After watching the videos for this week's topics, I was instantly transported back to my music classes and recalled how my students learned to read, play and eventually, write music using notation. While most instructors used books to teach music with, I was convinced early on that the experience had to be kinesthetic and larger than life, engaging them using everything from instruments to smart boards and everything in between. I taught using the ORFF method of teaching music, a music method developed and named after world renowned composer and teacher Carl Orff (Carl Orff, Wikipedia).
Orff passionately believed that students learn faster if they are active participants in the process rather than just observers. And that is the key for adult learners as well - taking students to the next level by making them active participants in the community colleges across America. The problem, of course, is two-fold: budgeting and changing the mindset of teachers who have taught the same way for decades.
The results in my music classes were dramatic and very measurable, and of course, very kinesthetic. From stepping onto a gigantic keyboard to show a particular note or to teach octaves to playing Xylophones and drums (Addison) - the result was learning and learning with real retention. Transferring lessons from 1) reading a poem, to 2) speaking it in tempo, to3) using body percussion (finger snaps, claps and leg pats) while speaking the poem in rhythm, to 4) eventually playing the whole thing on instruments. It was extremely successful, even with kindergartners. Kids were learning and having fun doing it, and isn't that the point?
Of course, most teachers chose not to use this method either out of lack of understanding of the process or fear of learning the process. Three teachers in our entire school system used the ORFF method through both dance and the playing of instruments. I never quite understood their hesitation since it was so much easier than teaching from a book or black board and the children obviously loved learning in this way.
I think in today's world, we, as teachers and administrators, must start teaching and enabling our teachers to teach "out of the box" using the wonderful tools that the world of technology has given us. Computers are useful, but in some ways, they have become the next generation's text books.
Technology is not the only alternative to sitting at a desk or in front of a computer screen all day. Taking the process to 3D lessons is a proven method of teaching in science. What high school student doesn't remember the first time they dissected a frog or earth worm or even making models of the solar system for science class? It worked then and it will work today with adult learners, and not just in science classes.
Imagine acting out "Romeo & Juliet" rather than just reading it and watching the movie. That would certainly put a new twist on embodied learning. And using new technology such as 3 Dimensional games like Wii or X Box or Smart boards to both bring kinesthetic and embodied learning to life in college classrooms and to be able to teach everything from Science to English without opening a single book. I know that books will always be used. However, it would certainly be without a doubt more interesting to adult learners to use something other than books or sitting through a lecture or in front of a computer screen for hours as a means of teaching the same lessons.
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References:
Retrieved March, 6 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Orff
Retrieved March, 6 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AlLtakikyM
I agree with your take on alternative teaching styles Tim. Advocacy and non–critical assessment are the approaches currently used in medical schools. In medicine we have used the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) method to teach in medical schools. It’s been very effective method in medical schools, however, recently Stanford University School of Medicine doesn’t agree. CAM material is presented to encourage critiques and analysis. It hasn’t proven to be very effective way of learning. It seems tough though that with every new method there has to be a better way to prove its efficacy. The time proven methods that will with stand the test of time.
ReplyDeleteMusic as you have pointed out has been proven to touch the teaching styles of many. My daughter is an oboist who has an undergraduate degree in music therapy and psychology. So I asked her what she felt about alternative teaching therapies. It’s been her teaching practice that alternative music therapy does work, especially with children that have special need, and emotional issues. Her master’s program has touched on these methods as well. Additionally she uses it to increase awareness of terminally ill patients.
Sampson, Wallace MD (2001) The need for educational reform in teaching about alternative therapies Association of American Medical Colleges:Academic Medicine:March 2001 - Volume 76 - Issue 3 - p 248-250
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Abstract/2001/03000/The_Need_for_Educational_Reform_in_Teaching_about.11.aspx
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ReplyDeleteThis is a fun post and not intended for applied serious consumption. I do hope to inspire inquiry and perhaps to elicit emotion.
ReplyDeleteKinesthetic learning does introduce the body into the learning experience equation. Body movements fire different neurons which activate different areas of one’s brain. It is very interesting to consider how combining traditional learning with muscle movement and intentional action - a stew of learning activity - manifests in application and retention; however, is it the action and body involvement which enhances learning, or does the mixed modal presentation address different learning styles which are active simultaneously?
I, for example, am primarily an active and visual learner. I gain knowledge by application, reflection and modified action. While engaging in reflective thought in itself does at times result in mental epiphanies, I must apply in order to amplify.
Does kinesthetic learning appeal to my senses? Well, it sounds really cool!
The video snippet narrated by David Birchfield of Small Lab Learning, shows an educator demonstrating embodied learning while simultaneously performing a virtual titration lab.
See video slice.
Although understanding how solutions interact does not influence the results of the lab; students may achieve greater understanding of chemical reactions by visualizing compound interactions. I would call this particular example enhanced learning.
If the goal of the demonstration is to explain chemical titration, I do not see the technology adding to or aiding this outcome; however, if the goal is to expand the student’s knowledge of chemical interactions and understand titration, it is money well spent.
What is my point? Context matters. No one solution solves every problem.
Alternative teaching methods must show proven results and address specific learner deficits and/or needs. Confucius didn’t say this, but he could have: “if it works, don’t fix it.”