Using Animations to Learn - No Matter What Your Learning Style

In the last blog post I described how to interpret your results of the Learning Styles questionnaire.  Once you know about how you learn, you can tailor your studying to try to maximize learning based on those styles.

In class, I use a number of animations and videos to help demonstrate some of the physiological processes that we are studying.  From the Interactive Physiology cd that I recommend on the syllabus to the Wiley Plus online material that accompanies the textbook, there are a number of animations that we view in class.  Added to that are videos and links posted in Blackboard, and there could be hours of materials to view for each chapter or system.

Many times, students who score more strongly as Verbal tend to steer clear of animations, thinking that because they are not a Visual learner, that they might not be able to benefit from the videos and animations.  In this post, I would encourage students of various different learning styles to use the videos and animations, although the way you use them may vary.

Active Learners will likely benefit from animations or videos that are presented in a step-wise manner.  By being forced to click to advance to the next step or screen, students remain engaged with the process.

Reflective Learners might benefit from animations or videos that are short and present a single concept at a time.  These students can watch a single concept, and then take the time to process the information, before moving on to the next concept.  If you are a Reflective learner and you find yourself watching an animation or video that is long or covers several concepts, feel free to pause or stop it, make notes or review the material in your mind, and then resume with the next concept.

Sensing Learners often enjoy learning from animations because watching and listening cater directly to their learning style.  These students should be careful to understand the entire process, rather than memorizing exactly what the animation displays.

Intuitive Learners can benefit from animations that are part of a series.  Because Intuitives like to look for relationships between concepts, they enjoy hearing more than one animation explain the same concept or demonstrate relationships between them.

While it is obvious that Visual learners often use animations because of the movement and visual effects, Verbal learners should not discount the use of animations and videos in their studying.  Many animations and videos also contain narration that many Verbal learners find just as useful as the visual effects.  Also, many Verbal students find that a static figure is too difficult to decipher, but an animation that introduces just a section at a time, or that gives verbal explanation alongside, is enough to help them understand the visual aid.

Sequential learners often benefit from animations and videos that present information in a logical sequence.  Because this is how these students process information best, the stepwise sequence helps them to understand the process they are studying.  As in the previous post, I encourage Sequential learners to stretch themselves by summarizing to try to see the “big picture” and the connections with other processes.

Global thinkers often find animations tedious if they seem to be a series of details that the Global learner has trouble fitting together.  Check to see if the video or animation has an overall summary – this might even be at the end.  By quickly reviewing the summary, you can have a kind of overview that might help you understand where the details fit when you re-watch the video or animation from the beginning.

As you use your learning style to get the most from animations and videos, keep track of the kinds of animations or videos that seem to work the best for you.  Is there a particular textbook publisher’s animations that work well – because they give an overview, for example, or they are short and focus on a single concept?  Bookmark their page, or look for other animations by the same publisher.  Is there are YouTube user whose videos you found especially helpful?  See if that user has posted videos on other topics you need to learn about.

I am of the opinion that animations and videos can help every student learn new concepts.  Different learners might use different ones, or might use them in different ways, but I encourage you to give them a try, and see what works for you.

Interpreting Learning Styles Results

The Learning Styles Inventory that I recommend to students gives results on four aspects of learning styles.  The authors of the Questionnaire have published a guide to help you interpret your results, and your position on each index.

The first index is Active versus Reflective learning styles.  The authors emphasize that everyone can be active and reflective at different times, but “a balance of the two is desirable”.  This is particularly true in A&P, where part of the class is taught as lecture and part of the class is taught as participation in lab. 

Sometimes students that score more strongly as a Reflective learning style tell me that they find it hard to work in lab, which requires a more Active learning style, because they need time to think about and process the information.  Those students then find that they either have to attend more Open Lab times to actually do the lab material, or they don’t get to work with the materials as much as they would like.  My suggestion to those students is to make sure that they come to lab prepared.  I recommend that they look at the lab sheet (posted on Bb) ahead of the lab, and review the relevant sections of the lab ahead of time.  This will allow them time to reflect on the lab material and organize their work prior to the lab session.  By completing some pre-lab activities, reading sections of the book, and looking at what items are required for identification on the models, a Reflective learner can process the preliminary information at their own pace, and might feel more prepared for the lab class.

