Wednesday, September 7, 2016

The emotions of learning: surprise, awe, interest, and confusion.

Today's cat is inspired by a great article by Linda Flanagan at MindShift: How to Spark Curiosity in Children Through Embracing Uncertainty. Here is a quote from the article; "Holmes" is "Jamie Holmes, who has just written a book on the hidden benefits of uncertainty." — Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing.
The emotions of learning are surprise, awe, interest and confusion,” Holmes said. But because confusion provokes discomfort, it should be discussed by teachers to help students handle the inevitable disquiet. “Students have to grow comfortable not just with the idea that failure is a part of innovation, but with the idea that confusion is, too,” Holmes writes. Teachers can help students cope with these feelings by acknowledging their emotional response and encouraging them to view ambiguity as a learning opportunity.

The emotions of learning:
surprise, awe, interest, and confusion.




2 comments:

  1. This is such a great reminder! We're going over self-efficacy in Classroom Management. I think we forget that positive emotions are as much in play as negative emotions when we're trying to motivate our students to learn.

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    1. That's my take on the whole educational mission; I just don't see that anything comes from negative direction. IMO it's all about the mantra of improvisational theater: "yes... and..." :-)

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