This section is devoted to how our brains have developed and how natural selection has molded how we think and feel. Topics include how brains have developed outwardly from the small reptilian region to complex grey matter. The connection to standing upright, fight or flight, and why the ability to communicate saved our species from certain extinction, in harsh environments will be covered. My hypothesis is that by explaining and showing evidence about how the human brain has developed over the past 200,000 years, and the ramifications of this development, will intrigue students and give them a sense of power. It is my experience that students find connections to our caveman ancestors fascinating and is therefore helpful in keeping them intrigued.
The brains we use today are not meant to read, drive cars through cities, take tests on geography, and play massive amounts of video games. Nor were they developed to run on chicken nuggets, chocolate, and five hours of sleep. Our brains were developed to live in extremely harsh environments where surviving the elements and predators depended on a social unit that pooled resources and outsmarted other animals. Our brains are wired to deal with stress-immediately, and this skill both helps and hurts us today.
3
This is especially true in the classroom and its ramifications can cause a struggling student to give up on learning. When the brain confronted with something unknown, uninteresting or confusing it will take steps to avoid this negative experience. Outward symptoms of this avoidance can be acting out and daydreaming.
The human brain was so successful in keeping our species alive because it is hardwired to deal with stress, any stress, first. For example, when our ancestors came upon a field and saw a glimpse of purple, the exact purple we knew to be the color of the calorie-laden grapes from last year, and a small snatch of orange, they dealt with the orange first. The orange was the unknown and unique object in the environment. The flash of orange created stress and our ancestors investigated that first. They did not go and pick the mouthwatering fruit, they investigated the strange only to find out that it was a tiger and made the instant decision to fight or climb a tree. Homo sapiens who went for the grapes have no descendants.
Our ancestors' survival skills have consequences in our lives today and are particularly evident in classrooms, even when we do not have predators roaming the halls. Today, the confusing math problem or unknown word in a sentence is the stressor. All other clear and interesting information is thrown to the background so that the brain can process the problem. Once sentences begin to have too many problematic words, comprehension starts to break down and frustration usually results. As teachers, we must walk a careful line when we present material to our students. Material that is too stressful creates confusion and material that is not at all stressful will start to become boring.
Another way that brain development is apparent in the classroom is speech. One hundred thousand years ago, our ancestors stood up. There are many theories as to why we did this such as, to see over grass or carry food, and it changed how we communicate. By standing up, we forced our chins to lift and our throats to elongate. This change allowed us to make an incredible new variety of sounds, and languages were born. Language development meant that we could pass survival skills to the next generation instead of continually relearning. New information could be acquired and we developed more and more complex brains as a result. Language was one of the things that fueled brain development and this evolution created more complex speech patterns.
As anyone who has ever had lunch duty knows, humans have become incredibly good at speaking. It is a natural part of human development and many researchers believe is one of the reasons for our profoundly developed brains. Babies learn to talk by watching and imitating adults. Reading is a skill that cannot be learned through observation, but when we engage students in substantive conversations that promote higher order thinking, at any grade level, they can use one highly developed skill to improve and solidify the learning of another.
4