The Fun Factor ( Emotions )
Movement
Think back to a time when you were learning new content , whether it was in elementary school , a college course or a recent professional development workshop . Reflect on what you remember from that moment . Did your eyes begin to roll back in your head just reminiscing back to that time ? I hope not ! Maybe the memory was one of excitement for you and you left the day rejuvenated ! Think about the specifics of that lesson that you remember . What made it so memorable ? Was it because it was a heated discussion , a topic of interest , hands-on or involved you as the learner ? Was it the fact that it was an EXPERIENCE , not just another moment of sitting and snoozing … I mean listening .
The latter is not the experience we want to create for our learners either ! Instead , wouldn ’ t it be great if your students remembered what you taught them ? Of course ! Best news - there are definitely some ways to help make this happen . Let ’ s take a look .
3 Keys to the Memory Kingdom
There are definitely more than 3 powerful ways to teach to help learners remember content and retain it longer , but let ’ s take a look at these three .
The Fun Factor ( Emotions )
Learning should ( and must ) be fun ! Fun increases attention and focus . It provides learners with an opportunity to experience emotions about what is being learned . I remember being in high school where we dissected animals to learn about their anatomy . It was incredible , because it was hands on , different and challenging . That teacher , Mrs . Lawrence , made a huge impact on me as a future teacher . Even when the learning got hard , she would tell us we could do it and that it was an insult to our intelligence . Oh , at times we did not feel we had much intelligence , but her belief and support in us , along with her love and energy for the content , was catching . She was a master at mixing fun in with challenging content . To be honest , I don ’ t remember much of what I learned in high school , but I can definitely tell you about more from Mrs . Lawrence ’ s class than many of the others !
Movement
My personal favorite for sure . Movement allows different regions of the brain to experience learning . Thus , increasing the likelihood of recall . In my classes , we turn our arms into neurons , we act out the firing of neurons across a room , we stand up and partner together to reinforce learning
STEAMed Magazine
43
January 2017 Edition