What is this thing called accelerated learning?

Almost 3,000 years ago, the Greek biographer and essayist Plutarch said, "The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be ignited." One could say that those words were the seeds of accelerated learning.

But accelerated learning really began in the early 160s when a Bulgarian psychiatrist, Georgi Lozanov, developed the theory of "suggestology"--the interweaving of various techniques designed to get left-brain and right-brain abilities to work together to help people learn faster and better.

Lozanov was particularly intrigued by some people's ability to recall past experiences vividly and completely. Many of his experiments dealt with the mastery of foreign languages. Lozanov believed that through suggestology, people could learn words and phrases faster, recall them more easily, and retain them longer.

In English lessons for Bulgarian students, Lozanov played Baroque music as students entered the classroom. He assured them that the imminent task would be easy, and he explained how he would conduct the session. Lozanov believed that this approach lessened stress and broke down barriers to learning. Then he distributed some English text with the Bulgarian translation. Lozanov read aloud in English while the students followed the text silently. Then he told them to begin reading parts of the text in English.

He also asked students periodically to lean back in their chairs, close their eyes, breathe deeply, and concentrate on the music while he read the text aloud--an approach Lozanov called the passive concert. During the final part of the session--the active concert--Lozanov read the English text three times, using normal, soft, and loud tones. A class of 60 students learned, on average, 80 new words a day. In two different sessions, students learned 500 new words in eight hours.

Years later, Lozanov's work caught the attention of David Meier, a specialist in applying instructional methods to business training. In 1981, Meier--intrigued by Lozanov's theories--founded the Center for Accelerated Learning in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Is and isn't

Before explaining what accelerated learning is, it might be useful to discuss what it is not. Despite its terminology, accelerated learning is not an acceleration of the learning process. Either learning happens, or it doesn't. Accelerated learning is a multisensory, brain-compatible teaching and learning methodology. It uses information from brain research to...