Dear Cheryl
Geoffrey and Renate Cain are regarded as leaders in the field of how we learn and
their 12
Principles of Learning underpin many of the programs around the world. Two of
these principles
particularly apply to your question ...
Principle #8: Learning is both conscious and unconscious
Learning involves layers of consciousness. Some learning requires a person to
consciously attend to
a problem that needs to be solved or analyzed. Some learning at a deeper level
requires unconscious
incubation in the same way that the creative insights of artists and scientists
sometimes occur
after the mind has done some unconscious processing.
Beyond that, really successful learners are also capable of monitoring themselves -
a central
feature of higher order functions - so that they know their own strengths and
weaknesses and can
take charge of how they learn.
Principle #7: Learning involves both focused attention and peripheral perception
It is well known that before human beings can learn or make effective decisions,
they must pay
attention. Attention is a natural phenomenon guided by interest, novelty, emotion,
and meaning.
Attention is critical to memory. What is less understood is the fact that human
beings also learn
from a context they rarely consciously attend to.
This is how the nuances of our cultures are taught and how children "pick up"
behaviors, beliefs,
and preferences or dislikes without ever having paid direct attention to how they
were learning
these (Schacter, 1996). Educators need to engage students in situations that call
for higher order
functions invoking and engaging students' natural and inborn need to attend and
make decisions.
http://www.cainelearning.com/principles.html
These principles underpinned the reason I always had many displays in the library
and the time I
spent producing them. Even if the staff and students were deliberately focusing on
what was there,
their subconscious was taking it in and there were so many instances when people
came back to me for
something based on what they had seen "out of the corner of their eye" that the
theories were
confirmed. While there wasn't chaos there was always change, and a lot of thought
went into the
library landscape, because the brain also seeks novelty for stimulation. We soon
no longer see
something that is always there. Some displays were interactive, others moved or
hung, others had
all sorts of glitz and glitter (usually recycled Christmas decorations), one about
refugees was
stark black and white photos on used newspaper and encased with barbed wire. All
appealed to
different clientele.
Barbara
Barbara Braxton
Teacher Librarian
PALMERSTON ACT 2913
AUSTRALIA
E. barbara@iimetro.com.au
"Together we learn from each other."
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