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MAKING MATERIAL CLEAR
Contextualizing Material Using existing knowledge to learn something new helps make material clear and accessible. As McKeachie (2002) states, relevant knowledge strengthens new learning by generating meaningful connections to new information. Learners typically use prior knowledge by creating either direct relations, in which they relate what’s known to what they’re trying to learn, such as comparing and contrasting the causes of two wars; or analogical relations, in which they use analogies to help relate familiar and new concepts that share some key characteristics but are different in other ways, such as using a post office to explain aspects of computer storage. Davis (1993) shares additional strategies for helping students contextualize new information: Allow for the fact that different students learn, think and process information in different ways. Students vary in how they learn and how long they take to learn, and they don’t make uniform progress. Let students know what they are expected to learn. Emphasize key course concepts and important points in class sessions. Give students a framework within which to fit new facts. Use outlines, study questions or study guides to provide a conceptual framework or structure for concepts. Present material in ways meaningful to students. Students are more likely to understand and remember new material if it’s already relevant, meaningful or important to them. Limit the amount of information you present. Students can absorb only three or four new points in a single presentation. Stress concepts, not facts. Too many details overwhelm students; broad concepts are more meaningful and more easily understood and remembered. |
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 "One of the biggest challenges I face as a teacher is how to make material clear and accessible to students. An approach I’ve found particularly successful is to start with fundamentals at the beginning of the class and at the beginning of new sections of material. I very briefly review key vocabulary and basic concepts, and often add a little history or a story about one of the ideas. Organizational communication lends itself quite well to this, but all our disciplines have famous accounts or famous applications. I present this as a review as a way to be sure that everyone starts from the same point. The history, which is frequently new information, adds a bit of spice. This scaffolding approach reduces any perceived threat to both those who know the material and those who don’t." |
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