When the fun stops, learning often stops too
Judy Willis wrote an article on “The Neuroscience of Joyful Education” that begins with this quote:
Brain research tells us that when the fun stops, learning often stops too.
This should be posted in every classroom. She goes on to say that “A common theme in brain research is that superior cognitive inpiut to the executive function networks is more likely when stress is low and learning experiences are relevant to students.” Now I have to ask how stress free are our classrooms in which count downs to testing and focus on testing is the top priority - the end all, be all? Judy Willis points out that classrooms need to promote novelty, eliminate stress, and build pleasurable associations linked with learning. She says plan for the ideal emotional atmosphere by making it relevant, giving them a break, creating positive associations, and guiding students to learn how to prioritize information, and allow independent discovery learning.
All this got me thinking about joy in the classroom and how much joy I have seen blogging in the classroom with kids. I’m thinking in particular of the J. H. House kids as I have spent most of my time blogging with them. My next post is going to feature one of my favorite bloggers who has put a lot of joy in a few classrooms over the past few days.
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
eLearning certain allows us access to introduce novelty in our classroom more. Our brains actively seek out novelty. If you think about it what do we remember from the same mundane processes but what happens when we do something different we remember it!
However, novelty needs to be carefully planned. The challenge is to make novelty structured and managed so that it does not turn into a circus of choas. This can be seen from many NQTs I have seen over the year who are great and have so many great ideas but sometimes the execution is not very well thought out.
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:46 pm
We are always learning as we encounter new things in our everyday lives. Be it a new word that we hear from a person we came across, or a formula we had to learn for school works. But I think if we had fun when we had that “new learning”, I mean when we found it interesting and fun, our brain tend to remember it more. So somehow I agree with the phrase that was stated above –”Brain research tells us that when the fun stops, learning often stops too”.
And as for children, I do believe they should be educated in a way where they won’t find learning stressful and boring. Their young minds are just thinking of playing and fun, so educators should incorporate education with what children have in their minds for effective learning.
^_^ Thank you for giving the link for “The Neuroscience of Joyful Education”.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Personally, I learn better when there is fun and humor involved so this must be especially true of our students. I have thought for years that “Time-Life” should write all the textbooks and we should use the History and Discovery channels for inspiration as to make our lessons more lively and show some of the experiments and activities that we can’t do in the classroom. Since we also have to teach our students that everyday life is not always stress free and fun which mandates some routine lecturing etc., if we seek to interject fun and creativity into each grouping of lessons then we may find that learning increases at a rate that will be noticeable on our “testing” and prove that creative teaching is better than rote learning at meeting national standards.
March 25th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Dear Anne,
As a current Teacher Education student, this quote from Judy Willis is very aspiring. It is a goal of mine to relate my course content to the daily lives of my students so that they can create use of the information presented to them. Of course people like to know that what they are learning can be useful in their lives but it is also important for a teacher to remember that relating content to someone’s life is a way to increase a person’s attention and comprehension of the material as well.
This quote from Judy Willis also inspired my brainstorming as to what other methods of assessment I could use in a classroom that would allow all of my students the opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities regarding their different learning strategies. This has started me thinking as to what kinds of projects and activities that I could integrate along with exams into my curriculum to do this.
I am printing this quote to place into my resource file and hope that throughout my next few years as a Teacher Ed student and as a beginning teacher, that I will keep this in the back of my mind and plan my lessons with consideration for this idea.
Sincerely,
Melanie Griswold
March 27th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
I have attended conferences on Brain Based Research. I have found that the strategies used with this research definitely makes a difference in my classroom. Especially, when using them combined with Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence strategies.
March 30th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
This is a very big and interesting topic to blog about. As a student myself I have found that over the years I have become less and less engaged in learning and the entire school thing. Nothing throughout my grade school/high school career made learning fun and interesting to me and all I saw it as was a teachers opportunity to make or break a kids spirits with exams. Now that I am in college I can tell that I am not interested in learning because of the pressures that come after that with exams. As a teacher I will hopefully be able to show my students a good time and make learning a fun thing. Different teaching styles and projects can be a starting point.
