{"id":3592,"date":"2014-08-18T15:52:23","date_gmt":"2014-08-18T20:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/?p=3592"},"modified":"2014-08-18T15:52:23","modified_gmt":"2014-08-18T20:52:23","slug":"dopamine-and-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/dopamine-and-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Dopamine and Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Bart Everson<\/p>\n

What is the connection between gambling, cocaine, and your classroom?<\/p>\n

No, wait, I'm serious!<\/p>\n

The answer is a little thing called dopamine, and it's released in the brain when we are rewarded.<\/p>\n

\"Dopamine\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Dopamine accounts in part for the thrill of gambling, the euphoria of certain drugs, the rush of adventure, and even \u2014\u00a0yes, it's true \u2014\u00a0the pleasure of learning something new in a college course.<\/p>\n

It has to do with memory. Simply put, when dopamine is present, we remember; when it's not, we don't. We remember and return to the things that we find rewarding, the things we find pleasurable, the things that stimulate the release of dopamine.<\/p>\n

So clearly, we want our students to have massive amounts of dopamine coursing through their brains as they participate in the classes we teach. How can we do this? By making the class fun, by presenting the content in an interesting fashion, by making the whole experience new and interesting and exciting.<\/p>\n

Many of the best teachers already do this, of course. It's sheer instinct. If you are reading this post, there's a very high probability that you are already devoting effort in that direction. <\/p>\n

Dr. Martha Burns uses the mnemonic NEAR as a key to successful teaching. NEAR stands for \"New, Exciting And Rewarding.\" These are the keys to keeping dopamine levels high, which correlates with better memory and increased retention. <\/p>\n

And, let's face it, learning is probably better for our overall well-being than gambling or illicit drugs.<\/p>\n

\n

You can read more from Dr. Burns in the article, \"Dopamine and Learning: What the Brain\u2019s Reward Center Can Teach Educators<\/a>.\" Photo credit: Work found at Dopamine<\/a> \/ CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a><\/span><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Bart Everson What is the connection between gambling, cocaine, and your classroom? No, wait, I'm serious! The answer is a little thing called dopamine, and it's released in the brain when we are rewarded. Dopamine accounts in part for the thrill of gambling, the euphoria of certain drugs, the rush of adventure, and even ...continue reading \"Dopamine and Learning\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[225,308],"class_list":{"0":"post-3592","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-teaching","7":"tag-neuroscience","8":"tag-teaching-learning","9":"h-entry","10":"hentry","11":"h-as-article"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p82MQk-VW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16687,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/icymi-new-twist-on-end-of-semester-evaluations\/","url_meta":{"origin":3592,"position":0},"title":"ICYMI: New Twist on End-of-Semester Evaluations","author":"Janice Florent","date":"April 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"In a Faculty Focus article, Dr. Linda Shadiow and Dr. Maryellen Weimer suggested using end-of-semester evaluations to get information from your students that can help you develop your teaching persona (the slice of your identity that constitutes the \u201cpublic teaching self.\u201d) Your teaching persona should be created from a series\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pedagogical Tidbits"","block_context":{"text":"Pedagogical Tidbits","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/teaching\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"female typing on laptop computer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/1682\/25677203702_ccac0cba9f.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8842,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/new-twist-on-end-of-semester-evaluations\/","url_meta":{"origin":3592,"position":1},"title":"New Twist on End-of-Semester Evaluations","author":"Janice Florent","date":"November 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Janice Florent In a recent Faculty Focus article, Dr. Linda Shadiow and Dr. Maryellen Weimer suggested using end-of-semester evaluations to get information from your students that can help you develop your teaching persona (the slice of your identity that constitutes the \u201cpublic teaching self.\u201d) Your teaching persona should be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pedagogical Tidbits"","block_context":{"text":"Pedagogical Tidbits","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/teaching\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"female staring at sheet of paper she is holding in one hand while holding pencil in the other hand","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefranchisecourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/aid613029-728px-Evaluate-Your-Effectiveness-as-a-Supervisor-Step-1-1140x526_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13584,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/new-twist-on-end-of-semester-evaluations-redux\/","url_meta":{"origin":3592,"position":2},"title":"New Twist on End-of-Semester Evaluations Redux","author":"Janice Florent","date":"April 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"In a Faculty Focus article, Dr. Linda Shadiow and Dr. Maryellen Weimer suggested using end-of-semester evaluations to get information from your students that can help you develop your teaching persona (the slice of your identity that constitutes the \u201cpublic teaching self.\u201d) Your teaching persona should be created from a series\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pedagogical Tidbits"","block_context":{"text":"Pedagogical Tidbits","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/teaching\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"female staring at sheet of paper she is holding in one hand while holding pencil in the other hand","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefranchisecourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/aid613029-728px-Evaluate-Your-Effectiveness-as-a-Supervisor-Step-1-1140x526_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16052,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/12-apps-of-christmas-2020\/","url_meta":{"origin":3592,"position":3},"title":"12 Apps of Christmas 2020","author":"Janice Florent","date":"December 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year the University of Glasgow's Digital Education Unit identified 12 apps they felt would be useful in teaching and learning for online and distance education. 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