No matter how many times you bludgeon students with facts, they will not truly understand the material until the information is refashioned as their own.
In my far too many years spent in school, I heard over and over again that if you study with a certain "frame of mind" or environment, you will be able to recall what you studied better by replicating this same mental and/or physical environment.
If you studied in your pajamas—wear pajamas to your exam! If you had a certain writing utensil, answered questions in a certain order or outlined your essays in a particular way—do it on the test. I too prescribed to this logic and even succumbed to dressing up on test day to make me feel better about myself. (Somehow putting on a dress made me forget that I spent the previous eight hours with a box of pizza, a chipped coffee cup and stain-encrusted sweat pants).Rest assured there is no "magic" going on here. Your pen, lucky socks or any other ritual did not directly impact your test scores, but what did?
Non-physical reality and physical reality interact to create an endless variety of conditions. Belief in magic arises when we are not aware of all of the physical and non-physical "players" or variables in any given situation.
States of mind combine with physical cues that govern the parameters we can witness in any given situation. When we are learning, we are bringing something into our awareness—we are "expanding" or consciousness.
It is a bit like hearing a song you have always known, but someone says, "Hey, did you notice the singer makes a reference to our hometown in the last chorus?" Then your perspective of the song may change. You are still the same person, the song is still the same song, but your connection to the song has changed. Your brain—representing your conscious awareness—has "rewired" itself to include new subroutines.
Some people will remember those newly discovered lyrics next time they hear the song and others won't. The disparity lies in our individual frequencies. Much like a radio tunes in to specific waves to play music, the human mind responds to cues. The extent to which we are aware of these cues lies on a continuum from completely conscious to totally unconscious. The more we are able to physically and mentally incorporate a perspective into our own reality, the more "conscious" of it we become.
Those who remember "more" have incorporated a perspective more completely. They can imagine the information as real, lively, actionable and valid, and thus build a connection with it. The words, pictures and music are more than just letters, lines and notes; there is a bridge built between them. People who remember well are good "meaning makers".
Tips to Developing the Skill of "Meaning Making"
1. Tell a story or situate an idea with a perspective they are already aware of. When we say "mean" in the phrase, 'that didn't mean anything to me', then we are inferring that the intention of the message did not reach us. The bridge between us and the message didn't "work".
2. Create something. When we engage in an activity that allows a great deal of creative latitude we are permitting the learning material to interact with a student's own physical and mental environment. This not only encourages meaning-making, but allows the teacher and fellow learners to experience new perspectives on learning material.
3. Introduce perspectives, not facts. The mind requires facts to build a solid foundation of knowledge. Yet, when introducing information for the first time, or if a student is struggling with some material, discussing the general viewpoint is more conducive to facilitating meaning-making. Facts have the set-in-stone feeling that seem impossible to amend. However, focusing on the social/economic/political ("human") elements of a body of facts pumps blood into lifeless definitions and formula.
4. Make a bridge from new materials. Many of you may be aware of the Montessori Method of learning made famous by Maria Montessori. One of the paramount techniques of this genre of teaching is creating materials that include a variety of senses. As teachers, we often over-emphasize the logic muscles, and forget that our senses work together to create a wonderful, meaning-making experience. Even if you are teaching college students, find a way to incorporate the sense of touch, smell, hearing, sight, etc into your teaching.
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These tips are meant to help you create material that students can meet with on their own terms. The goal should be to grow knowledge by sowing a seed—not by transplanting whole plants into a new garden. Allow space for revelation to happen and new knowledge to form.
Thank you for your time. I am another you,
~*DeShauna J.*~
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