I remember reading about how powerful smell is to memory recall. A personal example os when I smell a particular type of fresh cut lawn grass. My mind will immediately take me back to my childhood home and I'll recall specifics about mowing the grass.
For your field smell must be a very powerful sense to integrate into your instruction and it sounds like you're taking full advantage of it.
I'll close with this: Think about the smell of fresh baked bread!
Hi Latasha:
Senses are able to penetrate so many trigger points in our bodies. The more stimulation, the more likely retention of needed information can occur.
Regards, Barry
It is easy to engage the senses of sight and hearing when giving a lecture. You can engage sight by having a powerpoint presentation, flip chart, handouts or using the chalk board. Hearing is engaged when teh instructor is speaking about a particular topic. It can also be engaged by using audio equipment to demonstrate what the lungs sound like with a patient that has asthma or that has fluid in their lungs. We can also play different heart sounds in the class so the students grasp the concept. We can engage the sense of touch by having students examine a model of the heart, using their hands to feel the structures and their position.
By incoporating skill games they can play to enhance there senses on the topic at hand.
Hi Lori:
Yes, utilizing a variety of learning resources gives the best opportunity for at least minimal retention on essential material.
Regards, Barry
Hi Faith:
Good - I think the more senses and sensory stimulation we can plan will boost a students retention and attention.
Regards, Barry
Everyone learns differently; it is important to try and find ways to get across to the students that they are all important - you are not just going to lecture, and they are not just going to listen - interaction and creativity is important.
Using senses is incredibly important. Using power point slides, websites, and hands on projects will ensure that every type of learner is addressed within your lesson.
Hi Becka:
Probably everyone has exoperienced smelling an aroma that results in a past memory. To me, that suggests there is power in senses, such as smell. What a great workshop to demonstrate senses in the classroom!
Regards, Barry
Hi Carolyn:
Involving senses is definitely a plus, and I think writing the notes, rewriting them, reading the notes (say in a tape recorder, playing back the tape or recorder listening to the information are similar to techniques you've decribed. These are are helpful methods to assist retention of information.
Regards, Barry
Hi James:
I think most teachers understand the more senses and application of senses we can incorporate into the lesson will result richer, more meaningul and memorable learning experiences.
Regards, Barry
Hi James:
Probably all students use most of their senses more than they know. For instance, visual is not limited to looking at something, but can be a visual thought, inducing a memory, inviting students to ponder a situation, etc. In all senses, there are more ways to use that sense than simple, unfoscused effects.
Regards, Barry
Read the material,hear about the material that write the material
We are a tech training institution. I find if a student hears a lecture than reads about the same subject than writes about it it tends to stick with him better then if I just have the student read the subject matter only.
When teaching medical terminology, I teach my students how to utilize medical term flash cards...they use 3 of the listed senses touch/tactile (holding the card), sight (seeing the term), and hearing the term...so I add another sense (in my words) their own voice (speech)to pronounce the term...which is required in order to hear the term...so all 4 of these collectively helps them to process the information for learning. I also tell the students if they get stuck on a specific word to attach that small flash card to an area in the home they frequent..ex. bathroom mirror (brush teeth,etc.)
Hi Thomas:
The more hands on activites we can do the better. Studies show us students will retain information better if there is an activity that requires them to do something with the information other than jsut hear about it.
Regards, Barry
I instruct an aromatherapy class and I find it helpful to have a scent in the room and have the students guess what the scent is and then discuss what you would use it for and then use that scent in a practical way
Information Technology can be challenging to learn. One of the best tools would be demonstrations. When one sees and hears how something is done, it is easier for them to envision doing the task themselves. When demonstrations are not possible due to unavailability of technology in the classroom, providing graphics showing how one completes the task works well. Touching on visual and auditory would be a minimum. Hands on really adds.
The courses I teach are usually those which I use a demonstration method to teach which I find useful to get my class to use their senses because there is a lot of participation, whether it's group projects, in-class assignments, etc. I like my class to have the ability to adjust with the projects similarily to the adjustments we have to make in the field.
This is a challenging question for some subjects like mine (English). Since most faculty still use lecture as the dominant mode, the only sense most students first develop in English classes is hearing, followed quickly by the visual factor of seeing lecture notes on the board or on the PowerPoint slides.
I always encouraged my Communications and English faculty to retain those methods, but to incorporate others, such as having students come to the board themselves to draft an outline. This activity bifurcates into the tactile and visual senses very well, by the way, since, if students use clustering first, they see the connections between topics of the draft outline which is the eventual result of the clustering. Besides that, students always have fun with the scented markers. (Hmmm. Companies which manufacture such markers may not have realized that they are advancing education by introducing another sense into student learning.)
Is the problem we English faculty have the same in other subject areas?
