The Human Brain

Sarah Christensen

 

Have you ever struggled with something? This is a question that a lot of us would hate answering and I would be in that group. No one likes admitting to weaknesses especially, when we know we have them. I struggle daily and I bet everyone of you does too. Times when I strug- gle are times when I find it hardest to be joyful. One day, when I was struggling and struggling with my algebra 2 my mom (also my teacher) showed me an article. Salman Khan wrote about research he had done about the human brain that started the You Can Learn anything Cam- paign. Mr. Khan wrote that his son had recent-
ly been learning to read. His son was reading one night and he began struggling with a word and struggled for a minute. After a minute his
5- year-old got the word and he said one of the most profound things I have ever heard, “Dad, aren’t you glad how I struggled with that word? I could hear my brain growing.” Salman Khan then smiled at his son, which is exactly what I did. This 5-year-old understood learning in a way many adults will never grasp. He didn’t fail only struggled ,and he was proud of that. If only the rest of the world would look on learning as this 5-year-old did. Struggling is an amazing thing and it should make us smile! Not only is our brain working, it is growing! The Greek word
for struggle is agónizomai (ag-o-nid-zom-ahee) meaning to contend for a prize. When we strug- gle while we learn we are working or contending for the prize of knowledge.
Salman Khan then says in his article that the brain is like a muscle and like any muscle the more you use it the more it grows. When you struggle you are working out your brain! Mr. Khan says researchers have found that neural connections or special connections within brain cells “form and deepen most when we make mistakes doing difficult task rather than re- peatedly having success with easy ones.” This is called the “growth mindset” which says, that our intelligence is not fixed and we grow our intelli- gence when we embrace tasks where we might struggle. However, as Mr. Khan goes on to say, not everyone agrees with the growth mindset.

you aren’t. Salman Khan continues on the recent work of Dr. Carol Dweck of Stanford Univer-
sity who has been studying both mindsets for decades. “Dweck found that those with a fixed mindset tended to focus their effort in tasks where they had a high likely hood of success and avoided tasks where they may have had to strug- gle, which limited their learning.” This goes back to what Salman Khan had stated earlier that

Those who don’t agree with the growth

mindset believe, in the fixed mindset. The fixed

mindset says that all intelligence is previously

fixed in your genes and you are either smart or

by Sarah Christensen

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the brain is like a muscle, and if you excerised every single day you would assume you were in fairly good shape. Now imagine if you only ever worked out your arms. You lifted weights and did these amazing arm workouts, and then you tried to stand up. You would probably find that your legs could barely hold you up because you only ever used your arm muscles. The people in the group of fixed mindset worked out parts of their brains but they avoided working out any other part because they might have struggled with it. Then they couldn’t stand up on their oth- er subjects. So,next time you struggle be joyful your brain is growing, and remember you can learn anything!

Join the conversation and spread the word You can learn anything! In fact Mr. Khan ends his article with saying that research shows that
just by being exposed to his research you are already half way to having a growth mindset! Smile when you struggle and give your brain the workout it needs!

You can read the full article by Salman Khan “Why I’ll Never Tell My Son He’s Smart” on the Huffington Post Website and watch the amazing #YouCanLearnAnything campaign video!

A verse to help you when you struggle

1 Corinthians 12: 9-10