Stress and the Learning Process

Stress tends to be thought of as an adult problem, if not preoccupation these days. For years many doctors didn't even recognise its existence. But that's all changing now as our knowledge of brain chemistry improves. Today we can give chapter and verse on what stress is.

Put simply, stress triggers our fight or flight response, a reactive, automatic defence mechanism which gives us extra energy to fight or flee any given emergency via a burst of adrenaline.

The Brain 

The brain's control centre, the Limbic system, contains four major elements. One of these is the Hypothalamus, sensitive to any outside danger which could result in physical or emotional hurt.

The Hypothalamus immediately signals the Pituitary gland which in turn signals the adrenaline glands which release up to 30 hormones, one of which is cortisol, too much of which damages the immune system leading to colds and flu at best.

Major Energy Boost 

These extra hormones are pure energy and are used as an extra burst of speed for escape, or to give us extra and sometimes extraordinary strength to fight the danger. (There are many recorded incidents of small women lifting huge weights to free trapped children for example, or men tackling fierce animals to save their partners or children.)

Other examples of heroism are accompanied by the phrase, it all happened so fast. And of course, that's the clue. Our reaction to the event is governed at a subconscious level and therefore at a speed far beyond normal conscious thought processes. The rush of adrenaline is instant and our consequent reactions are equally instant and out with our control.

Anxiety 

Stress can manifest itself as anxiety or secondary stage tension. Females and young boys tend to be anxious whereas older males hold their anxiety in check i.e. fake it, leading them into the more harmful 'tension' stage. Which is one reason I'm sure why males on average live up to five years less than females.

Tension and anxiety in most children however begins with their parents, especially the mother. Show me a school failure or underachiever and I will show you an anxious child who has an anxious mother. The child picks up the tension and/or anxiety from the parents at a subconscious level.

The following questions now arise. How does this anxiety affect the child? And, what can be done about it?

Bedwetting 

Anxiety can affect the child in a variety of ways. One obvious example is bed-wetting. Less than 1% of bed-wetters have a physical problem, it's virtually always anxiety of some sort of another which creates so much tension that the bladder cannot be fully opened while the child is awake. When the child sleeps, that part of the brain which controls the bladder 'switches off. Muscles relax and the water flows uncontrollably.

This doesn't mean that the anxious child sleeps well, on the contrary, anxiety creates havoc with sleep patterns and this in turn affects the child's ability to function properly. First of all, the child can be tired and listless next day.

Assimilating Information 

Secondly, we use sleep to make sense of events which happened during the day, that includes making sense of what we have learned during the day. If we don't fully assimilate the days learning, our decks are cluttered for the next days learning and that makes future assimilation even more difficult. Multiply that over a period of weeks and months and you can see how easily it is to fall behind in the learning process.

Expectations 

It's understandable but completely wrong to imagine that if someone is failing to pick up the basics like spelling, tables and reading that they must be lacking in intelligence. Most learning, especially early learning is done at the subconscious level via a process known as Ontogenesis. For example, we don't learn to speak formally we pick it up as we develop. Equally, other major players in the learning process also work at the level of the subconscious, for example belief systems, in this case self-belief and self-confidence.

The expectations of others affect our own expectations and as you will read in future articles, these expectations are extremely powerful forces. They can drive us on to higher things or they can limit us for the rest of our lives. Happily they can also be altered. The point is they have to be recognised. Unrealistic expectations, for example parents demanding too much of a child before the child is ready, will drive up the child's anxiety ratings which will have the exact opposite affect which the parent is trying to achieve for the child.

Intellectual Development 

Recent research by Professor Howard Gardner of Harvard Psychology Department has identified 8 different types of intelligence in all of us, two on the left side of the brain, what I call the masculine intelligence and two on the right, which I call the feminine intelligence. Masculine intelligence is straight line and sequential in nature, i.e. mechanical. It is relatively simple to develop and most of its work is already being taken over by computers. The vastly more complex feminine intelligence is what gives us our humanity and will never be matched by anything other than a living computer, if such a thing can ever be devised.

The point here is that left brain children, especially boys will appear to soar ahead on in the academic field leaving their right brain counterparts floundering in their wake. At this point parents, especially left brain fathers might panic. They begin to put major pressures on their right brain sons to stop being so 'lazy', get some work done and stop messing about with all that arty farty rubbish, without realising that their right brain sons were infinitely more intelligent than they were themselves. With the correct training, i.e. using Wholebrain Teaching methods their children could easily begin to master the basics and make considerable progress across the academic map.

Know Your Child 

First of all, all humans are programmed to learn, but we are not all programmed to learn the same things or in the same way. Indeed, the modern workforce is expected to continually update its information throughout its working life and this will be the case for generations to come.

Learning for life is no longer an empty slogan but a reality. So if your child seems a bit slow at times, encourage and stimulate by all means, but do not force, panic or show alarm or you will create growing anxieties in your child which, as we have seen, will actually prevent your child from learning.

Look for the signs of right brain dominance. The most obvious is left-handedness. Most left handers, certainly everyone I've ever met, are right brain dominant. Right brain children tend to be dreamy and unworldly. They will remember tunes better than words, will be sensitive and intuitive, people orientated and caring. They are far more likely to be affected by any form of row in the house than their left brain counterparts, but will be especially hurt and confused if the shouting is directed at them.

They are delicate flowers and should be handled with care, loads of love and affection. They thrive on intellectual and emotional stimulation and the attention of adults. All children should be treated with respect, but right brain children especially; they are very perceptive and are not easily fooled; though they might allow you to think they have been.

Right brain intelligence wont accept that 4(2a - 3b) + (2d + 3c) = x elephants - 77p unless they know why and what for, whereas the left brain will happily accept it if told to and learn the why's and wherefores later on. Left brain intelligence is one dimensional and operates in a narrow range whereas right brain intelligence thinks wide and deep and wants to know everything.

Physical and Emotional Development 

Linked to intellectual development and a crucial part of it is the development of the body and the child's emotions. Each is linked to the child's self esteem and self-confidence and general feelings of self worth.

It is now well documented that children with low self esteem and poor self confidence are slow learners. Spoon feeding children and keeping them in a 'safe' environment (the home, the car, at mum's side wherever they go etc) is actually killing them physically and emotionally. Never in history have so many children been overweight or at best, unfit. Never before have children been so cautious and in many cases frightened about life.

In our efforts to protect and preserve our children we have in fact been slowly strangling the life forces in them. This in turn produces stress, which affects the learning process but more importantly it affects their ability to mature emotionally. It produces weak men who in turn are less able to help their own children to develop. We are in the middle of a vicious circle which we must break and soon.

