MANILA, Philippines ? For many people, the word ?learning? brings up images of teachers at the front of the room either talking or writing on the board while students follow along in their seats. Proof that what was read or heard had been absorbed and stored for future use usually comes in the form of a high score on a test, though lessons conveyed this way don?t always stick.

A new study from researchers who study the human mind and how it interacts with machines looks at how humans learn, and what this information could mean in turn for the classroom environments of the future.

?Our brains have evolved to learn and adapt to new environments,? said the study?s senior author Terrence Sejnowski, head of the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, in a statement. ?If we can create the right environment for a child, magic happens.?

One of the main points of the study is that learning is a social activity. As an example, the researchers looked at how babies picked up mannerisms or learned to associate words with objects by copying the movements of the adults around them, such as following the direction of their eyes.

Major role

?A major role we play as parents is teaching children where the important things are for them to learn,? said lead author and developmental psychologist Andrew Meltzoff of the University of Washington in a statement. Noting that learning is a two-way street, he added, ?We can learn what to do by watching others, and we also can come to understand other people through our own actions.?

The researchers noted that children might unconsciously pick up on cues that signal the advent of a lesson. In their article they observed that some teachers at the grade school and high school levels are trying to find ways of giving the classroom a less formal air to take advantage of the way that children socialize and let their curiosity guide them toward new information outside of the classroom.

Another experiment described in the study involved teaching infants Mandarin Chinese either by having an adult give them lessons personally, by having the babies watch videotaped lessons or else by listening to an audio recording. Testing afterward revealed that the babies who?d had the personal lessons did better at identifying sounds in the Chinese language compared to those who?d had less interactive lessons.

Social interactions

Meltzoff said the results of these experiments suggested that social interactions serve as the foundation for learning at an early age and also provide the best method of making sure lessons taught aren?t quickly forgotten.

Sejnowski separately echoed his colleague?s comments, adding that there was technology to create a social teaching environment personalized for each student in the classroom, but it wasn?t being used.

?Our hope is that applying this new knowledge to learning will enhance educators? ability to provide a much richer and more interesting intellectual and cultural life for everyone,? Sejnowski said.

More details about the study by Meltzoff and his colleagues from the University of Washington, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the University of California, San Diego can be found in the July 17 issue of the journal Science.

E-mail the author at massie@ massie.com.