Article: What's Going On Inside the Brain of a Curious Child?
This article was about a study done with adults and their curiosity to learn. They were given a 100 different trivia questions and were asked to rate their curiosity for the answer. While participants reviewed the questions, their brain activity was being monitored via an MRI machine. Researchers noticed that when participants were most curious about the topic the areas of the brain that control pleasure and reward lit up and that there was increased activity in the hippocampus. Research also showed that participants remembered more about the topics they were most interested in than the topics they weren't.
The author related this information back to peaking interest in kids in the classroom. They mention learning what the children are interested in and using that to help teach. If you use what students are interested in, they are more likely to remember that information.
After reading this article, I can relate to the information they mention. Looking back through my college career, the professors that used information that related to me and what I was interested in, that is the information I can recall now. If I was just being taught to get through a lesson, that information was lost as soon as I completed the course. I can also relate this information to my work place. I work with an acute care (in hospital) physical therapy team and one of the first questions the patient is asked, is what their goals are. If they just had a knee replacement and they eventually want to get back to running, we use that information to relate to their treatment. When we do that, patients always seem more motivated and eager to work with us.
Using interests to teach is definitely something I wish school systems better understood! It is amazing the things I have retained from years ago simply because I was interested in the topic. And I can definitely see why the parts of the brain that control pleasure and reward light up -- it is so satisfying to find answers to your curiosities!
ReplyDeleteThis article was really interesting! I guess it makes sense that we pay attention and remember more about topics that interest us more. I thought it was cool how they related it back to a real life situation of children in the classroom to try to assist teachers with children’s learning styles. It is so true in a rehab setting as well! I work at an outpatient clinic and if you meet the patient where they are, it is beneficial for everyone.
ReplyDeleteSo true! I know in my experiences throughout college I definitely feel the same way as you. When it's something that I don't really care about (it's more like a cram session), I don't retain the information at all. Like you said though, stuff that actually interests me, I can recall whenever. I like that you used this article for growth mindset, because it can play a role in the mindset for sure. Wouldn't it be nice if we could some how adjust our way of thinking to spark interest and retain information, even if we really aren't interested?
ReplyDeleteAnyways, great post!
I think this is such a crazy and cool growth mindset post. I know through my experiences in college I felt the exact same way sitting in a classroom. I have an issue with information retention and it really is so frustrating! It also is cool that your post had something to do with real life and it relates back.
ReplyDelete