Dyslexia and its Signs 

Finally, a word on dyslexics and defence mechanisms Most, if not all dyslexics are right brain dominant, dyslexia being an underdevelopment of the left hemisphere and a dysfunction between left and right hemispheres. The left hemisphere organises our thinking and our information, by paying attention to the details of a subject. 

Some of the signs that your child may be dyslexic to some extent or another:

1. Difficulty distinguishing between left and right.

2. Difficulty mastering the technique of tying shoe laces or buttoning coats or shirts/blouses.

3. Learning anything in sequence for example: Days of the week; Months of the year; the Alphabet.

4. Writing d instead of b and vice versa.

5. Short term memory problems (99.9% due to anxiety.)

Defence Mechanisms 

To combat problems within their lives your child's subconscious will develop defences to keep the trauma of failure to a minimum e.g. 'laziness'; withdrawal; selective deafness; defiance; truancy; to name but a few. The Fear of Failure in itself is a major obstacle to learning. Fear of letting you, the parents down. Letting the teacher down, letting themselves down in front of adults they respect and need respect from, and of course, from their peers. They would rather die than look stupid in front of their peers.

Conclusion 

Children can be even more affected by stress than adults can. What's more they pick up our stress and develop their own from it. Stress interferes with the short-term memory, which is electrical in form and very easily disrupted. It's housed in the Limbic System and is the brain's 'clearing house' or control centre. All information flows in and out of the Limbic System. Stress interrupts the flow of information in and out of the centre, thus learning and memory is disrupted. It affects all of us this way, but especially children and especially those very sensitive right brain boys.

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The Secret to Unleashing Your Child's Potential - Harnessing the Powers of the Right Brain

This is a popular song that mommies sing to their little girls. The song goes:

When I was just a little girl, 

I asked my mother, what will I be? 

Will I be pretty, will I be rich? 

Here's what she said to me.

Que Sera, Sera. 

Whatever will be, will be. 

The future's not ours to see. 

Que Sera, Sera. 

What will be, will be.

While parents are not able to predict the future of our children, parents certainly play a pivotal role in harnessing our children's potential from an early age. You might have heard advice from your friends on starting children early, typically at preschool-age of 3 to 6 years. The question often centres on which pre-school to choose - those that focus on learning through play; those that run academic boot camps; those that let children choose their own curriculum, to even those that focus on building self-esteem.

The Critical First 3 Years 

However, if you wait till pre-school age, that is probably too late! Research has long shown that early life experiences have a significant effect on whole brain development. In particular, developmental neurobiology has found that the critical period for learning is in the first 3 years of life. This is the time when the brain shows the most neural plasticity. What Professor Makoto Shichida, a leading expert in early learning, espoused appeals to the cognitivist in us - the purpose of education is not to cram students with knowledge, but to empower a child to tap into the innate mental powers (eg photographic memory, perfect pitch, rapid-calculation ability, speed processing, etc) that are already present in his brain, specifically his right 'genius' brain.

Why are the first 3 years so critical? The secret is in the way the brain develops. When your child is a baby or toddler, he will use the right side of his brain far more than the left. However, between 3 to 6 years, there is a gradual transition from right-brain dominance to left-brain dominance. By the time he is 6 years old, the transition to left-brain dominance is complete. This leaves us with the critical window of birth to 3 years - only 3 precious years to unleash the 'genius brain.' The rationale is that by stimulating the right brain before it gets overwhelmed by the left, the whole brain can be harnessed to its fullest potential.

Left Hemisphere 

The left brain is known for its mathematical and language abilities. Analytical thought, logical thinking, sequencing, categorising, planning, speech and spelling are linked to left-brain functioning. In our schools today, more emphasis is given to left-brain activities like mathematics and spelling, as compared to right-brain activities like creativity and music. This explains why school-going children tend to have more highly developed left brains than right brains.

Right Hemisphere 

The right hemisphere is responsible for emotions, creativity, music and rhythm. Experts have also accrued the 'softer' aspects of personality and behaviour to the right brain. The right hemisphere, often known as the "image" brain, works through visual stimulation. It can enable a child to learn subconsciously and process large amounts of information at high speed.

When I was shopping for a smart phone recently, the salesperson recommended those with dual-core and even quad-core functions, explaining, "The processor is the brain of the smartphone." Using this analogy, when you harness the powers of the right brain, you are not merely loading new data, but actually increasing processor speed from single core to dual-core or even quad-core! The right brain soaks up information like a sponge and is capable of processing data all at once. So much of formal education nowadays focuses on inputting information. All the more we need to grow our children's brain processors and their inherent capacities, in order to match the exponential demands of the 21st century.

Stimulating The Right Brain 

Some of you may be aware of the many merits of the right brain; but what most people do not know is how the right brain gets stimulated. It is best activated by visual images, high speeds and a stress-free mood. What does this mean for educators and parents? The answer is simple - we adapt our teaching processes to help our children get in touch with their 'genius brain'! It means that in the early years, we should be harnessing right-brain strategies to teach, even on subjects that are typically accessed by the left brain such as languages and mathematics.

A Right-brain Strategy: The Flashcard Method 

There are many activities that can help to develop children's right brains. One of the more common methods is using flashcards. The method of teaching babies with flash cards was pioneered by Glenn Doman, a child brain development specialist and founder of the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential. It involves either physical or digital flash cards which you show rapidly to your child. Flashing cards (at a speed of less than one second per card) is an effective method of teaching babies for the simple fact that information presented at high speed is more easily apprehended by the right brain. Learning in this way occurs unconsciously and effortlessly.

Teach Reading With Flashcards 

If you are using flashcards to teach reading, start with words that are familiar and often used around the house; and progress from single words to couplets, phrases, sentences and finally books! When making your own cards, ensure that the words are big and clear. In order for a baby to understand language through his ears, spoken words have to be loud, clear and repeated. By the same token, in order for a baby to read a language, written words must be large, clear and repeated -- as explained by Glenn Doman. An interesting variation to Glenn Doman's method is to include pictures to reinforce the meaning of words, particularly words that are new to your child.

Teach Mathematics With Flashcards 

Flashcards with dots on them to represent numerical quantities can be used to teach mathematics. Utilising their right-brain function, very young children have the innate ability to "subitize' quantities, i.e. instantly perceive the number of items in a set, without counting or guessing. As a parent, you could start by flashing dot cards to your child regularly, before progressing to numerical recognition, equations and problem-solving.

Recipe For Success: Love & Consistency 

Of course, be it words, pictures or dots, a lively tone and an enthusiastic disposition when reading the cards will go a long way to sustain your baby's interest. It is also important to flash the cards regularly, at least once a day, as children learn best through consistency and repetition. Finally, it cannot be over-emphasised that right-brain education is only effective if your child has a close, loving relationship with you and learns in a relaxed state. Without positive emotions like feeling happy, loved and secure, learning is stifled in the right brain. Your baby should never feel coerced to learn. This will drive both you and baby into a state of stress, which is counter-productive for successful learning.

