Want+Children+to+“Pay+Attention”?+Make+Their+Brains+Curious!


 * __http://edge.ascd.org/_Want-Children-to-Pay-Attention-Make-Their-Brains-Curious-By-Judy-Willis-MD-MEd/blog/2422969/127586.html __**


 * __RAS __**
 * The system that determines what gets in - what the brain attends to is the Reticular Activating System or RAS
 * intake of sights, sounds, smells, and tactile sensations that are most critical
 * priority goes to changes in the environment, particularly those seen as threatening
 * When a threat is received it brings to to the lower part of the brain where the fight, flight, or freeze response is.

>  >
 * __Relating RAS to students __**
 *  When a student sees an assignment or lecture as threatening they are taking in other sensory input and essentially not listening to what the teacher is saying.
 *  Create curious and new information just by presenting it differently (changing voice, different colors or fonts, different environments, music, art)
 *  Have children make predictions on lessons to keep them curious
 * Engaged and focused brains are alert to sensory input that accompanies the pleasurable sensations
 * Students' stress levels remain low when they use their individual learning strengths
 *     When lessons are used to promote curiosity and prediction, is likely to do more than carry the learning experiences into long-term memory.