ExCEL Fest Keynote Address: Educating The Whole Child: Why All Learning Is Social And Emotional To The Brain by Professor Mary Helen Immordino-Yang

Source: https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/how-to-make-learning-relevant/

Emotions may be automatic responses to situations, but we need to "learn how to feel".

Strangely enough, I can actually connect to the analogy she gave when she shared on how her daughter had written a song for her brother, putting together her drawing, writing and song-writing skills to present this gift to her brother, because of her love for her brother.

I see the same thing happening at home.

- My child K1 is fascinated with marine creatures and marine biology nowadays having watched Octonauts on Netflix. He was able to use his love for the cartoon to extend reading and information search on his own to find out more about marine creatures he learnt about from the show (thanks to the Google Home mini in the living room).

- He was also able to combine his love for drawing and his love for the cartoon to transform them into 'character hats'. He basically used his free play time at Student Care to draw and colour the Octonauts characters and using a thin strip of paper to form a ring for the head, transforming them into hats.

- He and his brother role-play at home using these hats and set up dramatic play areas in areas at home to share their common love for the show.

Feeling emotions involves brain systems for feeling and regulating the body and for constructing a sense of "self". And meaningful learning always involves emotion.

These link us back to the idea of Joy in Learning.

The speaker was right in saying that students are not going to remember the concepts they should remember, when all they remember is how many times they have failed the exams, or gotten subject questions wrong.

Emotional engagement activates the same brain systems that keep you alive. According to her, the default mode network is active during internal reflection but suppressed when attention is directed outwardly. (she lost me at the parts when she started to explain the activation of neuron sparks to prove this point hahahhaa 😅)

• What does this mean for students' well-being/ character development?
  
  
• What might it mean for how we use technology (deeper learning is important for activating such thought)
  
  
• How might this change how we think about productivity/ critical thinking?

How can we, as a department, continue to ensure we plan for meaningful learning that shifts students from emotions about OUTCOMES to emotions about IDEAS?

Emotions are tied intrinsically to learning, hence there is a need for some of these emotions to be evoked or activated in order for them to achieve deeper learning. This brings us back to the importance of authentic learning too, so that we can allow the students to make sense of the world around them and allow them the freedom of choice and expression in demonstrating their understanding. Only then can they can make learning relevant for them, and can they make deeper meaning for themselves.

Going back to e-pedagogy, it also reminds us as educators how we can better Activate Learning in order to bring in the relevant context to connect with them, and how we can be more mindful when we string together the series of Learning Activities to allow us to achieve the intended Learning Outcomes.

A quote from the informED link found at the top of this post,

"Research shows that relevant learning means effective learning, and that alone should be enough to get us rethinking our lesson plans. The old drill-and-kill method is neurologically useless, as it turns out. Relevant, meaningful activities that both engage students emotionally and connect with what they already know are what help build neural connections and long-term memory storage."

Click here for a synopsis of the Keynote Address.