Informational EOL: Learning Rewires the Brain

Which of the following best summarizes the controlling idea of the text?

• The cells talk to each other, mostly using chemical messengers.

• Learning changes the brain throughout our lives, making it more adaptable and efficient.

• Sleep is important in reinforcing neural connections.

• Six to seven weeks into the development of a human embryo, the brain starts to form into different parts.

How does this sentence support the controlling idea of the selection? (Learning changes the brain throughout our lives, making it more adaptable & efficient.)

"Recent data have been showing that the brain continues to change over the course of our lives."

• It uses vivid imagery to create a picture of the brain's growth over a lifetime.

• It uses figurative language to describe how a brain grows.

• It gives information showing that scientists have studied how our brains change over a lifetime.

• It gives expert information to prove that brains change over time.

What is the author's purpose for making this statement:

"As teachers, coaches and parents everywhere like to say: Practice makes perfect."

• to illustrate how learning helps grow the brain

• to suggest that perfection is attainable

• to indicate that learning information makes life easier

• to emphasize the parents and coaches have learned all they need to learn

Read the dictionary account for the etymology (word origin) of the word mastering in paragraph 1 of "Learning Rewires the Brain":

mastering (mas tur) v. Etymology: from the Latin magister, meaning "master", meaning "to overcome or gain control of"

This etymology helps the reader understand the the word mastering means

• to make a master copy of

• self-control

• to get in shape

• to learn to do something well

Which sentence states the controlling idea of the section titled "Learning While You Slum

• When we sleep, our brains store memories and new information which strengthens connections between cells and neurons.

• The cells fired in reverse which boosted learning.

• The neurons relay information faster and more efficiently.

• Specific cells in the hippocampus-the region involved in storing memories-fired when mice slept.

According to the article, what happens to a person's learning abilities when they don't get enough sleep?

• The prefontal cortex stops talking to the cells.

• Glial cells become active.

• When neurons fire at the same time, connections between them are strengthened.

• It makes it harder for cells to fire, which keeps neurons from being able to recharge.

Which statement best describes how our brain cells "talk" to each other, or send information?

• Neurons use chemical messengers to send signals.

• The myelin sheath speeds electrical signals along.

• Neurons undergo structural changes.

• The hippocampus deep within the brain stores memories.

Which statement shows the central idea of the section titled "Cells that fire together, wire together"?

• The brain is made up of millions of nerve cells, called neurons.

• As we learn something new, cells that send and receive information about a task become more efficient.

• Neurons can travel to several neighbors at once.

• Neurons are the best known cells in the brain, but they are not the only ones.

Read the following dictionary definition:

Role /rol/ noun: 1. an actor's part in a play, movie, etc. 2. the function assumed by a person or thing in a particular situation. 3. a socially expected behavior pattern.

Which definition fits the way the word roles is used in this sentence from paragraph 7:

"Just six to seven weeks into the development of the human embryo, the brain starts to form into different parts. Later, these areas will each take on different roles."

• Defintion 1

• Definition 2

• Definition 3

Which of the following text features would NOT be appropriate to be used with "Learning Rewires the Brain"?

• a map of South America

• a diagram of the growth of the human brain from birth to adulthood

• a chart showing how sleep causes the brain's cells to work more efficiently

• an artist's interpretaion of what a glial cell looks like