroplasticity

You'll see two names quite a bit when you read around in brain research - or more correctly, in interpretation of brain research. Back in the day (that is only a few years ago!) it was Eric Jensen. He is still active but two new names I see lots are Marc Prensky and Ian Jukes.

I posted on Prensky last time. Jukes has some interesting things to say about neuroplasticity which means that the brain is always able to reconfigure/reconnect based on the things it experiences and the intensity of those experiences vs the static understanding we had until recently that said the brain is set by age 3 and not much can change after that.

His short video clip and pdf file on that blog challenge us to think in new ways about how we teach. Are we preparing students for the future or for the present/past we know/knew and experienced? He has some provocative things to say about left brain and right brain thinking. The blog says some thought provoking things about the differences between the way digital natives and digital immigrants learn.

Digital Natives, Immigrants, Wisdom...

Check out a blog from Dr Robert Sylvester. He always does a great job of making things understandable - and applicable. A recent post on his blog is discussing Prensky's concept from 2001 (Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants) and a recent update in 2009 (digital wisdom).

Things HAVE really changed. Prensky/Sylvester do a nice job of acknowledging the need to learn from each other, the native AND the immigrant... the need to live in the electronic AND in the physical world. The electronic is not going to go away (it will likely become more ubiquitous), but neither is our physical body going away and the need to relate to people around us.

Structure. Anticipation. Resolution.

In my reading around on the brain I checked through Rich Melheim's blog and came across one called "On Intelligence" from a book by that name from Jeff Hawkins. Some of what Rich said in his blog reinforced the "short hand" I have been working with to get a handle on how the brain works.
Rich talked of the importance of patterns and of surprise. I think I got my three part short hand from Jourdains book: Music, the Brain and Ecstacy. I can't find it stated exactly that way in the book but I was reading that book when I started using the three part short hand.

Structure - the brain looks for patterns, order; when it finds it, it looks for more patterns, order. Patterns that don't change don't hold the brain's attention, or allow for lots of wandering (have your driven a familiar route and not remembered any of the drive?) so...
Anticipation - it helps when there is a 'pattern' of surprises that happen - in teaching, a sermon, confirmation class, etc . The brain doesn't know exactly what is coming but it looks forward to something new, 'expects it' because there is a pattern of surprises happening. When nothing new comes, it easily checks out... looking for new patterns. That surprise helps the brain stay engaged. (And when something new comes along on that routine drive you engage back to the present quite nicely/quickly)
Resolution - since the brain likes patterns and order, too crazy or wild a surprise and there is no resolution. The brain can't/won't process the new thing since it is outside a comfort zone. Surprise is good, but there are limits to what we can/will "endure".

And remember, all the searching for patterns is really a search for meaning: "what's going on here and why is it important to me?"