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| True learning:
the fun-fast way |
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2. A presentation format that
involves all your senses and is both relaxing, fun-filled, varied, fast-paced and
stimulating;
3. Creative and critical thinking to aid "internal
processing";
4: "Activations" to access the material, with
games, skits and plays, and plenty of opportunity to practise;
5: The transfer to real-life applications and
connections;
6: Regular review and evaluation sessions; and with
them opportunities to celebrate learning.
1. The best learning "state"
Not surprisingly, each of those principles works best
for an adult in almost the same way it works early in life, when learning develops quickly
and easily through exploration and fun.
Orchestrating the environment
Can you imagine a two-year-old youngster learning by sitting still on a
classroom seat all day? Of course not. She learns through doing, testing, touching,
smelling, swinging, talking, asking and experimenting. And she learns at a phenomenal
pace.
She
is highly suggestible, and absorbs information from everything that goes on around her -
her total environment.
But
once she gets past kindergarten, too often education starts to become boring. The fun
disappears. In many classrooms around the world, youngsters are told to sit still, in
straight rows, listening to the teacher and not exploring, discussing, questioning or
participating.
Good
teachers know that's not the best way to learn. So they plan a classroom setting that
facilitates easy learning. They use fresh flowers for scent and color. They cover the
walls with colorful posters, highlighting all the main points of the course to be covered,
in words and pictures - because it seems highly likely that most learning is subconscious.
Students absorb the lesson-content even without consciously thinking about it.
More
and more teachers have music playing to establish the mood as students enter the
classroom. Many use balloons and swinging mobiles to create an almost-party atmosphere.
" The total atmosphere must be non-threatening and
positively welcoming,"11 says
Mary Jane Gill, of Maryland, U.S.A., formerly in charge
Contents Page Preface
Introduction
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