Newsletter 002: Sensing and Focusing in “Belcher’s Model for Learning”

Dr. Nathan Belcher
3 min readAug 7, 2024

In the previous newsletter, I discussed an overview of the Model for Learning. I would love to know your answers to the questions — you can always respond to this newsletter and let me know what you think!

Here is Belcher’s Model for Learning:

Belcher’s Model for Learning [Image by Belcher]

This week will discuss a bit about Sensing and Focusing — the first part of the Model for Learning.

Sensing and focusing is the way that your brain takes in and chooses information. You have five main sensory systems, each with their own unique ability and usefulness. Each of the senses connects to your brain, helping you create a full picture of the world.

These are the five main sensory systems:

  • Visual (sight) system
  • Olfactory (smell) system
  • Somatosensory (touch) system
  • Gustatory (taste) system
  • Auditory (hearing) system

The senses process a substantial amount of information each second, with most of the information ignored by the conscious part of your brain — if your brain did not ignore most of the information, you would get overwhelmed very quickly!

Your brain focuses on a select amount of information, combining the new…

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Dr. Nathan Belcher

Founder of "The Learning Engine" -- Helping people learn and grow through the principles of learning. W&M: B.S '08, M.A.Ed '10, U of SC: Ed.D. '17