Creating a Multi-sensory Learning Environment
I think that there were a plethora of ideas in this lesson. I think the most easily applied ideas for me were the visual suggestions. I like the idea of having the one side of the room devoted to new material, and the other side to review material.
I recently attended an open house at my daughter's high school. The English teacher had quotes on pieces of white paper, all different fonts, around the upper perimeter of the room. The quotes ran the gamut of biblical, classic, political, and modern movie. I found the environment to be energizing and motivating.
Jean -
Great thoughts. The rooms can teach. I use quotes a lot myself. I have found that people like hand written quotes (use colored paper with colored markers). It makes them feel as if you prepared something just for them.
Lou
Since I can not usually dictate my environment of where I am conducting a class, I believe I am going to try and use colors for the hand outs I give as well as some of the many music ideas. I am going to get some different colored papers to do my printing on and begin looking for music that I can play during the initial start of the class, during breaks, during exercises and when the day is over.
When our campuses prepare for any remodeling projects, a great amount of detail goes into color schemes, peripheral visuals and the most efficient seating arrangement. We currently utilize music during individual review periods, in addition to the beginning and end of the class. We are experimenting with various types of creative supplies. Any suggestions?
Thanks for asking! Different size and color Post-its are a mainstay for me. Colored markers or pens around. Depending on what you are teaching, it's nice to have a large table in the center of the room for discussion, then tables around the walls with computers on them so the cables don't get out of control. Make sure the sound system is good for the music and if possible, have it come from the back of the room (auditory people who might be bothered by the music tend to sit in the front). I pass out pipe cleaners occasionally for difficults topics so learners can fidgit, or little cans of playdough. Where are your schools? I'd love to visit one! I'm also a big supporter of flipcharts or enough white boards so student work is up on the walls a lot.
When I was at AT&T 25 years ago, our state-of-the-art classrooms were painted slightly darker about two feet from the floor and ceiling, so the eye was drawn to the center of the room (the instructor). There were also no corners in the room - they were all rounded off. There was some research at that time that sitting near a corner isolated people.
Lou Russell
I am primarily in the area of IT training so we try to implement lessons that become real for our students. For instance in Powerpoint our flow chart is our family tree. Our IT projects have the students discussing technology in an area they choose ie their hobby or passion. We seat teams together to design and implement displays for technology learning. The students participate every step of the way in developing skills.
Linda -
Turns out my undergrad is in Computer Science (I joke that it has expired) but my company still does lots of technical training. I love your ideas for 'making it real'. Here's a fun way to teach MS Word, or Publisher or something creation oriented - have students type their favorite movie on the screen (for example), then move to the next workstation (kind of like musical chairs) and type something else, then on and on until they are back to their own machine. It's very fun and you can use it to emphasize different functions (for example, add clipart, wordart, etc.
Lou
I could not agree more Jean, the room setting has a great effect on student participation. The visual preperation of the room for me has been the most sucessful by using teaching aids set up prior to class and greating students as they find their seats.
Joseph -
Greeting students when they enter is amazingly powerful. Many instructors forget about this simple and important step. Check out my post to Jean - the fast music might be a problem. How can you use the set-up of the room to trigger the 7 intelligences?
Lou Russell
We can not use music in respect of copyright laws, it will be missed. Music greated students on many mornings with positive results. Room setup lights the senses as soon as students enter if you provide a change even a slight movement -tables, chairs, posters, use of the board. Students will anticipate the changes before they enter your room the brain has been stimulated by anticipation. As the day progresses the room becomes part of the learning experiences through the perifials.
To keep students attention.
Dear Brenda:
If used well, these things will keep students' attention, but if used incorrectly, they may distract a student. Look through the other responses to this question - how could you leverage new ideas about color, etc. in your classrooms?
Lou Russell
In considering music, visuals, seating and colors as a Facilitator, I think every thing reflects on the age group forming the majority in the class. Lets say you put up ideas and expect class approval to go by voting, its obvious which group will win. Therefore the Facilitator is bound to stress on compromise, flexibilty, tolerance and the willingness to experiment for the sake civility. With that being done, a Facilitator can experiment on music( preferred music that would not put the students asleep), visuals that are not offenssive to any of his students, seatings that do not seem to violate ones personal space, and colors that do not provoke emotional instability.
Ekan -
It is important not use music that has voice (singing). 60 to 80 beats per minute has been proven to be effective for focusing students. Playing rock, rap or something that reflects a younger student is not likely to help learning.
You are right about color - it is very cultural and specific so must be used with caution. Light blue is very calming to most...
Lou Russell
We use all of the Multi-sensory environment tools. There is one item I have changed. It is the seating arrangement. I have found that the students are more attentive and less distracted when they are not face to face during Power point lectures. We have found this out by our own experiences in group classes with other staff members. It is easy and a good state change to have the students move their tables into groups when time to work on projects.
Tim:
I agree, that's an important transition. I normally use rounded tables with people around one side only during PPT or rectangle tables in a fishbone so everyone can see me clearly. In software classes (with terminal work), many people line up the machines around the outside of the room, and have a large table in the middle for students to turn around and gather for the lecture. This also makes it easy for the facilitator to walk around and monitor the learning. Thanks for sharing!
Lou Russell
I would use color dry erase markers to write on the board, create visual things that will catch their attention,change the seating so that the students will not have a hard time seeing me when i lecture,before they enter the classroom,i would prepare the classroom with something different like have a colorful ? mark on a board to see if they can guess the important word in that subject we are talking about, and also i would have up beat music playing before class to catch their attention and help energize them.
Lawanda:
Beautiful job explaining how to make an inviting and engaging environment for learning. In the Career College setting, you may not get to much time to prep / take down within a classroom, so your use of dry erase markers is very practical. Think about finding some great quotes to rotate through the different days they are in class relating to your materials, or just for one. One my of favorite is "One Small Voice can teach the world a song." -Elmo
Great job!
Lou
I use music on a daily basis, for one it seems to calm any tension in the room, I am firm beliver that a relaxed stress free classroom is an ideal learning enviroment
Raymond -
What kind of music to you like to use? Do you use different music for different environments? How easily have you found royalty free music?
Check out Gary Lamb, Chris Brewer and Lindt for some great music with no copyright issues.
Lou Russell
