Learning & Root Beer - Part 1

When it comes to learning, I'm a firm believer in what I call "The Root Beer Principle." I'll explain.

Have you ever poured yourself a nice, tall glass of root beer straight from the can? With all the bubbling and fizzing as the glass fills up, there comes a point when you can no longer fit more root beer in without the glass overflowing and, if you're not paying attention, you can end up with more root beer on the counter than in the glass.

The same thing happens in all kinds of learning experiences. Teachers, facilitators, and designers want to pack as many learning experiences as they can into the time they're allotted and leave their learner's brains bubbling and fizzing more quantity than quality. That's the Root Beer Principle at work.

I'm in good company on this. Scientific American and other publications have published studies that show that our brains need time to process, digest, quantify, and file away information before you add more information on top of what was just learned. Resting your brain can help you not only learn better, but help you to find connections between pieces of learning, find cew uses for information, and prepare and excite you to learn something new.

It's a principle that we've seen applied to other parts of the human body: muscles need time to rest after exercise, your stomach needs time to digest food before you can eat more food, and your heart needs time to slow down after any kind of long exertion or stress. The same thing happens to your brain. Too much information at once and your thoughts start to become disjointed, confused, and fragmentary.

As I have mentioned before, I'm currently in graduate school. One of my professors has regularly scheduled "Course Quiet Time" which recommends students use to rest, catch up on other classes or work, and unplug from the online environment and reacquaint themselves with the real world. I really like that he does this. He's acknowledging that I have more going on in my life than his class. He's also giving me space to think about what he wants me to learn and setting a pace that my brain can keep up with.

I consider myself a religious person. As part of my religion, we are asked to reserve one day of the week from work, school, shopping, sports, and any other activity that would take us away from our religious contemplation. It's an idea that's come to resonate more and more as I get deeper into my education. Yes, there are times to pick up my smartphone and check the class alerts that are coming in, but I keep reminding myself that I need the time off on Sunday to be ready to go at full speed from Monday thru Saturday.

Do I have to work a little harder during the rest of the week to make sure I'm in a good position to take the day off or any other time I need off? Yes, I do but it's worth it when I can close down my computer, go outside and sit on my patio to watch the sunset while I drink a cold glass of root beer.