Secondary Principal's Resource of the Week

Being in the middle of the IB Diploma Programme period has gotten me to thinking about the different myths that we have learned and practiced in our youths and then pass along to our children/students.  However, some of these have been proven to actually be detrimental to learning and performance.  For example, cramming and all-nighters may have been common when we were in university, but contemporary brain researchers have helped us to learn that it is far better to put those books away the nights before exams and go to bed at a reasonable time.  The irony is that we often ignore our brain's needs, despite that being the driver of all performance and learning.  To make it even more ironic is that it is our own brain telling us to ignore aspects which would help itself.  For example, if we are truly concerned about how our children's are doing in school, we would pay far more attention to their diets, skipping the sugar and saturated fats.  Here is a five minute video that explains in animation how nutrition affects the brain and its performance.