New discovery of the nature of the learning process

Education will most likely soon enter a milestone when new findings in neuroscience, psychology, and machine learning are working together to create a foundation for new learning. .

In the July 17 issue of Science, researchers announced that this change is being carried out by three principles that are forming from multidisciplinary research: learning is computing, learning Episodes are a social process, and learning is supported by cognitive brain cycles with activities that connect people together.Scientists believe that studying the learning process can shed light on the origins of human intelligence.

'We are not abandoned to have to explore the world alone as Robinson Crusoe on deserted islands,' said Andrew Meltzoff, head of research, acting director of the Brain Research & Learning Institute. 'These rules support lifelong learning and play a particularly important role in explaining the child's ability to learn quickly in two distinct areas of human intelligence: language and social skills. . "

"Social interaction is more important than we think, it is the foundation for future learning processes. Research has shown that people learn the most from others, and most of this process depends. on the choice, a wise choice for parents to put themselves in the role of a single father / mother or tutor, ' Meltzoff, development psychologist, said.

'We are trying to understand how the child's brain works - how the ability of computing changes when there is another person's presence, and try to use the three rules mentioned above as leverage for learning. and improve the quality of education, 'added Patricia Kuhl, co-author of the study.

Javier Movellan robotics engineer at the University of California in San Diego and neuroscientist-biologist Terrence Sejnowski are also the authors of the study. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute for Child Health & Human Development.

The Science report shows a lot of progress in neuroscience, psychology, and education. For example, Kuhl said people often do not recognize how social factors and computing factors interact with each other in the learning process.

'We have a computer between the shoulders and the brain is always working with statistics while humans are unaware. For example, children learn simply by listening. They learn sounds and words by capturing random information when we talk to them, ' Kuhl said.

But there are also limitations. Kuhl's work has shown that children collect statistics and learn when in direct contact with a foreign language through a real person talking to them, not when they see that person on the television screen.

With the use of magnetoencephalography, a method of measuring non-interference, neuroscientists have studied children's brain activity and discovered the connection between the hearing area and the area. speaking in the cerebral cortex in newborns, 6-month babies and one year old babies. (Photo: Institute of Brain Research & Learning Ability, University of Washington)

'A person can have more information by talking face to face with another person,' she said. 'We are trying to understand the social element and its significance for human evolution.'

It seems that children need to be in direct contact with others to learn. They will gain more information when contacting a person directly rather than looking at their image on a large-screen television screen, ' she said. 'We are trying to understand why the brain works like that, and what that means to ourselves as well as human evolution.'

Meltzoff said an important factor contributing to the creation of humanity is that creature has produced people in such a way that we do not necessarily have to explore everything ourselves.

'A key role of parenthood is to teach children what is important to learn,' he said. 'We can do this through visual guidance. This is a social mechanism and from there children will understand what is important. When interacting with others, children can learn through modeling and imitation. '

Infants, he said, learn by self-discovery method, observe how others solve problems.

'We can know what to do by observing others, and we also understand others through our own actions,' Meltzoff said. 'Learning is a two-way process.'

Researchers believe that informal ways of learning, the way people, especially children, learn outside of school, need to be included in the class program.

'Educators know that children spend up to 80% of the day (not sleeping time) for activities outside of school, and children learn very attentively, effectively in places like museums, public centers, from online games and the like. Most of this approach is highly social; It can be applied in schools to improve teaching and learning efficiency. Why is a child so good at calculating baseball scores dropping in his school math test? ' Meltzoff said.

Although it seems that children do not learn anything from television, technology actually plays an important role in their knowledge base. Research shows that children are more receptive to learning from social robots - robots that are more human-like and interact with people more.

'As the process of interacting with machines is more like interacting with people, children - and even adults - learn much more from the machine,' Kuhl said. 'One day we can understand how technology can help people of all ages learn a new language, and this will be very helpful for schools everywhere. world."

'Science is trying to understand the power of social interaction with people's ability to learn,' Meltzoff said. 'Children today are using high technology - with Facebook, Twitter, and text messages - to enhance social interaction. With technology, children are learning how to solve problems. Technology also gives us a wide network of information distribution - a huge world of knowledge that everyone can access. '