V3 Weekly activity 1: The truth about your brain

40 years ago, we seemed to know more about the Moon than we did about how our own brains work. Not anymore! We're excited to share some exciting new discoveries with you.

How does the brain work and when does it stop growing? Listen to Sal Khan describe what we have learned recently about the brain in this 4-minute video.

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Learning and practicing helps strengthen and change our brain. As we make mistakes, struggle, and persevere we build new information pathways in the brain.

Pause and reflect: Take 2 minutes to think about a time that you struggled to learn something. What did it feel like?

Here are two examples of how your brain changes when you challenge yourself and learn new things:

Learning a new language strengthens the parts of the brain associated with memory, thought, and action.

Practicing an instrument improves the visual, auditory, and motor sections of the brain. It also strengthens the bridge between the two halves of your brain, allowing messages to get across the brain quicker!

Everything we learn and practice helps strengthen and change our brain. But, as we know learning and practicing isn't always easy. We’ve all been there before, struggling to learn something that's really hard.

Pause and reflect: Use the form below to complete and submit your activity. The form will not save your work so make sure you save a copy for yourself in a word doc or other file before submitting.