The Amazing Way We Learn
Albert Einstein once said “Once you stop learning, you start dying.” Every new day opens our minds to what there is to learn. Like the saying goes, “You learn something new every day.” Through studying how we learn, what motivates learning, and how emotions control our ability to learn, I am convinced that I have the keys to making straight A’s in college. Looking at what makes us motivated to accomplish goals in our lives and just how our emotions can affect our learning new skills. Let’s look at what Dr. Smilkstein has written about our learning process and our brain during the learning stage.
Dr. Rita Smilkstein wrote a book regarding the Natural Human Learning Process, also known as the NHLP. In her book she names and describes the six stages of how humans learn. The first stage describes what motivates a person to learn, whether it is necessity to learn, learning to do something because it seems fun, or because it may be expected of oneself. She says learning begins with motivation. The second stage is the beginning practice, this means how we gather information, observe others, trial and error, and/or practicing the activity we wish to learn. The third is what she calls the advanced practice stage. This is where one practices more and more and learns from the mistakes made. We gain more control of the skill we are learning and a new confidence in ourselves. Skillfulness is the fourth stage, this includes more practicing and learning to do it in our own way. We have a feeling of success in our achievement. The fifth stage is refinement. This is when we learn new methods as we continue to develop our skill. We gain some more independence. The last stage is what is called the mastery stage. This is where we continue to improve or we decide to drop the skill. We begin to take on greater challenges to become more advanced in our skill. These are the six stages in the learning process of humans according to Dr. Smilkstein. (Smilkstein, Ch. 2).
I see myself developing through these stages during the long process of becoming a nurturing mother. I wanted more for my child then I felt I was giving her. To begin practice, I would go to the library or bookstore and check out books on motherhood or parenting. I spent a great deal of time observing other mothers, my own included. I’ve met many amazing mothers who have the most well behaved children I have ever seen. That is what I wanted to be and what I wanted for my child and future children. I would also look at my beautiful little girl and began to learn from her what she needed. I would advance my practice by reviewing what I had been taught and what I had read. I made many mistakes, but more importantly, I learned so much from the mistakes I made. With each day brought new challenges I was faced with. I developed a much needed schedule for myself and my daughter. As I continued to have children, I achieved more and more confidence in myself as a mom. I became skillful as a mom by continuing to practice and developing my own style of parenting. It gives me such pride as a mom to hear teachers compliment each of my children on their behavior and positive attitudes. I feel that through the years I have refined my mothering skills by continuing to learning and listening to other moms on their methods. I have been asked by other moms what I would do in their certain situation. I am by no means saying that my job as a mom is easy, is sure is not, however I feel that I am in a better place as a mom than when I began this journey in September of 2000. I cannot say that I have mastered this skill. I believe parenting is one of the hardest and yet most rewarding skills I have ever seen or heard. I am very blessed to be the mom of my three children and would not change it for the world! These are the steps according to Dr. Smilkstein on how our brain learns. (Smilkstein, Ch. 2)
Smilkstein said that a neuron had many resemblences to that of a tree. Yes, you heard me correctly, a neuron and a tree look alike. The parts of a neuron and their function for each neuron’s growth is much the same as the parts of a tree and each one of their functions for the tree’s growth and life. If that’s not impressive, I don’t know what else is. The parts of a neuron are much like the parts of a tree in many ways. In fact the word dendrite is a Greek term meaning “tree-like.” The dendrite is much like the branches on a tree because just like branches on a tree receives nutrients through the tree to the leaves to help grow more leaves, a dendrite grows new dendrites for the neuron. Dendrites are multiple short fibers that extend from the neuron’s cell body and carries information from other neurons to the cell body. The cell body, also called the soma, processes nutrients and provides energy for the neuron to function. The soma contains the nucleus, which is the command center of our cell, much the same way that the heartwood of a tree is said to be the heart of the tree, providing structural support for the entire tree. The soma passes information from the dendrites to the axon, which is a long fiber that carries electrical impulses from the neuron to other cells in the body. The trunk of a tree resembles an axon by carrying nutrients from the roots up through to the other parts of the tree, it also looks like a tree trunk under a microscope. Myelin sheath surrounds the axon as its protective barrier, much the same way as bark on a tree protects the tree from external threats. When the bark on a tree is damaged, the tree can begin to die. The myelin sheath protects the axon from being damaged. The importance of the roots of a tree is to send nutrients up to the rest of the tree to help in the growth process, this is also true for the axon terminal of a neuron, which transfers electrochemical messages to other neurons through a process called synapses. A synapse is a small gap between two neurons that allows electric impulses to pass from one neuron to the next. This small opening is called a synaptic gap or synaptic cleft. The synaptic gap almost connects one neuron to another neuron, which is where synaptic firing takes place. (Smilkstein Ch. 3.)
