Spread A Little Sunshine

 

 Research on the brain has shown that emotion plays a key role in learning, but how can we as educators apply that research in our day-to-day interactions with students? Are we using emotions to help students learn? What are some teaching strategies that take advantage of what we know about the brain?

When I was a kid I was not rich. Nope. I grew up in Western Nebraska for some time, in a trailer park.  We didn't have a lot of stuff.  I had my favorite shirt, my favorite shoes, and yes, my favorite bow-tie. I didn't need much. I didn't bore easily. Grandma gave me crayons.  The story I was told was we were so poor Mom couldn't afford paper. I didn't care. I colored on all of the trailers in the park. Was I the first graffiti artist in McCook? Just some crayons, and some encouragement, praise, and I was happy coloring on walls. The encouragement struck a match of joy in my soul. Some forty years later, I wonder, did the praise, gratitude, and joy help me learn?

A colleague of mine left a paper on the department copier. When I went to the copier to print some reports, I discovered her semester long Joy Bag activity. Immediately, I thought, how cheezy! I read the directions. Students bring in a pencil bag each Friday. The last five minutes of class, on their own note cards, each student writes three praise cards, gratitude comments, or appreciation notes. They can sign their name or not. Then they quietly go around the room and deliver their note cards to at least 3 other students. The teacher participates too. It is not about getting gratitude, but about giving and creating joy. Pippin's song, Let's spread a little sunshine, echos in my head.

I wondered if the activity would be worthwhile. I looked into how to create joy. Here are some ways we create joy for ourselves.

1. Undertake a challenging activity with a commitment to mastering it.

2. Actively seek joy through inspiration.

3. Engage in an activity that's pleasurable and feels like play.

4. Deal with the sadness that blocks joy.

5. Honor yourself consciously and frequently.

6. Give yourself a break from the day-to-day world.

7. Say the word often and contemplate its meaning.

Emotions affect learning so I should instructional designer the course to optimize learners’ emotional states during the learning process. I wonder: do emotions help or hinder students learn in the course? Are emotions an extraneous cognitive load? This idea suggests that the introduction of any elements aimed at inducing positive emotions in instructional materials will impose extraneous cognitive load, which will, in turn, hurt learning. This idea is consistent with the coherence effect, which suggests that adding unimportant but interesting elements to expository information impedes students' learning. Or are emotions a facilitator of learning? This idea suggests an alternative approach to the impact of emotions on learning. This question suggests that experiencing positive emotions during the learning process can enhance learning outcomes, either through direct impact and learning or through mediating variables, such as interest and motivation. So would "creating joy and gratitude" accomplish anything positive for learning the concepts in Interpersonal Communication or Public Speaking? I did some research. There is limited empirical support available for either approach. I did discover that when teachers used positive affect the students were more able to retrieval information from long-term memory. Those days students experience positive affect in the classroom helped the students recall the information taught on those days. Also, the research stated, positive affect influence cognitive organization and creativity, providing cues to the positive material and influencing cognitive organization by altering the context in which cognitive activity took place. If these results are true and positive emotions have an impact on retrieval of learned concepts, then I need to combine a few assessments with the Joy Bag, and see if what I teach on the day of the Joy Bag sharing "sticks" more than on the days we do not use the Joy Bag.

The last three weeks I implemented the JOY BAG for Interpersonal Communication. I combined the activity with a 3-2-1 assessment worksheet. At the start of class I hand out the 3-2-1 worksheet. The half-page asks for: 3 things I learned, 2 things I found interesting, and 1 question I still have at the end of class. With 7-8 minutes left to class, I stop with "lecture" or "discussion". I give the students 1-2 minutes to fill in their 3-2-1 worksheet. Then we do the Joy Bag exchange for the remaining 5 minutes. They pack up and fill in any empty spaces on the 3-2-1 worksheet. To exit the class, each student must turn in to me, standing at the door, their 3-2-1 worksheet. Did the spread of "joy" help them recall what we discussed for the course content?

With only three examples under my belt here is what I can report. The focus of the students in the room intensifies. When I announce, "It is Joy Bag time," they quickly grab their note cards, and fill out creative appreciations. Then they quickly walk around the room, handing out their appreciation notes. They light up! They smile in their giving, and, of course, in their receiving. I participated. I try to see who I can compliment, reward for their insights, offer praise for their participation and how to word my confirmations. On the way out of class, students drop off their "exit" 3-2-1 sheets, and they are proud, beaming, radiant.  Sure, their happy, but has the increase in their emotions added to their learning? I will have to collect more data. Qualitatively, they are happier. I predict that the use of the emotional design will induce more positive emotions in the students, and that will result in increased learning, increased germane cognitive load, increased motivation, and higher satisfaction with the learning experience and higher perception about their learning achievement. Yes, they love spreading a little sunshine in the class. Does their "love" translate into learning, retention, completion?