| Short Course |
Helping Participants Learn
Recognizing
a Context for Restoration Projects and Watershed Linkages
to Maximize
the Potential for Success
OUR PHILOSOPHY
“Never do for the Learner
What They Can do for Themselves”
It has been demonstrated for ages that people learn best when information is presented in context to their lives and when people "do" it - - Activity based-Collaborative learning. Therefore, we strive for the learning ball to be in the participants' court at least 50% of the time. This can be accomplished through discussion groups or activities. Discussion groups are good but activities are even better. Its OK to have fun while learning! In fact, people have greater information recall when it is associated with having had fun. The general desired pattern is to not talk for more that 20 minutes (the average adult has stopped listening by then) - allowing for learning activities or events before or after each 20 minute segment. See the enclosed flyers on "The Learning Brain" and "Easy ways to Liven up your Lecture" for additional information.
YOUR UNIT OBJECTIVES
(LEARNERS WILL ATTAIN THE FOLLOWING AT THE
CONCLUSION OF THIS UNIT)
YOUR SECTION OBJECTIVES
(LEARNERS WILL ATTAIN THE FOLLOWING AT
THE CONCLUSION OF YOUR SECTION)
TEACHING METHODS
FOUNDATION PRINCIPLES
Here are some suggestions to stimulate your thinking about the infinite number of things people can do to integrate and internalize learning material. These suggestions are only meant to jump start your brain and creative juices and are in no way to be taken as a final or definitive list. Add your own twist! Have fun! Please feel free to call Shelly Witt with help in developing your presentation section. She is happy to work with you either starting at ground zero or as a wall to bounce ideas off (801-753-4838).
Class Rules:
Cheat = Collaborate
Have Fun
Make Mistakes = Wobble
Ask Questions
Specific ideas related to your talk:
Pre-test activity. Before beginning your talk give out a deck (5 to 10 cards) with situations on one side and multiple choice answers on the back relating to water issues and constitutional tensions (i.e., "who's property is it?"). Allow -7 minutes or so for learners to discuss in small groups (remember, cheating is encouraged). Put the answers up on an overhead, having groups discuss what answers they determined and why.
FACA. Each table role plays out a different scenario of our biggest mistakes regarding FACA. You facilitate—ask rest of class to determine the problem. Or have different scenarios written up for you. Hand out role placards to the class. Call up the players for scenario one—you read the scenario (or hand out a written copy to the class as well, having someone from the class read the scenario), ask the group to solve the problem in order to be legal and to ensure collaboration & cooperation. Proceed to scenario two (with different role group). This exercise would also illustrate the benefits of collaboration & cooperation. Or do "Group Brain" (see below).
General ideas that can be crafted to work with your talk:
As a minimum, please stop your "lecturette" after 15 to 20 minutes and ask everyone to get a partner (or small group), then do one of the following (3-5 minutes). Or do through out your section (e.g., Bingo or Group Brain). Feel free to develop beyond this list.:
Articulation: Ask partners to describe their reactions to each other regarding what has just been presented.
Stump your Buddy: Ask each partner to ask the other five questions about what has just been presented.
Hangman: Give each team a deck of cards with questions on one side and answers on the other; play Hangman.
Board Game: Give each team a deck of cards with questions/answers and a board game (photocopied on a piece of paper). Teams play using coins or small objects as their playing pieces. A correctly answered question advances a person's playing piece.
Bingo. Hand out bingo cards with varied questions or answers people should pick up during your presentation. Not all the cards should be exactly alike (5 or so different sets). When someone gets "Bingo" she/he should interrupt your talk by YELLING, "BINGO!". He/she then goes through his/her bingo, explaining the questions/answers. If all the questions/answers are correct give them a prize. Keep going as long as people come up with different combinations for "bingo" or go to "black out".
Group Brain: You assume the role of a client/public/litigant and the class as a whole is the brain of the Forest Service. You make a statement and throw a ball into the brain. A "neuron" catches it and since no neuron works alone, has 15 seconds or so to confer with the neuron on the right and left to formulate a response. The neuron gives the response and throws the ball back to you for another exchange. The action can be stopped at any time to ask other parts of the brain if they agree with the response just made or if they could improve upon it or offer an alternate response.
Concept Formation
Use analogies, metaphors, mental imagery scenarios, object lessons, colorful graphics and the like for giving people a sense of the whole and a positive feeling about the learning material. Use vivid picture language, physical objects (tinker toys, styrofoam blocks, flannel boards, marbles, etc.), video tapes (camcorder or studio produced), dramatic sketches, action learning events. Present the whole before the parts - - Later present the parts in relation to the whole.
Questions?
Please call Jim Dobrowolski (509-335-7294), dobrowol@wsu.edu
Provide Jim with the following:
A handout summarizing your key
points
(we will make copies and have them ready
for you at the workshop)
Graphic overheads illustrating your key points
WHEN DESIGNING YOUR SECTION,
THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERISTICS
(FOR MAXIMUM LEARNING
ENVIRONMENTS) ARE KEY TO KEEP IN MIND.
Activity-based, not materials based.
Provide real-life experiences and activities for learners that they then can reflect on, talk about, practice and learn from.
Traditional instructor approaches tend to want work everything out in advance, have all the answers, and then indoctrinate the learners with this "wisdom from above". Today its more productive to have learners develop their own answers, meanings and understandings by thinking things through for themselves, rather than by just storing pre-digested information coming from someone else.
It is important to create a learning community where people can help each other learn. This is a radical departure from the individualistic and competitive approach typical of traditional education. Everyone in a learning environment today is both teacher and learner simultaneously, taking a measure of responsibility for the learning of the community as a whole. All good learning, we're discovering, has a social base, and needs a healthy and caring social context to be successful.
Learning is not consumption, but creation. Learner are not consumers of someone else's ideas and knowledge as much as they are creators of their own. Workshop/"Lecture" designs, then, don't have to prescribe everything for the learners, but can concentrate on crating a total learning environment where learners can create meaning, understanding, skill, and lasting value for themselves.
Variety is the spice of learning. The one-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter approach needs to give way to a much more relaxed, flexible, and varied approach that appeals to a wide range of learning styles and provides learners with a full gamut of options for learning. There are 4 basic modes for learning - all of which learners need to access.
SAVI - Be sure the key points of your instruction is presented in the multiple ways people learn.
Somatic: Learning by doing (Physical movement, even while listening to a tape recording or lecture)
Auditory: Learning by hearing
Visual: Learning by seeing (Image processing - graphics and words)
Intellectual: Learning by thinking (Down time to process, catagorize and link information
Contextual, not isolated.
Emphasizing learning by immersion, rather than learning out of context, off-line, and in isolation. Learning is best when it involves multi-sensory, whole body, real-world experiences and is more than just isolated "disconnected" exercises.
Results-driven, not means-driven.
Emphasize function over form (the reverse of many traditional approaches). It is not dedicated to a standard form of instruction, but can take many forms depending on the situation. When a form of instruction does not work to produce exceptional results (no matter how "creative" it may be), abandon it and search for a form that will give you exceptional results.