Learning by Manfred Spitzer

Learning: The Human Brain and the School for Life, by Manfred Spitzer.

A quick summary of the major insights that I found in this book:

I read the book in German, and may have interpreted some ideas to suit my preconceived ideas, but that is the privilege of the reader. I have also not included the detailed scientific explanations of the brain and of various experiments that form a major part of Spitzer's book. I suggest that people who are interested read the book for themselves.

1) The human brain is designed to learn, and it learns all the time.

The human brain is designed to learn, and continues learning throughout our lives. Our brain is constantly forming connections between neurons, or strengthening existing connections, or creating new neurons, in order to deal with the information it receives.

The brain learns best when the input is meaningful and interesting. The brain also prefers new information. Tests have shown that learning takes place best when the information is relevant, and when the information is new and challenging.

Learning is not limited to schools. Learning takes place everywhere and at all times, and throughout our lives. Research has shown that we continue to create new neurons and retain neural plasticity into old age.

Learning is an energy intensive activity.The brain burns over 20% of the calories consumed by the body.


2) The brain controls what it is going learn.

The brain does most of its learning on its own. With the right input, the brain is quite capable of creating the necessary labels and rules required to organize the information it has received and stored.

It is not always necessary, and is sometimes counterproductive, to teach rules explicitly. It is often more effective to let the brain develop its own rules, from the observation of the information received. We all learn to speak our own language and yet most of us are unable to provide rules to explain how the language works. We just know how to speak our language.

We learn better from examples and than from rules. We learn better from stories and episodes than from facts. We develop the"know how"  of how to do many things, but we "know" far less about why. We learn more from observing others, than from explanations, and exhortations.

The brain can prioritize, managing easy input before dealing with more difficult input. Children are exposed to a full range of language content, but focus first on the simpler structures and words they need and can use. They learn more difficult words and grammatical structures later, when they are ready.

3) Attentiveness, Enjoyment and Motivation: The three key factors in learning.

Spitzer describes, in detail, experiments which show how three factors are decisive in learning outcomes.

1) Attentiveness: This refers to both general alertness, and the ability to focus on specific details.
2) Enjoyment: The emotional state of the learner influences the performance of the brain.
3) Motivation: Motivation is a decisive factor in learning.

To Spitzer, schools should focus on these three elements. The best teachers are the ones who can create conditions of attentiveness, enjoyment and motivation. The teacher's academic knowledge of the subject may be of less importance.

Spitzer feels that schools are where young children learn not to like learning. He challenges schools to stop demotivating learners.

4) When we learn, we change

Learning causes a change in who we are. Children are not afraid to change. Young children moving to a new country usually learn the language of their new friends without any hesitation or resistance.

Older learners have a stronger vested interested in their own identity, and in what they already know. This is one reason why adult language learners can have difficulty learning a new language.

Adult learners need to feel comfortable. A friendly community of learners and teachers can form a social support system for adult learners, helping them confront and accept the change that learning brings.

 LingQ, as a learning system and learning community, is very much in line with these insights from Spitzer's book.

Comments

[Tony]

Steve,

I am so envious that you could read the original version, hope the English version doesn't stray too much from the German version. Thanks for your recommendation.

I met Dr. Jeff McQuillan in LA last week, he knew you. He said 20% of their members are from Japan, similar situation with LingQ, right? Japanese do like learning English! He is a big fan of iPod, just like you, here wrote a white paper for Apple couple years ago, thought you might be interested:
http://eduese.pbwiki.com/f/iPod_in_Edu_whitepaper_ELLv2.pdf

[Tony]

Just noticed, the English version has not been released yet, I guess I will have to wait...

[Steve Kaufmann]

Sorry, I just got the listing from Barnes and Noble.

By the way, if you have any idea on how to increase awareness of LingQ amongst Chinese speakers I am interested in hearing. We have really simplified the site now and we need to promote more actively.

[Steve Kaufmann]

Tony,

I have not met Dr. Jeff McQuillan. Do you know how would I get in contact with him?

[Ana]

In the www.eslpod.com site you will probably find his contact.