Sometimes it’s easy to focus, to listen, to learn. Sometimes it’s hard and sometimes it just seems plain impossible. No matter how good you think your learning design or your content are, if you haven’t considered how to put people in the right state to learn at the start, and how to keep them there, your efforts will have been wasted.
Curious, reflective, energised, attentive, puzzled, engaged, questioning, social, nervous, bored, relaxed, confident, confused, creative, challenged and challenging – these are some of the emotional and physical states people experience as they learn.
Stella Collins presented this session at Aurion Connections in Belfast on 14 September.
Uncover some of the psychology and neuroscience that underpins our motivation to learn and find out how you can influence what happens in the brain to aid learning.
Adapt your design and delivery to shift people from unhelpful to resourceful learning states and apply the latest research to practical challenges such as:
• How do you promote creative thinking?
• How can you use the graveyard slot to enhance learning naturally?
• How do you provoke curiosity and encourage exploration?
• What promotes long term memory – and what interferes?
• Top tips to change people’s mind sets naturally
3. www.aurionlearning.comE-LEARNING | TRAINING AND SUPPORT | PLATFORMS
View from here…
• what states promote learning?
• what is going on in your brain?
• practical things to do to change states
5. www.aurionlearning.comE-LEARNING | TRAINING AND SUPPORT | PLATFORMS
Different states @ Different stages
Get curious
and motivated
Reflect
Review
Explore
Consolidate
memoryPractise
Attend to
information
Apply
Challenge
16. www.aurionlearning.comE-LEARNING | TRAINING AND SUPPORT | PLATFORMS
Neurotransmitters
By Thomas Splettstoesser (www.scistyle.com) (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Axon terminal
Synaptic gap
Dendrite
neurotransmitter
vesicle
Voltage gated
calcium ion channel
receptor
Neurotransmitter
transporter
22. www.aurionlearning.comE-LEARNING | TRAINING AND SUPPORT | PLATFORMS
Email info@stellarlearning.co.uk RIGHT NOW with title
‘Resources’ to receive:
1. Free sample of Chapter 1 - Neuroscience for
Learning and Development
2. Plus 20% discount off the book
Mind shift: moving people to a positive learning state
Stella Collins
Curious, reflective, energised, attentive, puzzled, engaged, questioning, social, nervous, bored, relaxed, confident, confused, creative, challenged and challenging – these are some of the emotional and physical states people experience as they learn. In this interactive session with Stella Collins, discover how they might all be valuable to the long term retention and application of learning.
Uncover some of the science that underpins our motivation to learn and find out how you can influence what happens in the brain to aid learning. Adapt your design and delivery to shift people from unhelpful to resourceful learning states and apply the latest research to practical challenges such as:
· How do you promote creative thinking?
· How can you use the graveyard slot to enhance learning?
· How do you provoke curiosity and encourage exploration?
· What hormones promote long term memory – and which ones interfere?
· Top tips to change people’s mind sets naturally
Why do different states matter to learning - surely you can just be in one mood whilst learning
There are various stages to learning and here are elements of a simplified learning process – you may be able to think of more
In each one a different state might be more or less helpful to that stages of the learning process
These states are likely to be connections between your mind, your body, your emotions - so let’s explore which ones you think are going to be helpful for learning
Boredom, fed up, distracted, stressed
Boredom can lead to creative thinking- and action if you can kick start yourself
People prefer pain to boredom - so may seek out learning http://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6192/75
Stress can impact negatively on learning – long term cortisol levels damage retention and recall - Interferes with sleep
Curiosity – stimulates dopamine – just before curiosity satisfied
Motivates you to find out more – also addictive
Guessing improves learning
Sleep – no good for new learning (input) but vital for laying down memories and long term memory retention
Dreaming may be useful for rehearsing motor learning
Need serotonin for good sleep patterns
Alertness – tenseness – challenge – useful for paying attention to taking in new stuff – tagged with a shot of short term adrenaline for longer term retention
Noradrenaline - vigilance
Reflection – time to plan / contemplate / consolidate
Relaxed state – possibly serotonin
Reflective Visualisation – alpha waves
Got it – fun – pleasure – physical activity
Dopamine and endorphins both associated with pleasure and motivated activity – addictive –you’ll want to repeat it – useful for learning.
Endorphins create longer term calm – may be useful for later reflection/ reduce pain
Glutamate linking and binding neurons
Fear – adrenaline – fight / flight/ flock and cortisol for dealing with situation
Adrenaline may be useful for tagging memories/ events for long term retention – but not useful for any of the reflective elements of learning
Cortisol – maybe related to strong ‘flash’ memories – PTSD etc but damages long term retention and recall – especially if too much and interferes with sleep patterns
Are there others you can think of?
Argumentative
Closed/ hidden
Not engaged
All sorts of stuff but some significant players are neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitters – a group of chemicals that pass information/ messages in your brain
Wide variety – explore some to give you an idea of what’s happening in different states
What’s a neurotransmitter?
Chemical that passes messages in the brains – discovered about 100 so far but scientists think many more to be discovered
Some generated by neurons and some other glands and have an effect on brain eg adrenaline – renal gland
Let’s think about some states that are useful for learning – and what might be happening
What does curiosity look like – act curious – head on side – put postit on it’s side to simulate curiosity – easy technology trick
When we are about to have our curiosity piqued we can get a release of dopamine
It’s rewarding so we do it again – great driver for learning
More engaging than being told and quite addictive
We often want people to be creative and make links when learning but what state do we need to be in to be creative?
Group exercise – 5 top hits for creativity – share with other groups – what helps you be creative
Alpha brainwaves – unfocused, relaxed, open
Also serotonin and dopamine – both open/ optimistic and energised/ motivated
Chocolate contains tryptophan –a precursor of serotonin
Some research to show oxytocin increases empathy/ social bonding and possibly divergent thinking – but short lasting – and also envy or gloating
What can you do technology wise – social bonding – social learning
It’s famous – and doesn’t matter if people are face to face or learning through technology – those periods when you just can’t focus/ pay keen attention
Reflect or re-energise? Hands up?
Reflect : GABA - Reduce adrenaline, cortisol –alpha waves dominate – yoga seems to promote GABA (gamma amino butyric acid)
Or re-energise – noradrenaline for vigilance, endorphins - euphoria - beta waves dominate - Acetyl – choline – important for attenttion
Technology – could build in reflective ‘gorming’ moments – music, slide reviews etc
Caffeine – 20 mins visualisation – ready to go
Time to stop challenging – accept the learning/ useful for attitude shifts
3 minute mindfulness check
Most Abundant neurotransmitter – promotes linking – precursor for GABA – almost all excitatory neurons use GABA
How can you promote links in your tech based learning – make opportunities for learners to create own links
- don’t want too much – just enough -
Sleeping and dreaming
Technology – spaced
Cortisol – not so good for long term learning – time to sleep and reflect in between sessions – reduce stress
Serotonin helps you to sleep