Activate Brain & Body presented by Martin Pazzani, Founder & CEO, at Crossroads Venture Group Second Thursday event on Social Media and Mobile Technology. Physical exercises that cross the midline can strengthen the nerve-cell pathways between the two sides of the brain. The midline is an imaginary line drawn down the center of the body. An exercise in which the left hand crosses to the right side of the body is an example of a cross-lateral exercise. ![]() This type of physical movement helps the brain hemispheres to communicate across the corpus callosum. This benefits your students because it helps to coordinate learning. We already know that students need to get up and move every 20 minutes or so. During that time, try a couple of cross-lateral exercises to force the two sides of the brain to communicate. Have you ever noticed that a lot of kids who like Algebra and do really well in it tend to struggle when they start Geometry the next year? Also, quite a few kids reach Geometry and suddenly like math class for the first time. They had difficulty in Algebra, but in Geometry, math suddenly makes sense to them. Some people do well in both, and have a good balance between right and left brain learning, but I think that a lot of the students who enjoy Geometry are often the more artistic & spatial learners. They thrive in a right-brain-centered environment. You may have heard about the recent trend of adult coloring books. It has been discovered that the simple act of coloring helps to activate the brain. Coloring can improve memory, learning, and retention. It even offers the additional benefit of stress relief. The relaxation that comes from coloring decreases activity in the amygdala, which is the part of the brain affected by stress. It is possible that this is partly due to an unconscious reminder of childhood, a time of lower stress. Whatever the reason, this got me thinking about using coloring to reduce math anxiety. It is great to add just a touch of coloring (in a purposeful way) to a math activity. ![]()
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May 2018
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