E-learning and the challenge of the senses NEO BLOG

Learning online is contrasted with the opportunities a physical classroom environment has to demonstrate concepts using all five senses: for instance the color, smell and touch of a flower, the sliminess of a mollusk, the acrid smell of ammonia. The senses play an integral role in learning – one can go so far as to say that from an evolutionary standpoint it is their sole function; we learn through experience best, and the more vivid that experience is, the deeper the learning and retention. Developmental psychology literature (both popular and academic) agrees that external stimuli – particularly in children – grow neural pathways, and exaggerate and enhance learning. Young children have a surfeit of neuroglial cells, and the credo "use it or lose it" applies – neural cells and pathways not used in discovery and learning new things eventually degenerate and die. The most prevalent example is the relative ease with which young children can learn new languages, compared with when they get older.