Accelerated Learning.pdf

Accelerated Learning

Colin Rose

"How memory's secrets unlocked the way to relaxed, easy learning."

Chapters

Introduction

1. Your Incredible Brain

2. The Basis of Memory

3. Improving Memory

4. Memory Aids

5. The Power of your Imagination

6. The Genesis of Accelerated Learning

7. What is the Role of the Music?

8. The Evidence

9. Tell Me

10. The State of the Art

11. Putting it All Together

12. First - Relax

13. An Accelerated Learning Course

14. Accelerated Learning for your Children

15. How You can be Involved

16. Notes for Teachers

Appendix C (Removed)

Bibliography (Removed)

Index (Removed)

INTRODUCTION

A quiet revolution is gathering momentum in the way we learn. In the last

decade or so psychologists have begun to discover more of how the brain

really works and how facts can be rapidly and deeply fixed in the memory.

It's on these discoveries that Accelerated Learning is based.

Historically, most teaching has been undertaken by those who were the best

at the subject - the person who was "best at French", became the French

teacher. But that person was not necessarily the most skilled at the principles

of teaching. You employ an architect to design your house, because his

speciality is the principle of construction but a builder to actually carry out

the plans, because he is adept at the practice.

In a similar way psychologists have begun to define the principles behind

learning, and these findings have led to a quite different approach to

learning.

Conventional teaching has assumed that learning should involve determined

concentration and frequent repetition. We now know that this style of

learning is not efficient, because it causes unnecessary tension and it tends to

involve just one half of the brain.

Accelerated Learning, in contrast, teaches you how to achieve a pleasantly

relaxed, yet receptive state of mind, and presents information in new ways

that actively involve both the left and right brains.

There can be no learning without memory. We remember things easily that

have powerful associations for us - which is why T.V. advertisers use strong

visual images, use music and rhythm, and attempt to involve our emotions.

It's the reason why you can remember the words of a pop song with little or

no conscious effort, yet struggle to remember a list of historical dates.

By studying why people can remember some things vividly after a single

exposure, yet forget other information after dozens of repetitions, we have

been able to construct new techniques of teaching. They create such

powerful associations that pupils find they can literally picture what they are

learning in their "mind's eye" and hear what they are learning in their

"mind's ear". The methods have been evolved from studies on people with

photographic memory.

Accelerated Learning, however, does not only work by setting up

memorable visual and sound associations in the mind. A high proportion of

all learning takes place at the subconscious level. So Accelerated Learning

presents the student with new material in such a way that it is

simultaneously absorbed by both the conscious and subconscious mind.

Information, for example, is positioned so it can be absorbed in peripheral

vision, and sentences are short and rhythmical because such facts are easily

remembered.

The attraction, and paradox, is that the learner puts in no more conscious

effort than normal; in fact less because she or he is relaxed. It is the fact that

the material is presented in such a memorable way, to both the left and right

brains, and to the conscious and subconscious mind, that accounts for the

dramatic improvement in the speed and effectiveness of learning.

Accelerated Learning is not the development of one man. Dozens of

Universities, Research Psychologists and professional educators have

contributed to produce this unique way of presenting new information. The

contributions range from the seminal work of Dr. Lozanov, to Nobel Prize

winners Roger Sperry and Robert Ornstein, and to the recent work of N.L.P.

researchers.

There are Accelerated Learning courses now in scores of Universities around

the world. The technique has been incorporated in the Finnish school system

by many individual teachers and also in the school system of the city of

Chicago. Multi-national companies such as Shell Oil, General Motors and

Hilton Hotels are using the method - as are dozens of U.S. Government

Agencies and Embassies.

The effectiveness of Accelerated Learning has been objectively measured

and Don Schuster, Professor of Psychology at Iowa State University, was

able to record that "it produces at least 300% improvement in the speed and

effectiveness of learning". This book presents the background to the

development of Accelerated Learning, the evidence, and describes the

methods step by step. You will be able to try the technique and prove it for

yourself.

