Understanding how the learning process works in the brain will help me in adopting different approaches in my teaching methods. For the knowledge gained at the skill level to become part of a person's mental framework, the brain must be engaged on a variety of levels. According to Dr. Jerre Levy of the University of Chicago, as quoted in Peak Learning, "brains are built to be challenged. They operate at optimal levels only when cognitive processing requirements are of sufficient complexity". However, if the brain is over-stimulated, i.e., presented with a problem which is too complex and too challenging, it will not operate at an optimal level either. The goal, then, is to find the balance. How do faculties provide the level of challenge and complexity that their students' brains require for deep and lasting learning to take place? How do they construct classroom activities and environments so that each student can experience learning to his/her full potential? How does our system support multi-level learning? These are questions that warrant further discussion.
Understanding the basics of learning will benefit me as an instructor because knowing how a student learns is essential to how much they retain and keep for long term use and application. Learning through experiences is retained longer so asking students to recall episodes that occurred in past experiences could help them to retain information learned in the classroom.
Hi Mary,
You make a good point in relation to presenting course content. In addition to helping the students get the material as they filter through it the variety helps instructors stay fresh in the material because of the variety of instructional methods they get to use.
Gary
I like the idea of filters. Knowing the brain uses a filter to sort through information is very interesting to me. I can present my material in several different ways to make sure that if it gets "filtered" out one time , the next time hopefully it won't if presented in a slightly different fashion.
Good evening Dr. Meers,
Understanding the basics of learning will help me as an instructor because it will provide a better understanding of what my students might be going through on the opposite end. I feel that as instructors, we often forget what it is like to be in the students shoes and expect them to know what we are talking about. If the students already knew what we were talking about, then why would they need us to teach them? After having an understanding of how the brain functions and how learning occurs; I would adapt my instructional strategy to include as many different resources as possible to accomodate a wide audience of participants. I would use visual aids such as a dry erase board, overhead power points,and live demonstrations.I would also record my lectures or demos so that they could be viewed again in the event that the student did not comprehend the information the first time or was absent from class that day.
Best regards,
Jason Kupper
Hi Michelle,
Great analysis of how students need some time to internalize the new knowledge and skills they are acquiring so they can make it a part of their working skill set.
Gary
Yes, I believe that understanding how complex the brain is will make meeting my students needs easier. (OK, maybe not EASY)I see all the time that they are working to apply all that they have learned in the past year with the new information I introduce in my class on Contemporary Cuisine. It is easy to see why it takes them a while to "get started" waht is so somple to me is so new and unfamiliar to them, they need tome time to let the long term, short term and working memory get in sync with each other. Thats the long and short of it...LOL.
In our program we lecture new material. After they have some of the material we have the students put some of it back on the white board or play games to help them remember and understand the concepts. We also have labs over most of the new material so for the learners that need hands on to remember things this works for them.
For the most part I'll try to present a pleasent atmosphere to put everyone at ease. When explaining a topic, I stress wether or not it is worth remembering and I finish with a session of questions on what should be remembered. After an explanation on how a certain technique came to be I might say "now that you understand why, there is no need to hang on to what I just described. Just remember that there is a reason to why we do this test." I love to keep the class engaged by questionning to build the subject. I usually never stand at the same place. All hands risen get an opportunity to advance the topic or get more into details.
Hi Nancy,
In response to your request about learning more about assessing learner needs, it depends on what you want to assess.
If you want assess the academic competencies of incoming students I would suggest you talk with your local adult literacy council. They have excellence assessments that can give you an accurate picture of where the students are at in reading comprehensive, and math.
There is an assessment called "Talent Key" that assesses the dominate intelligences from among the 7 intelligences identified in Howard Gardner's work with Multiple Intelligences. The website for that assessment is MICubed.com. By knowing the three dominate intelligences instructor can target their delivery to engage the learners through those intelligence channels.
Any other questions please let me know.
Gary
By understanding the steps in the learning process it will be easier to determine where in said process students are having an issue. When I see a breakdown occur, I can then go back and revisit a topic or perhaps deliver the material in a different manner to adapt to a different learning style.
I am not an instructor but working as an admnistrator in a learning center in a college and would like to learn about the different learning tools and ways of assessing learner needs.
Hi Isabel,
Good point about learning how students prefer to receive instruction and how they process it. What are some strategies you use to identify whether your students are more concrete or abstract learners?
I know this information will be of great help to other instructors. Thanks for your input on this.
Gary
Teaching methods I have used include discussion, interaction, and application. I have students come to the board and write definitions or list the items of a particular topic. I use discussion to bring out student's experience in a certain topic to help associate together the "relevance" of the material
Finding out how a student learns best: contrete or abstract; I can taylor my one-on-one to each student so they can maximize their learning.
This would give me a better idea of how to try to involve all of the students. Also using different teaching methods so I can keep all of their interests
Hi Novella,
What are some of the methods you have used that have proven to be most successful?
Thanks in advance for your input on this.
Gary
By helping me to understand how the students brain is wired, I can use this knowledge when reviewing/testing to get memory recall
I will either create or find a tool to assess the type of learners in each class so that I can choose the most appropriate taeching methods.
