Engagement for learning

Every learner’s brain is different and students will vary in what most engages their attention and the extent to which they can control their attention (Furukawa et al., 2016; Gaastra et al., 2016).

In this video, Paul introduces the key concepts of ‘approach response’ and ‘avoidance response’ which come from activity in subcortical regions of the brain. These are useful concepts to understand for engagement.

An approach response is behaviour that brings an individual closer to a reward. An approach response does not necessarily mean direct interaction by the individual.

An avoidance response is a response that prevents an unpleasant experience, avoiding something from occurring.

This week, we will look at what might trigger an approach response, why it is effective to use a variety of strategies to stimulate an “approach” response in the brain, such as praise and tokens that acknowledge achievement, novelty, choice, chance and shared attention. We will also look at how anxiety can affect a student’s ability to learn by reducing the brain’s ability to process information.

Discuss

Reflect on what you remember from your own school days. Which learning stood out as being memorable to you as a student? And what made it memorable?

This will lead us into thinking about how we can make learning both more relevant and memorable for our students.