What are the implications of this finding for education?
2. Think about the last lesson you taught that 'bombed'. What senses were most in use during that lesson? How could you have put smell, sound, or touch into that lesson?
3. A couple of sites with more information:
- Nonlinguistic Representation
http://www.netc.org/focus/strategies/nonl.php - Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers
http://www.netc.org/focus/strategies/cues.php
I have had lecture lessons that bombed but I have also had manipulative lessons that bombed. Not as frequently but there is a craft to using manipulatives and technology. As had been said laready in this space, it is a real trick to keep students engaged in a lecture. However, when you choose to do an interactive lesson, full rehersal is necessary as well as a back up plan. It has happened that a lesson using technology has left my students completely confused. Mulitmedia IS more interesting but handle with care.
ReplyDeleteJust trying...
ReplyDeleteInteresting discussion about how sensory details are important in student learning--the more the better for students to not just learn but to remember as well.
ReplyDeleteMarcia also gave us an interesting article to read.
I thought the article on Active Learning was excellent. We have to force students to solve porblems, answer qeustions, formulate questions and discuss, explain, and brainstorm. Reflective questions are difficult, but we must ask students to read and write. Reading is thinking, and writing is thinking. Students must receive a great deal of practice in these areas to become good thinkers.
ReplyDeleteToday we discussed the possibility of improving retention in classes by adding something to the senses besides just the audio. In Fine Arts this could work easily with some creative teacher planning. I am going to try this next week and report back to the group on how it went. The kids are going to be my guinnea pigs and will probably really enjoy the opportunity to be involved. Some kinetic and some visual and theatrical props will be involved. More later! Mary out!
ReplyDeleteI use power points for my notes in class. I do have many visuals, but they are not animated. I may try learning how to animate more.
ReplyDeleteMy question is, do the students require this to learn or is this just more of the “Sesame Street Syndrome”? I don’t think that any teacher tries to be boring, but is it the teacher’s responsibility to engage the student all of the time, or does the student have at least some of the responsibility to keep himself engaged?
I ask my students to read their papers aloud as they proofread. Seeing and hearing the words makes a big difference. I do the same when it is my turn to read their work. I guess we are on the right track with the district RAV. Drawing a picture along with the explanation of the word does help. However, we never test with the pictures, or at least I don't. I wonder how they would do with matching pictures instead of words? Perhaps we should take it one step further and do a scratch and sniff! Or scented candles around the room.
ReplyDeleteThe chapter bothered me in several ways. The first is tthe obvious explotation that is advocated for business. This caused flashbacks to a whole sub-genre of Sci Fi where "big brother" exploits and controls its population through sub-liminal communication(which is what using smells to trigger emotional responses is!). The ethics of this kind of thing are scary. The same problem exists when applied to students. It also doesn't seem to help much since declaritive memory (the kind you have to actively recall) doesn't seem to be very responsive to olfactory imput. Therefore such "games" in school would have to be aimed at control (keeping the kids emotionally in line) rather then learning. Audio and visual integration (and for some kids tactile) on the other hand is something that happens almost continuously in schools. Try to think of the last time you just talked to your students for a whole period. We almost always have something visual- a worksheet, an outline, etc. when we "lecture" and vis-versa. Medina's comment that animation works better then text is another problem area. He argues that improves learning, but he doesn't tell you what kind of learning. It may indeed improve "gist" learning (seeing a big picture) but it doesn't do anything for detail learning. To follow Medina's advise is to turn teaching into "soundbites" and you can see where that kind of learning has gotten us on the political front!
ReplyDeleteI do try and integrate multiple senses into activities, whether it is through writing out information or steps to a lab, while also reading them aloud and demonstrating them. I also do this to try and meet the many different learning styles of students. I know that if I hear something, I wont remember it as well, but if I can read something in front of me, I have a much better chance of remembering it. Because vision is the most dominant sense, I do try and put lots of visual aids with any activity. I found it interesting though how inaccurate our brains can be at recalling information that we think we see.
ReplyDeleteWe are in the world with tons of stimuli..when does stimulation become a distraction vs. an enhancement.
ReplyDeleteI guess this is the spot to blog both #9 and #10.
ReplyDeleteChpter 9, Sensory interation had a direct link to teaching in the classroom. This reaffirms my notion that we should use graphic organizers to "organize" information for students so it is easier to remember. It is also interestinbg to not that the brain uses past experiences in this memory process. All the senses working together make our memories come alive. Of course, what we forget is filled in by the brain as we always have gaps in our memory- except for women who remember details more than men. I'm not sure I agree with the smell application, so if we do the same smell again during a test as I did when giving the lecture the information is esaier to recall. I don't think it works that way nor is it convienent in teaching. I loke the animation thoughts and I try to insert 1-2min clips into my powerpoints to make them also jump out and get their attention. Students seem to like this. I like this book as it reaffirms some of my teaching strategies.
Chapter 10, Vision was very interesting to me. I like the details about photons, retinal nerve cell, and occipital lope. My biggest, "hey this is cool" is the blind spot in the optic disk where no cells percieve sight. I didn't know about this blind spot and didn't further know about how our brain "fills in" this missing information as it scans the objects next to it and "filling in." Our brain is not a camera but it is actively deconstructing the info by the eyes, filtering it, and then reconstructing it to what it thinks you see! Wow, that's great science! Maybe I should be a science teacher!???
ReplyDeleteJay Swords says:
ReplyDeleteChapter 10
Our brains may be built on the “picture is worth a 1000 words” system but as anyone who has read USA Today and the New York Times will tell you, USA Today is quicker but it leaves out the details needed to make good decisions. That’s why magicians and Political T.V. adds are so good at fooling us! Modina makes a powerful case for not building teaching on visuals—our brain plays with this info too much and too easy. And it seems that there is a cumulative process here. The smaller the amount of data/experience we have, the more our brain takes liberties with twhat we see. A world based on vision (think video games) may be fun, but it leaves us unprepared in a host of different ways. Taking the time and effort to “get the details” (through text and lecture) may not be fun but it is essential if we’re going to make good decisions in an ever more complex, potentially harmful world.
I found Jane's comment interesting. I agree that we look to be on the right track with our RAV. I think having the students draw the picture representation of the word is helpful. BUT, like Jane mentioned, we never test this way. If we focus on all of these different ways to stimulate the students, and get them to learn, but never assess them in the same manner, what is it helping?
ReplyDeleteTo comment on both Katie and Jane, I have created vocabulary quizzes before using the student's RAV drawings. The quiz was successful but failed with another. Maybe a combination of the definition and the picture would have been better for my students.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article I will continue to try to use more of the senses in my teaching. It is not easy to get out of my comfortable rut of "old school" kind of teaching though.
ReplyDeleteI did do a lesson plan with chocolate chip cookies and using sensory words in writing. Kids really seemed to get it...and appreciate a good cookie!