It’s that time of the year when probably the majority of students will recognise it’s time to start revising for the external exams that will begin in just over three weeks’ time. Many students will have already begun, taking their teachers’ advice that going over topics regularly through the year is the best way to revise but it all depends on the revision style a student prefers. I was one of the former group, planning out my revision schedule to begin a month before my first exam and believing that if I read my textbooks enough times I’d eventually memorise the information and pass the exams. Whilst there are many things wrong with this approach, it worked for me.
Now longer in the tooth and the observed experiences of many students behind me, I’ve begun to question what we remember and why we remember it. In conversations with former students of the school’s I’ve taught at, I’ve smiled when a student tells me they vividly remember the history lesson on Jack the Ripper, the maths lesson on ordering decimals or the chemistry lesson on making magnesium oxide from copper oxide and magnesium powder. Reflecting on this afterwards it was clear to see why they remembered the lessons and the learning outcomes so well – they experienced the lesson rather than listened or watched. Trying to get inside the mind of Jack the Ripper, we looked at scene of crime reports and reconstructed the crime, questioning why he disfigured his victims knelt between their legs which would have made the process far more awkward. With the maths, we all held up cards with different decimals and, in the playground tried to beat the clock in ordering the decimals with some discussion over why I’m bigger/smaller than you and the chemistry, well who could forget a giant mushroom cloud of smoke and dust as the magnesium oxidised.
In our school, we encourage all teachers to think creatively and imaginatively about how the learning can be demonstrated rather than simply taught. Yes, it may take much longer to deliver the lesson but if the result is ingrained in their memory to be remembered not just for the exams but seemingly forever, then isn’t it worth it?
Preparing many of these magical learning moments can take a lot of time too but that’s where the advent of Virtual Reality has proved a great boon to educators. Now, experiences which should be almost impossible to set up are available at the click of a handset and the embedding of the learning in the students’ minds is just as effective.
In our hands, today, we have probably one of the most powerful tools since the introduction of the interactive whiteboard, the challenge now is for teachers to use it effectively. At Elea High Online School, we are committed to harnessing the power of this new technology, enabling students to enhance their learning opportunities and attain greater success. Watch this space!
