Road of the school, Mar, 11, a student of public education in Valencia, does not think much before answering the question of why he believes that some of his classmates take good grades and other bad. “Because they are smarter.” It is an entrenched opinion among many kids, their families and, to a lesser extent, some teachers, which self -limits the academic progress of the students, influences their motivation, and is often manifested in specific matters, with statements such as “I do not value For mathematics “or” I do not do well for foreign languages. ” And that, despite its extension, it is not very consistent with what science has shown so far about how the brain learns.
“Innate skills can give certain advantages, but when learning is more important,” says the cognitive psychologist of Education Héctor Ruiz Martín. Except for special cases, such as people with serious intellectual disorders, it continues, any can achieve competence between acceptable and excellent in any school discipline. “What influences the most are other factors, such as dedication, patience, didactic resources and perseverance.”
Ruiz Martín, one of the main Spanish experts in study practices -, how to reread the notes -, director of the International Science Teaching Foundation, and author, among other books, of Learning to learnclarifies, however, that this does not mean that anyone can become the best in the world in a field simply based on studying a lot. But with the appropriate attitude and strategies, the vast majority of students can achieve good or very good results, even if they face starting difficulties, such as dyslexia, which may require greater effort.
Ruiz Martín’s argument has, on the one hand, a biological base. The human brain is continuously modified from the experiences we have. A property, called neuroplasticity, which constitutes the foundations of learning and our main faculty to adapt to the environment, he explains. Brain cells continuously modify their “called synapses. And learning occurs thanks to the creation of new connections or through the modification of what we already have.
The way our brain is, to speak, cablingat one point, determine what we know and what we can do, but learning consists precisely in modifying those existing neuronal circuits, Ruiz Martín continues. The initial performance of a person in a specific discipline depends, therefore, on how their neuronal circuits are configured. “But with study, practice and patience the brain is reconfigured so that we are better in what we try to learn,” says the cognitive psychologist.
Consider innate talent The main cause of success or educational failure has negative consequences because it affects motivation. And it is difficult, believes Ana Prades, a counselor in a public institute in Castellón, exaggerating the importance that motivation has for educational performance. “Motivation is the engine of all learning, a basic process,” he says. “In the motivation to learn something, interest influences. But there is a factor that is even more important, because it modulates interest, which is the belief that you can learn it, what in psychology is called self -efficacy, ”Ruiz Martín continues.
When the trust of a student in which he can learn something is older, it is more likely not only to try, but to perseve Get to start learning something new.
Identify the cause well
The confidence in being able to learn something is based, in turn, on elements such as the previous experiences of the student with this discipline, and above all, on the way he has interpreted these results. What considers that a success or failure is due. If the student suspends a subject and attributes it to his lack of capacity – “I do not do mathematics” or “I am not intelligent” -, or reasons on which, even if it were right, it has no room for maneuver direct – as the exam was very difficult or that the teacher has mania -, it is less likely to improve in the following evaluation than if it is considered to strive more or study with more effective techniques.
The opinion that innate intelligence is what most determines performance is also very settled in good part of the good students, says Ruiz Martín. A belief that can become against those who, not having acquired good study habits, when reaching a certain level of demand – which frequently coincides with the ES – begin to have worse results. And if at that time, instead of changing their way of studying, they continue to attribute the results to talent, they can end up lowering their opinion of themselves (their self -efficacy) and even fail.
At the same time, a student with low confidence in their skills achieves small educational successes, thanks, for example, to choose better study techniques, their expectations in which other learning challenges can increase, which can generate a virtuous circle. “It is often said that while motivation is important for school success, school success is even more important for motivation,” says the director of the International Science Teaching Foundation.
A concrete example
That was, in some way, what happened to Ana, who is 13 years old and studies second in ESO in a Valencian public institute. In fifth grade suspended a mathematics exam and internalized, he says ,. Three years later, on the other hand, thanks to new study techniques and perseverance, it takes out outstanding in the field, and ensures that it is no longer nervous, “or not much”, in the exams of the subject.
Gabriela Spano, who has been teaching 26 years and is head of studies at the Public Primary Center and that Aurora Picornell, in the neighborhood of La Soledad de Palma, affirms that excessive belief in the importance of innate skills when determining The school march is very widespread and that, although possible, is not easy to change. “The first handicap we have when teaching is that we do not explain to students how you learn, what mechanisms are started when learning. So they attribute it to the cultural beliefs that run around them, because this is also deeply rooted in families. And I think one of our missions is to disassemble that myth. Teach them how you learn, because they will do it more and better. ” To do this, Spano sees necessary to act on various fronts: “Putting the error, for example, one of the things that makes us learn. And the concept of progress; that there is nothing that has more value than someone progresses from their baseline. ”
