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Seth Wilson

Mr. Dollieslager

English 111/ENF 3

March 23, 2015

The Process of The Brains Development

            

Through the study of Dr. Rita Smilkstein’s learning process is called the Natural Human Learning Process (NHLP), according to Dr. Rita Smilkstein’s, does affect the way we learn. As of today, This is true of how I learned to play the piano.

              According to the studies of Dr. Rita Smilkstein’s research, there are six stages to the Natural Human Learning Process (NHLP). How I learned the skill of playing the piano is a real life example of the six stages of the Natural Human Learning Process in action. First, my motivation for learning this skill was based on my families encouragement. Second, the way that I first started to practice this skill was through studying musicians and following examples of different styles and techniques. Third, I reached the “Advanced Practice” stage by writing and performing my own material. Fourth, I reached the “Skillfulness” stage by starting to see positive results from my practice; I could now apply my talents for a quick buck. Fifth, the way I refined my skill was by bringing my skills to the collaboration in a group and being able to hold my own and bring my input to the music we would write. Finally, Mastery which I believe is more difficult than most people understand even  playing  your entire life one may  never master an instrument but can improve greatly.                                       These steps of the learning process acquires neurons to gain information. Neurons share many similarities with trees, even in appearance. For example, the soma is the tree’s roots and the axon is the trunk. Just like the trunk sends water and nutrients up the tree to the branches, the axon sends important information to the dendrites, which receive this information. Dendrites make up the tree’s “branches.” The soma is the “heart” of the fully developed neuron.  

            What I learned from Dr. Smilkstein's research is that emotions affect learning. When we are stressed our ability to learn is severely limited, on the other hand when we are confident and have motivation to learn we can retain information more effectively. How is this explained biologically and what could people do to improve their learning experiences? The biological definition of learning is when dendrites grow from synaptic firing, put simply the more dendrites we possess the more we know and can recall about a subject. Our emotions have a direct effect on this process, certain emotional states will trigger different chemical reactions that effect how we learn. One chemical, called nor epinephrine, is released when we are stressed. This chemical will block synaptic firing, stop dendrites from growing and limit our ability to learn and recall information. The other chemical that is important to know about is endorphin, this is released when we are stress-free and confident. Endorphin acts as the fuel for the synapses, when this chemical is present in our brain the synapses fire more often, dendrites grow freely and we can retain information very effectively.

            In conclusion the research of  Dr. Rita Smilkenstein shows how we learn and how we can help our brains better retain information. When we apply this six stage process in our own endeavors to learn new skills and also understand how we learn, we are not limited as to what skills we can learn and master.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work Cited

Smilkstein's, Rita. We're Born to Learn: Using the Brain's Natural Learning Process to Create Today's Curriculum. Thousand Oaks, Cal.: Corwin Press, 2003. Print.

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Year of production: 2023. Running Time: 2:30 min

Color / Sound / Subtitled

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