Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-179) and index.

Meet your amazing brain -- Basic brain anatomy. How the brain changes over time. Cooperation and competition in the brain. How the brain learns -- Preparing the brain for school -- What to do to get a child's brain ready for school. Sensitive periods in brain development. Developing social and emotional skills. The importance of nutrition. The dynamic teenage brain -- Rules we learn by -- Increasing student engagement. Variations on repetition. The importance of prior knowledge and mental models. Taking advantage of the body's natural rhythms. The role of hormones. Trial-and-error learning. How positive and negative emotions affect the brain -- Movement and learning -- The mind-body link. How exercise affects cognition. The importance of play, recess, and physical education -- Emotional states -- Why emotions are now "mainstream." How emotions are processed in the brain. The power of emotional states. How to influence emotional states -- Physical environments for learning -- Why research on the physical environment has spawned new interest among neuroscientists. How seating, temperature, lighting, noise, and overall building design affect learning. Factors to consider for designing smarter schools -- Managing the social brain -- How social interaction affects the brain and cognition. The impact of stress, bonding, bias, and peer pressure. How to make school a more positive social experience -- Motivation and engagement -- Common causes of demotivation. The brain's reaction to rewards. The nature of intrinsic motivation. Tools for motivation. The supercamp model -- Critical thinking skills -- How gender, culture, disorders, and life experience shape a unique brain. How the brain tackles problem solving. How the brain's maturation process affects learning. How the brain adapts to changing circumstances -- Memory and recall -- Links between memory and survival. How the brain encodes and maintains memory. The different kinds of memory. Ways to enhance memory retrieval -- Brain-based teaching -- What to do before, during, and after teaching to take full advantage of what we know about the brain and learning -- Schools with the brain in mind -- Connecting brain research to curriculum, assessment, and staff development -- Supporting good instruction and good instructors. Change with the brain in mind.