Education Web Resources

The Importance of the Senses in Learning

Studies have shown that students who are most fully engaged during the learning process are the most likely to remember the facts that they are taught. In this sense, the engagement happens on the levels of the senses of touch, sight and hearing. Other senses will certainly enhance the memorization process, but they are not always so easy to replicate in a class room setting. Because of the crucial nature of the senses in helping the brain to record information, particularly in our modern media saturated times, many educators are striving to reinvent the way that children and even adults learn by introducing a more engaging formula to the mix. The days of trying to memorize books may indeed go the way of the dinosaurs as computers come to play a more intrinsic role in not just learning, but in everything that the average human being does on a daily basis.

In nations where there is a growing level of sophistication in terms of technology, educators often turn to new media such as films and video games in an effort to find new ways to get concepts across to students. Young children today are intimately familiar with video games and these have proven to be a way to interest them in learning, but with the arrival of technology that senses motion, such as is found in the Nintendo Wii, it appears that learning can happen even faster. Some experts in the tech world have long touted virtual reality as a vital training tool, citing the military's use of it to train soldiers for battle field situations, but teachers had feared that it may interfere with the personal aspect of learning.

Still, no matter what the changes in the future bring, it is clear that science sides with more senses being engaged as being a key way to help people remember facts.

05.10.2010. 09:28