Big fan of this idea from Nietzsche, thanks for this. Hadn't thought to connect it to children's working memory before though. A better understanding of the purpose of each learning activity would definitely support intrinsic motivation in the classroom
Thanks for this, Sam. I was struck, reading the literature, by the idea that how much working memory we can access depends on affect – including how curious we're feeling – and it made me wonder why I wasn't already trying to build that into lessons.
Just because lessons have structure, and sometimes a lot of it, doesn't mean we can't build intrinsic motivation into them too. As you say, how we communicate the purpose of a lesson feels like one of the most direct levers.
A hundred percent, I have also been very interested in the role affective action plays in memory formation. I read Immordino-Yang a couple of years ago which resonates nicely with your thinking here, although it is more concentrated on the neuroscientific level: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Emotions-Learning-Brain-Implications-Neuroscience/dp/0393709817. Here's the full reference: Immordino-Yang, M.H., 2015. Emotions, learning, and the brain: Exploring the educational implications of affective neuroscience. WW Norton & Company.
Thanks, Toby – this is a really important point. Connected material collapses into fewer 'units', so is less of a load on working memory less. And that's where curiosity (and the movie analogy) comes in: it can supply the coherence that holds the information together.
Big fan of this idea from Nietzsche, thanks for this. Hadn't thought to connect it to children's working memory before though. A better understanding of the purpose of each learning activity would definitely support intrinsic motivation in the classroom
Thanks for this, Sam. I was struck, reading the literature, by the idea that how much working memory we can access depends on affect – including how curious we're feeling – and it made me wonder why I wasn't already trying to build that into lessons.
Just because lessons have structure, and sometimes a lot of it, doesn't mean we can't build intrinsic motivation into them too. As you say, how we communicate the purpose of a lesson feels like one of the most direct levers.
A hundred percent, I have also been very interested in the role affective action plays in memory formation. I read Immordino-Yang a couple of years ago which resonates nicely with your thinking here, although it is more concentrated on the neuroscientific level: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Emotions-Learning-Brain-Implications-Neuroscience/dp/0393709817. Here's the full reference: Immordino-Yang, M.H., 2015. Emotions, learning, and the brain: Exploring the educational implications of affective neuroscience. WW Norton & Company.
I haven't read it so I'll certainly try and track it down; I've found a couple of her papers too - thanks for the recommendation!
Thanks, Toby – this is a really important point. Connected material collapses into fewer 'units', so is less of a load on working memory less. And that's where curiosity (and the movie analogy) comes in: it can supply the coherence that holds the information together.