Accelerated Learning, an Introduction

<h1>Accelerated Learning, an Introduction</h1>

<p align=right>by Jim Owens PMP</p>

<div align=justify>Long before man (or woman, I'm not sure which), first put grilled fatty ground meat on white bread buns, or worked out how to pressure-fry chicken in fat-laden breadcrumbs, and thus invented obesity and the heart-attack, people were already striving to do everything faster. So we got fast food, instant coffee, supersonic travel, high-speed computers and communications, and so on.

Consider the massive advances in computing power since the middle of the last century. I’m sure many of you are familiar with “Moore’s Law”, (not to be confused with “Cole’s Law”, which is thinly sliced cabbage and onion in mayo). Moore’s Law is really a rule of thumb, which suggests that computing power doubles every 12, 18 or 24 months -- depending upon who you listen to. Moore’s Law of course was proposed by Gordon Earl Moore, co-founder of Intel (so Moore’s profits also followed Moore’s Law).

Moore’s Law was first published on 19 April 1965 in “Electronics Magazine” (a magazine famous for first publishing Moore’s Law on 19 April 1965).
Moore lost his own copy of this magazine, but ultimately Intel bought a copy in 2005 for $10,000 from David Clarke, an English engineer who horded bundles of Electronics magazine under his floorboards, presumably in the hope that their value obeyed Moore’s Law too (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4472549.stm).

Throughout history it was always assumed that there was not a lot one could do to learn faster. You just had to plod through the work, memorizing and repeating. In fact it was assumed that if you wanted to learn faster, you had to study for more hours each day. But this technique brings limited success, as the extra hours study make you more tired and so you can’t absorb knowledge as easily, i.e. it is self-limiting and boring, and you end up spending more time, learning less.

The foundation for accelerated learning was laid in the mid 1970’s by Dr. Georgi Lozanov, a Bulgarian professor and psychotherapist, his teaching methods incorporated music, art, role-playing and games. This work was later expanded and improved by the likes of Colin Rose.

To understand something of Accelerated Learning, first we need to understand something about the human brain (if you don’t have one of these, please skip to the end of the article).

The brain can be considered to be three distinct layers, like layers in an onion, each layer functioning almost as a separate brain (author's note: although onions typically have more layers than the human brain, they do not seem to learn as quickly)

Layer 1, the Brain Stem

The lowest level brain (the innermost layer) -- the Brain Stem -- manages a lot of your “hard-wired”, automatic functions such as your heartbeat, breathing, “fight or flight” responses and so on. When I was about six years old someone told me that we don’t have to think about breathing, we just do it subconsciously. Now I had never thought about breathing before (which in fact proves what this person had told me) but that night in bed I did think about it and I got really worried, that I might just “forget’ to breath! So I kept thinking, “breathe in, breath out”. It was a very long night.

Layer 2, the Middle Brain

The next layer is the “Middle Brain” of “Limbic System”. This “brain” controls your immune system, hormones, long-term memory, emotions and sexuality. 
Many scientists believe in a religion called “The Theory of Evolution” and they try to work this is wherever they can. So they call the Brain Stem, the “reptilian brain” and say that it evolved first, and then the Middle Brain, which they call the “mammalian brain”, evolved next. But they don’t explain how all those poor dim “reptilian brained” creatures survived without an immune system and sex.

Layer 3, the thinking brain

The final layer is the Thinking Brain or "Neocortex". The Thinking Brain surrounds the other two brains and as well as thinking, it includes your long-term memory and even your capacity for emotions. This brain is composed of about 100 billion brain cells (much less if you frequent the local ale house).

The cells look a bit like little spiders, and any “spider” can hold a neighbors hand (make a connection) either permanently or temporarily, depending upon how much value your brain places on the connection. So your thinking brain may be thought of as a dating agency for spiders.
For example, your name is formed by a bunch of permanent connections, so you’re not likely to forget it, whereas the color of a car that just passed is most likely a temporary connection and so you will not be able to recall it (or even misremember it) sometime in the future.

And luckily for the drinkers amongst us, your intelligence depends upon the number of connections that the brain cells make between themselves, rather than just the number of brain cells. So just as in life, it's so much what you know, but well connected you are.

Hopefully during the mention of the Middle Brain you will have made the connection that this same brain layer is involved in both the emotions and in long term memory. This means that if you are experiencing strong emotions at the time you study you are either more or less likely to remember what you studied. if you are happy and positive during your learning, you are much more likely to retain the information (and less likely if you are unhappy). Others will have noticed that the Middle Brain is also related to your sexuality -- maybe that’s how some disreputable university students still manage to turn in good grades?

Improving your learning

But back to the Thinking Brain, and one of the exciting things about this brain is that it is like a muscle; the more you use it the stronger it gets. You can actually increase your intelligence by studying! Why is this? It’s because during study your brain cells are making more and more connections (and remember I told you that your intelligence depends upon the number of connections between cells), and if you can make the learning experience an enjoyable one then you are more likely to retain and recall what you studied.

The Thinking Brain is in two halves and it is generally accepted that the left side is the logical half, and the right side is the creative half, and we don’t use them equally -- each person will have a preference of left (logical) or right (creative, intuitive) in different proportions.

When you are listening to a piece of music for example, your left Thinking Brain will be focusing on the words, your Right Thinking Brain will be involved in the melody, your Middle Brain will experience the music at an emotional level and your Brain Stem can even regulate your heartbeat and breathing to suit. In fact, if you tap your feet in time, then just about your whole body is involved in a musical experience.

Accelerated learning is concerned with enjoyment and using the whole brain and your body too, because there is some evidence to suggest that not all thinking occurs in the brain, but other parts of the body are involved too.

Accelerated learning covers a wide spectrum, but at its extreme it’s about becoming more childlike in the learning process. Remember what it was like when you first started school? Bright colors, music, dancing, all the things that stimulate the whole mind and body. Many times children (and adults) are taught through song. Remember how the whole brain is involved in music? Well teaching by way of songs is so easy to absorb; can you remember the number of days in the months without the song?

Accelerated Learning Instructors

Today’s accelerated learning instructors are quite different from the old image of the teacher or lecturer; instead they are collaborators and facilitators who encourage enjoyable interaction between students and their learning, and are immersed in the teaching process along with the students.

Your brain has been designed for accomplishment, engineered for success and endowed with the seeds of greatness. You are the master of your own intellectual destiny; and you can design your own intelligence. Using your brain properly, especially in innovative and fun ways, accelerates your learning, increases your intelligence, your understanding, your memory and recall, and your enjoyment of life.</div>

<p align=center>Article source: <a href="http://www.ArticlePros.com/education/Teaching-Professionals/article-68274.html">ArticlePros.com</a></p>
 
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		<p align=center><b>About the author</b></p>
		<p align=justify><br />
Jim Owens PMP is a career Project Manager, presenter and PMP instructor. Jim is director of Certification with PMI Western Australia Chapter, Columnist with www.PMHub.net and Information Age Magazine. Visit Jim’s website http://www.PromotePM.org  Domains & Web Hosting from http://www.WebsWoven.com</p>
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