How we learn

For those of you still getting to know me, I have a background in education. I do have a bachelors and two masters in education. I am currently not certified to teach, but that is something I am working on. Because of my background, I am always looking at different ways we learn, different ways to teach information, and different aspects that can affect learning.

One of my favorite classes when I was in school was a class on Brain Based Learning. I enjoyed the class so much that I actually kept my used text book for future referencing, which believe it or not I did do in classes after that and will again today.



The basis of the class was to explain how people learn differently. Many schools will talk about learning styles, like visual or audio learners, but there are also other aspects that affect learning for each individual. Here is some information on the different learning styles. Which one fits you?



Now, I personally learn quite a few different ways so it is important for me to recognize that. I learn and retain information better if I physically do the work, read about it, and see it. For example, last summer I made my own soap mold to use with my soap bars. I was very intimidated by power tools before that, but using the tools, cutting the wood myself, and attaching the pieces together helps me to better understand how power tools work. Now they aren't as intimidating or scary.

While I do agree it is important to understand how we each learn efficiently, Brain based learning takes that a step further and looks at other factors that influences how we learn in both positive and negative ways.

Some of the things that can influence learning are:

1. Biological differences
2. Physical movement
3. Stress and Threats
4. Senses

Let's look at each of these a bit more.

Biological Differences

I'm not a sexist person but biology does make a difference in how we learn. In general, men's brains are about 10% larger, are approximately 100 grams heavier, have more cortical neurons, and men have better distance vision and depth perception than women. However, women's ears are better at picking up sound, nuances of voice, sensitive sense of touch, and stronger sense of smell. Men and women also have very different approaches for problem solving (Jensen, 2008, Brain Based Learning).

Physical Movement

Physical movement is a factor in learning as well. It enhances circulation, gives the brain more oxygen, stimulates mood-enhancing neurotransmitters, and enhances growth. This can be an issue for children with many schools having to cut physical education because of budget issues. Having a child with ADHD, I also see that physical activity allows her brain to take a break, regroup, and allows her to better focus on what she is learning.

Stress and Threats

When the brain perceives a threat, it plays a major role in learning. This is because when a brain is feeling threatened, the reaction can effectively stop or stunt the learning process. When threatened, the brain:

1. loses the ability to interpret environmental clues
2. loses the ability to index, store, and access information
3. responses are automatic and limited (more instinctual than anything)
4. affects the ability to retain information long term

That is just to name a few and doesn't include the physical aspects that stress and threats have on the body itself, like difficulty breathing.

Senses

Many people can relate to the information I provided above, but those are not the only factors in learning. Our body's 5 senses also have an impact on learning in ways that are not always considered.

Sight

-Color
The brain is wired to pay attention to bright colors, intensity, and movement.
Color affects a person based on mood and state of mind. For example, an anxious person may become aggressive when exposed to the color red.
Color preferences can also make a difference on whether or not you feel relaxed or depressed when walking into a room painted in a specific color.

-Lighting
Fluorescent lights can have a slight flicker and barely there hum, which can cause excessive blinking and raised cortisol levels.
Natural sunlight can increase learning progression, while a lack of natural light can decrease learning and cause additional health issues to arise like fatigue, infections, and posture problems.

Touch

The major factor for this sense that affects learning is temperature of a room. Every person's comfort range may vary, but being just one degree warmer than that comfort level is enough to disturb brain functions. Temperature is an important factor for me when it comes to learning. If I am too warm, I can not concentrate, have trouble focusing, struggle to stay awake, and retain information learned poorly if at all.

Taste

Many people recognize that eating is an important part of every day for our bodies and brains to perform at top levels.
Not having the proper nutrition can influence alertness, reaction time, quick thinking, attention span, information retention, memory, spatial abilities, and the ability to perform calculations.
Dehydration can also affect learning by increasing stress hormones, cause memory deficients, impair cognitive performance and increase discipline problems.

Smell

Anyone familiar with aromatherapy will understand how smells can affect a person's mood. Scents can calm a person,
center them, and help them focus. On the other hand, scents can also make it difficult to focus, cause physical reactions, and create a stressed student or adult. It is important to use caution with scents because it is not always easy to predict how someone will react to any given scent or a person's sensitivity level to a scent. Scent can be a trigger for other health issues as well including headaches and allergic reactions.

Sound

I have said before that I am sensitive to sounds. Loud sounds make it hard to focus, but soft sounds can do the same thing if I find them distracting. Sound is important because it can make a difference in whether or not the student can hear the information you are teaching. A large room, with a large group of students, may make it difficult for students to hear a soft spoken teacher. Learning styles can help with this section as well since some students may learn better if there is soft music playing in the background, though this could be a distraction to others.


I hope this tidbit of information that I learned from my Brain-Based Learning class gives you a bit of insight into how people learn, how different things affect learning for both children and adults, and what areas to be aware of when planning a classroom environment. All of the information above was pulled from different areas of the book pictured. I will follow up with more information in future posts.

How do you learn and what affects your learning?

Happy learning

Danielle