Benefits of Studying Psychology & Neuroscience - Essay Sample

Introduction

At the beginning of the lecture, students should be informed the benefit of studying psychology, and neuroscience to understand how the brain's processes control various body processes. The study of psychology introduces students to the fundamental principles of psychology and the significant subjects of psychology. The course is designed to provide the tools necessary for the study of psychology and presents the students with a sampling of the vital areas of research in this course. The question of what makes a person behave and act in the manner they do has been one of the longest-running debates in psychology. Although it is unlikely to resolve this question, research has given students essential comprehensions that may assist in understanding opinions given from both sides of the debate. The unit on Neuroscience explores the neurological system, mainly the neurons' functions as well as the parts of the brain. The early psychologists reflected brain as a "black box" which controls various processes, although they failed to identify the processes controlled by the brain or how they could be controlled. However, current scientists assert that psychological mind and physical body are ultimately connected. Currently, the knowledge of the organic source of one's mental conditions is essential in psychology studies. The lecture explores the functions and roles of sleep as well as substance use in evaluating the various states of awareness. At the end of the lecture, the students should be able to the psychological impacts of sleep, substance use, and shall be able to use the two features to evaluate the state of consciousness.

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Discussion Points

The main points to cover in this lecture are the role of sleep, substance use, and the state of consciousness, which is dependent on various aspects (Churchland, 2018). The teacher shall do an introduction by greeting the students and the name and the unit to be covered to call the class to attention before starting the lecture. The educator shall let the students know the discussion unit discussed in that class. The students shall be asked to share their opinions on the meaning of the neuroscience and state what they think entails the unit. It is essential to start a lecture with an interesting fact regarding the topic to create a friendly atmosphere that stimulates meaningful learning (Balcan & Urner, 2016). During the session, the students shall be asked open-ended questions, and they shall be engaged actively to motivate them through the lecture. It is essential to actively engage students in the teaching process to enhance learning as students learn better through engagement. While covering the three main subjects, the teacher should evaluate students' understanding through some discussion questions and activities during unit introduction and at end of the lecture.

Role of Sleep

After introducing Neuroscience, the instructor shall ask the students to provide ideas about the role of sleep. This helps to understand the general opinions of the students, and acts as an evaluation of students' understanding of the discussion topic. Since the class has 200 students, the teacher shall randomly select about ten students to give their ideas. After understanding what the students know, the teacher shall proceed to provide the roles of sleep. The educator explains that sleep is crucial in people's health, safety, and general well-being. It refreshes the brain, which makes it learn and make memories (Raven, Van der Zee, Meerlo, & Havekes, 2018). It is essential to note that the teacher should always be able to provide statistical evidence on questions regarding the topic. In this case, the teacher shall explain that "the Institute of Medicine states that about seventy million people suffer from long-lasting sleep disorders." Providing students with statistical facts from researchers makes them develop trust towards the teacher. The students shall also learn that inadequate sleep is mostly linked to various problems such as poor work performance, mood problems, car crashes, stress, depression, anxiety, and emotional challenges, among others. At this point, the teacher shall have explained the necessary information about the role sleep and why it is essential in the lives of individuals.

Additionally, the teacher explains when the best time to see a psychologist about sleep disorders is and how psychologists help in addressing sleep disorders. The tutor intends to explain that many people experience insomnia due to continuous interferences with good sleeping habits. Since students might be eager to know how psychologists may help in such a situation, the teacher shall explain that psychologists help people change their behaviors and to manage views, state of mind, and feelings that can obstruct sleep.

As mentioned earlier, students learn better by active engagement in the teaching process. Active learning is a theory of knowledge where teaching directly involves students in the learning progression. This theory is also known as the constructivism theory (Bada & Olusegun, 2015). The theory argues that individuals learn by constructing new ideas from what they know. Thus, when teaching, the teacher should try to find out the basic knowledge of students on past experiences and previous knowledge to build a foundation of the lecture. The students participate in the process by undertaking other activities other than passive listening. They shall write, read, engage in answering questions and discuss the hazards of inadequate sleep using real-life situations. The teacher shall ask "How is inadequate sleep linked to stress?" students shall be given about one minute to think about it, and provide their ideas on the question. Theorists such as David Ausubel, Jerome Brunner, Bandura, and Vygotsky have founded their work on the constructivism theory of learning on the fact that the essential factor that may influence learning is what is already known to the learner (Bada & Olusegun, 2015). Thus, it is crucial for the teacher to use everyday situations to formulate a thinking task, which helps to assess and evaluate the students' understanding of the roles of sleep.

