Emotions can Impact Learning
By Max Dean
How the Brain reacts to Learning
Hey teachers, did you know that learning is amplified by a challenge? Well it is! According to recent theories by scientists , learning is also increased by being happy relaxed, and in a generally good mood. A persons ability to think directly correlates to physical and emotional well-being. This means that we should make our classrooms more relaxed and a fun place to be in. Learning something new uses your whole brain, including unconscious and conscious thoughts! While using all parts of your brain, the physiology of your brain changes. This can also be a bad thing though because if you learn too fast, you can become tired and your head can start to hurt because it is growing too fast. So we need to be careful so that our students want to come to our class and not tech too fast so that some students can keep up!
The Brain
As you can see above, the frontal lobe and parietal lobe take about half of your brain. The frontal lobe recognizes patterns and encompasses your ability to concentrate and problem solve. The parietal lobe evaluates information from your five senses and makes sense of them. So, if you can have your lessons involve taste, touch, smell, sight and touch, the students will use more of their brain and therefore learn more.
Happy Cows and Happy Farmers
There was a study of farms across Scandinavia and the results were astounding. The study showed that a happy farmer that treated the cows well produced richer milk and meat than a cow with an aggressive farmer, a nervous farmer, or and impatient farmer. The study put farmers into four categories.
The cows that were petted, and talked to were social and happy. The cows who's farmers were patient and calm had similar but weaker results than happy cows. The cows who's farmer was dominant and aggressive were nervous and frustrated. The cows who's farmer was nervous and uncertain were bored and apathetic. We can apply this knowledge to our classrooms to allow to students to learn more. A happy teacher is a happy student and will therefore learn more.
Farmer Categories
- Those who pet and talk to the animals
- Those who are patient and calm
- Those who were dominant and aggressive
- Those who were nervous and uncertain
The cows that were petted, and talked to were social and happy. The cows who's farmers were patient and calm had similar but weaker results than happy cows. The cows who's farmer was dominant and aggressive were nervous and frustrated. The cows who's farmer was nervous and uncertain were bored and apathetic. We can apply this knowledge to our classrooms to allow to students to learn more. A happy teacher is a happy student and will therefore learn more.
Sources
Cain, R. N., G. M. Edelman, E. W. Eisner, H. Gardner, R. Sylvester, Fennema E., T. Carpenter, M. Loef Frank, Kovalik S., B. McCarthy, K. D. Olsen, and R. Marzano. "How Can Research on the Brain Inform Education?" Classroom Compass. Web. 2 Feb. 2016.
"Happy Farmer, Happy Cow." Sciencenordic.com. Web. 02 Feb. 2016.