Chinese Takeout: China 626 AP Brain Projects

One of the challenges of working for BNDS is that we are on the Chinese school calendar....in that respect we are not a true International School, but an International Department of the National School. The Chinese schools are in session until July 8th! The true International Schools here in Beijing finish the first week of June, as their school year is on the American system. I only have a five week summer because of it, where my friend, Brandon, has been playing on the beach with his beautiful wife and daughter in the Philippines for a month already. His Facebook posts are KILLING ME.

A second challenge of teaching under the AP program is that we must wrap up our teaching by the end of April. AP Exams are the first two weeks in May, of which Psychology is always on the first Monday of May. That is why I describe the school year and plowing through a 746 page textbook as both a marathon and a sprint.

The third challenge is that we have to keep the students (especially seniors) "actively engaged in educational activities" at least through graduation which is June 17th. That is a month, y'all, and we can't show movies for a month! (Though truth be told, I did go back and revisit Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and Roger's humanistic psychology while I showed the film Dead Poet's Society.) There wasn't a dry eye in the house at the film's end, and it provided many 'teachable moments' to discuss dealing with parental pressures and expectations to talking about suicide which is a harsh, but unspoken reality here in China. (There have been nearly 40 jumpers on the subway lines since I have lived here- so sad- God only knows how many other suicides go unreported in a city of 22+ million.) The kids were surprisingly open in their discussion, and suicide has touched several of their families.

We also went back and revisited the chapter on Motivation and Emotion, and I sneaked in another film- Pixar's Inside Out. The preteen girl, Riley, is uprooted from her home in the Midwest which allowed me the opportunity to about the geographical and cultural differences of the United States for my seniors who will be fanning out all over the USA. Riley's family moves to San Francisco, CA, and she has to navigate a new school, new friends, new home, all while dealing with her emotions- joy, fear, anger, sadness, and disgust. THEY LOVED IT, and again, there was barely a dry eye in the house by the end of the show. If you have not seen Inside Out- you must watch it- TODAY. There's great psychology in it; and the creative thought that went in to writing the screenplay is phenomenal.

So that killed two weeks time....since my Chinese babies in Grade 10 were doing their best to get a grasp of the brain and neuropsychology, I decided to do a final "Brain Project" with my AP kids. We had all been instructed to do a final research paper or project with our seniors. I was not about to grade 50+ research papers near the end of the school year, so a project it was!

They were tasked with two items- build a model of the brain
illustrating twenty required structures, then come up with a
creative presentation to explain at least fifteen structures
(like the hippocampus, occipital lobe, medulla, etc.)
This group was developing a board game, kind of
like Candyland, only different :)

I love this girl and her enthusiasm for learning. She is
just a junior so she is enrolled in my Advanced Psychology
class next year. First semester I will be teaching
Psychopathology (the study of mental illness) and the
second semester I will teach Health Psychology.

This group was building a jigsaw puzzle of the parts of the
brain out of layered foam board.

These boys tried to build a diorama box to show the
interior of the brain. They were working on the cerebral cortex.

These girls were trying to work out how to get the
reticular formation coming up through the midbrain region.

Miss Christy is also a junior that will be staying with me next
year. She has an interest in being a Rehabilitation Psychologist.

These girls bought foam-like clay to build their brain model :)

This 3D model had 'lids' they would lift to reveal the inner
workings of various brain structures...kind of like a
pop up birthday card, only different!

Such a pretty brain, made by a pretty girl.

This senior boy had fun 'making snakes' for his
partner's brain model. He said to me, "This is so
fun to make snakes, I never did this before. I bet
I don't get to do this fun stuff in college." I
assured him he would have lots of fun things
to look forward to in college, lol.

And then came the creative presentations....the only rule was
NO POWER POINTS ALLOWED! (The Chinese love to
make a PPT for everything!) While these kids are normally
quite introverted and shy, let them put together some sort
of play and they come out of their shell in a hysterical
and overly dramatic way!

Ginger was killing me; I was in tears from laughing!

These girls simulated a brain operation where an 'electrode'
(ear buds) were stimulating various parts of the brain and
the 'doctor' would describe it's function as the 'patient' acted it out.

One group did make a movie- ok, I'll allow it ;-)

The aliens trying to capture a human brain
also had me in stitches! They made masks
from aluminum foil- but they had to have
their glasses on to read their scripts :-D
Too funny- I swear 90% of the Chinese
wear glasses- their eyesight is terrible.

While we got a lesson on the brain from Miss
Yvonne, the jockey was having trouble with
managing his horse who suffered from a
traumatic brain injury- too funny!