How do we think?
Let's begin with the basics. All thoughts arise from our brains which then sends information around the body. The various parts of the body communicate information back to the brain. This is made possible by the billions of neurons throughout the mind. When we think, our thoughts arrive from the external stimuli around us. Once a new thought or experience enters from our senses it travels to our mind which creates a new neuron. Neurons are incredible microcellular messengers that are like a telephone wire/Wi-Fi communication system in our body. As a new thought or experience is created new neuron pathways are branched. As more information is fed to us the pathways increase in numbers. The greater the number of Neurons the stronger the beliefs we come to have about certain thoughts and experiences. All of this is fascinating. In fact, our experiences coupled with emotions creates stronger neural pathways. This explains a lot to me right now about human behavior. An example of this is in my friend who won't date. The experiences he had dating led to powerful strong emotions of a negative type. Now when he thinks of dating, those neurons send him the message that dating is bad. He's convinced himself that love doesn't exist, those neurons agree until a new thought is placed into his mind. In fact, new neurons can arise from new thoughts and old neurons can detach from their networks with new information. Our minds are unique and constantly changing with new thinking.
Learning is much like thinking. Let's go back to the example of my friend who is jaded. Throughout the experiences of life we create Neural pathways that formulate strong beliefs about life. These pathways are founded in the experiences and thoughts we think. Strong emotional attachments create stronger neural pathways and thus lessons are created in life. One element of learning is in concentrating. Let's look at our digital age. As our famous profess Suzy Cox explained to a class of high school children, social media is making us nervous and full of anxiety. This is slowing the development of the frontal lobes in children. With this bombardment of information our minds are slower to process and develop. I refer to multi-tasking as a big problem with concentration. A cell phone, a radio, and a TV in the background does not make a good environment for learning. Now let's look at this through an elementary classroom. What environment is going to make for good learning? An environment in which kids have the opportunity to concentrate on their work which will allow them to be more successful. One important thing to remember is to re-teach, re-teach, re-teach. Why? This is because when we learn something new, new neurons are beginning to formulate into our minds. These neurons are small in number at first and not completely connected in larger groups. With enough exposure to learning those neurons have an opportunity to make strong connections and thus we learn quicker and more efficiently.
How do we remember?
When we recall information it is because we have sufficiently created enough neurons and pathways to store information in our short term and long term memories. There are several ways to pull from our short-term and long-term memories. We can use various techniques to help us remember. One way is to concentrate without distracting stimuli. The more neurons we have sustained to help us remember the information the easier it will be to recall it. I will add a disclaimer that certain lifestyle choices could detriment our ability to retain information. Such unhealthy practices like drugs, alcohol, and unhealthy eating can stifle the bodies ability to remember. Exercise and correct diet aide in our ability to pull information out of storage.
Excellent summary, Archer.
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