Most teachers working in education today have studied (or are at least familiar with) PIG, a learning theory first introduced by Neil Fleming in 1987. VARK suggests that students can best accelerate their acquisition of knowledge through one of four basic learning styles: visual (V), auditory (A), reading /writing (R) or kinesthetic (K). ). It's a wildly popular concept that has led to the prevailing belief that students perform better if we cater to their natural learning styles.
For years, VARK has been used to help teachers and students identify preferences for how academic material is presented and consumed. Early in my career as a college instructor, this method was a cornerstone in the classroom. while there is Benefits of using the VARK approach in the classroom.there is uncertainty about its overall effectiveness when it comes to learning outcomes.
However, recent studies in neuroscience, along with the advent of digital instruction, have provided a unique environment to test various hypotheses related to metacognition – and the results are shedding new light on the effectiveness of various teaching practices and how those practices help students learn and retain more in the classroom.
It may be too premature to establish a general pattern of learning that encourages the retention of the majority of students in a single class. However, with significant findings in key areas related to neuroscience and technology, educators are now one step closer to understanding the biological and environmental underpinnings of the learning process, the review of which can serve as a starting point for discussions and reconsideration of new instructional methods. . This information could potentially help educators, administrators, and parents facilitate the best possible learning environments for students.
Neuroscience: How sleep prepares the brain for spatial learning
One of the most intuitive facts supported by research is that students need sleep to consolidate their academic lessons. It's something teachers can attest to, as they often see their most sleep-deprived students failing to perform to their full potential.
brain science It also confirms that sleep is essential for neurons to connect and link the complex learning steps that students are exposed to during the day, also known as the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF); These are tiny molecules that fuse together during sleep cycles and are literally the glue used to connect data points while students sleep. Higher levels of cognition and increased attention They are seen among young school-age children with a higher level of this sleep-induced effect.
It turns out that the results of said neuronal fusion are intellectually improved when combined with what is known as spaced learning, a concept that educators have known about for some time, but recently discovered the science behind it. It involves limited exposure to academic subjects in small blocks over a period of time to develop skill sets. On a cognitive level, this gives brain connections time to strengthen, resulting in increased learning retention for students.
Knowing that a combination of sleep and spaced learning is more associated with knowledge retention than presentation methods or student preferences can offer significant insights. Although educators have no control over the quality of sleep their students achieve, awareness of the impact this has on classroom success can encourage teachers and instructors to consider what controllable elements they want to address in the classroom.
technology Approaches: Next Generation Learning
The gift of technology and the digital classroom is that students can now choose the most convenient and fastest way to consume material. Technological integration technology-driven-education-a-new-era-of-learning/?sh=7d6575705443″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>supports dynamically rich environments where multiple educational modalities are used simultaneously. Using multimedia in this way allows instructors to cover each core area of VARK in a single presentation of course materials. This combined approach not only reaches a wide range of student preferences, but also opens new doors for pedagogical practice.
technology certainly allows for the timely dissemination of information, but emerging studies show that it also provides fertile ground for the enrichment of what is known as next generation learning (NGL). NGL-related integration methods are individualized and offer students the opportunity to personalize their studies through the vehicle of technology.
Successful supports involve interactive software that allows teachers record, edit and embed multimedia and expand intuitive presentation formats that foster highly modernized skills such as crowdsourcingwhich represents innovative thinking in the field of education.
These applications have built-in features that allow teachers to encourage students to investigate a plurality of concepts, drawing on a variety of methods to maintain attention in classroom presentations. An even more interesting consequence of its use in education points to technological integration as a potential technology-can-equalize-learning-differences/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>learning differences equalizer. These practices allow instructors to tailor lessons in ways that not only appeal to diverse learners, but also encourage them to hone skill sets that incorporate real-world relevance.
The theory of connectivism and community-informed learning
Young people emerging from the pandemic exhibited a unique set of academic needs that signaled to educators that students desperately needed them to strengthen and revitalize their commitment to student-based learning theories. Intriguing learning theories sometimes organically originate from the students themselvesand the technologically driven connectivism idea in education is an example of this.
Rooted in cyberlearning, connectivism encourages the best of community-informed learning supported by technologically driven materials. Students elevated their use of connectivism during quarantine as they taught themselves to synthesize and meta-analyze various online information sources. Today, this represents a change in classrooms where digital communication is combined with the face-to-face exchange of information, ideas and perspectives. The characteristics of this model are fundamentally based on a free flow of individual or collective expression, integrated with virtual spaces and often globalizedvaluable applications.
It is rapidly evolving learning style has helped students make sense of their personal experiences as they navigate a wealth of digital materials related to their intellectual pursuits. Teachers using this model generally see themselves as guides in a more student-directed educational process, rather than central information bearers, which is a key feature of many post-pandemic learning environments.
on the horizon
Teachers know that conversations about learning styles are ongoing dialogues, and what's next on the horizon is a kind of mysterious haze for everyone. For example, in January of this year, Elon Musk announced that one of his companies had successfully implanted a chip in the brain of a human subject.
While the implications for medicine and science are enormous, educators also have a great interest in the outcome of events like this. It is unknown how long it will be before technology” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>this type of technology is available to students sitting in classrooms, or if a combination of technology and neuroscience changes the landscape of learning theory; However, it is a possibility that certainly cannot be ruled out at this time.
One thing that is certain, however, is that instructors are teaching in an era that requires receptivity to a rapidly changing set of dynamics, something I am acutely aware of in my own classrooms. While traditional learning models like VARK still have a place in an educator's toolbox, there is now access to a treasure trove of learning options previously unimaginable, and contemplating critical data can be essential in laying the foundation for modern classrooms. . With this knowledge in hand, teachers are able to reshape and redefine pedagogical strategies in real time as they take advantage of new opportunities to optimize student learning.
