Learning from your body
I am just starting teaching, but when I tutored bio and A&P, a really helpful tactic I employed was getting my students to realize that they carried their own model with them -- their own body. If you want to know the action of the bicep muscle, just flex your bicep! Which side is the bigger bone in the leg on? Just feel it, during the test, it's not cheating!
Another cool group project that we did was assign muscle groups - arm, leg, back, etc - to a group and have them choose one person to be the model. (Hopefully a thin, more muscular person.) Then they used washable markers to draw the muscles on the person's body. It was highly effective and a lot of fun.
Yes,
Win, Win for everyone including the family members, and once the family members are involved the studying becomes easier for the student.
Hi Kimberly,
This is what learning is all about. You are giving them ways to make application of their newly acquired knowledge while seeing the relevancy of their skills. Win win for everyone.
Gary
I have completed some of those activities as well but many of our students are parents and I try to get students to involve their children to advance their learning outside the classroom walls. Think of bathtime, washable crayons :) Parents get to re-create the classroom activity while teaching their children, spending quality time with them, allowing them to apply their learning not memorization.
Also have students close their eyes and feel for the movements and where they are located (one hand on the origin and one on the insertion). So many times we try and see with our eyes and not actually feel what is happening.
Students really enjoy these because it involves family and new experiences that help them in their goals to graduation and onto licensures/certifications.