Active learners are usually more successful working in groups, actively discussing the material they are trying to learn.  Lab material lends itself to this type of learning, but some students have a hard time figuring out how to manage lecture information if they are an Active learner.  These students usually find they are more successful when they work with their lab partners on both lab material as well as lecture material.  By discussing concepts in an active way, they can use their learning style to be successful in both areas of the class.

The second index is Sensing versus Intuitive learning styles.  This is another index where students can be Sensing at some times and Intuitive at other times.  The Sensing learning style refers to the “5 senses” – Sensing learners like learning material with a factual basis, that can be measured by the sensed.  Intuitive learners are more successful learning material by determining relationships between concepts.

According to the authors, If you overemphasize Sensing, you may rely too much on memorization and familiar methods and non concentrate enough on understanding…”  While there are elements of the course that require memorization, there are other areas of the course that require comprehension and making connections between concepts presented in different systems.  I always encourage students to try to remain balanced in using the Sensing and Intuitive learning styles.

The third index shows your preference for Visual and Verbal learning styles.  Most people do have a definite preference in this index.  Many people who take science courses are Visual learners, but that is not true of all students.  I have worked over the years to make sure that when I present information in lecture, that both Visual and Verbal learning styles are accommodated in my Powerpoint slides.  While I may have one slide that will be a figure from the textbook that I will explain in class, the next slide will often have words that explain the same process.  Verbal learners may prefer the slide with the written explanation – or the accompanying paragraphs in the textbook – while Visual learners may prefer the figure or diagram to help them learn the process.  That isn’t to say that Verbal learners should never look at a figure or Visual learners should never read the text.  It is to say that you can use your preference, if possible, when learning physiological processes like we are studying.  For example, Verbal learners can use the figure caption and text beside each step to help them determine what the figure is trying to convey.

The last index helps you understand if you are a Sequential or a Global learner.  Sequential learners prefer to have information presented in steps or a logical order.  Global thinkers need to see the “big picture” for new information to make sense.  In class I try to meet the needs of both kinds of learners.  I will often give an overview of a new topic, so that Global learners can see how the information we will discuss fits into an overall framework.  For Sequential thinkers, this overview can be overwhelming, as they are trying to understand all the details at once instead of in a step-wise fashion they prefer.  After the overview, I then present information in a step-wise way, which is where the Sequential learners will begin to feel comfortable.  I then conclude by summarizing or trying to tie together the information covered.  This helps the Sequential learners make sure they have their logical order of steps, and helps the Global learners see again how all the details fit together.

Because critical thinking and mastery of a subject often requires relating different concepts that you have learned, it is always good to practice Global thinking and challenge yourself if you are not a Global learner.  By forcing yourself to summarize or see the “big picture” you can help break out of a purely stepwise learning pattern and see the connections between larger concepts.  In fact, much of the critical thinking we try to develop is designed to move students from Sequential thinking to Global thinking, to see how different systems are working together to maintain physiological processes.

I have been using this Index of Learning Styles for several years now, and every semester I have students report that learning their style for each of these indexes – and how to optimize their studying based on their learning style – has been helpful for their success in A&P.

The "Blank Page" Exercise

Usually this time of semester, right before the first lecture exam, I often make a short diversion in lecture to talk about ways to study.  This semester was no different.  I talked in class last week about the Learning Styles Inventory and how to use those results.  I talked about Bloom's Taxonomy and how it helps us understand developing higher levels of critical thinking skills - and being able to answer questions at those higher levels.  I talked about Mind Mapping (which will be the subject of the next post).  And I also talked about what I call the Blank Page Exercise.

