Explanation Writing

This week we have been working on explanations. The class were able to choose what they wrote their explanations on, as long as it was a 'how' or 'why' topic and Shruthi chose to write about how the brain works. She has written a fantastic explanation and I have added it below. Ka Pai Shruthi, you have reached extended abstract in our Solo Rubric!

How the Brain Works.


Our brains are one of the most vital organs in our body, although it does look like pieces of clay molded together, with alot of wrinkles. The brain controls every aspect of our physical body as well as not so touchable things like our emotions and mental health. There are about 100 billion neurons in your brain linked to one another by synapse, these synapses are like a road taking information from cell to the next.


The Brain's cells are arranged in a specific pattern that interrelate, thought, emotion, behaviour, and movement.For your brain to function you need your nerve cells to determine what information is coming from the world outside your body, the nerves then transmit information to each other about what is going and the brain will then decide the action to take or how to react to the situation. The brain is able to communicate to the body, by something called the nervous system, the nervous system sends information to the brain in split seconds, alerting it about the problem. (The nervous system in real life.)



The brain, also properly known as the cerebrum, has many parts, the main ones being the Frontal lobe, Parietal lobe, Temporal lobe, Occipital lobe and the Cerebellum. The Frontal lobe controls motor movement, problem solving, spontaneity, memory, language, initiation, judgement, impulse control, and social behavior, overall the frontal lobe is considered our emotional center and is known to hold our personality. A surprising fact about the frontal lobe is that in fact you can live without it, although it honestly would not be the best idea, you would lose cognitive abilities and motor control, you would not be able to reason or form simple thoughts, you would also be physically paralysed,so making sure it’s in the best state is essential.



The Parietal lobe is situated behind the frontal lobe, it is in the upper area of the skull, and in front of the occipital; lobe although it’s known as one part is split into two functional hemispheres, one part governs sensory information regarding the location of parts on the body, for example the skin playing a large part in scenery. The other is concerned more with retaining visual information, it also processes language and mathematics. The left hemisphere is associated more with those who are right handed people, this part is known to handle more analytical thinking. The right lobe is more active with people who are left-handed, the left hemisphere is more creative and visionary. As for people who are ambidextrous use both hemispheres equally.



The Temporal lobe is surrounded by the frontal lobe, the parietal lobe and the occipital lobe as well as right underneath supporting it is the cerebellum. The temporal lobe is primarily responsible for auditory skills(hearing sensory), which makes sense, because it’s situated right next to our ear, it’s centered around helping us make sense of speech, words, vocabulary or thing around sound. This also means this part of the brain affects someone who is deaf. It is accountable for creating and preserving long term memories, this makes sense for the hippocampus is located in the center of the temporal lobe that is why long term memory is one of the functions that fall under this specific part of the brain.


The Occipital lobe is the smallest of the four. Similar to the Parietal lobe it functions around visuals although it is more in depth. It visualizes depth and distance, colour determination, recognition of objects and faces, and the formation of a memory. If the occipital lobe were to be damaged there is a high possibility of loss of sight, and depending on how bad or where the injury has taken place, it could result in visual hallucinations and illusions.


The Cerebellum is that part that looks like it did not know where to fit in so it just stuck to the bottom of the four lobes, it is also latin for little brain which just concludes how odd it honestly is. It has a common misconception that it has a link toward motor movement, but this is incorrect, it is still linked to movement, but in a different way. The cerebellum contributes to coordination, precision, and accurate timing, it’s commonly associated with reflexes, for example if a ball were to be thrown towards you your cerebellum would take control and indicate to the frontal lobe to move in order to avoid an injury.


To summarize how, the brain works, it would take quite some time, it is very intricate and detailed organ, what makes it so odd is the fact we are using our brains to basically learn about our brains which seems like an endless cycle, but all in all the brain is a quite complex and interesting the way it works has baffled many, including myself. I personally like that every part of the brain works hand in hand with each part of itself as well as the body.It’s definitely something that will forever be questioned which in a way is fascinating.