Applied Coaching Research Journal Research Journal 4 | Page 50

APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2019, Vol. 4
APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2019, Vol. 4
“
As individuals and as
society, by mastering and
distributing the ability of
our brains to learn, we may
earn the chance to transform
ourselves and our future.
As a reader, you are taken on a journey through
time, discovering how Charles Darwin was
fundamental to discovering how even tiny species
had the ability to remember and learn in order to
survive. You also discover how Darwin was ahead
of his time when writing a letter to the Secretary
of the Educational Department in 1881, explaining
that we should be less concerned with the object
which learners interact with and more concerned
about the nature of the interactions. He goes on to
say how more emphasis should be placed on the
ability to develop the learning brain as opposed to
the accumulation of specific knowledge.
The evolutionary journey is jampacked with
research examples, such as how sleep affects
our ability to learn, and how fruit flies are also
affected by lack of sleep when learning who their
mating partner is. We also uncover how emotions
linked to learning make for much stronger, vivid
learning and how the part of the brain which
triggers emotions is a neighbour of the part of the
brain which holds the key to our memories. Due
to their close proximity, ‘emotional learning’ often
makes for longer lasting learning and enables
learners to more easily recall this memorable
learning.
As humans, we often think that we were the
first to discover many things, and while that
is frequently true, we realise through our
evolutionary journey that ‘social learning’ from
others is actually a fundamental trait within
primates. Organically, primates use social
learning, typically from an individual higher than
themselves, to learn how to behave, survive and
develop. Much like we may learn from a more
knowledgeable other, or even as a young child
learning from our parents and peers. Or much
like learning from a great coach. We discover how
a world of learning existed way before humans
walked the planet.
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The book explores how social learning can best
support us when learning things that are slightly
trickier, and when our ‘working brain’ is being
stretched. When we are learning something just
ahead of reach this is known as the Zone of
Proximal Development (ZPD), and we are best
supported to achieve learning in this zone with
the help of others, hence reverting to the learning
practice of primates.
As the book considers the current landscape, it
explores how we can learn better and how we can
help others to learn better. One strategy explored is
the use of gesture and sound, and how combining
rhythm and language makes for stickier learning.
Think about your own environment. Perhaps
you are a teacher, coach or a parent and want to
help others to remember information? This book
explains how we can remember information better
and explains the science behind it, informed by
evolution.
Have you ever had a really creative idea to solve a
problem, and wondered where it came from? Paul
explains, through science, exactly that. The role
social learning plays in creativity, and why more
brains are better than one when trying to problem
solve creatively.
The book explains how the traditional school
education system is beneficial in some ways, but
that evolution is perhaps the school of life. We learn
that through scientific studies where people can
recite a list of words regardless of whether they
attended school, but the way in which they do so
differs (ie people use clusters of categories that
are meaningful to them). It explores the emergence
of learning pedagogy, and that even in the first
century AD, Quintilian (one of the first pedagogy
practitioner’s, or pedagogues) advised that people
who support others to learn should use praise,
always respond to questions, and include everyone
in the learning experience. He even provided
suggestions of how we support and guide others to
learn, termed today as ‘scaffolding’.
Fast forward a few pages and the book explores
how we can tap into the natural reward system
in the brain through simple techniques, and how
learning practitioners can incorporate these into
learning opportunities, thus increasing motivation,
and the desire for lifelong learning. Whether you
are a primate or a human, the best source of
support is from the ‘more knowledgeable other’.
Despite the volume of information we can receive
from technology, paper or other sources, a great
supporting other can make sense of the learner’s
world and select specific information from the most
appropriate sources to enhance their learning.
to better humankind. Kevin Warwick (a
neuroscientist) demonstrated the potential of
this through an experiment he conducted by
implanting electrodes into the nerve fibres of
his and his wife’s left arm. Over the internet,
they were able to feel each other’s pain and
understand each other’s thoughts. Another
scenario played out is how technology can
support learning practitioners to monitor
engagement while learning, through mobile
technology sensing brain activity and relaying
the information to the learning practitioner,
to help enhance the learning environment for
everyone.
If you are curious about how we came to be, and
how we can unlock our full potential, this book
is for you.
As the book considers the future, Howard-Jones
uses a combination of knowledge from the past and
scientific advances, to predict some future learning
scenarios. He explores a number of potential
scenarios, one of which was the potential for
technology to play a part in connecting thoughts,
feelings and core values as one big community,
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