Adolescent Brains and Alcohol

After Karen Williams lecture about the brain and how it continues to develop into the greater adolescent years and how little things such as the food you eat, the sleep you get, and what you drink can cause lifetime amounts of damage on your brain and your development and overall learning.

The lecture focused on a study done by the National Institutes of Health (click here for the NIH website) on brains from the age of 5-20 years old for 15-years. The overall conclusion done by their intensive research is that it usually takes the brain about 25 years to mature and build the basics that is needed for overall learning and decision making into adulthood. The most important functions and the overall decision skills develop last in the brain during the late teens and early 20s.

The last part of the brain to develop is the pre-frontal cortex (PFC). This part of the brain is the most at risk. The growth and development of the PFC is dependent on the Hippocampus and any damage done to this part of the brain can lead to overall development delays and can change the ways in which the brain develops causing defects in learning ability. Drinking alcohol at a young age can damage the Hippocampus in the brain by turning it off for awhile and even shrinking the overall size, thus leading to developmental problems. Teenagers recover a lot slower than adults do when drinking, thus the Hippocampus is not working for a longer amount of time, lessening the ability to learn and grow during this time.

With alcohol involved during the time in which students are developing the PFC, it will not develop to the amount the children need. Without alcohol involved the PFC will develop as normal and the child will begin to be able to make more decisions and know what is right from wrong.

What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?

This article is about the difference in the education systems between the United States and Finland. And what differences are making the Finnish students finish in the top percent in all of the standard testing categories.

One of the biggest difference between these two education systems is the use of technology. In the United States teachers are often put on the spot to use as much technology as possible in their classrooms. Mostly through the use of PowerPoint and computer work. In Finland the teachers do not focus on the advances in technology at all. Most teachers teach on chalk boards and use overheads transparencies instead of Power Point. This lack of technology helps the students because they are not as easily distracted by the flashy Power Point and new technology.

Another big difference in the education systems is the freedom available for teachers. In the United States teachers have to stay focused on a laid out curriculum and have almost no freedom to change the curriculum or the work that the students have to do. In Finland teachers have the chance to change the curriculum in which they are going to teach. This is good because the teachers can change the curriculum to something that they want to teach and that the students are really interested in. This freedom gives the teachers the chance to push the students with something they really want to learn about and excel in.

One of the biggest differences between Finnish schools and American schools is the emphasis on reading. In Finland parents of newborns are given a packet of multiple books to read to their children while they are growing up. In Finland reading can be found everywhere the children go. Including in shopping malls where children and adolescents can easily access the books they want and are interesting to them. Also in many Finnish communities a book bus travels around the neighborhood to lend out books to the children so they can always have a new book to read and stimulate their minds. In the United States an emphasis is never put on reading during growing up. Parents are not taught from the beginning of their child's life that reading should be emphasized and that children need to be surrounded with many books in order to stimulate their minds throughout development.

The United States' education system can learn a lot from the Finnish schools systems in how to emphasize reading and by doing that ultimately increase our scores on the nationwide and worldwide testing.

For another reaction to Ellen Gamerman's article What Makes Finnish Students So Smart? please click here!

Chalk

After watching the movie Chalk the last couple Mondays, it has opened my eyes to all of the challenges that we as teachers will have when we become teachers. I've always known that there would be a lot of challenges and hard times for me as a teacher, but this movie opened my eyes to what life as a teacher will be like.

The first biggest challenge I noticed in the movie is the lack of time that you are able to spend at home. The teacher who had the biggest problem with this often only went home to sleep and got up early in the morning to get to school and back to work right away. This scares me that I will not be able to balance a life a school and a family at home. I know that the teacher in this movie did not really balance her life that well. So, when I become a teacher I must remember to keep that balance in check.

Another big challenge that I will face is the opposition of the students. If I teach in a Middle/High School setting I think I will receive a lot of opposition from the students. In the movie Chalk the teachers often had to face opposition from the students, like them using cell phones in class, and just not wanting to learn at all. This opposition is hard to deal with, but as a teacher you need to find a way to get to those students and make them want to learn.

For more information about Chalk please watch this video : Chalk