As someone who loves experiential education, I think the best source of putting into practice information processing & decision making is the wilderness. I find that often times actually putting into practice a new skill is a powerful form of information processing. The wilderness is a place that requires real-time information registry and processing; there are real-time decisions to be made which have real-time consequences. This type of learning takes into account all of the sensory registers we learned about this week (attention, perception, sensory limitations, duration & intensity, impact of imagery, role of context, physical environment, psychological environment, meaningfulness). So while there isn’t necessarily one source I can use for this assignment, I’ll draw a lesson from sailing and apply it here. Telltales are small pieces of fabric used on the front sail (usually the jib) which help the person at the helm know how the boat is sailing with regard to the wind. Learning to sail by the telltales is a very helpful and practical lesson, but learning it in a classroom and on a boat are two different things. Putting this technique into practice on a boat requires the use of multiple sensory registers and requires real-time information processing as the wind can shift without warning. But once a sailor knows how to read the telltales, using them is a lesson that will typically be used from that point forward while under sail.
This video is a great explanation of telltales and their importance:
This video is a great explanation of telltales and their importance:
Here is a picture of the telltales on my boat, Sundowner, while sailing on Kentucky Lake in WKY. The telltales are the small piece of red fabric on the orange portion of the sail ...
And here is a picture of me at the helm of a 47-foot Beneteau sailboat in the British Virgin Islands. In this picture I am controlling the boat solely by watching the telltales, nothing else (don't worry, there were plenty of other folks on board keeping watch for other boats, hazards, etc.). I believe the expression on my face shows that there is real-time information processing going on!
While this isn’t necessarily a source of information about how humans register & perceive information, it’s definitely something I made a connection to during this lesson; that is the street art of Bansky. His work takes into account many of the sensory registers covered in this lesson: impact of imagery, role of context, physical environment, psychological environment, meaningfulness and perception are all drawn upon when viewing his work. Pretty neat!
Tracey,
ReplyDeleteI thought your post was very interesting and made me think my preferred learning preferences. As someone who is not into wilderness, it would be hard for me to think about how to camp and sail by someone telling me the steps. However, through your pictures and descriptions I could visualize and imagine myself on a boat (eating and swimming, not manning the ship of course). I think your example shows how having our senses engaged in multiple ways helps us create meaning and engages us to learn in different ways.
Hi Tracey,
ReplyDeleteI like your connection and the way you described your experiences. It was interesting. Yes, I agree with you that experimental learning might be one of the best way to make sense of new knowledge and skills. I thought it was hard to solve a math problem form pure blank by creative thinking, but it was much more beneficial reading the examples of how others do the similar questions. Experimental study might be also useful for knowledge transformation.
I agree! This was a very useful example on how information may be processed more effectively through the use of experiential learning. I think that I learn best when I get to apply some new concept to a new one. In that way I am generalizing a new skill to a new context, something a behaviorist would consider to be the ultimate prize in skill attainment! I know that when I work with students in the school to learn new skills, we practice, practice, practice! Because learning and doing are two very different things.
ReplyDeleteHey Tracey,
ReplyDeleteLearning how to sail a boat seems a lot of fun and the only way to simply enjoy it is through experiencing it rather than reading about it in a textbook or sitting in a classroom listening to a lecture on it. I agree that experiential learning is a significantly effective way to process information. It most definitely makes knowledge interesting and meaningful to the learning, which can lead to memory.