Remembering through Relevancy
If the student can apply the concept to a real world situation, even if it is not related to the subject matter, it will help them acquire the skill. I teach my students binary to decimal conversion, which is intimidating to a lot of them. However, we have find a way of using a real world situation (making change with money) to help them grasp on to this concept. Even our most challenging students will get it.
Regina,
This is a very good point that needs to be integrated into the class. Students need to understand that they must have a solid knowledge base of their field even if they will never use that part of content. By helping them to see that they will be building on that information to the point they will be making direct application of content taught later in the course they hopefully will see the reason it is being taught and they are learning it.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I agree that a student will be much more likely to pay attention to something that will obviously be used in the real world. What's problematic to me though is when I know that something I'm teaching will almost never be used in practice. In such instances, I remind the students that, although they may not need to know this material in order to function successfully in practice, it's important to have a basic understanding of the fundamentals of our field.
Vanessa,
After teaching for many years I still enjoy sitting in on colleagues classes. I always leave with some new ideas on how I can be an even more effective instructor. You are expanding your professional development through observation and this is a great way to remain a student while serving as an instructor.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I recently sat in on one of my colleagues lectures. He teaches pharmacology so there is a lot math and conversions. He asked students to give examples of things they like to bake or shop for. Using these examples he was able to demonstrate the very simple concept of cross multiplication. I thought it was an effective way of tricking students into doing math they didn't realize they already did.
Kathleen,
Real world examples are essential because they show the relevance and application of the content. When they see these two elements the ROI for the course increases and that gets the students excited about learning.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I think this is key. How often have teachers heard "When will I use this in the real world?" If a student is able to see how what they are learning is relevant then they I think they are more likely to remember the lesson as well as be more inclined to be excited about the lesson. If this is one time deal, why put time and energy in to it? I think real world examples are very helpful in both information retention and classroom participation/involvement.
Glenn,
Like your example and realistic approach in sharing your content. The more personalized the students can make the content the more valuable it becomes. You are doing this with your methods and this will help the students to retain the needed content.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
