Most elementary school kids believe the brain functions as “a container for storing memories and facts”. A recent study by psychologists Peter Marshall and Christina Comalli, published in the April issue of Early Education and Development, turned up similar results for children age four to 13 and they attribute this to two factors.
First, parents and teachers rarely talk to their kids about how the brain works and, second, children can’t observe their brains and are left to guess-work as to what goes on inside them. Most students aren’t taught about the brain until middle school and Marshall and Comalli believe this is too late.
They designed a 20-minute lesson about the brain and delivered it to a group of first-grade students. They found that even this short lesson was enough to improve their understanding that the brain does so much more than just retain memory.
In an article published by MindShift, the reporter points to another brain study conducted by psychologist Carol Dweck and the result should prompt us all to take note – I quote:
“Carol Dweck has demonstrated that teaching students about how their brains work—in particular, that the brain is plastic and can develop new capacities with effort and practice—makes a big difference in how constructively kids deal with mistakes and setbacks, and how motivated they are to persist until they achieve mastery.”
Given that children’s attitudes and behaviors regarding achievement and failure is already in place by preschool, perhaps we need to teach our kids about the capabilities of the brain at a much earlier age?
