It has been known for years that emotions can have a certain effect over the learning activities of an individual. Maybe some of you have even experienced it firsthand. However, this phenomenon is something very complex and it should be regarded with special attention. Moreover, extreme emotions can affect a person’s neurological condition and lead to mental health issues.
Emotions Can Help and Hinder Memory
An interesting scientific finding is that emotions can influence our memory. When people are feeling happy, positive and relaxed, their mind is open to the world. As a result, they can easily learn new material. In comparison, when a person is sad, nervous or angry, he/she has difficulties understanding and remembering new information.
Also, negative feelings and emotions affect our ability to recall things. That is namely why some students fail at important exams. Even when a person is well-prepared for a test, the information may be hard to recall under great pressure and stress.
Positive Emotions Make Us More Productive
When a student is in high spirits, he/she can do more work and to do it better. Therefore, the learning environment in schools is one of the keys to students’ school performance. Classrooms should be a place where kids like to be. However, today, many students find classrooms activities and environment to be dreadful.
Positive People are More Creative
Until recently, it was believed that the creative genius is grumpy, sad and moody. However, that may end up being quite wrong. Positive emotions are now said to make students more creative and innovative. The reason is that they are not distracted by negative thoughts. As a result, their mind comes up with more abstract and unusual ideas.
Students Who Have Negative Emotions Should Receive Special Attention
It is normal for a child to sometimes feel sad, angry, anxious, irritable or even depressed. However, a temporary state can always become permanent. If you see that your kid is feeling down longer that the usual, then you should take measures. These measures can include a simple conversation or even specialist consultation if the negative emotions are brought about by more serious things like trauma, for example. Bullying, harassment and insults are not uncommon to today’s schools. If a s parent, you notice your child is sad, dig into it and eliminate the problem with no delay. Do not think that this could not happen to your family or teachers and students are angels. They are often not!
However, parents cannot always spot their children’s negative emotions. Teachers should be able to estimate better the insight of a kid’s mind and behavior. That is because they presumably have more experience with children and they should be more attentive.
Therefore, it would be a good initiative to provide to teachers additional training that will enable them to learn how to spot and to successfully communicate with depressed kids. In that way, these children will be taken care of before things get too serious and their performance will be less affected.
