The Natural Human Learning Process helps me achieve success in college as well as everyday life. I have found it useful to understand how the brain grows and develops during the learning process, and how the emotions control learning. This information is great to pass on to others to give them a better understanding on how the brain works, and how this process can help them.
According to Dr. Smilkstein, learning is a biological process that involves physical growth in your brain. The more time and practice you spend learning something (whatever it is) the more your brain changes and grows. When you learn, the neurons (nerve cells) in your brain grow fibers called dendrites that make connections (via synapses) with other dendrites, forming a
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My motivation to learn how to cook was my child. Before I had children, I always watched my grandmother cook. She made all types of things. My favorite was collard greens and fried chicken. When I tried to make fried chicken for the first time, I didn’t fry the chicken all the way through. The chicken still had blood in it. After watching my grandmother fry chicken a few more times and trying to cook it over myself, I got better at it. I started challenging myself more and more. When I took a bite into the chicken I fried, there was no blood. The chicken was fully cooked. After that my confidence level went sky high. I said to myself, “cooking is a piece of cake to me now.” I fried chicken twice a week, I even started to put my own taste of seasonings in it. Once I mastered making the fried chicken, I then taught my brother how to make it.
When learners feel unconfident or anxious, certain feelings flow through the synapses to shut them down. When learners feel more confident, different chemicals flow into the synapses to make them work quickly and well. The more we grow the more we know. I use my skill on a daily basis. I cook breakfast, lunch and dinner for my family. I even prepare snacks throughout the day. I also cook for different events such as, baby showers and parties. This Sunday, I am cooking for my sister’s baby shower. I will be cooking a numerous amount of dishes for
Learning is one of the things that help us survive. Darwin taught us that learning is the survival mechanism that we use to survive in our ever-changing environments. Our brains are designed to learn. They are plastic, meaning they can adapt, change and grow. In our brains there are neurotransmitters, and neurotrophins. They both have a role in turning different circuits on off, and getting different signals to different parts of our bodies. Some neurotrophins are called factory, and one of those is BDNF, or brain-derived neurotrophic factor. This chemical has been called, fertilizer for neurons. Exercise has been shown to increase BDNF leve...
“Motivation is the process whereby goal-orientated activity is instigated and sustained” (Schunk, Pintrich & Meece, 2008. As cited in Eggen & Kauchak, 2010, p.284). Motivation comes in many forms and can be divided into two broad categories - extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivators are external factors which can motivate a student; rewards are an example of this. An issue with extrinsic motivators is that the desire for the learner to participate often lessens, once the rewards are withdrawn (McCullers, 1987). On the other hand intrinsic motivation comes from within - learning for the joy of it - where the desire to learn leads to a higher level of knowledge, and is a reward in itself. Kohn (1996, p.285) states that research suggests, “Rewards actually decrease interest in intrinsically motivating tasks, therefore sending the wrong message about learning” (as cited in Eggen & Kauchak, 2010a)
Dr. Smilkstein’s learning process is brilliant. The Natural Human Learning Process describes the six steps that the human brain goes through when learning something new. The process describes the way we learn different skills and the way our emotions can determine the way we learn. This process has helped me and other humans to understand the way the human brain works along with the way we learn.
There are multiple stages of learning throughout a person's life, and each person will inevitably experience each of these stages.
