Understanding the basics of learning is essential to successful learning outcomes for students. Just as each situation is different so are the learners and their needs...the dynamics of the class dictate the need for this understanding. Adapting to each situation allows for maximum success on the part of the student in their goal to achieve an education that will stay in memory for the long term. I assess my instructional teaching methods and strategy’s to try and match the skills the student’s posses. Where a more tactile approach is beneficial, I will have more hands on interaction and try to use the lab as a teaching environment. Other times I will bring some of the lab idea into the classroom lecture with limited demonstrations. I will also get a group together and have them all participate...allowing me to see and observe their style differences and thus giving me a better understanding of how I can reach them with the necessary information.
Understanding the brain functions of how learning occurs will enable the instructor to get a feel for the class and base the lesson plan accordingly
Diane,
So true. The more they do the more connection they make between content and application.
Gary
Maria,
Great professional development plan for you. This should expand your expertise and effectiveness as instructional delivery expert.
Gary
Understanding the different ways that students learn will help me to pace the class in a way that will allow enough discussion time for those who need further explaination. At the same time however, it is crucial to keep the faster students occupied and engaged.
ihave found how much easier it is to teach a student when i have taken time to get to know them better
Every human is unique in the way that they learn. Having knowledge of the cognitive and behavioral processes behind learning allows me as a teacher to tailor instruction to reach each student and to communicate the learning objectives. For instance, I expose students to the information that I expect them to learn multiple times throughout a session so that the information has a greater liklihood of being maintained in long-term memory.
I am a clinical nursing instructor. My students range from just out of high school to mid-30s with children. I am constantly adapting to their different background and life skills. The older student with children is typically accustomed to shifting priorities and multi-tasking. When on the floor, they readily "roll with the punches." They get the need to adapt to changing patient conditions, etc.- they just guidance with the medical priorities and their response. Their episodic memory is quite useful most of the time.
The younger, high school graduate - never had a job student are much more of a challenge in this area. They also struggle with the many varied personalities of patients, staff and even instructors. They have no pertinent episodic memory to tie new information and situations to. In these cases, I try to get them to relate to other patients they've taken care of, and work through their assessment and prioritization skills learned in earlier terms. Since I've taught them at the very first term, I can remind them of something we actually did in that term that's applicable. They will often recall having heard the information and learned, in theory, that which they now are expected to put into practice, thus forming a new episodic memory to draw from in the future.
Sometimes in a lecture I will say the same thing in many different ways until I get a response from the entire group that shows me they understood. For those important points I will tell them they will be tested on it. At that point I see furious writing on their notepads!
Cynthia,
Thank you these informative comments. You have outlined comprehensive approach to working with diverse learners with varied backgrounds. You are creating for the younger students episodic content they can draw upon later on in their coursework and with the older learners pulling the episodic content out of their life experiences. This is a building process that lets everyone bring something to the course and in turn contribute to the total learning process.
Gary
Instructional strategies I adapt since learning how the brain work is to, limit the amount of information delivered at one time to an adult learner before giving them a break to store the new information; possibly a 10 min break every hour.
Glenda,
Good to hear about the additional knowledge you have acquired through your professional development. Keep expanding your knowledge base because you are impacting the lives of your students every day.
Gary
The basics of learning are an important consideration in planning a class session. It is interesting and important to consider the individual student's issues along with the amount of material necessary to present within a classroom session.
I try to use examples of things the students are familiar with to explain concepts they may have trouble understanding in the abstract. For example, I might compare a battery storing electricity to a sponge absorbing water or current flow to the flow of water through a garden hose.
using learned experiances and referencing them to the tasks students are tring to master will help them understand and retain the information
Understanding the basics of educational psychology assists in developing methods of instruction which lead to optimal learning and retention. By understanding that long term memories may go through decay, we as instructors must take into consideration that if we want our students to retain information we must frequently review, drill and practice, provide retrieval cues, and link prior knowledge to new information.
Christina,
Right you are about connecting the cognitive process and the psychological aspects of learning. Knowing this helps you to know how to target your instructional development.
Gary
During the first week of a CourseI try to find out about my students' past learnings,their previous experience in school,and what exactly in my teaching technique would help them most to get the training.I constantly adapt my teaching styleto the students' preffered style of learning.I noticed most of my students are visual in their approach to learning different lab procedures,so I would demonstrate first a specific clinical skill or procedure,and then I would lecture on the topic ,and encourage discussions in class.Only after those 2 steps ,I would ask the students to practice the new skill,and I noticed that they demonstrate a better understanding of the new skill taught.
Understanding how a student learns and their brain function can help you to adjust your delivery methods to reach your students in a more effective way. Effective teaching can be measured by student outcomes. Does the student really retain and comprehend the information, and most importantly can they apply the knowledge to measurable outcomes? If the student can apply their knowledge directly to their career path then self confidence is boosted and interest is peaked.
Knowing how a student's brain functions and how learning occurs can help you to modify your teaching style. When I ask a question to my class or I ask them if they have any questions, I always count slowly in my head to 10, before I call on someone. I learned that some brains can take up to 5 seconds just to process the questions or to formulate a question. Before I used to assume if no hands went up right away, when I asked if there were any questions, then there were no questions and I could continue with the lecture right away. Now that I have more knowledge on the working brain, I pause significantly after asking a question, and I rarely call on the first hand up so that others have time to process the question.
Holt,
Good strategy for getting to know your students and then developing your curriculum around them. This lets you target your instruction more accurately and is supportive to your students.
Gary
