Cognitive Flow and Learning

Cognitive Flow:

            One of the times that I experience cognitive flow is when I am working on a jigsaw puzzle. I really like doing the 1000+ piece puzzles that have pieces that look like they could go in a lot of different places. I enjoy the challenge, and I often spend hours working on a puzzle without realizing any time has passed. I often work on puzzles with my fiancé, but even when we work together, I still experience cognitive flow. We both usually get really into putting the puzzle together, so we often end up not really talking. It is really neat to experience cognitive flow at the same time as someone else. I also often experience cognitive flow when I am writing. It usually takes me a little while to get started and get into the rhythm in order to experience cognitive flow, but when I do, I find that I get more enjoyment out of writing and that my writing improves.

Personal Learning Network

            Although my PLN is largely online and is not really related to puzzles, it does connect well with writing. As someone who enjoys writing and is at least relatively good at it, I find that being able to express myself via the written word really helps me forge new connections and keep old ones fresh. Connections that I have on Facebook are kept up largely by text communication, and I have even considered creating a blog like the ones I have in my PLN. Once I become a teacher, I would like to start writing about my experiences in blog form. I imagine that teachers are always looking for others who have the same issues and joys as they do, so creating a blog would be a great way to connect with teachers.

Flow, Play, and Learning

            It seems to me that the more related an activity is to something that feels like playing, the more likely we are to experience cognitive flow. As a child, I remember being able to play for hours and hours as long as it was some sort of imaginative play, and it always felt like no time had passed. I think this can be especially valuable when teaching younger students who have only experienced flow as it is relative to play. Slowly adding in more and more school-related activities to something that produces cognitive flow could really help students to experience that same flow when they are actively learning. For older students, finding out their interests could be very helpful in allowing them to experience cognitive flow. Giving them something to work on that interests them increases the chances that they will find themselves experiencing flow. This could implemented in the classroom by allowing students to choose their own topics for research papers, allowing students to pick the books they read, giving students a choice between to approaches to a unit, or even by creating a lesson centered around a class’s interests.