Practice makes better? A study of meditation learners in a classroom environment

The study investigates the effect of length of meditation history on various factors, namely learning motivation, learning outcome and classroom climate. Data were collected from working adult learners (n = 450) attending meditation classes in two large cities in Taiwan. The investigation categorized learners based on meditation experience, namely < 1 year, 1-3 years, 4-6 years, 7-10 years and > 10 years. The study investigated how experience affects learners in their perception of motivation, learning outcome and classroom climate, using one-way ANOVA and post-hoc analysis. Results showed a non-linear ordered response-longer meditation experience does not in all cases increase benefits gained from meditation. A follow-up group discussion with learners identified learning fatigue as a possible factor for the non-linear results. In addition, through canonical correlation analysis, the study also showed that learning motivation and classroom climate is strongly correlated with learning outcome. The paper concludes with a discussion of results.