It is synaptic firing which causes neurons to grow dendrites, and growing dendrites is the learning process. But did you know that the spark plug is similar to synaptic firing in your brain? If you didn’t, I’m going to explain it to you. The spark plug needs gasoline and air to fuel it. The synapse needs endorphins as its fuel source. Endorphins are released through our body when we are feeling good, when we are feeling safe, and when we are feeling all around happy. Spark plugs thread into your engine block in your car. They are responsible for delivering electric currents from the ignition system to the engine to ignite the compressed fuel and air mixture. The electricity begins at the top of the spark plug and travels through it til it reaches the end, this is where spark plug firing takes place. The process for synaptic firing takes place when an electrical impulse passes through the entire neuron and out through the axon terminals as a “synaptic spark.” It is endorphins being present that fuels a synaptic firing.
The electrochemical impulses moves through the dendrite and continues to pass through the cell body and on through the axon and axon terminals until it reaches the end, which is where the synaptic gap is located. The impulse creates a spark between the two neurons, resulting in synaptic firing. This synaptic gap is where the learning is taking place. However, if a person is feeling stress, than the chemical released in the brain is known as norepinephrine. Norepinephrine impedes or completely stops synaptic firing from taking place, which results in us not learning. So there you have it all, the amazing way our brains and car parts can be so similar.
How do our emotions, or the way we feel, affect our learning? That is a very good question and one that I am going to answer for you in this paragraph. When we are excited, feeling happy, or just plain having a great day, our body releases a chemical called endorphins. Endorphins are released in our brain and travel from one neuron to another through the process called synaptic firing. In the synaptic gap is where learning is taking place in our brain. On the contrary, when we are feeling anxious, stressed, or mad or body releases a hormone called norepinephrine. This hormone is sometimes referred to as a stress hormone. It causes the learning process to stop or shut down during synaptic firing. When we are happy, we are able to pay attention and think more clearly. We are eager to learn. However, when we are feeling anxious or stressed about something, our brain is not clear or focused. All we are able to think about is what it is that is making us feel anxious or stressed. Our brain is not eager to learn. I would like to say that it is not always easy to just shut off our emotions and to not feel what we are feeling at that moment, but just remember that we control our emotions. Let’s not let our emotions control us and our learning process!
While going to college can be very exciting, it can also come with quite a few stressors. I am not a young college student in her prime, I am a 35 year old wife and mother of 3 children, and also a daycare provider. I struggle with anxiety and have my whole life, anxiety has affected me with going back to school. I worry about being able to keep up with my school work and still be able to help my children with theirs, if needed. I worry that by me going to class Monday through Thursday that supper will still make it on the table each night. I don’t want my husband to have to feel overwhelmed by doing the nightly routine. I worry about tests and quizzes: What if I fail them? When my children have school functions in the evening, I am not able to attend them as easily. I don’t want my children feeling like I am not there for them as much as I was before. I am older than a lot of the students I see and am in classes with. These of course are just a few of the things that go through my mind about going back to college.
Of course college can be very stressful, but we do have some amazing resources that are readily available to us. I have been reading through the Study Guide and Learning Toolbox for ways to help me with stress. One of these that I have started doing is to make a daily schedule, which I found in the Study Guide (My Daily Schedule) section, for myself and my family. It has been very beneficial to our household. One way that I can manage my time and make sure I get my daily chores done and my homework is to sit down and write out an hourly schedule. Under the Managing Stress tab in the Study Guide it talks about how to change the way we look at stress, and also how to develop new stress relaxation techniques (Study Guide: Managing Stress). I may be an older student, but I am driven to succeed, which is why I have decided to follow what the study guide suggested, and write down my personal goals, found in the Study Guide, section labeled Organizing My Tasks, and the expected time I plan to complete my tasks (Study Guide: Organizing My Tasks). Another thing that I read on the study guide is to develop more effective study habits to help me with studying for tests and quizzes. My family has already told me how proud they are of me, and nothing could make me feel better about my choice then hearing them say that to me.
The brain and how we learn is a very interesting topic to research and discuss in great detail. From the stages of learning to what takes place in our brain to cause learning to take place. We learned that yes, our emotions and how we feel really does have a huge effect on our learning. We will feel many stressors in our everyday lives, but we are the ones who can decide to change the outcome of how we feel. So I conclude this essay with one last thing to say, put a smile on your face because each new day brings new happiness and a world full of things to learn!
Works Cited
"Managing Stress." Study Guides and Strategies. N.D. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.studygs.net/stress.htm>.
"Managing Stress and Organizing Tasks." Study Guides and Strategies. N.D. Web. 16 Feb. 2016
<http://www.studygs.net/schedule/stressb.htm>.
“My daily schedule.” Study Guides and Strategies. N.D. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.studygs.net/schedule/index1.htm>.
Smilkstein, Rita. We’re Born to Learn: Using the Brain’s Natural Learning Process to Create Today’s Curriculum, 2ndEd. Thousand Oaks, Cal.: Corwin, 2011.
“The Learning Toolbox.” The Learning Toolbox. N.D. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
<http://coe.jmu.edu/learningtoolbox/studentstart.htm>.