At the end of the day, you do not have a crystal ball to predict the future, or dictate what your child makes out of his life, but you are certainly putting him head and shoulders above others by endowing him with the unique gift of early learning! So when the day comes that your precious darling asks of you, "What will I be? Will I be handsome, will I be rich?", you can confidently answer "Que Sera, Sera. Whatever will be, will be."

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8099319

Education Makes Our Life - Don't Spoil It

Education! What does it mean? We are thinking education is a base for getting knowledge and values. To develop yourself you require education. Is that true? Yes. But there are numerous things identified with education. It's not a thing where you are getting just knowledge and values. At the point when a youngster conceived, we began considering his profession and education. Guardians dependably think how to influence our tyke to best in his profession and career. In any case, no one ponders their interest and hobbies.

Some individuals are battling with their professions. What we realize in our childhood that is essential since that preparation and information are more useful for us when we contend in this period. You will learn things yet it will require investment to accomplish. Whatever you have learned in school that is most critical to pick up your position.

In school sometimes student do not take their education seriously. They will be focusing on alternate things like TV, video games, mobile. These days, guardians have given full opportunity to their kid for everything. The outcome turned out as they don't know about things which are most critical for them. As a parent, we should show them how imperative instruction is? What will we get in the wake of finishing our education? What will be future advantages?

To solve this problem, it is mandatory to have a superior training. Presently, what will you decide for your better future? Where will you make your profession? The appropriate response is your advantage. You should know in which stream you can accomplish or satisfy your desire. When you associate with your objective then you can accomplish anything in your life.

Once a student decides his aim and goal, he can reach to any level. Training ought to be great from school level. Subsequent to finishing school students go to the distinctive instructing classes and preparing focus. At the season of preparing, you ought to know about things. To start with the thing is from where you are taking preparing is that pertinent to your training. What have courses you experienced will increase the value of your education? When making a career it's imperative to have essential learning of your education. Fundamental originates from your preparation, your schools and so forth. Before picking any profession simply make certain you are occupied with that or not. Learning and skill are essential for making life and for self understanding, self realization, self knowing. To build up a solitary individual and to develop his ability. It's fundamental to have enough knowledge.

In our life, we have experienced numerous things, however, can't accomplish anything. For that, pick the best training center which will give you the best future and knowledge. When you pick your ideal education partner you can accomplish numerous things as quickly as time permits.

Fundamentally, education is about knowledge, values, behavior and learning things in an unexpected way. Develop yourself as much as you can. Education teaches, "think before taking any major choice".

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9792033

Role Of Education In Life

Education plays a paramount role in the modern technological world. Nowadays, there are many ways to enhance the education level. The whole criteria of education have been changed now. Education is not so costly, anyone one with less money may study continuously. It is important for getting bright future as well as plays a most important role in the development and progress of the country.

Every parent tells their kids from childhood about the importance of education in the life and all the advantages of education to make their mind towards better study in the future.

Education is Self Empowerment:- Education helps you understand yourself better, it helps you realize your potential and qualities as a human being. It helps you to spout into latent talent, so that you may be able to improve your skills. Receiving a good education helps empower you, thus making you strong enough to look after yourself in any given situation

Enhance Creativity:- The education help to students apply their creative skills to come up with ideas that help make the essays more professional. This creativity helps them attain their overall educational goals.

Educated societies Create The Educational Environment:- Our society should try to create an environment that is helpful for all section of society in getting a good education. Our education that separates us from other living beings on the planet. It is our education that gives us the knowledge and skills to use our creative talents.

A Backbone Of Developing Countries:- A country can not progress without having a sound education system. Educated individuals have the ability to become entrepreneurs, technology professionals, scientists, and agriculturists. The major problem for underdeveloped and developing nations is low literacy rate, and large numbers of people are still living below the poverty line. Educational development is vital for the economic prosperity of a nation.

For Financial Stability:- Education helps you gain the academic qualification so that you are able to get suitable employment. While you earn for yourself, also you feel financially independent and free from any further financial support. You feel pride that you are earning for yourself, and are not obligated to anyone.

Education plays its continuous role in our daily life. The benefits being accrued, education is the best way to move forward not only for an individual but also for a country. It completely changes our mind and personality and helps us to attain the positive attitudes.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9816186

Use Relevance and Emotion to Intensify Attention and Learning

There are a lot of "moving parts" involved in creating lessons and units that maximize the chances your students will learn the important content and skills you teach. But there are a few teaching practices that act as attention and encoding "intensifiers," and as such, you should always make a concerted effort to build these intensifiers into your lessons. Two of the very best are relevance and emotion.

The Relevance/Motivation Connection

Why should you focus some of your precious planning time on building relevance into your lessons? Let me tell you about a little experiment I've done frequently as an educational consultant visiting schools. Walk into your average classroom, sit down next to a student, lean over, and ask her, "Why are you studying this particular material?" and you will probably get a blank look and an answer along the lines of: "Because that's what the teacher said we're going to study." Press the point by asking, "But why? What are you going to do with this information?" and you're likely to get a mere shrug of the shoulders and an "I don't know" in response. It's sobering and disheartening.

My guess is that, if you went around asking students everywhere questions such as these, 95% of the time or higher, you would get the kind of answers I've described here. School-age students spend about eight hours at school a day for up to two decades of their lives, and most of the time they have no idea why! This should disturb any educator greatly, but no one seems to be talking about it much. It seems like at least some teachers and their students have made a pact: "I won't tell you why you're here if you don't ask me."

This is a sad state of affairs for several reasons. First of all, one of the most common complaints I hear from teachers is that their students "aren't motivated" (these statements are usually preceded by a phrase such as "these kids today... " and sometimes escalate into full-scale rants). Yet, perhaps the most powerful motivator of all is relevant, interesting curriculum that the students actually want to learn, and the choice to provide this is squarely in the teachers' hands (or at least in the hands of the curriculum committee). You want motivated students? Provide them with interesting, relevant content and make sure they know why it's relevant to them.

Relevance--More Than Just Motivating

Another reason that relevance is so crucial is that it is one of the major factors impacting academic achievement. To explain why this is so, I'll refer to an important distinction that David Sousa talks about in his excellent book, How the Brain Learns (3rd ed.). In this book, he shows a chart that is generated by the interplay between two questions: "Is sense present?" and "Is meaning present?"

Another way of asking if sense is present is to ask (this is from the student's perspective), "Can I understand it?" In other words, is the teaching clear, have I been given enough practice time, is the complexity of the information at a level where I can grasp the ideas? If the answer is "yes" to these questions, obviously that's a good thing.

