Claire Harvey discusses how teaching for every sense can embed learning for every child.
Using multisensory teaching techniques and resources, that allow for learning to occur through auditory, visual and kinesthetic modalities, will ensure that learners’ neurodiverse learning preferences are being met, and it will deepen the learning experiences of all learners in the classroom. If a learner can engage all their senses as they learn, making learning more of a whole-brain exercise, then the content becomes more memorable and it’s more likely that new knowledge will transfer to long-term memory.
What is multisensory teaching?
Multisensory learning has been described as ‘learning by the simultaneous use of the eyes, ears, speech organs, fingers and muscles.’ Multisensory teaching involves using teaching techniques and resources that allow for learning to occur through auditory, visual and kinesthetic routes.
The more senses, or modalities, a learner uses as they learn, the deeper the learning experience will be. If a learner can engage their visual (seeing) sense, auditory (listening) sense and kinesthetic (using movement and touch) sense as they learn, the learning experience will be more memorable. Furthermore, because multisensory learning involves more pathways in the brain, this is likely to aid the transfer of new knowledge to the long-term memory.
Facilitate learning by not only structuring the lesson carefully but also by teaching in a multisensory fashion and integrating as many senses as possible into the teaching method and resources. For example, when teaching the spelling of phonic patterns, encourage your learners to say the sounds, feel their voice box, see the shape their mouth makes, and then write the corresponding letters for the sounds using colour pencils to highlight the phonic pattern in a variety of words containing this pattern. This auditory-visual-kinesthetic method will make the learning much more memorable. Multisensory could be described as ‘multi-memory’.
Paying one ‘visit’ or repeated similar ‘visits’ to a learning objective may be memorable in the short term, but to truly embed learning, doing so in a variety of ways, engaging more senses and making learning more of a holistic experience, is much more effective in the long term. If we revisit any new learning in a variety of ways and use all our senses, and we reinforce and overlearn the new material, then, in future, we are much more likely to be able to recall the new knowledge automatically from our long-term memory. That new learning pathway has been set securely.
Multisensory teaching isn’t a new idea
In 1897, Maria Montessori began to develop her philosophy and methods, attending courses in teaching at the University of Rome and reading the educational theories of the previous two hundred years. In 1907, she opened her first classroom, in a tenement building in Rome.
From the beginning, Montessori based her work on her observations of children and experimentation with the environment, materials, and lessons available to them. She noted how children learn best when they use all their senses, and she developed a teaching method and teaching materials to reflect this.
Meeting the needs of all learners
Our learners are all neurodiverse. The term neurodiversity recognises normal variation and differences in brain function that occur naturally across the human population. It is a recognition that we all have neurological differences. Part of this natural variation means that we all learn differently, process tasks differently, we have a different learning style, learning preference, and different strategies we use to be effective with our learning.
By teaching in a multisensory pattern, encouraging learners to engage all their senses in the learning process, you will be much more likely to meet the needs of all the learners in your classroom, no matter what their individual learning preferences are.
Visual methods
To make learning more of a visual experience, to stimulate visual pathways, consider some of the following suggestions.
- Colour is important—encourage learners to add colour to content through the use of highlighters to underline, and coloured pencils and pens to annotate. Experiment with colour coding and linking types of information with a certain colour.
- Coloured paper and post-it notes can also help to add more visual appeal.
- Encourage learners to draw pictures to illustrate new facts and concepts, as they will undoubtedly have a picture in their head that works for them. Remember, ‘one picture is worth a thousand words’. For example, draw a character from a book to bring them to life.
- Create colourful displays like collages using pictures and text to build a strong visual image.
- Encourage learners to create diagrams and flow charts of how facts and concepts relate to each other. For example, create a cartoon-like storyboard to recall the plot, storyline and timeline.
- Supplement school topics with video to help make content more memorable and generate a strong visual memory.
- Consider using a practical demonstration wherever possible so a learner can see something with their own eyes.
Auditory methods
To stimulate auditory pathways, to encourage learning through listening and talking, consider some of the following suggestions.
- Can learners make up rhymes or raps about their work? For example, to help with number bonds to ten use ‘eight and two on my shoe’ and ‘seven and three having a cup of tea’.
- Listening to audio books can be a very effective way for learners to engage with a story.
- Some learners will embed new learning more securely if they repeat out loud new facts or even sub-vocalise under their breath.
- Use technology that allows text to be spoken aloud to add sound.
- Could learners verbally record their notes and play them back? Hearing their own voice can be very effective.
- Encourage periods of collaboration where learners can talk through key lesson elements with their peers, helping each other to process and secure up new concepts.
- Mnemonics can work well to help remember information. For example, remembering how to spell ‘said’ through the mnemonic ‘space aliens in danger’, or the planets’ order from the sun through ‘My very enthusiastic mother just served us noodles’ (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune).
Kinaesthetic Methods
To make learning a more kinesthetic experience, to encourage learning with and through movement, consider some of the following suggestions.
- Can learners wherever possible do things practically—touch, feel and learn by receiving physical feedback?
- Try to use games and movement. For example, can learners walk around the classroom reading key facts on post-its placed round the room, or discovering hidden facts? Something as simple as this, integrating movement, can help.
- Use manipulatives and props to demonstrate new concepts. For example, rods or blocks to support maths concepts, and wooden or magnetic letters to support reading and spelling.
- Try writing key facts to learn on coloured cards, maybe attached on a keyring, so learners can hold them. This helps because it’s more interactive than just reading them off a page.
- Standing up and moving away from the desk periodically can help to keep learners engaged and make the learning more memorable. Make use of corridors and playgrounds.
Claire Harvey
Claire Harvey is Head of Education at Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity and oversees the charity's Supporting Dyslexic Learners course and the Level 5 Specialist Teacher and Level 7 Specialist Assessor qualifications.
Website: helenarkell.org.uk
X: @ArkellDyslexia
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