THE COMFORT ZONE OF LEARNING

THE COMFORT ZONE OF LEARNING

Some theories purport that learning is gaining new knowledge that wasn’t there yet, and in a way it is, but learning is actually a function of adding knowledge to what is already there.

Learning is like building. We add brick by brick, brick on top of brick, to the foundation that already exists. A baby can learn to walk once it has learnt how to move its limbs and control them. A baby cannot learn to fly as it doesn’t have the basic foundation or equipment to master that skill.

Neurologically we grow in the areas of our greatest abilities. We know that, according to research and science, our brain grows more where it’s strongest. Our brains grow more neurons and synaptic connections where there are already a lot of neurons and synaptic connections.

You know what you know, and you know what you don’t know, but focusing on your shortcomings doesn’t enable learning, it actually impairs it. Learning and adding to our knowledge excites our brains. We gain confidence as we grow our knowledge. The more we know, the more we want to know.

It’s like teaching a child to tie their own laces. You don’t just hand a toddler a pair of shoes and say, “here you go, put them on and tie the laces,” you break it down into manageable chunks. First you teach them to put on their socks, then the shoes, then how to tie the first part, then the second. It is a progression of steps, a mastery of confidently constructing a skill. Brick by brick.

What happens during this process is positive for our brains. Learning happens when we see how we can improve or increase our knowledge. It relies on our understanding of what we are doing well, on what we know we know. It does not rely on what we don’t know, or what we are not doing well.

When we are stressed because we are paying attention to what we can’t do or don’t know, our sympathetic nervous system is activated, and our ‘fight or flight’ response kicks in. This means our brains shut down unnecessary processes and only focus on what is critical for survival.  This creates a negative cycle which inhibits learning because it inhibits access to existing neural circuits and causes cognitive, emotional, and perceptual impairment. Focusing on inadequacies hinders learning. It is like a baby trying to learn to fly when the basics aren’t there to enable that.

Fortunately, the opposite is also true – when we focus on the positive, what we know and what we know we can improve and learn more about, our parasympathetic nervous system is activated. Neurogenesis (growth of neurons and new neural pathways) is stimulated and our brains are more receptive to learning and perceptual openness.

We learn best and most in areas where we feel comfortable because that is where our neurons are more concentrated, and where we feel more open to possibilities, creativity, and increasing our learning.

What does this mean for education?

Improvement and learning cannot be happen by studying failure. When we point out what a learner got wrong, such as a spelling mistake, we may get a correctly spelt piece of writing, but we aren’t going to get their best piece of writing. The anxiety that surfaces around getting it ‘right’, obstructs the creative flow that may have allowed them to get it ‘excellent’.

We have to remember in order for true learning to take place, we need to know what we know, and build brick by brick, in a comfortable environment where foundations are recognised, anchored, built upon, recreated and improved.

That is learning. And that only happens when our brains feel safe.