Thursday, 8 February 2018

Contemplative Practices, The Latest Approach To Effective Learning

By Marie Turner


Contemplation is meant to make the subjects more aware of their surrounding. The use of contemplative practices in the learning process is designed to enhance similar awareness and thus ensure that education has a greater impact. It also enables learners to appreciate the surrounding and make the most of it. It has been proven to improve absorption, relevance and the impact education is having on lives of learners.

Through contemplation, a learner focuses more on a subject and can thus decipher greater detail. This approach makes the focus more particular or specific. This facilitates transfer of ideas without losing the basic concept. The focus is on a specific element instead of being arbitrary. This is the way to achieve a higher intellectual analysis capability which helps in problem solving. From this approach, a learner expands his perspective of life in light of the content shared.

The exercises make it easier to understand the content being delivered. Students become critical about this content and can put it into context with ease. They discover the underlying issues and can reason critically instead of recycling or reciting the information provided. This enables them to decipher the potent content in a subject. When information leads to knowledge, retention is boosted and the students become more creative as well as innovative.

Students are given the unique ability to relate with materials under discussion. They inquire into the relationships between these materials and their existence. This is an important lesson for them to understand what is to be held in high regard and also build a value system around their learning. In this way, they become valuable and cultured professionals who provide critically thought ideas to their careers and every day engagements.

The incorporation of these exercises is meant to enhance your learning environment. It should take a personal approach that is also subtle but only meant to compliment your curriculum. When used effectively, you end up with an engaging learning environment where students are always tuned in. Further, the students have greater regard for the content they receive in class and also apply it both ethically and methodically. Because of deeper understanding, they are more creative in the field.

The basic principles under these exercises are to build communion, connection and awareness. This is in regard to content under study. Because the exercises are diverse, a tutor must identify the most effective practice or a set of them for each session. You need to customize the practice to fit both your pupils and the content being offered.

Stillness ranks high among the contemplative exercises that can be used during learning sessions. This involves silence, centering, meditation and quieting of mind. The exercises help students to pay greater attention of content and its application in real life. Through their reflections, they can tailor the content in a way that is transforms their immediate environment and community.

Creativity is also used as a contemplative exercise. It involves such activities as keeping of journals where ideas relating to a particular subject are discussed. This helps you identify a way of applying the ideas in real life. Students may also turn the content into expressive arts like a drawing. Other options include movement, activism and use of relational activities. The role of a tutor is to find a customized way of applying these techniques to simplify content and make it understandable.




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