Developing Self- Directed Learners: Student’s Natural Human Learning Process(excerpts from Barclay Dissertation, 2012)
Brain-based learning research has profound potential for educators to optimize a student’s natural learning process (Bransford, Brown, &Cocking, 1999; Smilkstein, 2003; Sousa, 2006). “When both teachers and students have metacognitive knowledge—know how the brain learns and how they themselves learn—every classroom can be a place of vibrant, successful learning” (Gunn, Richburg, & Smilkstein, 2007, p. 52).
Although still relatively new as a field of inquiry, brain research has identified several key findings that have significance for brain-based learning: neuroplasticity; enriched environments; the emotion-cognitive link for learning; and the complexity, interconnectedness, and uniqueness of the brain. In this section, research is presented to address these key findings and their relevance for the teaching-learning process
Connecting Brain Research to Learning Environment Instruction
Natural Human Learning Process (NHLP) research. Smilkstein, a lifelong educator, conducted action research with over 7,000 participants in an attempt to better understand the natural process of learning (Gunn et al., 2007; Smilkstein, 2003). The inquiry began as Smilkstein (2003) observed learners in her own classroom, struggling and displaying frustration, believing they could not learn. Knowing students were successful at learning such skills as the use of new technology and other out-of-school learning tasks, she embarked on classroom research to uncover how they naturally learn.
Research activity conducted in the classroom included participants from different countries, cultures, and socioeconomic groups, with ages ranging from second grade through graduate school as well as faculty (Gunn et al., 2007). In an attempt to understand the natural learning process, Smilkstein (2003) asked students to identify something they learned to be “good at” outside of school (drawing on their natural learning). The students were asked to describe in writing the process of (a) how they learned to do it, (b) how they progressed in their learning, and (c) how they became good at it. Next they were to share their individual experiences in a small group and report back to the larger group. To Smilkstein’s surprise, every group of students reported a process of learning consisting of a four-, five-, or six-stage taxonomy, which she labeled the Natural Human Learning Process (NHLP). The six stages of the NHLP consist of interest, motivation/responding to a stimulus (Stage 1); beginning practice/doing it (Stage 2); advanced practice/increase of skill and confidence through practicing trial and error (Stage 3); skillfulness/making it your own/feeling success/confidence (Stage 4); refinement/further improvement/becoming second nature (Stage 5); and mastery/broader application (Stage 6) (Gunn et al., 2007, p. 32).
Smilkstein’s (2003) action research is of metacognitive activity, relying on each person’s ability to figure out meaning. The NHLP pedagogy first relies on the person’s construction of his or her own perception of how he or she naturally learns. Use of small- and whole-group learning activities provides students with opportunity for discussion, reflection, and the giving and receiving of feedback. Students are empowered to take ownership of their own learning and “figure out” how they uniquely naturally learn; metacognitive knowledge can replace self-doubt with confidence, a sense of self efficacy, and motivation (Gunn et al., 2007)
Smilkstein’s NHLP parallels the six sub-stages of Piaget’s sensorimotor stage of cognitive development, birth to 2 years. (See chart below) Jean Piaget spent 60 years establishing the basis for a dynamic constructivist theory of knowing, believing the motivation for the construction of knowledge often comes from an experience of cognitive conflict or puzzlement (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969). Smilkstein’s (2003) research demonstrated and supported the notion that natural learning is socially constructed, sequentially, by an individual in interaction with the environment. The NHLP converges and parallels brain learning, which consists of growing new, different, and more complex neural networks as a result of experiences and practice. It provides a research-based, brain-based conceptualization of learning for instruction.
PIAGET’S SENSORIMOTORSUBSTAGES / NATURAL HUMAN LEARNING
PROCESS STAGES
Learning from Birth to
Two Years / Learning Any New Skill or
Concept at Any Age
Motivation
1 / Reflexive response to
external events / Response to stimulus, practice
starts at a basic level
Beginning Practice
2 / Habits formed by repeated
cycles of activity / Practice, practice, practice
Advanced Practice
3 / Beginning of coordination,
means-end function clearer / More practice, increase of skill
and confidence
Skillfulness
4 / Purposeful use of means to achieve
ends more effectively, combining old
means in new ways to get new ends / Doing it one’s own way, creativity
Refinement
5 / Exploration and discovery of new
means by groping to achieve ends more
effectively / Further improvements, learning new
methods, creativity independence
Mastery
6 / Comprehension, finding new means by
using the mind ( not physical grouping) / Full understanding, increased creativity
Smilkstein (2003), p. 83
References
Barclay, B. (2012). Undergraduate social work students: Learning interviewing skills in a hybrid practice class. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Digital Dissertations (3523624).
Bransford, J., Brown, A., & Cocking, R. (Eds.). (1999). How people learn: Brain, mindexperience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Gunn, A., Richburg, R., & Smilkstein, R. (2007). Igniting student potential. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Corwin Press.
Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1969). The psychology of the child. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Smilkstein, R. (2003). We’re born to learn: Using the brain’s natural learning process to create
today’s curriculum. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Sousa, D. A. (2006). How the brain learns. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.