March 31st, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Researchers are just starting to figure this out now?!?! As a student I feel that this topic has always been around and that it is interesting to reflect on my own academic career and see how closely related the relationship is between fun and learning. As the article, “The Neuroscience of Joyful Education”, stated kids look forward to entering kindergarten and first grade. Most students 3rd grade and up wish to be back in kindergarten and first grade. Why? Because that was when school was the most fun, or teachers made an effort to make school fun. No wonder drop out rates are higher in high school then they are in kindergarten! You rarely here of a kindergarten student saying they don’t want to go back to school, they actually enjoy it. But once a student gets older I feel some educators (especially in middle and high school) associate “fun” with chaos or immaturity. They are too busy trying to prepare students for the “real world” they lose sight of trying to inspire students by incorporating new ways of learning.
As a future English teacher, I feel that I have my work cut out for me in trying to keep English fun. Most students find most of their English classes boring. For a starting point, to stimulate students, I could even add a variety to a monotonous schedule. I could try to do just more then have students read and then discuss the next day in class. I can try incorporating such things as blogging. Students could blog about what they read and then I can have them comment on others students blogs. This ensures me that they are doing their daily reading and it also opens the doors to have the students help each other. I believe little steps like this can still make a big difference in the everyday monotonous world students go through.
April 16th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
As a middle school teacher, I continually observe the principle that when the fun of learning stops, then learning stops. In today’s social culture, our students are often fully engaged in learning only when the classroom environment reflects in some way an aspect of their out of school experiences to which they can relate. One way to retain some of that enthusiasm is to include aspects of that familiar environment such as blogging and computer games within the structure of the educational experience. When these familiar activities become part of the learning experience, students retain that experience of the joy of learning.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
It seems like such a simple concept, but it is something that is often ignored in classrooms that work to “teach to the test.” If students can have fun in your classroom while learning, they are apt to dismiss their prior notions that all learning must be dry and boring. For learning to take place, instruction must be relevant and engaging. Teachers must change their lessons as the years pass and their students change. What worked for students in the past might not work now, and it is the teacher’s responsibility to adapt to the changes that occur. If the classroom is not interesting, engaging, and fun, students will dread every minute they spend there. This is something that I will undoubtedly keep in mind as I begin my first year of teaching in September. I am going to print this quote and hang it somewhere inside my classroom as a daily reminder to make learning fun!
July 31st, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Thank you for an awesome quote! My book, “Using Humor to Maximize Learning, the Links between Positive Emotions and Education” was published in January 2008. It reinforces the concepts of joyful education found in the article by Judy Willis.
Please feel free to check out my web site with numerous links to articles and research on this topic at http://www.questforhumor.com
September 10th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Greetings From Judy Willis,
I was sent this connection by a friend and what FUN it was for me to see the ripples go out from Sara and you other responders. What you are doing is so important and so vital in the current state of education. It is exciting to me that the United Arab Emirates (Dubai, Abu Dabi) has requested ASCD to translate my first book into Arabic and invited me to build a team with the help of ASCD to train all of the country’s K-12 teachers in my strategies to teach neuro-LOGICALLY by lowering stress and increasing joy, engagement, and motivation. Such a simple concept, but it helps that as a neurologist and a classroom teacher I can report on the brain scan studies that connect the science with the art of teaching. Now if only the United States would be as enlightened as the UAE we’d sure have some happy and successful teachers and students.
I invite you to visit my website for free links to many of my other articles and free chapter downloads, courtesy of the publisher, ASCD, of my 3 books for educators.
Thank you for what you do!
Judy
Judy Willis, M.D., M.Ed.
http://www.RADTeach.com
October 15th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I agree very much with this phrase, and also feel that it ties together with the “power of enthusiasm, as it can also be helpful for a teacher to show when they are wanting to promote a fun and inviting atmosphere for their students. By having these two things present, the process of learning seems to go a lot smoother as one can really tell that the students want to be there. I myself would say that if I am enrolled in a class that is no fun, and the teacher is not thrilled about what they are doing, my train of thought usually is headed somewhere else. It is easier to pay attention when the information is being presented in a different and interesting way, and better yet when the teacher is really knowledgeable and passionate about the topic being taught.
October 6th, 2009 at 4:56 am
It would be ideal to have have fun and exciting lessons for every topic that you teach. However, these lessons are not always going to be the easiest to prepare. As a teacher of Mathematics, some topics such as solving equations, are not the most exciting to learn about and are difficult to relate to real life situations until students have a very good understanding of Algebra.
This being said, I have seen my students become deeply involved in projects and assessments that have them applying what they have learned in Math to real life situations. This is rewarding as a teacher because you get to see your students get excited about Math.