First, what should educators know about the physical structure of the brain?
Pat Wolfe: Basically, the brain is an oblong organ that weighs about three pounds. It has an obvious fissure down the center that separates it into two hemispheres. Its covering, a wrinkled, one-quarter-inch-thick blanket of cells, is called the cerebral cortex, and it is divided into lobes, each of which performs many different functions. In the back of the brain, the occipital lobes process visual stimuli. On the sides near the ears, the temporal lobes process auditory stimuli. Up a little higher and toward the back of the brain are the parietal lobes where interpretation and integration of sensory stimuli occur. Just behind your forehead are the frontal lobes where higher-level thinking, problem solving, and planning for the future occur. Somewhere in this entire cerebral cortex lies your ability to be consciously aware of what you’re thinking and doing. Researchers don’t yet know what consciousness is; it’s a current focus of memory research. Deep under the cortex are structures su
