Neuroworld

In my previous post I talked about Donna Volpitta's book on resilience. Here children's book, Neuroworld: A Guide for teaching the Brain Science of Resilience, is meant to explain to children four sections of the brain: cortex, limbic system, amyglada and prefrontal cortex, that influence our decision making and behavior. She relates each region to a bug and explains the role it plays and how they interact with each other.

region	information
Cortex (ant)	·         Involved in planning and working hard ·         Influenced by adequate rest, nutrition and exercise ·         Social skills, focus and routines
Limbic system (grasshopper)	·         Early to develop ·         Emotions ·         Short term survival and rewards
Amygdala (glowworm)	·         Part of limbic system on alert for threats ·         Being alert and looking for threats
Prefrontal cortex (dragonfly)	·         Can override the limbic system Last part of the brain to develop ·         Conscious choices ·         Executive function

The book is meant to be shared with children to introduce them to concepts about self-control and help them on the way to being more successful with their emotions. Children would need multiple exposures to the text to understand the concepts. Exploring these concepts with calm children will help them to be more responsive to scripting that encourages them to take charge of their emotions and behavior. An interesting approach to metacognition.