Another way of asking if meaning is present is to ask, "Is it important to me?" Other ways of stating this would include, "Is it interesting to me?" "Can I use this right away?" or "Is this something I want to find out more about?" In other words, is it relevant to me? Again, if students can answer "yes" to these questions, that's definitely good.

Now, obviously, if both meaning and sense are present (that is, if the information is both important to me and understandable), then this is the ideal situation for learning, and academic achievement will be high. If, on the other hand, neither meaning nor sense are present (I don't care about it, and I don't understand it anyway), then obviously I will learn very little.

But the other two possibilities are the ones that are really interesting to me. First, what about situations where the students want to learn the material-they are motivated because they see the material as being relevant-but they don't understand it fully or it's difficult for whatever reason (the material is not developmentally appropriate and is being taught at the wrong place in the curriculum, for example, or maybe the teaching is just not as clear as it needs to be). In other words, meaning is present, but sense is not.

In such a situation, students' achievement will top out at moderate but will not reach the desired level of highest achievement when sense is lacking. The reason for this is obvious. No matter how much I want to learn something, if I don't completely understand it, I am going to fall short of high achievement.

Now, let's look at the opposite situation. In this case, sense is present, meaning that the information is at the correct difficulty level for the learners and the teacher is doing a good job of teaching the material clearly. Students can understand it. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the students don't see the material as being important to them-they don't see the relevance. Students' achievement will once again top out at moderate.

Why is this? Well, it has to do with the brain's attentional systems. The brain is hardwired to constantly monitor the environment and shift attention to anything deemed relevant (especially for survival). In a classroom situation where students don't see the material as relevant, their brains are just dying for something more interesting or important to shift attention to. And every few minutes or so they find it-whether it's talking to that cute girl or guy at the next table, or looking at something outside the window, or just doodling. Almost anything will be more engaging to the brain than semantic information that it doesn't deem relevant.

So what happens? Students' attention fades in and out. They focus on the material for a few minutes, then they shift attention to something else, then return their attention to the material for another few minutes. The result is that students' learning has gaps in it, and again they are going to top out at moderate learning, even when the teacher is doing a fantastic job of teaching for sense! The brain simply can't learn something it didn't focus its attention on in the first place.

The Importance of Framing Relevance

So, the first step in providing students with a strong "why" for learning is to "frame" relevance. That is, we need to make sure that we carefully explain to or (better) show students why the material in every lesson we teach has meaning for them. If we don't do so, students will make sense of the material and revolve it around in working memory long enough to be tested on it (cram), but if they don't see any meaning to the material, it is very doubtful that they will retain much of it in long-term memory.

So, the question is, do you always take the time to build into your lessons a "relevance frame"? Do your students see how the information or skill you're about to teach should be important or interesting to them?

In How the Brain Learns, Sousa writes, "Teachers spend about 90 percent of their planning time devising lessons so that students will understand the learning objective (i.e., make sense of it). But to convince a learner's brain to persist with that objective, teachers need to be more mindful of helping students establish meaning" (p. 50).

Don't be like the teachers Sousa describes here. Don't spend 90 percent of your planning time trying to figure out how to teach the material so that it makes sense. Certainly, you need to make sure students can understand what you teach. But balance your planning time out a bit and spend a little more time on trying to make sure your students see the relevance of what you're planning to teach. If they see the relevance, they will attend better and ultimately learn more.

Using "Emotional Hooks"

The second "attention and encoding intensifier" I want to talk about today is emotion.

Often, relevance and emotion go hand in hand. When we see the relevance of something we are being taught, we become more interested in it, and we start to get a little excited. And, it turns out, that raised level of excitement actually helps us learn the material more easily. Recent studies have demonstrated that a raised level of adrenaline in the system, as we get when we are emotionally involved in learning, actually helps the brain form new long-term memories. In addition, raised levels of dopamine in the brain, as we get when we feel good about our learning, also help to secure that learning in long-term memory.

The brain structure responsible for creating long-term memories is called the hippocampus (as with many brain structures, there are actually two hippocampi, buried deep in the medial temporal lobes on each side of the brain), and the extra "shot" of adrenaline that occurs when we are emotionally involved seems to act as a chemical "Post-It note" to the brain, saying, "This is interesting, you need to remember this!"

Great teachers-even if they don't know anything about the hippocampus-have figured out from experience the importance of using an "emotional hook" to get students' attention and to show them the relevance of the material. The teaching of history is a good example. Talk to any History teacher, and they will tell you that Challenge Number One for them is always to get students to see the relevance of events that took place far in the past (and to our students, even the 1990's is far in the past!).

So how do great History teachers get students to see the relevance of a past event? One of the best ways is by simulating that event and putting their students in the situation of the historical personages in some way. This kind of role playing helps students make an emotional connection to the historical personages whose actions they are imitating, and this raised level of emotion also helps them better learn the material.

If the teacher then follows up the simulation by having students reflect on the situation they just experienced and make connections to situations in the world today, or even better, to situations in their own day-to-day lives, not only will their emotions have been raised, but they will see the relevance of the lesson--a relevance/emotion double whammy!

When Relevance Doesn't Exist

Now, I'm sure you all agree with what I've said above about the importance of relevance and emotion for learning. But, I'm also aware that you probably have a few questions. The biggest question that always comes up when I discuss relevance and emotion with teachers goes something like this: "Yeah, I understand that relevance is important, but not everything in the curriculum is going to be relevant to the students. What do you do when you're teaching something that the students need to learn, but there's really no immediate relevance to their lives that you can frame?"

It's a great question, and you're exactly right. Some material in the curriculum (long division, modern poetry, plate tectonics) is simply less relevant to students than other material. What do you do in such cases?

Here's my answer: whenever relevance is hard or even impossible to frame, shift your focus to emotion. You're probably thinking, "If they don't see any relevance to the material, why would they get emotional about learning it?" Another good question. And the answer is, "They probably won't get emotional about the material." But the way you teach that material could generate emotion.

Take long division as an example. No matter how important you think long division is for your students to learn, you are NOT going to be able to convince them of that. So, how about adding some emotion to your teaching of long division by adding some (non-threatening) competition? You could put students in teams, provide a set of problems, and have them race to see who gets all of the problems correct first. Add some fun, peppy music in the background as they race.

Or, how about (after you've moved from the initial teaching of the steps of long division into the practice phase) taking your students on a field trip (say, to the local art museum) where you have your students transfer and apply their new division skills to some real world problems in a real world setting? The social nature of the field trip, plus simply getting out of the normal school environment helps to add emotion to the learning. And the real world application of division may even help your students to see the relevance of division in their lives. But, whether they see any relevance or not, using a more emotion-generating approach in your lessons will help your students learn the material.