The strategies used in this lecture are the use of thinking and learning activities, improved ideas and skills, and differentiated instruction. Thinking and learning activities are exercises that stimulate thinking and eventually leads to learning. These activities are goal-oriented as they have defined objectives of the desired outcomes. For instance, the students shall be asked to "State why inadequate sleep may lead to death?" Although the question sounds general, it gives the students a chance to use their past involvements, general knowledge, and ideas to add to the discussion. Thus, the use of thinking tasks helps the students to learn from their experiences.

The second strategy is improved ideas and skills, which is also a goal for education strategy. Students' educational purposes can be defined using what they know (thoughts) and what they can do (Skills) (Harasim, 2017). Ideas are often referred to as the conceptual knowledge and skills are the procedural knowledge. Using this strategy helps the teacher to able to provide insight that has a level, automation, structure, simplification, and modality. The teacher shall modify students' conceptual knowledge to by adding intelligence to it, which improves the ideas, and gives them an educational ground. Skills can be developed by allowing students to perform tasks such as reading and communicating to improve students' abilities. More so, these activities shall follow a random selection method to ensure that many students are given a chance to demonstrate their abilities and present their ideas. However, the teacher should consider sentimental features of instruction that may influence attitude about oneself, others, or even education and motivations.

The third strategy of teaching is the use of differentiated instruction. This method of teaching involves the use of experiences to stimulate mental activities that may lead to active learning. They range from direct education to learning through discovery, or design projects and problem-solving. Mental events may occur in presence or absence of physical activities. Thus the teacher shall ask the students to think about scenarios that may cause lack of sleep, and how to resolve such situations. This way, the students' mental activities shall be triggered and eventually active learning.

Use of Substance

Substance use causes addiction. Addiction is one of the long-term effects of substance use, and it has an overwhelming number of emotional and physical effects. Some of the commonly known drugs are cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. Addiction from such substances may cause mental health problems. For instance, people with substance use disorders suffer from anxiety and mood disorders and are likely to struggle with these disorders. The psychological suffering caused by substance abuse range from mild to severe (Krasikova, Lester, & Harms, 2015). However, the pain can cause weighty harmful effects on the life of the victims. The most mental health problems associated with addiction are depression, anxiety, and paranoia. The relationship between depression and substance abuse can be recognized as preexistent as depression can lead to substance abuse, or drug abuse can lead to changes in brain's functioning, increasing the depressive symptoms (Krasikova, Lester, & Harms, 2015).

Many drugs are known to have withdrawal symptoms which may include depression or other mood complications that complicate recovery. Anxiety may be caused by stimulants such as cocaine. This problem is different among individuals and can be a part of withdrawal symptoms after use of various drugs. Paranoia is another effect of substance abuse that is caused by use of multiple drugs such as marijuana and cocaine. This feeling is characterized by feeling of hiding or lying about drug use, which indicates fear of getting caught. Since most drugs are illegal, their use increases the feeling of paranoia among users.

During the lecture, the teacher will use the universal design of learning theory that explains that teachers need to scheme the curriculum for the students. The theory gained power in the United States in 2004 after being presented in the international conference. The approach is founded on neuroscience, which explains how the brain processes information, carry out activities and get thrilled about education. This theory suggests that information should be presented in different ways to allow a variety of learners to comprehend the info (Revans, 2017). Students are given several assessments to evaluate what they have learned. The theory also advocates the use of students' interests to encourage them to learn. The model argues that technology should be used in classrooms to educate students in the digital age differently.

The teaching strategy used during the lecture is the use of a projector to display notes and a PowerPoint presentation that indicating the harmful effects of substance use. Since students have different methods of learning, it is useful to apply multiple ways of teaching to ensure that the teaching is effective (Balcan & Urner, 2016). Visual presentation appeals more to students; this is because visible objects attract the students and also acts as a guide for the instructor. Since the class has 200 students, the information shall be magnified to ensure that all the students can read, including the ones sitting the furthest. Use of projectors enhances teaching and learning especially in the current generation where technology has si...