Theory stinks?!
Let the lessons smell, shine & sound.
This chapter focuses on the question of how we can use our five senses in otherwise so banal teaching processes in a targeted yet unexpected way and thus break through patterns of expectation. The metaphor “theory stinks” underlines the need to combine dry theory with practical, sensory experiences in order to promote a sustainable learning process.
In this context, the sensory organs — eye, ear, skin, tongue and nose — can be regarded as key tools to make teaching more lively and practical. Each sense represents a unique approach to the world, and the targeted activation of these senses can deepen the learning experience.
To illustrate the clarification and need for models and new teaching and learning methods, this chapter accompanies a short Lego story. Did you expect that?
Since models and theories are often perceived as rather boring and the concentration of students quickly dwindles in theoretical teaching phases, the theory of sensory organs is integrated into the lesson as an example. This is done using a small visualization based on a Lego story to make the learning material more vivid.
In a tranquil little town, surrounded by green hills and a clear river, Ms. Sanjo's journey began at the local vocational college. The university had taught a wealth of models and theories of teaching and didactics, and now the challenge was to apply this knowledge in practice.
Idee, Steine zu sammeln und diese als Brücke zu verwenden.
The first days as a teacher felt like a torrential river. But on the other side of the river, the bank was already visible and a wealth of methods and broken patterns of expectation awaited. However, Ms. Sanjo and her students were still faced with the tricky task of finding and navigating a way across this river.
The repertoire of teaching models included various approaches, but the decision was made to use the five sensory organs stones, which all could use to climb across the river together. The idea was to actively involve students in the learning process by specifically appealing to their senses. Each of the five senses should be addressed at various points in Ms. Sanjo's mechanical engineering and biology lessons. I wonder if that is possible? They simply started with the sense of sight, because they thought this was the least hurdle at the beginning.
The conscious selection of sensory experiences in various teaching contexts made it clear that the metaphor “theory stinks” was not only a humorous invitation, but also represented an educational philosophy. The combination of theory and practice was not only stabilized, but also expanded into a lively place of learning. The teacher realized that the combination of theoretical knowledge with sensory experiences not only broadened the students' horizons, but also inspired the teachers themselves to develop new perspectives. In this way, classroom teaching became not only a place of learning, but also a space in which the senses served as the key to the development of knowledge.
The sense of sight - Let's see what happens.
Visualization in a school context is a powerful tool to promote learning and make complex concepts easier to understand. This involves presenting information in the form of graphics, charts, maps, or other visual representations. These visual aids enable students to better understand abstract concepts and to recognize connections more easily.
An effective way of visualization is the use of illustrative teaching material. This can include, for example, images, models or multimedia presentations that illustrate the subject matter. The visual input awakens interest and deepens understanding.
Another approach is to use graphics and charts to structure complex information. Mind maps, diagrams, or infographics help students to identify connections between different topics and to organize what they have learned. These visual aids serve as a guide and make it easier to retain information.
The integration of interactive elements can further strengthen visualization. The use of digital whiteboards, interactive apps or simulations enables learners to actively participate in the visual learning process. By designing and experimenting on your own, the learning content is better internalized.
Excursions are another form of visualization. Through direct contact with real examples, abstract concepts can be made more tangible. A trip to a museum, a science trip or a visit to a historic site can add a visual dimension to lessons.
Visualization in school lessons not only helps to better convey the subject matter, but also promotes students' creativity and critical thinking. It enables them to think outside the box and actively shape their learning processes. Overall, targeted visualization creates a lively learning environment in which students can learn with joy and commitment.
Excursus using the example of industrial mechanics:
In a learning situation for prospective industrial mechanics, which focuses on the medium of vision, training on the use of machines or the maintenance of complex industrial plants could be discussed. Here is a possible description:
The training takes place in a well-equipped training center for industrial mechanics. The participants, aspiring industrial mechanics, gather in a specially designed classroom. The learning situation focuses on emphasizing the visual aspect of machine handling and plant maintenance.
Presentation of machine models: The teacher starts the training by presenting detailed machine models. Large, true-to-scale models enable participants to take a close look at every component of the machine. Visualizations on an interactive whiteboard or via a projector support the presentation
.Virtual machine simulations: Virtual machine simulations are also used, which enable industrial mechanics to observe the operation of machines in a safe and controlled virtual environment. These simulations provide detailed insights into various operating states and make it easier to understand the mechanisms
.Live demonstrations: Practical live demonstrations of industrial machines are carried out. Participants have the opportunity to observe the actual operation of machines from a safe distance. Safety guidelines are emphasized and the importance of visual inspection during operation is emphasized
.Work on real plants: The training goes beyond theory by giving prospective industrial mechanics the opportunity to work on real industrial plants. Visualizations and color-coded components help you identify the various components and understand their functions.
