Thinking Skills(Brain Functions and How It Helps in

our Learning)

By: SEW WENG MAN

MATRIC NUMBER: 184441

How brain functions

actually???

What’s happening to your brain when you are learning something new???

Our brain consists of about 100 billion brain cells called

neurons.

Dendrites(fibers) grow out of the neurons when we are writing, speaking, listening to or practising something.

Learning=growth of dendrites

New dendrites take time to

grow.

Synapse is a gap that where messages are sent from one neuron to another as electrical signals.Special chemicals called neurotransmitters carry the electrical signals across the synapse.One of the most important neurotransmitters is dopamine.The transmission is vital to our brain capacity to process new information.

When you practice something, it gets easier for the signals to cross the synapse. It is because the contact area becomes wider and more neurotransmitters are stored there.The dendrites grow thicker with a fatty coating of myelin when you practice something.The thicker the dendrites, the faster the signals travel. The myelin coating also reduces interference.With enough practice, the dendrites build a double connection.Double connections which are stronger last a very long time. You can remember what you have learned for a long time.

Take information from senses. It lasts a very short time.

Temporary records the succession of events in our lives. It will forever disappear in our memory unless we make conscious effort to retain it.

Stores significant events in our lives, can last for a life time.

Sensory memory

Short termmemory

Long term memory

Practice makes perfect!

Short term memory is very short! If we learn something new in the lesson and practice it only once or

twice, our dendrites connections are very fragile.The memory could disappear within hours or days.Thus, keep practicing helps to remember for a long time. If you practice within 24 hours, and then practice again later, you

remember 80%.

references• http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/d/d_07/d_07_p/d_07_p_tra/d_07_p_

tra.html

• http://www.teachthought.com/learning/neuroscience-of-learning-41-terms-every-teacher-should-know/

• http://www.teachthought.com/learning/how-the-memory-works-in-learning/

• http://www.teachthought.com/learning/how-the-brain-works-and-how-students-can-respond/

• http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/brain/