Broadcasting network created by educators for educators with tons of channels for different educational subject including EdGamer. Very interesting, so much to explore and learn and see what other educators have written.
Brainology is an interesting activity to introduce students to the idea that their brain controls their scholastic success rather than their innate ability. It gave them impression that in continuing lessons it would give suggestions of study skills and activities which would help students who struggle with the list of "challenges" provided. It started doing this already through its recommendation in the first unit of combining pathways, or parts of the brain, in activities in order to keep your brain engaged and working at a higher level. In addition, it gave students options for self reflection, which would allow them to think about what they are learning and how it may apply to their own life. I also like that although they used simple explanations, they still used the scientific terms for parts of the brain. For example, calling it the "Frontal Lobe" (its proper name) rather than something like "The decision making center".
Although the program has a lot of positives I think it is limited in the age groups that it will most effectively reach. I believe that high schoolers and even most middle schoolers who are asked to participated in Brainology, will think it is stupid, and spend their time finding ways to make fun of it rather than focusing on the content of the material. In addition, I believe that the lesson seemed to have been broken up, by the reflections (the blue screen that pops up) in a confusing manner and it seemed like some of them would have been better to wait a little longer before stopping to write what the student had learned. This may have been the nature of the 45-minute parents' trial rather than the nature of the full length program. I am not sure. I hope that the full length program allows for more information and learning activities and forms of review other than the question and answer that was provided in the free trial.