The Learning Process
This process is different for each student. One may be "book" smart, One may need to "See It" while another may be "Hands On". a quality instructor has to adapt to each learning style. Try different methods and see which one works best for the type of student you are dealing with at that point in time.
As I "learn" my students, I start by asking for small bits of information from service manuals on how to perform a task, if the information comes back from the student correctly, this tells me that the student is capable of understanding and comprehending the written word. I then proceed to more difficult questions.
Should the student struggle with trying to find the information or in the comprehension of the information, I then proceed to instruct by hands on showing the procedure in the steps as pointed out in the service manual. I then take the student back to the manual and step by step review the manuals prodedures.
The learning process various from student to student because it is so many differnt aspect of the learning process. Each student have their own individual strenthgs and weakness.
Our job as instructors is to create a learning environment that will help all students to have a productive learning experience and be able to comprehend and apply the information that we are trying to share with them in real life experience .
Vernise
Hi Christopher,
There are tools available to help determine other aspects of your students learning style.
You can research those tools online and they can be helpful for you as well as your students to broaden your horizons and venture out to other learning opportunities.
Thank you for sharing
Vernise
Nestor,
I think you are going to have a great class the next time you work through the content using the concepts you have acquired from this course. I wish you much success as you share your content and career experiences with your students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
This is so true that the students have different learning styles. I have had a potpourri of student types. Without knowing in-depth what I have learned in this section of the ED-108 course I was inadvertently lecturing my students the class topics while painting in their minds real life examples to illustrate the concepts. Now I know the mechanics of how learning and recall works in the adult learner. I'll be better prepared to improve on the class success I have already built.
Melinda,
This is why it is so important to use a variety of different instructional strategies in teaching. By doing so you will be able to appeal to the different learning preferences you have in the class.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Since learning is a process. A student can learn how to learn a variety of ways. i agree that is best to identify the students laerning strentgh and maximize the learning potential.
The amazing part about the learing process is how sometimes how some learn by hands on, some by reading, some by listening. We see it in them as instructors when they don't.
Steve,
You make a very good point. To support your comments we need to offer a variety of different learning formats to our students so they will be able work in their different learning preferences. In addition, in the workplace they will receive and send information through many different venues so they need to be able to work in the different communication formats.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
It's very true that everyone learns differently, but one thing to remember is that everyone can learnin more than one way. Sometimes people will know how they learn best, and sometimes they don't. It is our job as instructors to provide information in many different formats to fit multiple learning styles.
I agree with Troy. I think while in the process of trying new methods you are getting your point through to so many others in the class because not everyone has the same learning process!!!
Steven,
An integrated approach to teaching is the most effective. Many of our students are tactile learners so the more application type of instruction we can offer the more effective we will be with the students. Thank you for reinforcing this concept.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
All though this may be true. I have found that hands on with much instruction gives me a great result with my students.
Randy,
This takes me back to my elementary years of "show and tell". It was effective then and is effective now. Learners need to be able to make a connection between the description of something and the actual object. Good point.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Bringing the artifact into the classroom is a good idea - especially if the items you are brining into the class are not commonly encountered. Many times I sense students are trying to form a mental image of an unfamiliar item. Bringing this item into the classroom provides visual reference and alleviates brain power being spent on visualizing a new item when given only a verbal description.
Missy,
The more senses you can involve the more retention of information there will be. You are doing a great job of involving a lot of them as well as letting the students use the materials in a way that illustrates the function they serve in the field.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I have found that if I have classroom time on a chapter prior to lab time, it is more effective to bring a box of supplies with me into the classroom and pass instruments and materials around at the exact same time I am lecturing about those things. The students seem to retain information about those materials better than just trying to explain them or look at picutes of them. I even make them open cotainers and bottles in order to smell the material inside. I can then use their sense of smell and touch to help their memory recall.
Missy Gibney, CDA
YTI Career Institute
Christopher,
One of the challenges of being an educator is translating the key concepts into learnable units. Be creative and look for ways of sharing content and then reinforcing it through "hands-on" activities such as problem solving or case studies.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
99.9% of the students I deal with are hands on learners. COnsidering I myself am the same, it sure makes a method of learning such as these courses difficult to learn and attempt to instruct.
