How many times have you heard a teacher say, "sit still," "stop fidgeting," and "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Maybe you moved to the back row, so that your constant doodling would fly under the instructor's radar.

No need to hold a grudge . . . those educators just didn't know any better.

Although it may appear that a "doodler" is not paying attention, science today says otherwise. Trainers and teachers must adapt their expectations in order to help learners get the most out of every learning session.

This past February, Applied Cognitive Psychology of Wiley InterScience published Jackie Andrade's findings about doodling. With a group of 40 people, she tested the impact of doodling on concentration and memory. Participants were asked to listen to a boring telephone message with names of people as well as some irrelevant information. The doodling group was given paper with shapes -- alternating rows of squares and circles -- and the control group was given lined paper. The doodlers doodled, the control group didn't. In the end, the doodlers were found to have 29% better recall of the names than the non-doodlers.

Although most training could not be equated to a "boring telephone message," think how much more effective learner retention would be if doodlers were not inhibited from doin' what comes naturally.

 

>Nov 14, 9am-3pm 

  Tulsa R&R-16th and Baltimore