Brain Research Blog Post 2

According to Wujec, the best way to engage students’ brains to help them better understand big ideas is to visual those ideas using visual models. He explained that three ways to use images to make ideas meaningful. The first way is by making ideas clear by visualizing them, which makes them easier to understand. This could be done through the teaching making a powerpoint or poster of a certain idea, and/or having students make their own visual representation of the idea. Secondly, those images should be engaging and interactive. This will keep students interested and stimulated, helping to form connections and remember the images. Having students each make their own image, or a collective class image will encourage student engagement. Lastly, Wujec states that the images need to be persistent. The teacher can display the images throughout the classroom, so that the students will be exposed to them every day. 

Along with vision, it is very important to present information that incorporates all of the different senses. Catering to all five senses with help students understand the meaning of the information, as well as encode and remember it. It is also important because it presents a variety of different ways for students to learn and process the information. For example, when learning about a topic such as Native American culture, a teacher can easily present information  using more than one neural or sensory pathway. The teacher can bring in different kinds of food and have students taste it and smell it. The teacher can also have students listen to Native American music and bring in common instruments used in that music, so students can hold them and play them. The teacher can put together a visual presentation to enforce all of the information. Presenting information in many different forms is extremely important because it allows for strong connections in the brain and stronger understandings of the material.