Why Having Fun Helps People Learn

All of the programs delivered by Canoe Images are powerful, often transformational, learning experiences for participants.  They are also great fun!

Creating an environment where participants have fun is obviously better than creating one that does not but there is more to this than meets the eye; people actually learn more effectively when they are having fun.  People become more creative, are more open minded and lose their inhibitions or preconceived ideas which all lead to opportunities to learn.

Neurologists have discovered that when learners are having fun a number of physiological changes occur in the body; levels of dopamine, endorphins and oxygen in the body are increased which leads to an overall pleasurable experience for the body.  The brain, being the powerful organ it is, associates this pleasurable experience with whatever triggered it and attaches the emotion to the event – locking it away in the memory which is able to be recalled at a later date.

Entirely the opposite is true as well.  When the body is uncomfortable, stressed or physically or emotionally tired, it reduces the amount of dopamine, endorphins and oxygen available to the body.  Further, if those conditions continue, the hippocampus shrinks leading to memory impairment and any available opportunity to learn is lost.

So when you are with the Canoe Images team and you hear lots of laughter, people are not only having fun but they are also actively engaged in learning.