When learning about the brain development there are many things you have to understand. In brain development, you get to learn about neurons, synaptic firing, the natural human learning process, and finally get a better unerstanding of what needs to be done to be able to learn more efficiently. Once people learn more about brain development, people will be able to understand and learn more about what it takes to be succesful in life.
People learn varieties of different things outside of school. When people describe how they learned something new it’s been noted that its many of the same responses, this is called The Natural Human Learning Process or NHLP. NHLP has been expanded in six different stages, Motivation, Start to Practice, Advanced Practice, Skillfulness, Refinement, and lastly Mastery. Here is some more information about this process. The first stage is Motivation. When a person finds something they really want to learn it usually starts with showing interest, watching, or having to do it. The next stage is Starting to practice. After showing interest, people normally tend to ask questions and practice this task. The third stage is Advanced Practice. Once practicing and making a few mistakes, there will be more knowledge in whatever task that is interesting to you. In Advanced Practice stage, a person will continue to practice, have lessons, but most importantly have more confidence in what is being learned. Stage four is Skillfulness. In stage four as one continues to practice, there is more success than before, and more enjoyment of the task being done. Refinement is stage five. In this stage there is improvement, natural pleasure being shown, and the enjoyment of feeling more creative. The final stage is called Mastery. In stage six, you’ve finally mastered what you enjoy doing! Most people will be recognized, and teach others but the best part about NHLP is being able go to complete more difficult challenges, and repeat the whole process over.(Smilkstein, Chapter 2).
In my life experiences I learned and mastered how to make a Louisiana favorite, Snoballs. Snoballs are finely shaved ice with 100 flavors to choose from. I learned how to make snoballs in the stages Smilkstein describes and continue to get better each year we open for the season. When I started working at Pelican’s Snoballs I grew to love what I was doing and wanted to progress in the workplace. In the beginning I showed motivation by asking for an application, and once I got the job I would ask for more hours and make sure all my co-workers shifts were taken care of. Once I got more hours, I would start practicing all the tasks that needed to be learned such as, learning to work the register and interact with customers, pour flavors into the snow, and how to shave the ice properly so it came out nice and fluffy. When I first started practicing these tasks were very difficult to get used to, but I would have more experienced staff teach and watch over me when I did something new. After I started getting more comfortable with all the tasks I had to learn, I had a great amount of confidence in myself but I still had to continue practicing so I would be more efficient. When I became more successful I would look forward to going to work because I was enjoying what I was doing, while each shift it would become easier and easier for me to do. Throughout working at Pelican’s Snoballs I improved and learned more each season we open, now with all my hard work I was given the title of Team Leader and now moving on into being a trainer to go to different Pelicans around Virginia so I can help train new staff.
In Smilksteins article, she emphasizes how neurons are very important to include when thinking about The Natural Learning Process. When thinking about neurons, it is very easy to compare them to trees. Neurons have an axon kind of shaped like a tail that resembles a tree trunk. Connected to the axon or tree trunk would be the cell body. When looking at the cell body it is compared to the heartwood of the tree, and linked to the cell body would be the dendrites or also known as the branches. Also connected to the axon would be the axon terminal bulbs. When looking at the axon terminal in comparison they would be linked to the roots of the tree. Neural growth is caused by or due to synaptic firing.(Smilkstein, Chapter 3).
An easy way to understand synaptic firing is to compare it a spark plug. Synaptic gaps is where the learning is taking place. Between an axon terminal and another neuron it causes neurons to grow and to continue developing, similar to electricity passing through a spark plug. Neurotransmitters have hormones that chemicals produce and store in dendrites, and like a spark plug they need an electrical impulse or fuel to continue to learn. Endorphins would be fuel for synaptic firing. Endorphins produce hormones such as happiness, confidence, or feeling calm. If endorphines are not present, synaptic firing is not taking place. This is easily compared to a spark plug in a car because if there is no fuel or gas, the car will not be able to run.
When someone is learning something new, it's incredible how much emotions affect the learning process. Feeling anxious or unconfident while doing something new is a normal feeling, but don’t let it get you down! When feeling unconfident norepinephrine are triggered to flow into the synapses that shuts down the learning process. When these chemicals start flowing into the synapses there is a flight reaction, meaning “No time to think, Run away!!” Otherwise, when having a confident feeling about a task that's being performed endorphins will flow into the synapses. Endorphins give a feeling of relief making a person think they can handle the situation. Different ways norepinephrine can affect someone's learning is when they’re doing a lecture in front of a class and freezing up or while taking a test and getting test anxiety.
In my history class this semester, we have tests we need to take every two weeks and all of them are given a time of two hours to complete it. Our very first test I didn’t realize when the due date for it was, once I did it was almost too late. When I started the test I felt very anxious, and that is when the norepinephrine immediately stopped my learning process. Once I realized how anxious I was, I could not remember a single thing that we learned about during our lecture, and had to rush through the whole thing so I could turn it in on time. Because of rushing through the test, and forgetting all the material I didn’t receive the grade I wanted, even after all the hours I spent preparing myself.
Earlier this week we took another history test. Before hand I spent time researching the what different ways I can overcome test taking difficulties. While researching I found two very helpful acronyms: FLEAS and SPORT. FLEAS is an acronym that helped me through my difficulty of completing test on time. First you start with first read the directions, you read the directions and put them in your own words to get a better understanding. Then, look over the test. While looking over the test, figure out how many questions are on it, and how much time you’ll think you need. Next is easiest questions answered first. When going through a test, answer all the questions that are easiest, so then the remainder of the time can be spent on the questions that someone is having the most difficulties with. After that, answer questions that are worth more. While going through a test see which questions are worth more so you can get more points. Finally, skip a question. It’s okay to skip a question on a test if when feeling clueless, just make sure to get back to it! If you don’t have enough time to get back to the questions that have been skipped it’s likely that there are already have enough questions answered that it shouldn’t effect your grade that bad.("FLEAS"). FLEAS helped me a lot while finishing test because it taught me to get through the material I knew first, then to go through specific questions I was having problems with. The acronym SPORT helped me to remember what I studied while I was taking a test. S stands for say it to yourself. While I’m taking a test say to yourself, “Where did I see this information and when was I studying?” Picture in your head what you read or wrote in your head. Picturing yourself in your head can really help visualize what you saw or wrote down. O is organize in your mind all of the study aids that you used. While studying it helps to use mnemonic devices to help you comprehend what you’re taking in, and makes it much simplier. Think about note cards, or keywords that are used. R is for Remember to dump all the information as you recall it. While taking the test write down everything that is remembered from studying. After you dump the information “T”ell yourself that you need to go back and look at the information while you’re taking it you can refer to the knowledge you’ve written down for yourself.("SPORT"). SPORT helped me remember everything I studied and made me more confident in my test taking skills. I overcame my test anxiety and started using better time management with these two mnemonic devices. During my history test after this research I felt confident and I knew I would receive the grade I deserved for all my hard work.
Works cited
Smilkstein, Rita. We're Born to Learn: Using the Brain's Natural Learning Process to Create Today's Curriculum, 2nd Ed. Thousand Oaks, Cal.: Corwin, 2011.