Visual Aids | Evolved

Educational practices from the past consisted of large groups of learners, all in one room learning a single topic. At any give minute some of the learners were fully engaged, others were half listening and still others were off in a completely different world thinking about friends, the parity scheduled for Saturday night or the argument they had that morning.

So how do we address this disparity in attentiveness? One way is to bring everyone into the conversation with a common focal point. In many classrooms today that is done with a two-dimensional projected image on the screen also referred to as PowerPoint. What if the focal point were something more real—more three dimensional? What if every classroom became more of a lab environment? If we could engage learners with something from their actual experience we would trigger that part of the brain that says “pay attention, this is real, this is important.”

It will take some creativity on the part of teachers but brain research indicates that we can do a lot better job of engaging learners and transferring knowledge if we pay attention to how the brain works. A book by John Medina, Brain Rules (www.brainrules.net) provides twelve brain functions that, if given consideration, could change the way we teach and learn and work. The principle of survival reinforces the brain’s need to analyze the environment and decide what is important and what is not.

We are three dimensional beings and we are “wired” to pay attention to a three dimensional world. So what would that look like in a classroom? The sciences are easy—we already do dissections and lab experiments, but what about the social sciences and language oriented topics? What about math?
Maria Montessori recognized the importance of “physical” learning. Children learn math in a Montessori classroom with colored beads, abacus-like tools and other manipulatives. What if teachers brought in dice when studying statistics? Or models for exploring algebra?

Here are some other examples of how to turn a classroom into a living 3-D learning environment — one worthy of our learners’ attention.

• In a political science class, bring actual flags and accouterments that represent a population.
• Bring a theatre environment into language arts where learners can get out of their seats and act out what they are learning.
• Have available actual spheres, cubes, and cones that learners can touch while learning geometry.
• In discussions and debates, have a physical object like a gavel that is passed from speaker to speaker.

Use physical metaphors in the social sciences. When talking about change, have learners step over a line or through a doorway to symbolize the transition.

Every day that a teacher walks into a classroom, he or she simply needs to ask—“What is available to me that is physical in nature that will bring a sense of the real world to my classroom?” The more we can get our learners to touch, feel, and visualize something from the real world that is associated with our topic, the more likely their brains will identify the information as being important and something to remember.
Use the comment tool to provide additional ideas. Or, post a classroom topic and the community can assist in determining how to enhance the discussion with an evolved visual aid. I would love to hear from you!