I had two favorite techniques for studying at home when I was in graduate school.  The first was to stop periodically when reading or reviewing to explain what I was reading to my dog.  I had an adorable pup named Darby who was a cocker spaniel/golden retriever mix.  She didn't care what I was saying to her as long as I was talking.  But the process of putting what I was reading into words was a very helpful step.

Then my next technique was a bit of a self-quiz.  After I felt like I had mastered a topic, and thought I was ready to take a test on it, I gave myself a test.  I would write a question, or even a topic, at the top of a blank sheet of paper.  Then I would see how much I could fill in without looking.

Because really, isn't that what the test experience is?  You think you are ready, you get your test, and you are asked to explain the concepts without looking at books or notes.

So does it make sense to have that experience for the very first time at the actual test?  Or does it make more sense to have that experience for the first time while you are still in the studying process? 

No one else has to see your blank page.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  It is simply a tool to help you figure out what material you already have mastered enough to write about it on paper - and what material you still need to work on in order to get to that point.

The first lecture exam in both BIO 137 and BIO 139 are next week after the Labor Day holiday.  Yes, reviewing your handmade flashcards will be helpful.  Yes, creating outlines to help you mentally organize the information will be helpful.  But taking a moment to test yourself, to see where you are, using a blank page ... that can be a very powerful technique.

Bloom's Taxonomy

(I have a Wimba lecture on this in some of the Blackboard course shells, so you may have seen/heard this already.  But I realized that I didn't put it on the blog, where some people were looking for it.)

One of the goals of BIO 137 and BIO 139, in addition to learning the content of the course, is to teach you to apply the information in new and different ways.  That is an example of critical thinking.  All of our general education courses strive to teach you critical thinking skills.

When talking to students about developing critical thinking skills, I often show a website that offers a summary on Bloom's Taxonomy.  Bloom's Taxonomy is a philosophical framework that helps illustrate the levels of critical thinking.  We tend to go through these levels when learning any new concept.  First, we have to learn the terminology and what it means.  Then we have to be able to use those terms.  We have to learn some of the basic concepts, then we learn how they relate to one another.  Pretty soon we can explain the new concepts ourselves.  Later we can apply those concepts to new scenarios.  Eventually we can come up with new scenarios or situations that can use the information that we already know.  At the ultimate level of critical thinking, we use information to help us create information we didn't already have.  This is how scientific research works - scientists use information to create experiments and then analyze the results for new knowledge.

The verbs or "action words" in that link help me to discuss the wording of essay questions, and ways to approach answering them on exams.  A question that starts "define" will be answered differently than a question that begins "compare".

Even multiple choice questions can be constructed to assess students' mastery of different levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.  For example, I give the following series of questions on a quiz in Chapter 3:

1.  What is a hypotonic solution?
2.  What happens to a cell in a hypotonic solution?
3.  Which is greater: solute concentration in a hypotonic solution or solute concentration in a hypertonic solution?
4.  If the extracellular concentration of sodium decreases, what happens to the cell?

Each of those questions has a series of answer choices that follow it, making them multiple choice questions.  The first question is at the level of "define" - the student picks the definition of "hypotonic solution" out of the list of answer choices.  The second question isn't necessarily a higher level question either - the student can memorize the effect of each of the solutions that are shown in the figure in the book.  The third question starts to get into higher levels - the student is asked to compare two solutions and determine which is greater.  The last question is a scenario that the student must recognize is a hypotonic solution in order to pick the correct answer.  This analysis is a higher level than the previous three questions.

I think using these questions to illustrate the methods of developing and assessing critical thinking is helpful.  I recommend to students that they practice taking their material and putting it into questions at various levels.  I also recommend reviewing quizzes and tests from this viewpoint, to see if they are missing a number of the higher level questions or questions of a particular type (compare, for example).

I think Bloom's Taxonomy can be a useful tool in helping students to understand how we learn, and to assess for themselves where they think they are in that process.

Study Time

The beginning of the semester - and academic year - includes talk about Study Time: how much, how often, how much time to spend on each "thing" ...

