Brain Research Applied to Middle School (Ch.3)

Abstract
The chapter gave a lot of information about students' brain studies, related mostly to memory. It encourages teachers to teach with all of the senses to create a more memorable learning experience. It talks about the different types of memory and ways to extend the amount of time students are focused and thinking about the topic at hand. For further understanding and better memory, the chapter talks about repeating concepts and skills for permanent knowledge rather than teaching, testing and moving forward. Some of the studies within the chapter indicate positive findings in using social interaction in lessons as well as chunking, which stores all different concepts and understandings under one main topic area. Some other useful and successful techniques discussed in the chapter are good hydration for the students, teaching the most difficult content very first (because they are wired to remember the most of the first told information), using summary and reflection, using metaphor and analogy, as well as practicing Bloom's Taxonomy. Teaching students to reason was also a main part of the chapter. If they cannot apply their knowledge, it may not be worth it. The reasoning is a very important piece.

Reflection
This chapter was actually incredibly interesting. There were a lot of new ideas and concepts that I was impressed by. I found myself highlighting and taking a ton of notes. Usually Meet Me In The Middle is sort of a refresher text, but this chapter was definitely new to me. A lot of the techniques and ideas in the chapter were really cool and well recieved by me. I think it makes so much sense to pay close attention to actual brain activity and patterns in students, because it really is crucial to how they are learning. We can only improve their experience when we follow their needs more closely. Overall, I gained a lot of cool ideas and information from this chapter.