We believe the impact of Accelerated Learning will be felt in every area of

learning. UNESCO have acknowledged its effectiveness in learning

languages, and the magazine "Educational Technology" claimed that "it is a

tool that allows students to absorb and retain a two year language course in

as few as 20 days. Almost any factual subject matter - chemistry, financial,

medical, even management sciences can be presented in this framework. It is

destined to have a revolutionary impact on human resources in the days to

come".

"Psychology" magazine called Accelerated Learning "The key to the 21st

Century" and Educational Psychologist Dr. Jean Houston claims "we are just

beginning to discover the virtually limitless capacities of the mind".

Certainly it is a timely breakthrough, because we live in an age where the

fast acquisition of more and more knowledge is a necessity. Accelerated

Learning can achieve this, and because the results are so immediate, learning

becomes enjoyable, satisfying and therefore motivating.

1. YOUR INCREDIBLE BRAIN

The recent discoveries in Inner Space

The human brain appears over-endowed. It used to be an often quoted

statistic that we only use 10% of our potential brain power. The more

psychologists have learnt in the last ten years however, the less likely they

are to dare to attempt to quantify our brain potential. The only consistent

conclusion is that the proportion of our potential brain power that we use is

probably nearer 4% than 10%.

Most of us, then, appear to let 96% of our mental potential lie unused. But it

doesn't have to be so. Once we begin to understand how the brain's memory

works, the way is opened to tap that vast unused potential. The result can be

a quantum leap in learning speed, an enrichment of every part of our life

and, scientists now believe, a measurable increase in intelligence, whatever

our age. First, let us look at some of the facts.

Neurons

The average adult human brain consists of some 12,000 to 15,000 million

nerve cells. (15,000,000,000). That is about three times the entire population

of the earth.

The human nervous system, controlled by the brain, begins its development

only 20 days after conception. Five weeks from conception brain

development starts in earnest and after eight weeks the first of two brain

spurts begins. At this stage the brain represents half the total length of the

foetus (although it is still only '/2 inch long!). This is when the neuroblasts

begin to grow. Neuroblasts are embryonic cells that will in turn become

neurons, or brain nerve cells. The speed at which neuroblasts are now

developing is staggering. They are added at the rate of several thousand a

minute.

Nutrition is vital during the formation of brain cells.

Of particular importance is adequate protein to provide adequate amounts of

amino acids. Tryptophan is especially important for brain biochemistry and

human milk has twice as much of this amino acid as cows milk. In societies

where mothers are undernourished, children may have up to 50% less

neurons than their counterparts among Western children. Additionally, the

part of the brain responsible for limb co-ordination can be seriously

impaired.

Twelve weeks after conception, the tiny foetus is now adding neurons at the

rate of 2,000 a second. To put this into context, an adult honey bee's brain

contains some 7,000 neurons. A bee can accomplish many sophisticated

tasks, including building and maintaining a honeycomb, calculating

distance, signalling to its companions the direction of pollen sources, and

recognizing a course by sight and smell. AlI with the number of neurons the

human foetus develops in under 3 seconds. About twenty weeks after

conception or 18 weeks before birth, the human embryo has laid down its

entire nervous system: 12-15 billion neurons. Whilst the number of neurons

is important, of even greater significance is the next stage of brain

development: the second brain spurt.

About ten weeks before birth, each neuron starts to send out numerous thin

fibres to make actual and potential connections with other neurons. The

power of the brain is largely a function of the number of neurons and the

richness of their connections. Since each neuron can itself make thousands

of connections, the potential number of inter-connections in the brain runs

into trillions. The key point to remember is that only some of these

connections are made automatically. Most are made by using the brain. The

more your brain is stimulated, the richer the connections and the higher your

practical mental ability. Many of the basic interconnections are made before

the age of five!

The human head will grow in physical size four-fold after birth. The

evolutionary limit to the size of the baby's head at birth has been set by the

size of the mother's birth canal. By age five, the skull will be 90% of adult

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