Hi Linda:
PT seems particularly suited to emphasize senory learning. However, I would also say that students in any class can learn to "tune in" to their surroundings and use this hightened awareness to their advantage in class, at home, and whenever study and focused learning is in progress.
Regards, Barry
Hi Stacey:
You point out an important idea: students are motivated by activity that involves action, or hands on. The more we can add that kind of instruction to their learning, the better.
So what about the other classes? Better teachers will use the same principles, because it has been proven students will retain more when it's associated with an activity.
Regards, Barry
Hi Michael:
I've done something similar, using only "applause".
With one student volunteer outside the classroom, the class decides what they want the volunteer to touch. But the only way to do it is by providing positive reinforcement through applause. The closer the volunteer comes to the object, the louder and more vigorous comes the appluase. It may take a few minutes, but time after time, the volunteer student will be "praised" into walking up and touching an object, without a word being spoken. Amazing!
Regards, Barry
Hi Theresa:
These are really great examples.
I think to some degree that our senses are naturally always "on", just getting students to tune in can help tremendously. For instance, getting a student to feel the page they are reading and get used to that feel, that'll help when they're reading in class or at home. Really, hundresds of examples that could be cited.
Regards, Barry
Hi Tim:
Really, we don't have to try too hard to use our senses. What we need to do is to get students to tune into what is already there, such as what you describe!
Regards, Barry
Hi James:
True - demonstration can be quite a memorable teaching technique for certain students who can relate to ideas when they're able to handle, touch, manipulate, etc.
Regards, Barry
Hi Jaclyn:
Culinary is particulary a great example for senses used in the instructional process.
Outside of culinary, listening to enjoyable background music while studying, using colored paper (vs. white) to print handouts, listening to recorded notes - a few examples where senses can complement the learning experience.
Regards, Barry
I think that a lot of the students that come into carrer colleges learn better from demonstration and applying knowledge. using various teaching techniques helps them to understand what we are trying to teach and for retention of knowledge
I teach at a culinary school, and the way that I get students to use their senses in learning is by having them smell certain spices and herbs as I lecture, smell something as it is cooking, adn to smell something once it has burnt so that they realize what that smells like as well.
I also have them look at their products in all of the different stages, raw, partially cooked, properly cooked, and then sometimes at burnt stage.
I also have them taste at each stage (providing the raw product will not harm them) and then they can see the different stages of doneness as well.
Touch falls into the same set of perimeters when teaching, they need to touch the products at different stages to feel how the priducts react during different stages of cooking.
After they have used all of theses senses it is easier for the student to relate to the cooking/baking of the products, which then transfers their memory from short term to long term, which helps them to retain the information for longer.
Yes, I agree completely. In teaching mathematics, I will sometimes incorporate a student volunteering to do a basic demo to demonstrate a mathematical concept (such as yield percent). I also encourage students to visualize problems and mathematical quantities. On occasion, I will use DVD, documentary clips including charts, graphs and the use of mathematical information/data presented in visual ways like this.
Students in my classes need to see and visualize, hear and listen to instructions, watch demonstrations, practice hands-on skills, touch their partners, find bony landmarks by sight and touch.
We do these things watching power point presentations, looking at drawings and pictures, watching the instructor, and working with one another in laboratory practice.
In physical therapy classes, we use all the senses except TASTE!!
I am an instructor in a kitchen as well and I feel fortunate because I am able to use many different methods that reach out to the student's different senses. This help to keep their attention and improves their retention. I hear about how bored they are in their related classes when they have to sit at a desk and listen to lecture but normally they are very excited to come to kitchen class because it is hands on. I think chefs by nature are more kinesthetic type learners so by hearing and seeing the demo and then being able to produce the same product, the students retain the information better.
An instructor shared with me an activity that she used in a Group Dynamics class. Using teams of two, she would blindfold one student and the other student would have the responsibility of guiding/directing the "blind" student to the finish line. Words were not allowed, and the students developed very interesting strategies that involved their other senses. The best was one team used the fragrance of perfume to lead her team to victory.
When we discuss Sensation and our different senses, I have students volunteer to experience different scenarios involving their senses.
For instance, when we talk about touch, students have the opportunity to use only their sense of touch by trying to guess what is inside a covered box. I have several covered boxes with different "surprises" in them (i.e., cooked noodles, rubber toy, a flower, etc.) and the students reach inside the box, explore the object, and try to guess what it is. This idea actually came from my students when they completed their final presentation for the semester, which was to apply information they learned to real life. They called it, "Psych Factor," a play on the tv show Fear Factor.
When we talk about hearing, I have one student stand in the middle of the classroom blindfolded and other select students make various noises (varying in tone and loudness) and the blindfolded student must determine where the noise is coming from. Then we discuss how hearing works.
Students report that this is one of their favorite classes, particularly because they have the opportunity to explore all their senses.
Using all of the senses definatly helps retention. I teach in a tech school and working with students on using all of the senses helpin many ways. I will let them smell a burned clutch to help them identify that type of problem, or listen to an engine thats missing and feel the abnormal vibration it makes.
Hi Gerry:
Annimations in PPT presentations are helpful, especially if they dramatize a process or concept that can be explained by a moving visual. As you say, you can add or amplify what is occuring, or contribute additional information, which I think all PPT's should include anyway. We want to use the "tool" of PPT to augment what we have to say (and avoid having the PPT dominate the lesson, or teaching).
Regards, Barry
In dentistry I use a lot of visual learning. I use color Ppt slides as well as some "motion" graphics to get their attention. Some slides just have the moving graphics on them to get their attention and I add my own experiences to the visual to train them to always use your eyes to learn about their patient and the treatment they are involved in.
Hi Kristine:
I've commented many times I think the culinary field offer an excellent example of the many ways senses can aid instruction.
Yet, involving multiple senses in just about any class will improve learning and help retain needed information. Even students at home studying can benefit. For instance, if it's not a distraction, while studying, a student could:
* put soft music on in the background
* Sip some tea, coffee, or preferred beverage (non-alcoholic)
* Sit in a comfortable chair, feet up (or stetched out)
* Read aloud, recite, rehearse, practice - hear the information by the student's own voice)
These things would be difficult or awkward to do in the classroom, but easy at home. Every strategy that works ought to be tried.
Regards, Barry
Being a chef instructor, it is essentail to teach the students to use all their senses. Being sucessful means that all of your senses are engaged. You can certainly "hear" if you are sauteing correctly , just as you can smell of something is baked correctly. Being able to develop the senses is one of my goals in the kitchen.
Hi Chad:
Multiple sense integrated into the the teaching will alsways help improve retention of information and facilitate learning. No one learns by one sense only.
Regards, Barry
