Yes, all our senses are for learning, and used together instill new concepts and information most quickly.
I have always purported this concept and written lessons on it through my 2 learning series - Math while Moving and Kinesthetic Language Learning.
But today I want to share about a presentation by the BBC in the Child of our Time - series 6 programme 4.
The focus of the full sensory application was an experiment in foreign language learning. 5 children, native English speakers, were presented with learning 5 types of food in the Polish language.
They were given 5 minutes.
Each different food was set in a small wicker basket with a flash card of the word in the Polish language written on a card placed prominently behind the food in the basket and fully visible.
The baskets were set on a conveyer belt that was very slowly rolled by in front of the students.
A native Polish speaker pronounced the words with each child.
The children were allowed to look at the different food items, and repeat the words of Polish, but not allowed to touch the objects.
After the 5 minutes none of the children could recall the Polish name of the food items.
For the 2nd part of the experiment the 5 children were presented with 5 more kinds of food, with the same conditions of the food rolling by slowly on the conveyer belt with a flash card with the Polish name, and the Polish speaker helping the kids say the words.
The difference was that this time in addition to saying the Polish words, and seeing the food items, the kids were allowed to handle the food, smell it, and taste it.
After the 5 minutes the flash cards were taken away and one of the kids was able to recall 3 of the Polish names of the food objects. All the kids remembered at least one name.
The point being shown to us in this experiment was that when we have the opportunity to learn with all our senses we learn the fastest!
Math while Moving - Homepage
Kinesthetic Language Learning - Homepage
Child of our Time - series 6 programme 4 - from the BBC
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Article by Susan Kramer
