Hi Susan,
Good approach. As their skills and knowledge increase the level of "real world" opportunities to use their skills and knowledge can increase. Your classes have so much potential for application through scenarios throughout the school and community.
Gary
I teach Aesthetics and like to have the students rooms set up as close to the real thing as possible. Whether it is a medical spa, where they will be working with doctors and patients or a day spa and they will be working with clients.
A comfortable enviroment promotes learning and attracts attentions. Students are distracted when the enviroment is not suitable for learning.
I teach First Responder & EMT classes.The learning environment should be the near "perfect" job site to facilitate learning the skills and muscle memory. The learning environment provides a safe place to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. As skills reach the level of competence and confidence the practice scenario locations can be more like a real work setting. I.e. practicing extrication techniques from a real car, responding to medical, trauma and CPR “emergences†in different places inside and outside on school property with real (programmed with a script) patients.
The learning environment is just as important to the class as the actual course content. If the environment is not conducive to learning, the content will take a back seat and not be learned. The learning environment needs to foster creative thinking, a "safe" atmosphere where questions are welcomed and students are not made to feel ignorant, and lighting/noise control to enhance learning. All of these components are crucial to a smoothly run classroom and successful student learning.
I agree that these resources are important. Simulating "real life" experiences in the workplace is an excellent way for students to gain the necessary knowledge for their field and put it into practice prior to externship and employment.
The learning enviroment in my field, Culinary, is the professional kitchen. It is essencial that our culinary classes are taught in this setting so that the student can become comfortable with the industry tools and equipment.
It needs to be open, honest and without bias towards the students and their abilities. It needs to be a controlled environment with regard to discipline, however, comfortable enough to allow open questions and discussions with regard to the material covered.
Students should have an environment that is condusive to learning. I also agree that they should have a simulated room that resembles what they will encounter in their career field.
the environment allways will affect the perspective of the learner implying at the same time the impact it causes in the individual
This is probably one of the most over look areas. I have seen a good class go bad due to the distractions and or interuptions to the lack of proper environment.
Hi James,
Sounds both exciting and engaging. I am sure your students are really focused on the content and demonstrations that are given. This really helps to keep them involved in the learning process and honing their problem solving skills.
Gary
We teach curricula which involves mostly practical skills, such as commercial deep sea diving, various non-destructive testing disciplines, welding, etc. This requires small instructor to student ratios, environments which provide for demonstrations and student practice as well as supporting safety considerations more stringent than normally found in the field. We use a "known to unknown" in both the physical environment as well as in the overall learning environment.
Hi Curtis,
You are right about the learning environment contributing to the positive support of students. What are some of the criteria you look for in a supportive learning environment?
Gary
having an environment that is conducive to learning is essential as it allows tye student to focus on learning.
it should not only replicate their eventual work environment, but add to the profession so that new graduates can add to the quality of the profession
In differentiated classroom instruction, teachers take steps to purposefully accommodate the needs of students in order to build upon their individual strengths and remedy their academic skill gaps. Teachers who commit to differentiating instruction in their classrooms believe that all students can learn, understand well that one size does not fit all, and embark on a quest to reach each student.
I beleive that if the learning environment is stressful or disorganized, then the student changes to match what is going on around them. With that they too become stressed and disorganized and then the learning process is challanged.
A good learning enviroment will help to support what the teacher is trying to acheive. If the teacher has control of the class they will be able to use their skills in an affect way.The student will see that the teacher has control and will be able to teach at a natural pace.
I totally agree. If a student can perform a skill in a controlled lab environment, it doesn't necessarily mean they will be able to in the real world where distractions are many. I think its important for students to know how their future work environement will likely differ from that in the classroom so they can begin to think of ways that they will be able to address those differences.