So, there you have it. Two powerful ways to intensify the learning of anything you teach: relevance and emotion. Take some time to sit down with your curriculum and look for places where the relevance can be framed a little better. Look for ways to add emotion to your teaching, whether by playing up the emotion inherent in the subject matter you're teaching, or (if no inherent relevance or emotion exists), by adding emotion to the way you teach the material. If you can improve your curriculum in these two areas, you will see a big pay-off in better attention, higher levels of engagement with the material, and ultimately, higher achievement.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9289236

To Boost Memory and Brainpower, Ignore Brain Supplements And Harness Brain Plasticity The Right Way

Traditional scientific ideas cast the human brain as a fixed and essentially limited system that only degrades with age. By contrast, we have now come to appreciate that the human brain is actually a highly dynamic and constantly reorganizing system, capable of being shaped and reshaped across the entire lifespan. The central concept in this new approach is brain plasticity, the brain's lifelong capacity to change and rewire itself in response to the stimulation of learning and experience. This includes both the lifelong ability to create new neurons - neurogenesis - and to create new connections between neurons - synaptogenesis.

In a young brain, brain plasticity allows for fast learning, as well as for potentially faster repair. As we age, the rate of brain plasticity declines, but does not come to a halt.

Lifelong neuroplasticity has major consequences. It means that our lifestyles and actions play a meaningful role in how our brains physically change throughout life. More specifically, neuroplasticity gives us the power to resist the effects of decline or disease by supporting our ability to accumulate knowledge and experiences, i.e., to learn. Learning helps to increase the so-called brain reserve and strengthen the brain against age-related decline and potential dementia pathology by increasing the connections between neurons, increasing cellular metabolism, and increasing the production of nerve growth factor, a substance produced by the body to help maintain and repair neurons.

Furthermore, neuroplasticity not only enables us to prevent future cognitive decline but also provides a basis for a more optimistic outlook when it comes to our ability to address existing deficits, such as learning difficulties and recovery after traumatic brain injury or stroke. By practicing a skill, one can repeatedly stimulate the same area of the brain, which strengthens existing neural connections and creates new ones. Over time, the brain can become more efficient, requiring less effort to do the same job.

A key contributor to our growing understanding of large-scale neuroplasticity was the development of high-level brain imaging technologies. By allowing scientists to produce images of the brain that show its structure, as well as where activity spikes as it is engages in various cognitive activities, these neuroimaging methods have revolutionized neuroscience in the same way that the telescope revolutionized astronomy.

Evidence of brain plasticity gleaned from brain imaging has come mostly from the brains of individuals who became experts in a particular skill. Why? Because, as you might have guessed, changes associated with learning occur massively when we become expert in a specific function or domain.

For example, several fascinating studies shows that London taxi drivers have a larger hippocampus than London bus drivers. This is explained by the fact that the hippocampus is important for forming and accessing complex memories, including the spatial memories necessary for efficient navigation. Taxi drivers have to navigate around London whereas bus drivers follow a limited set of routes. Thus, the hippocampus of a taxi driver is particularly stimulated and changes over time as a result.

Plasticity can also be observed in the brains of bilinguals. It looks like learning a second language is directly associated with structural changes in the brain: a region called the left inferior parietal cortex is larger in bilingual brains than in monolingual brains. Plastic changes have also been found to occur in musicians' brains (compared to non-musicians), with areas involved in playing music (motor regions, anterior superior parietal areas, and inferior temporal areas) showing increased volume.

These changes do not require a lifetime to occur; a few years or even months can be enough. For instance, researchers imaged the brains of German medical students three months before their medical exam, and again right after the exam, and then compared the brains of these students to the brains of students who were not studying for the exam at this time. The results: Medical students' brains showed changes in regions of the parietal cortex as well as in the posterior hippocampus. As you can probably guess, these regions are known to be involved in memory and learning.

The large-scale changes observed in these studies were the result of serious effort over time, be it learning the streets of London or studying for a medical exam. It would be nice, of course, if we could all just take a pill to quickly and painlessly increase brain fitness: to suddenly become more attentive, never forget a name, and perform all the mental math we want. However, despite large investments, evidence that "smart" drugs or brain supplements actually work is scarce at the present. The recent extensive NIH meta-analysis found no evidence that any of the medications tracked (namely statins, antihypertensive medications, cholinesterase inhibitors, or estrogen) were successful at improving or maintaining cognitive functioning over time. Some drugs have produced positive effects for people who have neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, or Attention Deficit Disorder - when patients take these drugs, their symptoms are usually lessened. However, no solid scientific evidence has shown so far that these drugs are reliably beneficial or safe for people with normal functioning. Even in the supposed scenario that a smart drug or supplement that can "double brainpower" with no side effects is discovered, it would be misguided to believe that the drug alone would be enough. If things worked that way, why do steroid-taking athletes still have to pay attention to their physical exercise regimens?

What is supported by ample evidence is the brain's capacity to be flexible and be molded through experience. The question then becomes: "What activities or behaviors can provide the right kind of experience to help boost memory and brainpower?"

Copyright (c) 2014 SharpBrains

This is an adapted excerpt from the new book "The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness: How to Optimize Brain Health and Performance at Any Age." To learn more, and to enjoy free brain teasers for adults and teens to test and improve cognitive ability, visit http://sharpbrains.com/

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How to Learn Any Subject?

Learning is such a critical aspect of one's life. In essence life is a major school. At every stage of life, from birth to adulthood, learning takes place in various modalities. There is a difference though between structured or formal learning and what I call "fun learning" or passive learning. For example, the type of learning that takes place when one is reading an enjoyable text or watching a favorite movie or documentary. This is not to mitigate the value of this type of learning but to call attention to the phenomenon that usually the learning extracted is not preplanned or based on specific outcomes. Consequently, the learning opportunity may be more expendable. The keys to learning effectively are purpose, self-awareness, and organization. The precursors to this triad include the skills and background knowledge necessary to create the path for effective learning.

For our purpose here, we'll be discussing structured learning as it the most reliable and standardized. By the time a child enters kindergarten, he has already been exposed to some structured learning environment albeit without his conscious knowledge. He/she may already be using the word "school" nonchalantly. Kindergarten may even be more structured and may be categorized as "real" learning, perhaps because this is the place for the foundation of literacy skills. Most people tend to have fond memories about their experiences as a kindergartener. Thus, it qualifies the purpose aspect of effective learning. This may be a residue of the type of learning inherent in wanting to walk as a child, feed oneself, figuring out how to reach the high shelf, or tie one's shoe laces.

Purpose is synonymous with motivation in this context. The greater one's desires or goals towards achieving a certain outcome are, the greater the purpose. Purpose is the reason one is engaged in studying something in particular. Identifying the purpose may be easier if the endeavor is self-induced or voluntary. In the case of an involuntary situation, it is even more important to identify a purpose. It is effective pedagogical practice to guide young learners in a conversation about the objectives for learning about a particular topic and connect those to their previous knowledge.

