MANILA, Philippines - For educator and Australia's "Brain Man" John Joseph, learning should not be just for the sake of acquiring knowledge, but also for achieving a sense of identity.

Only though this, he said, can schools be effective in teaching children.

"In order to motivate children, one must connect education with their sense of identity. In other words, what's in it for me? Then what can I do for them?" Joseph, who is currently in Manila for a series of lectures, said in an interview on "Mornings@ANC" on Wednesday.

Joseph cited his two learning models, the Four Worlds and Four Rooms. In the first model, he noted that a person's mind can be divided into one internal world and three external worlds, each involving direct and indirect experiences, and future plans.

This model, he said, will help teachers and students classify information and make it more relevant to them.

"There should be a balance between direct and indirect experience," he said.

The Four Rooms model, on the other hand, suggests that a person's emotions can be classified into four colored "rooms:" blue (imagination), green (logic), red (impulse) and orange (moods).

Joseph said kids who end up as pilots and engineers are more often in the green room while designers and artists like being in the blue room.

The orange and red rooms, meanwhile, are there to make sure that kids needs to be affirmed and supported by their teachers, parents and guardians.

"Our teaching wants to have a balance of both [green and blue] in the early years," he said. "This model gives kids a choice. Like [if they're mad, they can say] I want to go to my red room instead of throwing things around."

Too much homework?

Joseph said he is promoting his new learning models as more students tend to suffer from "too much homework."

"They are anxious learners. They are hardly motivated. They haven't learned how to make sense of information graphically, so they write notes again and again and memorize," he explained.

"You'll do well in school with this strategy, but you'll have a hard time when you get out of school. Most workplaces need people who are more spontaneous and creative," Joseph said, adding that sleep is also fundamental to the learning process.

Dina Paterno of the Beacon International School in Makati City, which uses Joseph's models, agreed. "A lot of our parents and teachers say they have kids that are so tired because of the work load," she said.

Beacon, now on its tenth year, has about 300 students. Paterno hopes that the school's new approach to teaching, as provided by Joseph, will help nurture children's curiosity.

"Not that we don't give homework, but we do it in the classroom. The learning happens more naturally and the homework is not such a burden anymore because they enjoy the learning," she said.