Analysis of schematic diagrams: Participants are asked to analyze schematic diagrams and plans of industrial plants. This promotes the understanding of visual representations in industry and the ability to use these charts for diagnosis and troubleshooting.
Independent inspection and maintenance: The learning situation concludes with the independent inspection and maintenance of machines by the participants. The focus is on enabling prospective industrial mechanics to visually recognize when a machine is working properly or whether
maintenance measures are required.
By emphasizing the sense of sight in this learning situation, prospective industrial mechanics are enabled not only to acquire theoretical knowledge, but also to develop visual skills that are crucial for their future work.
The sense of hearing - eavesdropping.
The visual sense certainly plays a decisive role in teaching situations, but it is not the only significant influencing factor. Other senses can also be included here. In this section, we take a look at the importance of auditory perception and its influence on the learning process. This is also illustrated in the next illustration with a further route across the river.
The promotion of auditory skills in the school environment plays a crucial role in ensuring a holistic approach to learning. Auditory skills refer to the ability to absorb, process, and understand information through hearing.
School activities can be specifically aimed at developing students' auditory skills. Through listening exercises, they can improve their ability to capture and interpret acoustic information. Listening to dialogues, interviews or podcasts strengthens listening comprehension.
Integrating music into class offers a creative way to sharpen auditory skills. Listening to and analyzing pieces of music not only promotes an understanding of rhythm and melody, but can also convey cultural and historical aspects.
Audiobooks and audio plays are another resource for improving reading comprehension and stimulating students' imagination. The auditory presentation allows them to capture stories and information in a different way.
Language activities, such as oral discussions, group activities and presentations, not only promote language development but also sharpen auditory perception. In doing so, students learn to listen, answer and express their thoughts clearly.
The integration of podcasts and interviews on relevant topics in class enables learners to sharpen their auditory skills in a real context. This not only promotes understanding, but also the ability to listen critically and question information.
Learning a foreign language is an excellent way to develop auditory skills. Listening to and understanding foreign languages not only promotes intercultural competence, but also improves the general ability to differentiate between different sounds.
The targeted promotion of auditory skills in school helps students learn more effectively and deal better with the variety of auditory stimuli in their environment. These skills are of great importance not only for academic success, but also for personal and professional development.
Excursus 1: Quiet please!
Ali, a prospective metal technology trainee, is working on metal technology with Mrs. Sanjo in the third hour today. The class is working on an emergency from a customer order that Mr. Stamm had already announced at the end of the last hour.
The hour begins unusually when Mr. Stamm starts calling with his cell phone. There is a slight astonishment in the class. Why does he make phone calls just at the beginning of class? Couldn't he do it another time? After a brief moment of astonishment, it becomes clear that this is actually part of today's topic. Mr. Stamm explains that the class was too loud and that he could not hear the customer on the phone.
Mr. Stamm: Good morning, do you have a water ingress in your winter garden?
Ali: (softly to his classmate) That is really strange. Why is he doing this now?
Laura: I have no idea.
Mr. Stamm: Oh, it's the 36gz_46A model. Yes, I will take care of a new window, seals and the assembly plan. The whole thing should be repaired in two weeks. The schedule situation is very tight for us at the moment.
...
Mr. Stamm: Yes okay, I wish you too.
Mr. Stamm: Okay, there is a new work assignment from a private person. She got a winter garden 2.5 years ago, where water has only run in during the cold season and a window has also cracked. I would like you to find out which model it is. Find out the spare parts and give me a time schedule, which we can then submit to the manager for this assignment.
Excursus 2: Back to Back
I chose the differentiating course experiential education because I knew Jamie would never choose it, because soccer was also offered again this half year. Jamie was almost born with the ball on his foot. I was reassured not to have to see him at least in this class. It's not like I don't like him. The bad thing is that as soon as I get close to him, I can't concentrate on anything anymore.
The course started in the first week with a few games to get to know each other. Ms. Sanjo told us beforehand that we should bring a favorite item. I came into the room and was excited about the people and the experiences. And I was startled. Jamie sat in line across from the door. And it got even worse — partners were drawn for the first game and of course I had to work with him.
We should sit back to back without first seeing what the other person has brought with us. Now it was up to each other to describe their own object and the other person had to draw what they heard. It was then checked whether the object had been correctly displayed on the paper. Jamie started with the description and I tried with all my effort to listen in a concentrated manner. I actually knew what I was drawing beforehand: A soccer ball, of course. I was surprised how many details could be used to describe a soccer ball. After a few minutes, I didn't find the exercise that bad anymore.
And that's how quickly Ms. Sanjo and her students reached the Hearing Stone!