First things first, knowing the purpose for doing anything is essential. This must be deliberate and intentional. We always have choices even when it seems like we don't. They may be difficult choices with pleasant or unpleasant consequences. When a learner finds himself with a prescribed course which he feels is "useless", "irrelevant " or "boring", he has the option of not taking the course or create an objective or purpose that is personally authentic and relevant to himself at the onset of the course. For example:" I don't like French. I am not good at foreign languages, but I like history." So a possible question to ask to formulate your purpose is: What is the role of France, its people and the language in the history of _____? You fill in the blank. Another point of focus could be the French language of today vs. yesterday.

Authenticity and interests are quintessential here. The learner has to take responsibility to define his own purpose for studying something based on his interests, academic and or social strengths, or just a pure desire or goal to do well. The point here is that the learner has to establish a reason for studying something, which could be as specific or as generic as he wants it. However, it must resonate with a core aspect of personality or value or both.

This brings us to the next requirement- self-awareness. The learner can use these questions as a guide: Who are you as a personality? What matters to you? What do you value? How did you learn what you learned before? What techniques did you use? Knowing "thyself" is one of the best given advices. This is a lifetime quest but we start by paying attention to ourselves and reflecting consistently. Tools such as multiple intelligence, IQ, and emotional intelligence tests can provide some insights and directions. Take responsibility for your own learning. Some environments and teaching methodologies are more optimized for learning. However, the greatest responsibility still lies with you. After the learner has satisfactorily answered the questions he has to apply the findings. For example, an extrovert needs to ask questions and engage in discussions and find alternate, lively tools to engage with the materials if the instructor doesn't provide them. An introvert may need to take copious notes and engage in discussions in small groups. This brings us to the third component of effective learning- organization.

It is the "how to" aspect of learning. There is basic organization which involves common sensible tasks such as being prepared with tools for learning, consistency of attendance, and active participation through deep listening and wholesome presence. If you are in class, just be in class. There is also a deeper level of organization required to reach the summit of Gardner's multiple intelligence theory. Effective learning is about understanding, applying, and creating with your new found knowledge. This is lowest to highest. Your knowledge of self-awareness applies in developing a personal learning plan. Only the learner can answer the questions of how he learns best. The basic premise of learning of how to complete a task eventually turns to forming automatic habits.

Mastering a skill though takes deliberate focus and intention. The rapper and producer, Maurice Young states: "To become a master at any skill, it takes the total effort of your heart, mind, and soul working together in tandem. Thus, collaboration and synergism are important. Aligning your purpose for learning plus your knowledge of self-awareness equals your method of organizing your learning plan. The learner may need a more aggressive plan for the subject in which he feels weak. A visual, auditory and a tactile learner may need different plans that are customized and personalized. This is not so much about learning in general. It is how effectively we are learning for the long-term.

As learners, we have developed habits and practices of studying that may be more or less effective, appropriate or inappropriate for certain tasks. Sometimes, they become so deeply ingrained that they have become automatic. However, how effective are they? How do they fare with your short and long term goals for studying the subject or course? Short-term goals correspond more with listening, note-taking, time management, being well versed in the requirements of the course, knowing your instructor's style of teaching and expectations. Short-term goals also have short-term gratifications. Long-term goals however are more futuristic and valuable as the actualized learning and skills acquired are beneficial to society. This is where marrying your mind as in your purpose for studying, your heart as in your core values and or your personality and your soul as in having a vision of sharing this knowledge with others can have the greatest impact on your education.

The purpose of learning is to become educated. Education is for us and others. It is a tool for the betterment of us as a society. Effective learning is learning for today and tomorrow. Companies and organizations are best led by people with diverse talents and skills such as collaboration, technical, analytical, organizational, and critical thinking. These skills can be developed with a deliberate plan to aim at the highest levels of intelligence of Bloom's taxonomy. In a nutshell, cultivating a sense of observance of self and others, having a vision and an action plan are the keys for an effective learning recipe. Two major ingredients that are required are motivation and commitment. This materializes by defining a personal authentic goal, raison d'être for studying and prioritizing goals, then breaking them down into specific tasks for maximizing time in and outside of class.

Effective learning is holistic learning. Education is like a mirror one holds up to himself and others. The better we become as learners, the more we grow and evolve. This way we are better equipped to serve our society. Learning is living. Live well and learn well! 

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What Can Instructors Do to Promote Learning?

If you were to ask your students at the end of a course week, or at the end of a course, what they learned - what do you believe their answer would be? Would it be something they have read, a memorable class lecture, an engaging class discussion, or insight gained as a result of all of these classroom elements combined? As an educator, do you believe that learning is an ongoing process throughout the duration of the course, or do you find that it occurs at specific points and as a result of specific prompts?

It is assumed that a classroom, an instructor, a textbook, and assigned learning activities will ensure that learning occurs when students are enrolled. Consider the purpose of learning objectives or outcomes when the course is developed. The objectives establish a purpose for the course and measurement for assessments so that students can demonstrate learning has occurred. All learning activities are designed specifically for the purpose of ensuring that learning objectives are met.

Yet learning does not occur in a linear manner, within the prescribed number of course weeks, or with the assigned learning activities. Even the established course objectives do not guarantee that students will learn according to what has been planned. What is the critical element? The classroom instructor. The instructor's role is essential not only to classroom management, but to creating conditions within the classroom and the minds of the students that are conducive to learning. These are conditions the course objectives and learning activities alone cannot create.

Additional Questions About Learning in the Classroom

As I have been thinking about the process of learning, I have developed a list of additional questions that I would like to pose to help other educators also consider how students learn.

How do you define learning? Is it a matter of students acquiring information, completing assignments, earning a grade, participating in class discussions, completing a course, or something else? Do you consider outcomes measured by the learning objectives to be temporary in nature or do those goals indicate that something long-term has occurred when students are able to demonstrate mastery or completion of each one?

Does every student learn something in your class? This is important to consider as it is almost assumed that learning is going to happen, as if there is a guarantee it will take place for every student who makes an attempt. You can also consider the amount of effort a student puts in and whether or not that will influence their ability to learn.

Do some learning activities promote learning better than others? For example, when a student answers a discussion question, has this student demonstrated learning or is a response to an instructor's follow up question a better indicator? Are written assignments as effective, or more effective, than class discussions for helping students demonstrate what they have learned? Are some types of assignments more effective than others for serving this purpose?

