Emotional+Connection


 * Emotion and Learning **

There have been many recent studies on emotion and its effect on learning. In this article I pose some questions and attempt to provide answers pulled directly from three recent studies. I encourage everyone to research the three studies,as well as a few others, in full. They are listed below.

Source:
 * Wolfe, Pat. //The Role of Meaning and Emotion in Learning:// New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, no. 110, Summer 2006, 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley InterScience** ([|www.interscience.wiley.com]) DOI : 10.1002/ace.217

“Attention is the first step in this learning process. If the brain ignores the data, they are not encoded and obviously not retained…two factors, both of which are educator controls, greatly influence the kind of connection made in the brain that can lead to future recall and greater understanding. They are whether or not the information has meaning and whether or not it has an emotional hook.” (pp.36 & 37).
 * How do we learn and what effect does emotion have on the ability to learn?**

“Using analogies, metaphors and similes, especially when associated with experiential learning is a valuable approach for linking new learning to existing knowledge…..when learners have little or no previous experiential knowledge to draw on, using current concrete experience is still the most effective approaches. …problem solving approaches to learning are effective not only because they are based on experience but also because the brain sees the forest before it sees the trees. (p.38) ….. The brain does not take meaning; it must make meaning. Project-based learning is experiential, cuts across many skill areas and integrates many disciplines and of necessity starts with a big picture. Once learners have engaged at that level, they can more easily and effectively work with the specific problems it presents.” (p.39)
 * How can we obtain the meaning factor?**

“Emotion is regulated largely by the amygdale to ensure that we react quickly to potentially dangerous or emotion-laden situations – flight or fight, also know as the stress response. During stress response, adrenaline is released….one effect of adrenaline is that the memory of the experience is enhanced…..But adrenaline is also released during mildly emotional and positive events. Therefore classroom activities designed to engage students’ emotional and motivational interest are also quite likely to lead to more vivid memories of whatever grabs their attention. The more intense the arousal, however, the stronger the imprint. …..Simulations, role plays, and other experiential activities can be highly engaging. By intensifying the students emotional state, they may enhance both meaning and memory. …if educators also foster a safe environment adults are likely to discover the value for their own learning- how much more sense the readings make and how much more easily the content is mastered.” (p. 39)
 * How can we create an emotional hook?**

“…Even mild stressors lead to initiation of the stress response, which negatively affects the students ability to perform. Adults perceive many classroom situations as stressful or threatening: simply being in a new course, imagining being laughed at, being called on when not prepared, plus timed testing or general fear of failure. Emotion is therefore a double-edge sword, with the ability to enhance learning or impede it. …our classrooms need to be not only physically safe but psychologically safe as well… feeling free enough to take risks. Learners cannot make connections if they have been or will be shamed or made to feel stupid for giving a wrong answer or not responding quickly enough. A psychologically safe learning environment is one in which ‘there is the time, space and caring’ and enough trust that learners feel they can try out even partly formed ideas.”(p.40)
 * Does emotion negatively affect learning?**

Source:
 * Dirkx, John, M. //The Power of Feelings: Emotion, Imagination, and the Construction of Meaning in Adult Learning:// New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, no 89, Spring 2001, Jossey-Bass, A Publishing Unit of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.**

“Contexts for adult learning are also often regarded as “emotional battle-grounds” with learners vying for recognition and authority (Brookfield 1993). Some learners describe their classroom experiences as boring or stressful while others characterize them as fun and exciting. Some returning adult students look to their classroom experiences as something that connects them more deeply with other learners and the campus (Graham, Donaldson, Kasworm, and Dirkx 2000). These observations suggest that emotions and feelings play a critical role in our sense of self and in processes of adult learning.” (p.67)
 * Do emotions play a role in processes of adult learning?**

“…many of us implicitly perceive emotional and affective dimensions of learning as also contributing to a positive educational experience. In recalling incidents of memorable learning, participants …. describe experiences in which there was a strong, positive, emotional, or affective dimension, such as a supportive climate, a caring teacher who listens to us as individuals, a teacher who respects us as persons, or a teacher who involves the whole person in the learning experience.” (p.67)
 * Does emotion play a part in positive educational experiences?**

The purpose of imaginal method is not to analyze or dissect these emotions and feelings but to imaginatively elaborate their meaning in our lives. … The imaginal method seeks a deeper understanding of the emotional, affective and spiritual dimensions that are often associated with profoundly meaningful experiences in adult learning. Journal writing, literature, poetry, art movies, story-telling, dance and ritual are specific methods that can be used to foster the life of image in our relationships with adult learners. By approaching emotionally charged experiences imaginatively rather than merely conceptually, learners locate and construct, through enduring mythological motifs, themes, and images, deep meaning, value, and quality in the relationship between the text and their own life experiences.” (pp 69-70)
 * What type of influences do images have on emotion?**
 * “**….”in the presence of powerful emotions and feelings, we make use of images to mediate and construct their meanings. The conscious purposeful process used to foster this approach is referred to as the “imaginal method” In the imaginal method, we recognize, name, and come to a deeper understanding of the images revealed though our deep, often emotional experiences of the text (Hillman 1975)

