Nov 26 2007
Episode 1: Visual Teaching in an Auditory World, Part 1
Today’s learners mirror societal change; 60-90% of the population thinks with mental visual language. Teaching strategies have not kept up with these changes. As a result more learners experience difficulty with higher order thinking skills. To address this problem, Dr. Kaakinen, a nurse educator, collaborated with Dr. Arwood, an educator with a language/learning background. The results of their multi-disciplinary collaboration included innovative teaching strategies designed for visual thinkers.
In this two-part interview, Dr. Peter Saunders talks with Dr. Kaakinen and Dr. Arwood about their research. This interview is continued in Part 2. Want to know more? Watch the workshop Visual Teaching in an Auditory World in our Best Teaching Practices Video Library. Log in and then click on “Visiting Speakers”.
Program Outline
02:38 Q: How did you get started in this branch?
05:19 Q: Is it a learning disability that we’re dealing with? Or is it just a cognitive difference?
08:11 Q: Are universities not visual? If not, how are kids surviving now?
11:50 Q: Can you explain the term “Visual Language”?
16:38 Q: I’m going to go to your article now, “Visual Language Strategies for Innovative Teaching of Science.” And you write, and I quote, “Students learn science concepts the way their underlying neurobiological learning system processes the incoming information.” That’s a big statement. It’s a good one. Can you parse it out for us?
25:10 Q: You used the term “multitasking” Are you using it differently? Because I would think 99% of the faculty I know will say all their students can do is multitask, that they aren’t able, they themselves aren’t able to do it.
26:14 Q: Does the visual language get at how this fits into learning styles now, learning preferences?
28:12 Q: If I prefer to be taught in a visual way and it’s not happening, aren’t I going to be frustrated? So isn’t that a preference?
31:25 Q: What’s your perception on Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences?
34:53 Q: Why should instructors use visual language strategies if students are capable of learning from lecture and PowerPoint presentations?
41:13 Q: What does this mean for science courses trying to cope with the explosion of available information?