My Perspective as a Student and an Educator

I obtained two of my degrees in a traditional college classroom environment. What I remember most are some of the class projects I had to complete, along with some of the written projects - especially the culminating project for my MBA program. I wrote a business plan and I was required to conduct the research necessary to launch the new business, which really put to use everything I had studied. As a result of this project, there are concepts and an application of theories that I never forgot and this helped to inform my work as an educator.

I obtained the remainder of my degrees in a non-traditional or online college classroom environment. The most challenging degree was my doctorate degree as there was nothing for me to memorize and no tests for me to pass. I earned my grades by conducting research and completing projects, especially written projects that applied the information I gained in a manner that I was creating long term knowledge. I remember those projects very well, especially my research study, and the work I began during that doctoral program I continue today. The knowledge I gained has been applied to my career, along with the books, blog posts, and articles I have written.

When I taught at the community college, I was different than many of the other instructors as I did not want to teach for a test. I knew that most of the lectures I heard while in my traditional programs were long forgotten, as were the tests I had taken. I wanted to be different and I incorporated interesting elements into my instruction. Many students were taken by surprise as they expected the same two hour stand-and-lecture approach, followed by a mid-term and final exam.

Most of my work as an educator has been in the field of distance learning. I know that the for-profit online school industry has been under scrutiny. However, distance learning can be effective if there is an instructor who has been trained not only in the subject matter but the principles of adult education. When students are provided with discussions and meaningful papers to write, and there is an instructor to guide them, they are likely to gain something of value from the class. This has always been my goal. I know as a faculty development specialist that instructors who do not understand adult education principles are the ones who often struggle to relate to students and that can leave students on their own, which can have an adverse impact on the learning process.

I have also watched a non-profit online school become prominent in the field of distance learning and it has caused many accreditors and educators like myself great concern as there are no instructors involved. It is advertised as being competency-based, but that is just a fancy phrase (for this school) for correspondence-style courses. Students can study (or not if they choose) and take assessments (three or four times if needed) until they pass - often with a score as low as 51%. There are no grades issued on transcripts, only pass or fail indicators. It will be interesting to see if this fad is accepted in the long run, or if accreditors will demand instructor to student interactions.

What Can Instructors Do to Promote Learning?

As I have studied adult education, I have come to understand learning from the perspective of how the mind takes and processes information. When students read something in the textbook or listen to a lecture, that is information and some of it will be stored in short term memory. The same is true for memorizing information for a test. That information is stored in short term memory. In order for educators to state that learning has occurred, students need to make a connection with that information in some manner or apply it in some way so that it will move into long-term memory. Long-term memory is a storage center and arranged by connections and associations. With this understanding of how information is stored, it can help an instructor prepare to help students in the classroom.

Classroom Contributions: As an instructor, you need to have a dual perspective of your classroom. One perspective is classroom management and ensuring that your contractual obligations have been met. The other is from an educational perspective and what you can do to prompt conditions conductive to adult education - even if you did not control the design of the course itself. The most important addition you can make is your intellectual contribution. As an educator, you have a unique ability to see the course concepts from multiple perspectives and you can share these views during discussions, as follow up replies and prompts. You can also share additional resources, overviews, wrap-ups, summaries, and guides - anything that will provide additional value for your students.

Student Readiness and Preparedness: The two issues that can help students, or hinder their performance at any given time, are academic readiness and preparedness. This may be beyond your immediate control at first; however, as you get to know your students and provide feedback, you will be able to address their developmental needs. What you can do is consider methods and strategies that will help their ability to learn each class week. For example, can you provide a rubric for a written assignment to help them self-check their work? Can you provide strategies and resources as tips to help them? For example, I have shared note-taking strategies and this has helped some students who struggled with reading comprehension.

Instructional Approach: As an educator, I want to focus on stimulating their intellectual interest and engaging their mind. If I provide a canned answer to a discussion question, or I do not take time to read the content of a paper, I am missing out on an opportunity to engage them in the learning process. I want to ask questions that cause students to think further and to look for additional information and answers. For the subject matter I am teaching, I am always reading to stay current in this field and looking for additional resources, case studies, and current issues I can share with students as a means of bringing the course materials to life.

Can students learn without an instructor? Yes, it is possible as we all learn informally every day. But in a formal classroom environment it is a different matter and regardless of the trends and fads that come and go in higher education, nothing can replace the value that a highly experienced and educated instructor brings to the classroom - especially one who truly cares about students and the value they receive from the class. Instructors promote learning when they are actively engaged in the class and more importantly, actively engaging the minds of their students. While this does not mean that every student will pass the class, it does indicate that students who are making an effort to be involved in the class will likely retain something in long-term memory that will be recalled later, and that is the ultimate goal of adult education.

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What Is Learning? Can We Learn Better Than Apes?-Part 2

We continue the conversation on Learning with Dr. James Zull, Professor of Biology and Biochemistry at Case Western University and author of The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning.

AF: Fascinating. Given what you just said, how do you help your students become better learners?

JZ: Despite the fact that every brain is different, let me simplify and say that I usually observe 2 types of students, with different obstacles to learning and therefore benefiting from different strategies.

A) Students who have an introversion tendency can be very good at the Reflection and Abstract hypothesis phases, but not so at the Active Testing one. In order to change that, I help create small groups where they feel safer and can take risks such as sharing their thoughts aloud and asking more questions.

B) More extroverted students can be very good at having constant Concrete experiences and Active Testing, but may benefit from increased Reflection and Abstract hypothesis. Having them write papers, maybe predicting the outcome of certain experiments or even current political affairs, helps.

AF: Very useful. What other tips would you offer to teachers and parents?

JZ: Always provoke an active reaction, ensuring the student is engaged and sees the connection between the new information and what he or she already knows. You can do so by asking questions such as "What does this make you think of? Is there some part of this new material that rings a wild bell for you?" To ensure a safe learning environment, you have to make sure to accept their answers, and build on them. We should view students as plants and flowers that need careful cultivation: growing some areas, helping reduce others.

AF: Please give us an example.

JZ: Well, an example I use in my books is that middle school students often have a hard time learning about Martin Luther and the Reformation because they confuse him with Martin Luther King Jr. We can choose to become frustrated about that. Or we can exploit this saying something like, "Yes! Martin Luther King was a lot like Martin Luther. In fact, why do you think Martin Luther King's parents named him that? Why didn't they name him Sam King?"

AF: Thanks. And what would you suggest for us who want to become better learners?

JZ: Learning is critical at all ages, not only in the school environment. We have brains precisely in order to be able to learn, to adapt to new environments. This is essential throughout life, not just in school. We now know that every brain can change, at any age. There is really no upper limit on learning since the brain neurons seem to be capable of growing new connections whenever they are used repeatedly. I think all of us need to develop the capacity to self-motivate ourselves. One way to do that is to search for those meaningful contact points and bridges, between what we want to learn and what we already know. When we do so, we are cultivating our own neuronal networks. We become our own gardeners.

