Feel, Learn, Repeat: The Untapped Power of Emotions in Education

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Harnessing Emotion in Learning: The Spark of Discovery

Emotions play a significant role in all aspects of our lives, including our journey through knowledge and learning. As the famous educational theorist Sarah Cavanaugh once said, "Emotion is the spark of learning." To illustrate this point, consider a chemistry teacher who demonstrates a visually and audibly exciting reaction, like the fiery reaction of magnesium with oxygen, which grabs learners' attention and motivates them to learn more about the intricacies of chemical reactions. In this short reel, the teacher utilizes predictions and creates an emotional "aha" moment of curiosity. What if we harness and utilize this intriguing role of emotion to create a more effective learning experience?

How do we help learners or ourselves connect more with learning? How do we positively utilize emotion? I found this out when I was a high-school senior in a physics class, of all

places. Before any lesson, our teacher would do something fantastic or let us do something without telling us the outcome. This always sparked curiosity and helped us, most of us, get emotionally connected with what we would learn. I vividly remember when he turned on a laser and let us "fire" the laser at a target on a baseball field. The act of "shooting" the laser at a target was the coolest thing we had ever done. This drove us all crazy with excitement and curiosity.

Emotion in Learning – Sarah Cavanaugh's Perspective

Sarah Cavanaugh's work emphasizes the vital role of emotion in the learning process, arguing that "Emotion is the spark that ignites the learning process." According to Cavanaugh, emotions drive learning forward by guiding the learners' attention, curiosity, and decision-making processes. Educators can create an environment that encourages exploration and deep learning by understanding and leveraging these emotional triggers.

Sarah Cavanaugh's work on the relationship between emotion and learning emphasizes the powerful impact that emotions have on the way learners engage with and absorb information. Educators, designers, and learners can stimulate curiosity, engagement, and deep understanding by fostering a positive emotional environment. Cavanaugh goes beyond just examining the role of explicit emotions like joy and excitement; she also explores the potential of subtle emotions, such as anticipation and uncertainty, in enhanced learning experiences.

What do you do to create anticipation? Leave a comment and let us know.

Harnessing Emotion as a Professor

A professor planning to use emotion in the learning process should carefully design their lessons and activities to ignite curiosity, surprise, and joy. Many strategies can kindle a learner's feelings toward the content. The critical element is to do something unexpected and grow your learner's curiosity. Creating activities that evoke emotion lets you kindle the "spark of learning" that Cavanaugh emphasizes.

Here are some simple ways you can utilize emotion in your classroom. You can do this regardless of the modality of your class.

1. Create an interactive, collaborative learning environment by incorporating group activities, debates, and discussions, facilitating emotional connections with peers, and enhancing learning. The learning environment is the topic of my next blog. This is probably the most crucial aspect of learning.

2. Use storytelling to evoke emotions like curiosity, empathy, and inspiration, which fosters a learner's emotional investment in the subject and creates a powerful learning experience.

3. Offer feedback that acknowledges learners' emotions, validates their feelings, and guides them toward constructive behavioral changes and learning strategies.

The Instructional Designer's Role in Emotional Learning

As an instructional designer, you are responsible for crafting curricula that use the emotional connection to learning. You have many unique and powerful strategies to call upon to help learners grow their curiosity, heighten their sense of awe and discovery, to challenge them to make that emotional connection to the content. You can incorporate emotion into the curriculum design.

1. Use multimedia and visual aids such as videos, images, and interactive content to facilitate memory retention.

2. Provide opportunities for self-reflection and introspection. This enables learners to explore and better understand their emotions in connection to the learning process. This connects directly to adult learning theory as well. Give learners control.

3. Build in moments of surprise, delight, and challenge, which engage the learners emotionally and foster a sense of achievement and personal growth.

Creating opportunities for students to experience the pleasure of problem-solving, success, and self-reflection promotes an emotional connection to the content, thereby unlocking deeper understanding.

At Los Angeles Pacific University, we use the Know | Feel | Do Framework within our Learning and Design model. Read the article here.

Exploiting Emotion as a Learner

If you want to learn quicker and make the learning stick, here are some ways you can create an emotional connection with the content you are trying to learn. Utilize the following strategies to tap into your emotional power to enhance learning.

1. Set personal goals, which create a sense of purpose, ambition, and motivation. If you read my blog on deliberate practice, you know that goal setting also connects to deliberate practice.

2. Practice mindfulness and self-awareness. This enables you to identify, label, and navigate the emotions that arise during your learning journey and connect deeper with the content.

3. Actively seek and incorporate feedback to generate a sense of accountability and cultivate emotional resilience. This connects with my previous blog on deliberate practice and a future blog on grit.

Conclusion

Emotions play a pivotal role in the learning process. By understanding and employing Sarah Cavanaugh's insights on using emotions as a "spark of learning," educators, instructional designers, and students can transform their learning experiences into a powerful, emotionally charged journey toward intellectual growth.

The power of emotion in learning cannot be underestimated, as it impacts our engagement, memory retention, and motivation. By adopting Sarah Cavanaugh's insights on the emotional spark that ignites the learning process, professors, instructional designers, and learners alike can create and participate in experiences that foster personal and intellectual growth. So go ahead, explore the world of emotional learning further, and elevate your learning journey into a rewarding and emotionally enriched experience.

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Useful Resources and References

Cavanagh, S. R. (2016). The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion (Teaching and Learning in Higher Education) (1st ed.). West Virginia University Press.

Damasio, A. R. (2005). Descartes' error: Emotion, reason, and the human brain. Penguin Publishing Group.

Dirkx, J. M. (2001). The power of feelings: Emotion, imagination, and the construction of meaning in adult learning. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2001(89), 63-72.

Immordino-Yang, M. H., & Damasio, A. (2007). We feel, therefore we learn: The relevance of affective and social neuroscience to education. Mind, Brain, and Education, 1(1), 3-10.

Pekrun, R., & Linnenbrink-Garcia, L. (Eds.). (2014). International handbook of emotions in education. Routledge.

Tyng, C. M., Amin, H. U., Saad, M. N. M., & Malik, A. S. (2017). The influences of emotion on learning and memory. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1454.