Sunday, September 8, 2013

Mindset... it's not a grey matter :)

If you are a fan of Carol Dweck's Mindset book, you will love this "kid-friendly" (but not syrupy)  text entitled Your Fantastic Elastic Brain (YFEB) by JoAnn Deak, PhD. If you have not read Mindset, get yourself to the library, bookstore, or Annie's Bookstop - and read it now! Not only will it benefit your children/students, you will be inspired to apply it to your own life, too!  Then, immediately find YFEB to share with the children in your life. Seriously, once you read it, you'll want to share it with every child you know!

 

                                                      

YFEB breaks down neuroscience into visually appealing, manageable chunks that children can readily understand. Research has shown that children who learn about their brains, how they function, and that they can grow over-time do increasingly better at improving effort, self-confidence, perseverance, and intelligence than their counterparts who believe in intelligence as a fixed commodity. 

Not only is YFEB visually appealing, it uses scientific language with developmentally appropriate explantations -- and offers interesting metaphors such as a child being a "neuro-sculptor" of his or her own brain. This combination of appealing illustration, combined with theory, engages children and provides them very important information about one of the most important organs in their bodies - the brain. This resource, paired with Goldie Hawn's "Mind-UP" curriculum, offers some of the most comprehensive brain study available for children. The author's website mentions that adolescent and adult versions of this book will be available soon. This text is a perfect match through upper elementary.

Whether you are a teacher looking to introduce brain based learning and stewardship to your students, or a parent trying to support your children, this book is suited well for home or classroom use. There's also an app that reads the book aloud and has brain-based learning games. It can be purchased on i-Tunes for $2.99: