Many people learn well through their sense of sight. They can watch someone do something and then they can duplicate the task with practice. Other people learn well through their sense of hearing, listening to instructions. Most people tend to learn best through a combination of their senses, including seeing, hearing, and doing. Doing is kin-aesthetic or our sense of feeling. Other learning moments rely heavily on taste and smell, such as when someone strives to be a chef. For most of us, it is the feel/do experience that helps us truly integrate new information and skills. Once we actively participate in what we are learning, we progress more easily.
Many years ago I worked as an adaptive physical education teacher in San Diego, California. Some of my students were “severely emotionally disturbed.” I remember an eight year old boy who couldn’t write her name. His teacher didn’t know how to help him succeed since all his previous efforts had failed. One day, I wrote the boy’s name on the ground with chalk in big, big letters. I asked him to walk over each letter, tracing them with the movement of his body. Every time he did, I asked him to say the lyrics. After this experience she knew how to spell his name. I simply needed to integrate this information kin-aesthetically. He was relaxed and enjoying himself. This is right brain learning.
It is natural to learn through our senses. We see, hear, smell, taste and feel. These signals are received by the body before reaching the brain with consciousness. Children will visually study an object with great intensity. They touch things on the cheek or lips. They often smell or taste things. Why do babies put everything in their mouths? It is because they are learning about the world around them through their language. They touch and feel in much broader ways because it’s natural. First they learn through their senses and then they learn to think. We are all like that. Sensory learning is primary and logical learning is secondary. When we use more of our mind’s natural abilities to learn, we have more resources to create successful results.
There are four parts to the learning process:
1. The part of the teacher is to share the information.
2. The student’s part is to focus on what is happening.
3. The student’s part is to receive and hopefully fully integrate the new information.
4. The student’s part is to remember the information when it is needed, such as when taking a test or when it is useful in a real-life situation.
Regarding #1, the part of the teacher sharing information, it is interesting to note that as children in kindergarten, we are happily guided to learn new things through the participation of our senses. We learn our alphabet through a song, we learn the months and how many days they have through a rhyme “September, April, June and November have 30 days…” We learn simple addition and subtraction by counting elements such as blocks or sticks while moving them from From one place to another. We actively participate through sensory awareness.
Some of these tactile learning skills remain through first and second grade, but often by third grade, most of the teaching shifts from right-brain teaching to left-brain teaching. This means that it changes from primarily sensory learning to secondary logical learning. Now we are taught to memorize multiplication tables, or names or dates and math is just numbers on paper. There is a better way.
Learning through sensory awareness of the right brain is paramount.
Learning through the intellectual concepts of the left brain is secondary.
Studies show that when kids engage in right-brain activities like music or dance, they do better with left-brain activities like math and English. When we teach children through right brain approaches, they feel more stimulated and excited. Instead of feeling bored, they can learn in an engaging and enjoyable way.
Let’s look at #2, the student’s ability to focus. The lack of this ability is often labeled ADD or ADHD. I firmly believe that it is unrealistic to expect a young child to sit in a chair for many hours every day while their brain is receiving information. Many children are given medication so that they can fit into this unnatural mold. Young animals are naturally active and energetic. Another common influence behind this problem is lack of sleep. When children are tired, they have to overstimulate themselves in order to stay awake.
Consider a young child who has spent most of her time at home, where the environment tends to be peaceful. Even with siblings, the amount of external stimulation is limited. Now this same child is three or four or five years old and they put him in a room with twenty or twenty-five other children. This child is inexperienced in learning to block out so much external stimulation. Even if the room is quiet, many children are very sensitive and can feel the abundance of energy in the room.
Why do we expect all children to be able to automatically focus in the classroom when most of them have never had the opportunity to learn to do so?
Right brain and memory strength
Using the following story, I would like to develop the idea of using sensory learning for further integration of information and to make it easier to recall information at a later time. When we use our senses, it is easier to remember information when it is needed.