Knowledge and skills come from experience and study, and therefore a lot of the things we learn are from what we observe. In psychology, learning is divided into 3 different parts, so this essay will elaborate on them. The three are; classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and cognitive learning. First, the Classical Condition is characterised by the things that are not learned; that we are born responding to. Also, in the classical conditioning there is the neutral stimulus that causes a sensory response such as being seen, heard, or smelled. The second stimulus is the unconditioned stimulus, which is a stimulant that brings a person to perform a reaction. Also, the conditioned stimulus is when you already know what your reaction will be before the unconditioned stimulus reacts. Then, there is Operant Conditioning, which focuses on trying to increase or decrease a behaviour. Last, there is the Cognitive Learning also called modeling, which involves a mental process in which a person imitates what they see. (Major, Autumn 2016)
What is learning? The process of learning begins as early as one is in the womb. Before birth, babies learn to recognize the mom’s voice (Paul, 2011). The learning process continues with learning to adapt oneself with the new environment, learning to crawl, eat, walk, talk, read and etc. The definition of learning can be interpreted in many ways. Ormrod (184: 2006) defines learning as a change of behaviour and mental representations due to experience. Robson (2006, as cited in Hayes, 2012: 178) described learning as consequences of thinking which includes the use of imagination playfulness and the ability to learn from and with others. To my understanding, the learning process enhances one’s knowledge on a topic or subject which
The essential aspects of a self-directed learner are someone who is fully engaged in the learning process and takes it upon themselves to demonstrate their interest in learning. They also tend to be concious of the deadlines and in control of their time management. “Even when learning is enjoyable (which, for the successful self-directed learner, it usually is), it often requires discipline. The self-directed learner knows (or learns!) how to develop and maintain discipline. (Cobb, 2017) Those that are intrinsic motivated share some of the same characteristics as the self-directed learner in the aspects of being genuinely interested in learning without having to get the external motivation to do so. Intrinsic motivation is defined as the doing
Learning is defined as a permanent change in attitude or behaviour that occurs as a result of repeated experience (Sims & Sims, 1995). Understanding one’s learning style has many advantages as it can help one to identify the learning method or activities that can help to optimise the learning experience. It has been suggested that the importance of one’s learning style has been identified through studies and research on how one can maximise the potential for success and further learning development (Honey & Mumford, 2006). Learning styles are unique to each individual and are developed in childhood (Chase, 2001). We all have different personalities; therefore we all have preferred learning styles that suit us best. The way one learns depends on preference. Some learn by observing, listening and imitating others and draw conclusions from their experience. There are several factors that affect our learning style; for example, background, culture, religion and environment can have a major influence on one’s learning.
According to the text, “ Therefore, motivation to learn can be defined as the psychological process that direct and sustain student’s behavior toward learning.” (Moreno 328) In other words, motivation is a mental desire that comes from your mind when you find something familiar that matches with your comfort level towards learning. For example, when is child motivated? They are motivated when they are given the activities they are actually interested in. If the lesson is out of what they expected it to be, then, automatically they lose their interest on doing it. One claim that can be made is, Effective Learning occurs when teacher promotes Intrinsic Motivation in the classroom. “Intrinsic Motivation is defined as the
Think like a teacher. One of the best ways to learn something new is to be required to teach it to someone else. It forces you to internalize and distill new information quickly.
Throughout the course of history many people in time had no idea that many creatures of life had brains. With remarkable breakthroughs in technology and through human ability to take pictures of the human brain through head scans, scientists have discovered and mapped out the human brain. As neuroscientists understand how the brain works, discovery of brain-based learning has been a growing field ever since. Education is extremely important for human beings because the more educated we are as a society the better we contribute to society. Knowledge is extremely powerful and as a future educator, understanding how the brain works and developing lesson plans surrounding the inner workings of the brain will allow learning to manifest in the classroom.
Motivation to learn- The motivation is possibly for self-esteem, recognition or the possibility of a better quality of life.
Connectionism which states that behavioral responses to specific stimuli are established through a process of trial and error that affects neural connections between the stimuli and the most satisfying responses. Thorndike postulated that the most fundamental type of learning involves the forming of associations (connections) between sensory experiences (perceptions of stimuli or events) and neural impulses (responses) that manifest themselves behaviorally. He believed that learning often occurs by trial and error (selecting and connecting). (Schunk, 2016) Human learning can be very complex because people in this world like to learn when they connect ideas, analyze things and reason certain things. I would also agree that in order for someone to learn something there has to be an opportunity to try something and eventually errors will come up. A mistake is something that will keep us learning new things. For some people connectionism is not effective because they are afraid from failure. With errors occurring, connectionism can be damaging.
The learning process in human beings is very natural, and we all want to learn from a very young age. Doctor Rita Smilkstein studied learning in humans for many years and has found this to be true. After reading this paper and learning about how the brain works during the learning process, you may be able to find a time in your life where you utilized the learning process, just as I began to think about how I have learned something using techniques similar to the NHLP. (“We're Born to Learn: Using the Brain's Natural Learning Process to Create Today’s Curriculum”)
Motivation is really important tool in a learning environment. Also motivation effects student learning and their behavior as well. It directs behavior towards particular targets. Also it effect the decision which students takes. In motivation mainly we have two types which is intrinsically and extrinsically being motivated. For example: when a student is intrinsically motivated they just do it for themselves not because of the reward that they will get back. It’s just because they have their own interest and they enjoy doing that. On the other side, when a student is extrinsically motivated they just do it for the reward that they will get. That’s why in learning process it’s important that each student should