Source:
 * Silvia, Paul, J. Interest – The Curious Emotion: Current Directions in Psychological Science Volume 17 – Number 1, 2008 Association for Psychological Science**

“As a source of intrinsic motivation, interest plays a powerful role in the growth of knowledge and expertise (Kashdan, 2004; Sansone & Thoman, 2005). According to functional approaches to emotion, emotions help people manage fundamental goals (Lazarus, 1991). Interest’s function is to motivate learning and exploration. By motivating people to learn for its own sake, interest ensures that people will develop a broad set of knowledge, skills, and experience.” (p. 57)
 * What is interest’s role in learning and motivation?**

“When interested, students persist longer at learning tasks, spend more time studying, read more deeply, remember more of what they read, and get better grades in their classes People seem to understand that interest enhances their motivation and performance. When faced with a boring task, people will use strategies to make it more interesting, such as working with a friend or making the task more complex.” (Sansone & Thoman, 2005). (p. 58)
 * How does interest affect student participation?**

“Interest motivates learning about something new and complex; once people understand the thing, it is not interesting anymore. The new knowledge, in turn, enables more things to be interesting. For appraisals of novelty–complexity, knowledge about an area enables people to see subtle differences and contrasting perspectives that aren’t apparent to novices. It is common for experts to feel that the more they learn, the more complex and mysterious their field becomes. (Many psychologists may agree that human behaviour seemed simpler before we studied psychology.) For appraisals of comprehension, knowledge enables people to understand increasingly complex ideas and events. Concepts confusing to novices can be interesting to experts because experts feel able to understand them. In a sense, interest is self-propelling: It motivates people to learn, thereby giving them the knowledge needed to be interested.” (p.59)
 * What happens to interest once a new task is learned?**

If interest comes from seeing something as new and comprehensible, then people who want to evoke interest should try to enhance both complexity and comprehension. College textbooks are an intriguing example. The typical textbook wants to engage students’ interest, so it sprinkles each chapter with irrelevant quotes, cartoons, contrived stock photos, and random stories from the authors’ distant childhoods. But diverting attention from the text’s main points isn’t the same thing as making the text’s main points interesting. According to educational research (Sadoski, 2001; Silvia, 2006), the largest predictors of a text’s interestingness are (a) a cluster of novelty–complexity variables (the material’s novelty, vividness, complexity, and surprisingness) and (b) a cluster of comprehension variables (coherence, concreteness, and ease of processing). Intuition tells us that we can make writing interesting by ‘‘spicing it up’’; research reminds us that clarity, structure, and coherence enhance a reader’s interest, too.
 * How is interest used in everyday practice?**


 * Other Sources for Research.**

Christina Hinton, Koji Miyamoto & Bruno Della-Chiesa, European Journal of Education Vol. 43, No. 1, 2008 [|C HINTON, K MIYAMOTO… - European Journal of …, 2008 - udesa.edu.ar]
 * Brain Research, Learning and Emotions**: implications for education research, policy and practice

Peter Op ’t Eynde & Jeannine E. Turner, Educ Psychol Rev (2006) 18:361–376 DOI 10.1007/s10648-006-9031-2 [|P Op't Eynde, JE Turner - 2006 - researchgate.net]
 * Focusing on the Complexity of Emotion Issues in Academic Learning**: A Dynamical Component Systems Approach

Timothy P. Mottet, Steven A. Beebe 36p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Communication Association (86th, Seattle, WA, November 9-12,2000). [|TP Mottet, SA Beebe - 2000 - ERIC]
 * Emotional Contagion in the Classroom**: An Examination of How Teacher and Student Emotions are Related

Eunjoon “Rachel” Um, Jan L. Plass, Elizabeth O. Hayward and Bruce D. Homer Journal of Educational Psychology © 2011 American Psychological Association 2012, Vol. 104, No. 2, 485–498 0022-0663/11/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0026609 [|E Um, JL Plass, EO Hayward… - Journal of educational …, 2012 - psycnet.apa.org]
 * Emotional Design in Multimedia Learning**

John M. Dirkx NEW DIRECTIONS FOR ADULT AND CONTINUING EDUCATION, no. 109. Spring 2006 ® 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley lnterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) • DOI: 10.1002/ace.204 [|JM Dirkx - New directions for **adult** and continuing education, 2006 - Wiley Online Library]
 * Engaging Emotions in Adult Learning**: A Jungian Perspective on Emotion and Transformative Learning


 * References: **

Dirkx, John, M. (2001) //The Power of Feelings: Emotion, Imagination, and the Construction of Meaning in Adult Learning:// New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, no 89, Spring 2001, Jossey-Bass, A Publishing Unit of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [|www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=EJ625876]

Silvia, Paul, J. (2008) //Interest – The Curious Emotion:// Current Directions in Psychological Science Volume 17 – Number 1, 2008 Association for Psychological Science [|www.uncg.edu/~p_**silvia**/papers/08%20CDir,%20**Interest**.pdf‎]

Wolfe, Pat. (2006) //The Role of Meaning and Emotion in Learning:// New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, no. 110, Summer 2006, 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley InterScience ([|www.interscience.wiley.com]) DOI : 10.1002/ace.217