AF: Prof. Zull, many thanks for sharing your thoughts through your book, and for your time today. You have changed my brain-and probably will change the brains of a number of readers.

JZ: My pleasure!

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A final personal reflection: this Learning Cycle is very similar to what people at McKinsey & Company (my first job ever), and other strategic consulting firms, need to develop very quickly, and constitutes the core for a very successful Performance Review system. Interesting to understand the neurobiological basis for it. Brain Fitness starts with Learning. Brain and Mind Fitness means being able, and ready, to learn. Not just an Education issue, but a Health and Wellness and Fitness one.

Copyright (c) 2007 Alvaro Fernandez

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What is Learning? Can We Learn Better Than Apes Do? Part 1

We can all Learn-and transform our brain in the process. That's the message in this Interview-Part 1 (out of 2) from Dr. James Zull, Professor of Biology and Biochemistry at Case Western University, Director of UCITE (The University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education), and Professor of a Human Learning and The Brain class. Dr. Zull loves to learn. And to teach. And to build connections. He has spent years building bridges between neurobiology and pedagogy, as a result of which he wrote The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning, which shows how neurobiological research can inform and refine some of the best ideas in educational theory.

In that book, Prof. Zull added biological information to David Kolb's Learning Cycle framework. David Kolb's Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development book refers to human learning, but Professor Zull tells that today, in his desk, he has cognitive neuroscience papers and research that show that apes go through the same 4 stages when they are learning a new activity, activating exactly the same brain areas than we do.

AF: What is Learning? Can apes really learn in the same way we do?

JZ: Learning is physical. Learning means the modification, growth, and pruning of our neurons, connections-called synapses- and neuronal networks, through experience. And, yes, we have seen that apes go through the same Learning Cycle as we do, activating the same brain areas.

AF: How does Learning happen?

These are the 4 stages of the Learning Cycle. 1) We have a Concrete experience, 2) We develop Reflective Observation and Connections, 3) We generate Abstract hypothesis, 4) We then do Active testing of those hypotheses, and therefore have a new Concrete experience, and a new Learning Cycle ensues.

In other words, we 1) get information (sensory cortex), 2) make meaning of that information (back integrative cortex), 3) create new ideas from these meanings (front integrative cortex) and 4) act on those ideas (motor cortex). From this I propose that there are four pillars of learning: gathering, analyzing, creating, and acting.

This is how we learn. Now, learning this way requires effort and getting out of our comfort zones. A key condition for learning is self-driven motivation, a sense of ownership. To feel in control, to feel that one is making progress, is necessary for this Learning Cycle to self-perpetuate. Antonio Damasio made a strong point on the role of emotions in his great Descartes' Error book.

AF: can we, as learners, motivate ourselves? How can we become better learners?

JZ: Great question, because in fact that is a uniquely human ability, at least to the degree we can do so. We know that the Frontal Lobes, which are proportionally much larger in humans than in any other mammal, are key for emotional self-regulation. We can be proactive and identify the areas that motivate us, and build on those. In other words, the Art of the Learner may be the Art of Finding Connections between the new information and challenges and what we already know and care about.

If I had to select one Mental Muscle that students should really exercise, and grow, during the schooling years, I'd say they need to build this Learning Muscle. Learning how to Learn. That might be even more valuable than learning what we stress in the curriculum, i.e., the subjects we teach.

AF: Do you think this is happening today in our schools?

JZ: I don't think so. First, of all, too many people still believe that Education means the process by which students passively absorb information. Even if many educators would like to ensure a more participatory and active approach, we still use the structures and priorities of another era. For example, we still pay too much attention to categorizing some kids as intelligent, some as not so, instead of focusing on how they could all learn more.

Second, learning and changing are not that easy. They require effort, and also, by definition, getting out of our comfort zones. We need to try new things, and to fail. The Active Testing phase is a critical one, and sometimes our hypothesis will be right, and sometimes wrong. The fear of failing, the fear of looking un-smart, is a key obstacle to learning that I see too often, especially for people who want to protect perceived reputations to such an extent that they can't try new genuine Learning Cycles.

AF: Fascinating. Given what you just said, how do you help your students become better learners?

JZ: Despite the fact that every brain is different, let me simplify and say that I usually observe 2 types of students, with different obstacles to learning and therefore benefiting from different strategies.

... we continue this interview in Part 2

Copyright (c) 2007 Alvaro Fernandez

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Learning Skills 101 - What Are Learning Skills?

So what are learning skills anyway? Most of us were never taught about these underlying mental skills that lay the foundation for our ability to learn. We were always taught that we could learn if we set our mind to it. Between home and school we should be fine. If not, just see a tutor for a bit and you will be good to go. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to learn in this type of scenario. Why? Well, how easily and efficiently we learn is based on how strong our underlying learning skills are. This definitely turned out to be the case for my daughter and all of the students who have worked through my system.

The skills we use to learn with are technically known as working memory, attention, processing, auditory analysis (including auditory processing), visual processing, word attack and logic and reasoning. We see these skills play out everyday based on how well we can pay attention, how well we can remember, how well we can process what we hear (we hear fine - its the processing of the sounds), how well we can process what we see (letter reversals, etc.), how well we can read unknown words (beyond the words we may have memorized) and how well we can plan, organize and problem solve. For each of these learning skills there are sub-categories that exist too.

Lets explore an example of a student who has weak attention skills. In this example, we have a student is able to attend to one thing at a time only. However, the student will state that they get distracted very easily. After I work them through a series of exercises I can tell whether or not this is truly the case. 9 times out of 10 it is not the case. You see, students like this one tend to hyperfocus on their targeted input. They zone in on the teacher and everything else around them disappears. So, when an additional task is being introduced that requires processing, they are conflicted because they can only attend to one thing at a time and state they get distracted. In actuality, their "divided attention" skill is very weak along with their ability to process more than one thing at a time.

A student with the above weakness will show easy distraction but will also have great difficulty with remembering information coming from different inputs at the same time, especially is one is auditory. This student is able to take notes and process the input in the brain. However, if the teacher begins "discussing" the topic of the notes on the board, the student is lost. Similarly, if the teacher started to talk first, the student would be able to process this input but once the teachers asks the student to start writing notes along with the teacher speaking, the student would be unsuccessful. They are unable to share processing within the brain.

The good news is that the above weak skill is just one of many that you are able to strengthen due to the brain's ability to develop and grow. A student doesn't need to struggle with this weak skill set any longer. The Enhanced Learning Skills System was designed to strengthen learning skills required to learn and read easier and more efficiently. Call me today for an assessment and let's begin working together to help your child learn with ease.

Copyright © Enhanced Learning Skills for Kids 2009

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