Wujec proposes that we can help engage students brains to help them learn big ideas by using images to clarify ideas, interacting with these images to create engagement and augmenting meaning with persistent and evolving views. When you use images to clarify ideas you create something that is visually appealing so that the eyes dart around the page to gather all the information that the image is trying to show. You also want the students to interact with the images so that they are engaged in the learning and not just looking at pictures. Lastly, you need to give meaning to these images. If the images do not have meaning then the kids will not learn the information.
You would definitely want to use more than one sensory pathway when teaching children. For example, I like to do hands on activities to learn information. So when learning math I have to actually write down the problems and do them myself to fully know what I'm doing. This can also be taken down to an elementary level when learning how to count by 5's, 10's, etc. by using the blocks. It is important to use as many senses as you can when teaching because different students understand and will be able to connect the information better when seeing the information or doing activities related to the information, etc.
I really like your idea on "visualizing" math problems. For many students, math is a hard concept to understand, and so they need to draw and/or see problems in front of them in order to solve them. Even now, I find myself drawing out problems if I do not understand them at first. I think this will be something very beneficial to do with all students, especially younger ones. How do you think you can use this "hands-on" learning approach to other subjects, such as science or social studies?
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