Manipulatives and models can provide tactile interaction that can enhance memory and learning. Models are frequently used to aid learning about objects that are not easily accessed, like models of internal organs in medical field or a model of the solar system in astronomy.
Tate expands this method to include not only models and manipulatives for hands-on learning, but also any kind of touch. She suggests communicating with learners through touch, like handshakes, can contribute to a positive learning environment.
Application: One of my job responsibilities is to provide training and support for the content management system (CMS) used to create and maintain all NDSU Extension websites. I have used hands-on learning in many CMS trainings. My typical method is to demonstrate a task for learners, then have them try it on their own. This is often a challenge for new employees because they lack a real work context. We provide a “sandbox” website for these learners to work in, but they do not retain as much of the information as those learners who are able to practice the tasks on the website they already maintain.
Another challenge is providing access to computers for the training sessions. Most of the county support staff who maintain the websites are provided desktop, not laptop, computers. We have a training bank of 20 laptop computers that we can use in this situation. However, a lot of time and money is spent maintaining this training bank and learners often struggle because they are not familiar with these computers.
Assessment: Entry and Exit Tickets (Barkley & Major, 2016, pp. 91-95)
Although we cover the most frequently used CMS tasks in the training, the learning goal is not to be able to replicate those tasks from memory. That goal would be unrealistic. Often learners will not be faced with doing that tasks until weeks, even months, after they “learned” it in training. Instead our learning goal is to increase learners’ comfort with using the CMS. With that in mind, entry and exit tickets would work as an assessment. We could ask a simple multiple-choice question, “How do you feel when you think about using the CMS?” The multiple-choice answers would be something like “very uncomfortable, uncomfortable, neutral, comfortable and very comfortable.”
References
Barkley, E. F., & Major, C. H. (2016). Learning assessment techniques: A handbook for college faculty. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Tate, M. L. (2012). “Sit and Get” won’t grow dendrites: 20 professional learning strategies that engage the adult brain. (2nd Ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.