Once understood that learning is an ongoing process a teaching approach can be developed that takes this into account. Students retain a good percentage of what they hear, and what they see. They also retain a large percentage of information when they become tactilely involved. Taking this into account, I construct lessons plans that include lectures and exercise that require hands-on involvement.
Ryan,
You are offering both application and relevancy to your students as you deliver the content. This really helps to keep them engaged in the learning process.
Gary
I try to do the same. I'm constantly walking around the room to keep the students attention, I ask a lot of questions during lectures to keep them engaged. Whenever time permits, I take them to the lab so they can actually see and touch what I've been talking about.
By understanding the brain allows you as an instructor to be cognizant of the abilities and limitations of your students.
Utilization of as many learning modalities as possible helps maximize learning (sight, hearing, tactile, etc.). Changing modalities within thel lesson also keeps students engaged and attentive.
By understanding the needs of the students and observing their participation in class, i feel that this can help with improving my teaching strategy.
Starting day one you need to "learn" about each of your students in abilities, past learnings, and study skills, along with how they learn best. If a student does not seem to understand what you are discussing, try showing with graphics or hands on. Let the student explore what and how he needs to learn, and watch what works best for that individual. Watch you class as a group and see what presentaion method works the best.
Understanding how learning occurs can better prepare me in my delivery methods. I am cognizant of the fact that all people learn differently and that I need to adapt my instructional method in order to affect greater understanding of the material being presented.
Understanding the basics of learning helps one to improve and add to their collection of teaching strategies. For exampe, the instructor could include both concrete and abstract assignments in teaching a concept. In the case of infection control, students could be asked to demonstrate the steps of hand washing (concrete) and how to complete in a patient's home without running water (abstract).
Jane,
Way to go in helping students to "connect the dots" between the class content and their everyday lives. If you can get them to start looking for how to connect content with their lives outside of the classroom you will have done a great service for the students. This makes learning come alive and demonstrates value to them.
Gary
Rachel,
In my "Environmental Science" course, there are
a handful of students who have great environmental insight, and ask and answer questions really well. I use these students as a vehicle to stimulate discussion and contribution from the others. I might add: "Is there another posibility?", or "Anybody have a 'different idea on this'?, or "Are we forgetting something?" The interest spreads; and the "quiet" become "active", and students engage each other in solving the issue.
Mark S.
Understanding the basics of learning can help you evaluate your students. When I am lecturing, I watch the faces of my students, especially when I ask them questions. I can tell when they fully understand and I can move on to the next topic. I can also tell when I need to further explain the information. At that point, I try and come up with everyday examples that can related to what I am talking about. Especially if it is a class most of the students have never encountered the material. For instance, in an Anatomy and Physiology class. I try and use everyday objects that actually do the same thing as parts of the body.
David,
Right you are. This helps you to customize you instruction to and for that specific class of students and that results in more engaged students.
Gary
You will be better able to tailor your classes to make a positive impact on your students. For adult learners, you may use multiple teaching methods and relate the learning to the students episodic experiences so they retain the learning in their long term memories.
Fred,
This is a great strategy to follow. Students need to see relevancy and application in their learning and your methods are doing just that.
Gary
Career college students are mostly interested in application of an idea. I provide minimal theory and immediately move to application.
Hi William,
I like your plan for connecting the memory components together. As a result your students are going to have a much higher content retention rate as well as an increase capacity to apply their newly acquired knowledge.
Gary
By learning the difference on how student's actually learn the material be it long or short term memory apply taht to each individual
In an effort to introduce the application of professional skills into the classroom setting at my law school - I might move beyond the traditional "case briefing" question and answer sessions and ask students to consider how they might fashion an opening or closing statement for one of the parties in the case we are covering. Looking beyond the coursebook facts to identify a "moral theme" that they would feel comfortable presenting to a jury.
In one of my classes I teach strategy formulation and then follow up with a group exercise wherein the students work together to write a strategy. Although I must call upon their semantic memory to instill a process and outline (a series of steps) that they must have to develop their strategy, I can see where I can make more use of eposodic memory to make the exercise more relevant and retention of material long lasting as they apply their experiences in formulating a strategy.
