{"id":71246,"date":"2024-01-02T17:42:28","date_gmt":"2024-01-02T22:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=71246"},"modified":"2024-01-02T17:42:28","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T22:42:28","slug":"how-effective-is-fear-as-a-teaching-tool-how-and-what-do-we-learn-when-we-are-scared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-effective-is-fear-as-a-teaching-tool-how-and-what-do-we-learn-when-we-are-scared\/","title":{"rendered":"How effective is fear as a teaching tool? How and what do we learn when we are scared?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Many of us remember vividly being yelled at or feeling threatened by a family member, a teacher, or a boss.<\/p>\n

Terrifying experiences often get imprinted in our memory; remembering frightening events is essential to avoid them in future. It is a normal reaction that promotes our\u00a0survival<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This strong connection between fear and memory may lead us to think fear can be an effective learning tool. Research shows, however, fear can have\u00a0long-term negative consequences<\/a>\u00a0for children and adults alike \u2013 and can actually make it harder to learn in meaningful ways.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what the research says about how and what we learn when we are scared.<\/p>\n

How fear affects children\u2019s learning<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Fear is designed to protect us from\u00a0current and future danger<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If children are faced with experiences that trigger fear, they learn to avoid new experiences \u2013 as opposed to exploring, engaging, and approaching the unknown with curiosity.<\/p>\n

Consistent exposure to fear changes how the brain reacts to the outside world. Fear triggers a\u00a0stress response in the brain<\/a>\u00a0and puts it in a state of alert; we become hyper ready to react swiftly and decisively to incoming threats.<\/p>\n

This may be appropriate if, for example, you are confronted by an aggressive strangers. But such high levels of reactivity are not productive in learning environments like school, where we are asked to be open to new experiences and create innovative solutions.<\/p>\n

In fact, the areas of the brain activated when we\u2019re scared are different to those we use when thinking carefully\u00a0how to address a tricky problem<\/a>.\u00a0Research<\/a>\u00a0has shown the more primitive parts of the brain take over the activity of the prefrontal cortex, the brain\u2019s \u201ccontrol centre\u201d, when we\u2019re in a state of fear.<\/p>\n

This means planning, making sound decisions and using our existing knowledge becomes very difficult if we feel threatened or afraid.<\/p>\n

Children learn fear from the adults in their lives<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Adults play a critical role in the healthy development of fear responses by modelling reactions to unknown situations. They also provide (or fail to provide) safe environments that promote children\u2019s exploration.<\/p>\n

Fear can be easily learned from significant adults. Studies have shown both\u00a0toddlers<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0school-aged children<\/a>\u00a0learn to avoid new experiences if their parents communicate or show signs of fear in reference to them.<\/p>\n

Think, for instance, about how a child can learn to fear animals by seeing how their parents react to them. Or, for example, the way constant warnings to \u201cbe careful!<\/a>\u201d may end up making a child too anxious to climb trees or take risks as they use play equipment.<\/p>\n

Adult behaviours also affect the degree to which children feel safe to be themselves and explore the world with confidence.<\/p>\n

Studies investigating the behaviours of parents have consistently shown harsh parenting (involving physical and verbal aggression) is related to\u00a0poorer outcomes in children<\/a>\u00a0including academic underachievement, higher levels of aggression and anxiety and poor peer relationships.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0opposite is the case<\/a>\u00a0for parents who, while providing structure and reasons for boundaries, are warm and encourage autonomy.<\/p>\n

Teachers also play a pivotal role in the development of fear responses. Students are more likely to be motivated and function well in classrooms if teachers are \u201cautonomy-supportive<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

This means teachers:<\/p>\n