Want to learn fast? Move your body parts

(waving it up) - Swinging your arms, twisting your fingers and striding around the room can help you learn faster. So what is its operating mechanism?

Have you ever encountered any difficulties? Learning a new skill? Catching a difficult concept?The language of learning is very much related to the parts of the human body, not counting the brain. Researchers find that learning becomes easier, faster, and longer-lasting if the lesson uses both body and mind - whether it's just a gesture of an arm or a Move around the room. Can this insight enhance teaching and learning in the future? And does it affect the way technology is used in the classroom?

In some cases, the idea of ​​being able to support learning is not surprising. Reconsider that many of us also begin to learn basic arithmetic by counting our fingers before learning by counting in the head.

'In the past, people argued that when we learn we are more capable of thinking abstractly , ' said Andrew Manches, a lecturer, a psychologist at the University of Edinburgh, England. People often think that teachers should help children give up the habit of using objects and body gestures to prepare them to enter the world of adults. But in fact, the physical world never really leaves our thoughts. Even abstract concepts have a foundation in the real world.

Body and mind

This theory is called expressive perception , and it shows that what is in our minds comes from actions and interactions with the world around us. This means that encouraging children to think and learn in an abstract way makes it difficult for them to understand and remember the lesson.

Science began to support the idea of ​​acting louder than words in the classroom. Spencer Kelly, a psychologist at Colgate University in Hamilton, USA, discovered that when people happen to receive a piece of information, they take three times as much time to do foot training if they think that. is important . This shows that even when in the unconscious, we still appreciate the communicative value of body language. Kelly also found evidence that students like teachers to use their arms or movement to emphasize problems.

Many studies have also shown, children learn faster if their teachers use gestures and gestures when explaining a concept. Meanwhile, Susan Wagner Cook, a psychologist at Lowa University in Lowa City, pointed out that children understand a new concept faster if they are asked to repeat the gestures that the teacher has use. Students will remember lessons that include words and gestures longer than lessons that are only explained.

Enhance action?

According to what has been clarified, it can be concluded that teachers and students should jump up and down, or swing their arms like windmills throughout the class. However, Mr. Manches advises caution. The problem is that science still hasn't figured out exactly how the body and mind affect work.'You can't jump into the predictive phase and intervene too soon.'

It is impossible to say, these are theories that are not available because of what is happening, especially when understanding why gestures help information stay in the brain , Ms. Cook said. The lessons we learn in school are always related to narrative memory - we can recall and report consciously a few days later. But some of us don't have narrative memory - we can remember but can't explain why. The basic example is that we never forget how to drive. Body movement seems to only be consistent with 'nonsense memory' . And by both words and actions, we can encourage the brain to create two independent forms of memory for the same event, increasing the ability to remember long.

Although Manches and Cook are still reluctant to give principle instructions to teachers, their warning is getting weaker. Ms. Cook said: 'Five years ago, I had to say that it was really potentially harmful if asked to follow the instructions in this study. Now, she was less worried about its potential harm - partly because none of her other studies have so far discovered any evidence of adverse side effects. " .

'In studies that examined the importance of gestures and gestures, we found that it was really effective,' she said. 'Even in trials that we think gestures won't work.'