Learning: It’s not all in your head

Have you ever been bored to the point of almost falling asleep when trying to engage in a lecture based learning environment that you immediately forgot what was covered?

My wife Heather will attest to the fact that I can literally fall asleep anywhere, so maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think I am alone.

What if that same environment could be enhanced to make a more enjoyable experience and even more importantly, maximize learning and retention?

There are many tactics that could help including techniques to give more engaging presentations including stories, visuals, and facilitating dialogue with the group, but I won’t get into those tactics here. Instead, it might be worth a try to engage all of your senses including movement into the learning environment.

This idea comes from the work of Dr. Carla Hannaford. Carla is a biologist and award winning educator who wrote the book: Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All in Your Head

Her research presented in the book explores the role of movement in learning at all stages of life, not just in school as a child. The book goes deep into the functions of the four lobes of our brain 🧠.

By including activities like sports and music as well as movement in the classroom, all four lobes of the brain are engaged, enhancing learning.

It got me thinking about how beneficial my experiences in sports and music must have been to my learning and how I’m glad our kids are taking a similar path with their own favorite activities 🎹 🪈 ⛳️ 🏊‍♀️!

I also wonder about my work training and coaching adults at Ameriprise. There’s little to no movement involved in our training experiences on the job, online or in conference rooms. While I’m not sure swimming a few laps or jumping jacks would work in our setting, I am sure we could add movement, even just moving to another spot in a room, standing up or if we are adventurous, even asking participants to role-play certain scenarios including the physical aspects like meeting with a client or a colleague in the office.

What other ideas 💡 would you add to the topic?

Learn In The Flow Of Life

Jason