retain knowledge
learning the scaffold and recording strategies makes a great deal of sense as well as the acronmin
Ethel,
Like the way you build up the excitement for your students. They hear, see and then do. By the time they get to the "hands on" part of the class they are comfortable and excited about what they get to do. This is how engagement is maintained for students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I enjoy creating handout packets for labs explaining why the procedure is done and why the skills are necessary. For example the must understand why they must wash their hands and garb and gown before preparing and IV preparation. The topic is discussed then they watch a video to view how our lab is to be done. The excitement has built up at that point because the last thing is hands on activity time. All students love hands on activities.
Maria,
This is one of the major drawbacks to accelerated programs for the reasons you state. I think the students are being shorted as a result of not being able to make application of what they are learning. They are only acquiring information for short term use (testing) and this dismissed from their memory banks. Tough situation to work in terms of long term knowledge acquirement.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I agree with you. At an accelerated program, the instructors give needed information and the students are expected to memorize it for the test the next day and "barf" it back to us. They know the material for that day but then it is lost. There is not much time to actually understand the concept.
Sometimes it's easy for me to forget that they are students and that I've been doing this a long time. This course helped give me strategies to use for assisting students in retaining the information they are being presented in the class.
John,
You make a good point about the need for students to be able to make application of the content and skills they are being taught. In our instructional planning we need to make sure we have plenty of opportunities for such development to occur. The end result will be students that can successfully transition from school to employment.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I agree. Sometimes we have to stray from the typical syllabi for the non-typical groups of students, and add the application to the theory and notes that have just been taught earlier than normal to achieve retention for those specific groups. Be able to apply the knowledge in these career oriented courses tends to be more important in the end than being able to pass a test via memorization alone.
Kim,
Right you are about the need for change of pace and variety. I teach from 4 until 10 pm so I have tired evening students coming to my class. I have to work very hard in my planning to keep them engaged and learning the required content.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I agree. lecturing can be boring top the students so you need to switch up, especially if you are in a long 9-4 day. Lecture some, group activities, individual activities, rubrics to assess themselves, and hands on activities, along with recall throughout the day.
IDA,
So true and such a critical part of the learning process. This increases their retention of the content and increases the value of the course for them.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
One important way to get students to retain knowledge is try to provide an opportunity for application as soon as possible.
I know that retaining knowledge can be hard for some students if it is presented in a boring way to them. Mixing up lesson plans with power points, lectures, and hands on activities can make the learning process a little smoother.
Duane,
You make an excellent point because I am constantly challenging my students to think critically about how to solve problems and analyze situations. This is what they will be doing in the work world. It is a process of helping them to see the value of the content and how it can be applied. If we can do that we will have achieved a major breakthrough. Not an easy task for sure.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Information retention is one of the biggest obstacles to successful learning in a career college. As a result of (usually) short terms, we create a population of bolemic learners: scarf it in, barf it out and then it's gone. Al of a suddent it's time for a certification exam and too many students have to start again from the beginning. We need more mechanisms to promote consolidation into long-term memory.
Wright,
Hope you find it useful with your students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
