At the University of Illinois, William Greenough's experimented with enriched environments with rats. Rats that exercised in an enriched environment had a greater number of connections among neurons than those who didn't. The rats also had more capillaries around the brain's neurons than those of sedentary rats. Just as exercise tones muscles, it strengthens basal ganglia, cerebellum, and corpus callosum. By employing background music in the gymnasium, we can create a force multiplier (stimulating neurotransmitters) to supplement the students learning. Physical educators can easily use background music to encourage motivation by intensifying student's emotions. Additionally, initiating non-threatening, highly challenging surroundings created by melodies and physical exercise, the student is in a position to collaborate learning.
Emotions can also affect the learning environment. When emotional pain or negative occurrence can obscure our point of view and thinking. Children have a difficult time in dealing with negative emotions or stressful situations. When children are overwhelmed with these conditions, children desire structured games and positive "time - outs" which helps the child regroup so to speak on their self - esteem. The body is consistently seeking homeostasis to overcome stress and emotional overload. Movement is the body's natural reward. Physical activity causes the body/brain to naturally balance its innate homeostasis. Teachers can also accomplish this by employing music in their classrooms are capable of relaxing children and reducing anger, anxiety and stress levels. With this strategy, teachers can have their students realize their capabilities.