So here are some things I think are helpful to consider when planning study time into your semester's schedule:

A&P faculty recommend students spend a minimum of three hours outside of class studying for every hour that you spend inside of class.  Since you spend 5 hours (between lecture and lab) per week in class, you will need to spend 15-20 hours a week outside of class studying.  Students who have efficient study skills can sometimes get away with spending less time than that some weeks, but then find they have to make up the time to study for exams or finals.  Planning 15 hours into your week isn't easy, but is necessary if you are going to be successful.

Try to plan some time for immediately after class if at all possible.  With only ten minutes between lecture and lab that isn't always possible, but even taking that 10 minutes to review the notes you just took can be incredibly helpful to "cement" the information in your brain (or to help build neuronal connections, which is what is really happening!)  Look through the notes you just took, and mark anything you want to come back and look at in more detail.  Fill in anything that is still fresh in your mind that you didn't get down on paper.  If there is something that is confusing, mark it and make a note to send the prof an email or ask at the beginning of the next class.  Sometimes you find that you stopped writing mid-sentence.  If you review your notes immediately after class, you are more likely to remember how it should be filled in, or you can at least make a note to make sure your question gets answered as soon as you can.

Try to find a partner to review notes with.  Pay attention to who you think is the most successful person in the class, and ask them to spend 10 minutes with you reviewing notes after lecture.  Reviewing notes with another person helps you to see if there is something they have in their notes that you missed, so you end up with a more complete set of notes.  Also, by making connections with more successful people in the course, you may have an opportunity to learn about their study techniques or an approach that might help you.

Study in small, manageable "bites".  You need to study A&P every day.  In order to learn the large amount of difficult content, and in order to continue building the concepts that are related, you need to work with the material on a daily basis.  That seems overwhelming to people, particularly if you are used to thinking about studying as a huge chore of getting your books out, getting "organized", finding the relevant material to study, and then blocking out three hours of time to study.  That leads me to my next point ...

Shift your mindset about "studying".  You don't have to be sitting in a particular spot to learn.  You don't have to study for a particular amount of time to learn, you don't have to have a particular notebook.  You do need to be focused to learn, so develop the ability to focus rather than relying on having your notes in a particular notebook, or only studying at home on the couch.  Get in the habit of taking some notes with you, so any spare moments you have can be spent reading over some notes.  Instead of games on your phone, get an anatomy app and spend the time quizzing yourself on bone markings and muscle insertions.

Learn to set boundaries.  Even if you aren't paying tuition, going to college isn't cheap.  This is a sacrifice you are making to invest in your future.  Some people will be on board with that, and others might not be.  Get good at setting boundaries around your schedule and communicating that information to others that you need support from.  If you need to study on Tuesdays after supper because you have lab on Wednesday, and someone has agreed its their job to give the kids a bath so you're free, don't get sucked into giving the kids a bath because that person "forgot".  It is very healthy to set boundaries and hold people accountable for the things they have agreed to, even if feels uncomfortable at first.

Figure out your schedule a week in advance.  If you've ever taken a high school "life skills" class, this will seem trivial to you.  Likewise if you've ever had an employer send you for Covey training to change your life and your work habits.  Seriously, though, it works.  Find some kind of time management system that works for you, and work it.  Once a week.  A weekly schedule is a small enough time frame that you can manage the things coming up and still figure out study time, with a broad enough frame that you can work in the time you need to study for the things coming up in all your classes.

Make connections.  Connect with as many people in your classes as possible.  Get phone numbers, email addresses, Twitter names, and connect with people on Facebook.  Some people naturally gravitate to one person as a lab partner, but for the best success, you will want to expand your learning network as much as possible.  There is a large social learning component to learning science, and using others in your class can be as much of a study tool as your notes or Wiley Plus.  Use the class as an opportunity to network with people that have the possibility to make you more successful than you would be on your own.

Have any other suggestions about Study Time?  Leave them in the comments!