Using colour in the powerpoints, use music to provide interest and stimulate alpha learning
Ways to improve the learning environment in my classroom to address the "Creating a Multi-sensory Learning Environment" query might include:
Color - Using colorful graphics and posters, color-coded headings on related materials, colorful markers and cups on student desks, pastel blues, greens, or grays on assessments
Visuals - Instructor and student-selected icons on exercises and hand-outs, specific visuals on PowerPoints, learning objective posters and/or flip charts that students can prioritize
Seating - Allow for more group seating with tables at an angle to optimize space and access
Creative Supplies - Create fun games with tokens and prizes to address all learning styles
Music - instrumental and non-copyrighted entrance/exit music, and music for activities that do not involve lecture
Creating the ideal learning environment is important and color is a critical ingredient. The seating should be set to enhance the type of discussion - whether it be a lecture, open discussion, guest speakers, etc, the tables and chairs should enhance the type of teaching style...encourage participation and awareness rather than discourage the student. Attention is important. The room should also be well lit and ensure colors that motivate the student are maximized for engaging students. As an instructor, assessing the classroom for furnishings, wall art, wall colors, desk and table layout as well as utilizing learning tools all are taken into consideration before the student arrives and make necessary changes/adjustments as needed. As instructors, we should take a look at the classroom and ask ourselves "is this an effective learning environment" and make changes to enhance the student's surroundings.
I like the idea of using color for handouts to the students. The different colors can differentiate between their homeowrk assignments and quizzes - both of which they use to study for midterm and final exams. I think it would also be helpful for our calibur of student to have different colors because they tend to use one folder for all of their classes. I may start printing thier syllabus on a different color so that it jumps out from their folder.
Powerpoint slides are already in use and there are posters hanging around the room that deal directly with the subject that they are learning.
Unfortunately, my room is not set up to chnage seating or listen to music.
Hi Tamara!
Great approach! Students realy like this type of work and enjoy seeing their work posted. I like them as well for reviewing class discussions from one week to the next.
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED107 Facilitator
Hi Nicole!
Good job! I use as many visuals as I can - colored paper, highlighted boxes on handouts, posters, etc. Even though I am instructing adults, I often use elementary tools as I find them fun and colorful.
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED107 Facilitator
I am limited to the use of some materials, music,& vegetation. But I do like to use handouts to help focus on tactile learners. This helps drive the point home after lecture
I enjoyed studying the 2nd module. It was packed with a lot of good ideas. I can use "colors" within my classroom to excite students in the learning process. Some colors are more effective than other. So, I need to apply colors that will have a more calming, yet participative feeling within the class. Visuals will help students in the retention and learning of information to assist my students personal growth and develpment. Seating can also impact my students, especially the layout of the classroom. I need to be sensitive to the needs of my students and the way that they learn. I believe "music" can be used to enhance learning and retention for my students. I am looking forward to implementing so different music in the classroom. The music should be more "relaxing, and stimulating" to help my students retain what they are learning within the classroom environment.
By arranging seating to the students have a choice in where they sit, & also allow them to face towards each other. Using different colored posters to effect moods. Placing different posters with quotes, or student progress
Using different colored paper for handouts is a great idea that I'm going to try. I have used home-made posters on the door and white board before and it gets the students' attention. I'm going to use it more frequently now that I know it will help them learn.
Try mixing different colors daily to keep it fresh...take a poll of students to find out which alpha music they find most stimulating.
Hi Doug!
One of the things that I most remember about being in elementary school is the many colors in our classrooms, hallways and lunch room. But then, as I continued through college, the colors went away. So, I too, have been excited about having the opportunity to make the classroom a fun, relaxing, inviting, entertaining, peaceful, etc., etc., place for learning. AND - I now use some of the same things in my workshops and classrooms that I remember in elementary school -participants and students appreciate creative, attention-geeting materials.
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED107 Facilitator
Greetings Anthony!
I like for my classrooms to have an informal learning environment and how students are seated certainly has an impact. Depending on the topic or activity, I often put students in chairs in a circle. This arrangement removes the desk which can be a barrier to learning and it makes the instructor "just part of the group". Great forum for discussing personal work experiences being discussed in class.
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED107 Facilitator
Good for you Debra!
Jane Davis
ED107 Facilitator
Dear facilitator,
In my line of work, the clean stainless kitchen in the classroom. Peripheral signs, clipboards,
illustrations, and hanging student homework can not exist in this clean environment. I realize that the pastry departments do showcase their marzipan and spun sugar work, but in Foundation classrooms the hanging stainless and aluminum equipment becomes the learning stimulus. I do use multicolored powerpoints and occasional pastel colored production and instruction sheets, but hanging paper visuals are out. With our long stainless prep tables, I do vary my lecture positions so that all students get a closer visual and auditory connection to me. Cameras are also used for demonstrations on daily production requirements, but the real stimulator for accelerated learning is the shapes, colors, smells, and feel of the products we use daily for creating the best culinary dishes they can produce. The daily slicing, chopping, and cutting in unison, along with the sauteing and sizzling sounds of butter melting in frying pans creates a music to your ears and eyes that is hard to resist.
Creating peripherals and music works very well in our clinical classroom. This is where the most important and critical learning takes place. Clinical hands-on experience is practiced also facilitating the see, hear, smell, and touch sensations. This is also the most exciting and motivating for my learners. I use clinical visualization and pass around models often during lecture to bring more clarity to topics. We also have the benefit of a computer projector in the classroom so colorful presentations and internet images can be shown.
I prefer to have the room set up as an arc to create some personal space for the students and also to shorten the distance between myself and the students. This also means that each student can see the student that is speaking.
I intend to try the pastel colored paper idea for exams and handouts. I have not brought in posters, but I like the concept and will bring some in next week.
Learning solutions magazine had some suggestions that were specific for online courses and Power Points, but the concepts addressed in this short article reinforced the concepts from this forum.
http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/445/seeing-is-believing-simple-graphic-design-tips-to-improve-online-courses
Lighting, color, sounds, and seating can all be aligned to benefit the learning environment.
these different area help students learn in different ways
The ideas presented are useful ideas that I see as almost next to impossible to implement. The classrooms, as I have been instructed, are to be kept clean and free of material on the walls. However, as one participant commented, using color in handout could be useful. Yet, color paper is expensive and budgets are short.
The one way that I have found to use color in the classroom is via Power Point. I have found that using color to emphasize important material has helped some students with content retention.
When I am able, I also hang student work on the walls. Again, however, I must remove their work when I leave the room. Putting the material up and taking it down can cause damage to their work, which creates a sense of disrespect.
I don’t mean to sound down, but I would really like a classroom in which I could enhance the environment in the ways suggested for both my student’s benefit and my own. However, space is limited, budgets are limited, and individual school policies are limited.