“You’re riding a bike and you see a shiny piece of quartz crystal on the ground. You stop and pick it up. You hold it up to the sunlight and you can see a little rainbow in the background. Now you come to a big fountain with something unusual at the top. The water flows down into 3 pools. There are pennies and coins in each pool. Make a wish and drop your piece of quartz crystal into the water. It sparkles in the water.”
sensory integration
* You are riding a bicycle – Picture this in your mind. feel it What kind of bike is it? What color is your bike?
* Do you see the shiny quartz crystal – what shape, size, etc.
* You hold it in the sunlight – Feel the sun shining on your face.
*You see a little rainbow inside – Describe it to me. (Look.)
* You come to a fountain with something unusual on it. What’s on top? describe it to me (Look)
* Water flows down into 3 pools of water filled with pennies and coins (Look at it. See the coins sparkling under the water. Feel the water splashing on your face.)
* Imagine making a wish and throwing your crystal into the water where the sunlight shines.
I tell this story two or three times while asking the child to participate through their imagination. Then I ask the child to tell me the story. Most children find this easy to do, and they tend to be quite accurate in remembering the key elements. This is regardless of how much time passes. Even weeks later, they can still retell the story with relative ease.
I have used the following ideas to help children learn to focus more effectively:
Laser beam
First, we talk about lasers. A laser bean takes randomly flowing scattered electrons and moves them in one direction. Instead of dispersing, the electrons form a line of energy, a laser that is powerful enough to burn a hole or soft enough to perform delicate eye surgery. What started out as scattered chaos becomes focused and purposeful.
Then we talk about how the mind is like that. It can be scattered or it can be like a laser beam. When it’s like a laser beam, it has a lot of power. I also mention that when you are listening to your teacher or concentrating on school work, that is the best time for your mind to be like a laser beam. Then we can perform the following activity:
laser beam activity
Sit directly across from the child you are helping, face to face when possible. Tell him to be like a laser beam. All they can do is focus on you and your voice. No matter what else is going on around them, they are more focused on you and what they are learning. Now retell the story.
Next we add some external stimulation. I have another person stand behind the child who is sitting. This person’s job is to be a distraction. They can talk, jump, clap, etc. They continue to do this as you retell the story. You can give the suggestion: “No matter how much is happening around you, you focus more like a laser beam. You focus like a laser beam and nothing bothers or disturbs you.” This goes on several times and each time the level of distractions increases. Lastly, ask the child to tell you the story to see how well he was able to focus on you, regardless of distractions. This process can be repeated with other stories and great results can be found when we use the information that the child needs to learn for school. We can take your most challenging subject area and turn it into a successful and enjoyable experience.
The following is a real life example to show how this same sensory learning can work in more advanced learning situations for adults.
I worked with a client who was fifty years old when he decided to start a new career. She wanted to be an accountant. She was overwhelmed by the amount of information she needed to learn and she was very worried about passing the exam. Now, nothing can be further from creative influences than accounting and numbers, but we were able to use the strengths of the right brain in the process of learning her.
In his imagination we created a neighborhood. In the first house lived a single mother with two children. We place the necessary tax information on the door and around the house. We thread it into the life of this single mom. The next store was a man who worked at home. Again, we imagine this man, what he did for a living and what tax benefits he got for working at home. For example, “You are allowed to cancel ‘x’ percentage of his utilities” was turned into a picture of his lights throughout the house, each displaying the number representing the percentage allowed for tax benefits. We soon had a complete neighborhood complete with clues for most of the necessary information.
I am happy to say that this customer passed his test the first time! She felt calm and capable at all times. The information she needed was easy to remember, and instead of being stressed, she had a good time.
These few examples demonstrate ways to bring right-brain sensory processing to learning. Here are some basic thoughts to keep in mind as you go:
* Make the images as real as you can – feel like it’s really happening.
* The sillier the image, the easier it is to remember the information. (Think of the Geico gecko.)
* Connect one idea with another so that they form an argument.
* Invent a song or a rhythm to remember the information.
*Relax and enjoy the process!
When we use more of our minds to learn, learning is fun and easy. Relaxation and enjoyment allow you to integrate and access new information much more easily. Imagine how different our educational system would be if we decided to adopt this natural way of learning! Are you ready to experience what your brain can do for you?