Wednesday. August 21, 1991 - North Shore News - 54 you might take on the roles of different explorers. Or your child can play the part a scientist that his class is ‘Superlearning’ creates positive experience WHEN FOURTH-GRADE teacher Pamela Thornburg plays a recording of Pachelbel’s famous Canon in D for her class at John Gill School in Redwood City, Calif., | ie ” ; _ of she’s not teaching music appreciation. Using the baroque masterpiece as a background, Thornburg leads the class in a rhythmic reading of the day’s vocabulary lesson: “aqua, water, aqua,’” ‘‘derm, skin, derm,’’ “geo, earth, geo."’ Students then close their eyes and relax while she repeats the materi- al, also in time to the music. Later in the day, the children find words in the dictionary that contain these Latin or Greek roots and put on humorous little skits that might feature a dermatologist flying his aquaplane to a geologi- cal excavation. The unconventional! mixture of relaxation exercises, music and role-playing as a way of teaching academic skills characterizes an innovative educational approach called ‘‘Superlearning.”’ Based on the work of Bulgarian psychiatrist Georgi Lozanov in the late 1960s, Superlearning is actual- ly a loose collection of techniques and educational principles design- ed to help kids absorb informa- tion in a positive, relaxed learning environment, whether at home or at school. The underlying premise of the method: that much of what we’ve learned in our lives has been as a result not of hard, concentrated effort, but of relaxing and en- joyable experiences. “Most conventional teaching goes inside a student’s brain and is lost in the hinterlands,’’ says Charles Gritton, a Des Moines, Iowa, high school math teacher who’s been supplementing tradi- tional teaching methods with Superlearning techniques for the past 16 years. “The knowledge is still there somewhere, but kids can’t get at it. Superlearning enables students to take in information in a way that makes it easier to recall later One way Superlearning ac- By Thomas Armstrong Contributing Writer complishes this is through music. Lozanov’s method incorporated certain forms of music from the baroque and classical periods, particularly pieces that have a slow tempo and a steady rhythm, which he believed to be both physically relaxing and stress reducing. Superlearning teachers would play this type of music as a background while rhythmically repeating the information to be fearned — whether it was history facts, math formulas, vocabulary words, or a literary passage. Lozanov also believed that learning was enhanced by role playing, performing skits, or car- rying on impromptu dialogues about the subject. UNLIMITED POTENTIAL A key principie in Superlearning involves the use of verbal and nonverbal suggestion. “We're all bombarded con- stantly, from the day we’re born, with limiting suggestions,’’ ac- cording to Lozanov. Comments from parents such as, ‘“‘Our family’s never been very good at math,’’ or ‘“‘Peter’s just being his usual lazy self,’ as well as assumptions by educators that learning requires great effort and that only the talented students can truly succeed, undermine the learning potential of millions of children, he says. For this reason, Superlearning teachers pay attention to the kinds of messages they send about learning. Pamela Thornburg posts a posi- tive statement at the front of the classroom every week (for in- ARTS UMBRELLA Canada’s Visual and Performing Arts Institute for Young People 2 - 18 years REGISTER NOW FOR FALL fi. VISUAL ARTS: } animation, architecture, “QS fibre arts, jewellery, movie. “Ss : making, painting, photography, “® ~ a prinemaking, sculpture. PERFORMING ARTS: drama, music, ballet, § modem, tap, character spanish, Theatre Company, Professtonal Dance Programme, Dance Company. AUDITIONS: Callta book come: 681-5268 Dance Company: Sept. 3-6, 4-7 pm. Sept. 7, b4 pm Theatre Company: Sept. 312, 4-6pim, Sepr T&A, E38 pm 1286 Cartright Street, Granville Island 681-5266 photo [6M Educational Systems WHEN STUDENTS can learn in a relaxed atmosphere -— here, a kindergarten pupil practises letter/sound combinations in front of a computer screen — experts believe they retain more. stance, ‘‘Learning comes easily and naturally to me’'), and before her music Superlearning sessions, she tells her students that they will find the vocabulary words casy and fun to learn. Such efforts help create what psychologists have called a *‘posi- tive set’? (or mental attitude) toward learning. While some claims for Superlearning have been ex- travagant and unfounded — that it could achieve results as much as 50 times great than those of a norma! classroom, for example — research in the past five years at several American universities sug- gests that it often does promote greater gains in learning when compared with conventional in- struction offered to control groups. The method has been etfective in teaching math, science and lit- erature; it’s also been helpful for reading and = special-education classes. And while Superlearning tech- niques have been most successful for mastering rote-learning tasks such as memorizing spelling words, foreign-language vocabu- lary or math facts, studies suggest that it may also facilitate more complex forms of learning, in- cluding creative writing, concept formation and problem solving. LEARNING AT HOME Although Superlearning was conceived as a tool for formal education, there’s no reason parents can’t use it at home. Try playing slow-paced music from the classical and baroque periods while your child does homework. You might also recite material that you're helping him learn — spelling words, historical dates, textbook passages -— in rhythm to the music, both with your child as a participant and while he relaxes with his eyes closed. The use of drama is another way to spice up your child’s homework sessions. The two of studying: give him some time to read up on his ‘‘character’’ and then interview him = about his scientific discoveries. Finally, try to be sensitive to the messages you give your child about learning. Avoiding negative comments. You'll be helping your child to trust his abilities and to discover what Lozanov called the hidden “‘reserves of the mind.” Where to go for comfortable, affordable training space in the heart of downtown Vancouver? The BCIT Downtown Education Centre on Howe Street of course! 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