Flow is an optimal condition to experience some behavior. Flow experience helps a higher level of fulfillment and makes people feel a state of recognition that they didn't experience before. If learners have flow experience in learning, they can study...
Flow is an optimal condition to experience some behavior. Flow experience helps a higher level of fulfillment and makes people feel a state of recognition that they didn't experience before. If learners have flow experience in learning, they can study more pleasantly than now and ultimately, it improves the quality of life.
This study is intended to analyze flow in a self-regulated learning, based on the fruits of brain-scientific researches and to seek educational implications. If teaching-learning is performed in a state of flow in learning, it would be a more effective and meaningful experience for each of students.
This research consists of gathering, analyzing and discussing the results of literature and previous researches on flow, self-regulated learning and brain-science. For this purpose, flow's characteristics in self-regulated learning were extracted and brain mechanism related to each characteristic of flow was investigated. Based on this brain-scientific understanding, educational implications which teachers can directly use in the educational field, were proposed.
From the brain-scientific point of view, it is also 'a state which information is very effectively delivered among nerve cells and a state that the secretion of neurotransmitters reaches the climax'. Flow is an essential and core concept of self-regulated learning. Flow experience during self-regulated learning enables learners to make a higher level of academic achievement and furthermore, improves the quality of life.
Based on the concepts and properties of flow and self-regulated learning were derived as flow's properties in self-regulated learning. The process to analyze these properties, based on the results of the recent brain-scientific studies, helps to comprehend flow's characteristics more scientifically and objectively. Flow's characteristics during self-regulated learning and its brain-scientific meanings are as follows.
First, internal motive is a motive which is associated with an activity with no clear reward, excepting interest, curiosity and pleasure from it. From the brain-scientific perspective, learning motive is linked to emotion. The parts of brain associated with learning motive can be widely divided into the frontal lobes and limbic systems.
Second, as a thought that a learner perceives of him or herself, self-perception is to be aware of your abilities. A positive emotion influences systematic thinking. In a brain of a learner who positively thinks and has a lot of successful experience, dopamine, endorphin, serotonin and so on are created in large quantities around the frontal lobes of the cortex, and are employed.
Third, selective attention means what a learner processes information intensively, by choosing something more meaningful out of several sensory stimulations. Learners can concentrate their attention on tasks in a more active and efficient way, since the cerebral cortex, limbic systems and the brain stem play intrinsic roles and simultaneously, interact with one another.
Fourth, monitoring and feedback at each stage provide information to continue achievement of goals. Monitoring and feedback are explained by an integrated information processing in the cerebral cortex, and a comprehensive connection of affective, cognitive and behavioral domains. Moreover, feedback through interaction with other person in daily life make brain's activity active.
The followings are educational implications of this study which come from a brain-scientific interpretation of flow characteristics during self-regulated learning.
First, teachers have to expand flow experience of learners, by stimulating their internal motives. For realizing this, teachers need to respect learners' autonomy, since they are internally motivated and participate in learning aggressively, when they have self-determination.
Second, teachers should improve self-efficacy of learners through positive learning experience. Preferentially, teachers have to give learners graded tasks, in consideration of interest and learning readiness of individuals. It is also required to provide a learning environment which learners can work on their tasks in an emotionally stable condition.
Third, applying an attention strategy considering learners' features is also a good way. In consideration of children's experience, teachers have to first prepare learning materials to cause cognitive conflicts and suggest them, according to their individualities and use a variety of materials timely.
Fourth, proper feedback can improve self-regulated learning capabilities. Teachers have to first analyze learning tasks and diagnose learners' levels of achievement for giving them proper feedback. Also, learning contents with internal feedback have to be given, and teachers should monitor learners always, as prompt and concrete feedback is effective.
Life is a continuity of learning. Improving the quality of life through flow experience in learning is an ultimate goal which learners have to seek for, and self-regulated ability is one of crucial behaviors that learners are demanded to have. The fortunate thing is that both these things can be improved through education. Thus, for meaningful learning, teachers ought to expand an opportunity for flow experience of learners. Furthermore, they would need to constantly study and endeavor for making learners cultivate self-regulated capabilities, by themselves.