Skill relevancy ids easy to demonstrate. Knowledge less so. How can one demonstrate rhe relevancy of professional knowledge?

What are some ways to inject creativity into structured learning. The Military is a hugh organization and decision makers must rely on structured problem solving procedures. But they must also integrate abstract concepts in order to respond to the unexpected or new environments. How can an instructor inject creativity into structured problem solving?

I have considered providing a pretest to assess student skill and comprehension of previous material. However, in the past, when I have done so, I have been met with a considerable amount hostility from students. They often feel that it is unfair to test them without letting them prepare. I assure them that it will not affect their grades, but this does little to assuage their fears. Any suggestions as to how I can make the pre-test more palatable?

I am finding that when I do comprehension checks of information presented, there is a considerable amount of distortion of the information. I am wondering if anyone has any insights as to how/why students will distort presented materials with incorrect information. Especially with ideas that were never mentioned in class, show in the presentation or written in the book.

Are some careers (e.g., military, law enforcement) more likely to develop concrete thinkers? How can one best modify concrete thinkers to make them be more appreciative of abstract thought?

Teaching the diffferent methods of studying to your students helps them to acquire the knowledge needed for learning in class and doing their homework successfully

Student learn better when we connect their learning needs to their life styles

When putting students into groups. Put students in the group with different learning styles so they could feed off of each others abilities and strengths

Having these two groups of students in the class only means that I have to make sure I teach using visual aids, vocal aids, and with textile performance to be certain that every student receives something they need from the lesson

Some skills can be generically applied across multiple disciplines. For example, the job of a film producer can be looked at as just a specific form of project management. What skills do others on this forum teach that can be transfered to a different industry, or that can allow a student to tap into an existing skill from an industry that they were already in?

This was a weighty topic, not just because of the depth of the technical information but because the expectation seems to be this: That we need to discover how everybody learns and then we need to accommodate the different learning methods, by both redistribution of the students within the class or the project, and by addressing subject matter to accommodate multiple learning methods. Yet the real world will not be as accommodating to these students. What then is our commitment to teaching students to adapt to different learning methods? Is our goal the finding of common ground -- in the context of the subject matter -- within which we should expect all of our students to operate effectively? For example, shouldn't we be teaching our students to think more visually if the real world application of our subject requires it?

We know that different vocations attract thinkers of one type or the other (e.g.constructionn versus fashion design). Has anyone thought about the connection between each mode and various cultures? For instance, do people from an agricultural society or from a service-oriented society tend to think one way or the other? If so, how can we use that to improve our understanding of individuals who are locked into one mode or the other?

I have always had difficulty teaching abstract scientific concepts to kinesthetic learners. What are some good suggestion for teaching things that can't be seen, heard, or touched?

There are many different learning techniques that can be used to help students acquire new knowledge and skill. One thing that I feel is important for instructors to remember is that the same technique may not work for all students. For example, a graphic organizer may work well for a visual-spatial learner while an outline to fill in may work better for a verbal-linguistic learner. After introducing each type of device, it may be beneficial for the instructor to make multiple devices available to the students and let them chose which works most effectively for them

I definitely like the analogy used (blue cheese) in laying down the basic understanding between concrete and abstract application. I, as an instructor, always bear in mind that my adult learners already have a "concrete" understanding of what they wanted to know or learn and I just expand (abstract) their understanding of that knowledge.

My classes always have a mixture of students from all different majors in all different points in their education. The benefits of this are that they can learn from others. A first term Criminal Justice and a fifth term Criminal Justice student in the same writing class can be beneficial. The first term student may not be aware of how this course will be a benefit in that major. By discussion how students will implement and apply the information after the course, students can see how the course content will help them.

Our primary or preferred methods of learning are comfortable for us. We all have multiple intellegences and we have those that we use and rely on more frequently than the others. However, as educators, we should be taking our students outside their comfort zone of learning. The only way for someone to increase the areas that are not their strongest is to apply them. It is important to offer variety in teaching methods, but only delivering information in a student's preferred method does not teach them to find new ways to learn

I think it is very important to relate each session's information for the students. Learning is a process; they are building on that process each time they meet for class. The connection may not always be obvious to the students or they just may never have thought about it. Helping them to make the connection between class sessions or between different classes can often help to make the learning long-term

Hi, Im Corinne, I have been teaching at a vocational tech school for 16 years. This course will help me with the challenge of teaching adult students with past experience and bad habits that have been formed. Re-teaching is often more difficult then teaching a person with no experience.

I find that it's imparative that the student practices the same technique over and over again to fully understand the concept behind the task that they are given. I shared this in forum 2 already. I share the theory of 10, 100, 1000. If you make something 10 times you begin to understand the basics, make it 100 times and now you can see how all the components comes together, make it 1000 times you have mastered the technique and fully understand the entire concept. Then the process starts over again with a new project.