How Your Brain Thinks Thoughts Power Point

This lesson is the first in a series of three lessons designed to promote a growth mindset in young people. It’s important that the mindset series of lessons is framed in a way that communicates that we need young people’s help to give advice about the growth mindset to other youth. Adults should avoid trying to “convince” young people about the growth mindset, but instead frame it as a forgone conclusion based on what we know about the brain. In this lesson, young people get an understanding of how the brain thinks thoughts as messages are transferred from neuron to neuron through synapses. Through a PowerPoint presentation, a ball toss activity, and a short video clip, young people will learn about their brains and will be introduced lightly to the growth mindset. The lesson closes with a fun Brain Quiz Show that celebrates young people’s new learning.GoalDemonstrate understanding of how the brain thinks thoughts.ObjectivesBy participating in this lesson, young people will:1.Identify basic structures of neurons and how thought patterns and learning are conducted.2.Define growth mindset.3.List that the brain needs proper fuel, sleep and challenge for optimal growth.4.Describe why challenge helps your brain.Anchor Vocabulary•Neuron- a specialized, impulse-conducting cell that is the basic unit of the nervous system, consisting of the cell body and its parts, the axon and dendrites.•Axon- the long thread-like part of the nerve cell (neuron) that transmits impulses out from the cell body.•Dendrites- the branching process of a nerve cell (neuron) that conducts impulses from other cells into its cell body.