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comment by katakowsj
katakowsj  ·  2195 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Happiness isn't the same thing as pleasure, and our brain knows it

Awesome post. Great to have some science based facts to back up what I'm working to get across to my 8th grade math students. I've been making "Finding Happiness in Math" central theme in my classroom this year. I've explained the pleasure vs. happiness through the analogy of eating favorite candy bars vs. working with others, practicing and accomplishing some achievement in their lives (usually math, sports, dance, or other social activities).

We like the candy bars and they make us feel good temporarily, too many of them, of course, makes us sick. We don't need candy bars to live and too many of them will lead to a much less happy life.

We may take some time to learn to dribble a basketball with both hands proficiently. Not inherently exciting or rewarding, but when we take our newfound skill and share it with our team, we enhance our value to the team and also improve our team's performance.

It's been fun helping the kids shift their view of math as a form of corporal punishment to a view of a means to a happier life.