With every stone the group reached, they came closer to the opposite bank. The students responded positively to the diverse sensory stimuli, and the lesson became a lively experience. The journey wasn't always easy, sometimes a rock wobbled, but when the students gave each other support, they were finally able to achieve their goal — a lesson that not only imparts knowledge but also appeals to the senses and thus successfully bridges the gap between theory and practice.
The teacher realized that the conscious inclusion of sensory organs not only enriched the lesson, but also deepened the relationship with the students. Through the targeted use of visual stimuli, it was not only possible to convey dry theory, but also to create a lively learning environment and an experience for the entire group. The students also benefited from field trips where they could experience what they had learned in the real world, and visual perception became a key to deeper understanding.
The sense of taste - May I try it?
The sense of taste may not play the main role in class, but there are clever ways to incorporate it through a few tricks and tricks. Certain aspects of taste can play a decisive role in our understanding of health, and this is exactly where the sensory organ could play an important role in everyday school life. At school, the sense of taste not only influences students' eating habits, but also learning processes, social interactions and general well-being. Sub-areas in which the sense of taste could be used would be: nutrition-conscious people, cooking projects with healthy options, promotion of health prevention (healthy can also taste good),...
Teachers can cleverly integrate the sense of taste into the classroom by offering healthy taste samples, integrating flavors into the context of learning materials, or discussing how taste and wellbeing are linked.
Excursus: There's going to be sugar
Magic is happening today!
Take: A piece of white bread.
Chew on the piece of white bread for a few minutes.
Abracadabra!
Oops! Suddenly it tastes really sweet!
In this situation, students can use their sense of taste to find out how the starch contained in white bread is split from saliva into maltose by the enzyme amylase. Starch is a polysaccharide made up of glucose units and therefore does not taste sweet at first. Maltose, on the other hand, an intermediate product in the digestion of starch that is already produced in the mouth, has a sweet taste. And it gets even sweeter when maltose is split into glucose, its monomers. In this way, students can experience their own digestion. After all, digestion is not something that only takes place hidden in the stomach and intestines.
Visualization option: Parallel to the chewing time of the piece of white bread, the strength of the sweetness can be shown in a diagram:
Now Mrs. Sanjo and the study group have already collected three stones and they can almost reach the treasure on the other bank!
The sense of feeling - We touch ourselves.
The area of skin, touch and touch can also be used in various areas of school. When the other, stronger senses are specifically switched off, our concentration on the mechanical sense of touch can be particularly strengthened.
Excursus 1: Hopefully I don't get a splinter!
In 5/6/7 grade technology lessons at a comprehensive school, the sensory organ of the skin comes into play in a special way, especially when it comes to working with materials such as wood. Students, who alternately teach housekeeping and technology, have the opportunity to deepen their sensory experiences through creative projects.
Let us now look at the combination of technology and the sensory organ of the skin. It is important to make it clear to students how much information they can absorb through their skin, especially when processing materials. The current topic in technology lessons revolves around wood and its processing.
Work assignment: Wood-fish project with focus on skin safety
The students are asked to file and saw a fish from a block of wood. This is not only about manual skills, but also about skin safety awareness, especially when the processed object is touched by small children.
Files and saws:
The students use their technical skills to work out the desired fish shape from the wooden block. This not only trains motor skills, but also brings the skin into direct contact with the processed material.
Skin safety:
After rough processing, fine work is carried out with various grades of sandpaper. This step is not only to give the woodfish a smooth surface, but also to ensure that there are no sharp edges or rough spots left behind that could potentially cause injuries.
Awareness of sensory experiences:
Throughout the process, students are encouraged to consciously perceive the various sensations on their skin. They should understand that their skin is not only a tool for touching things, but also a source of important information about the nature of the processed material.
This project not only promotes students' craft skills, but also promotes a conscious understanding of the importance of skin when working with materials in technology lessons. At the same time, they learn how to safely design their handmade objects, especially if they are intended for younger children.
Excursus 2: Thilo becomes a neuron.
Thilo finally arrived at school on his bike - on Tuesday morning at 8 o'clock he had biology. He had slept poorly and did not have as much motivation to spend two hours on the subject of the nervous system. So sleepy, he went to his seat and sat down. But suddenly Ms. Sanjo came into the room wearing blindfolds. That's when Thilo became aware because he immediately thought that this hour would be different. Ms. Sanjo asked his classmates to split into two groups and asked Thilo to stand in the middle of the room. Everyone wondered what would happen now. Ms. Sanjo named Thilo as a postsynaptic nerve cell and the others represented presynaptic axons of other nerve cells. Now she distributed the blindfolds. The sense of sight was switched off. Each group of students should form a human chain by holding hands. One group was an inhibitory neuron and sent Thilo signals, the other group sent him signals as an exhibitory neuron. The signals were each passed on as a handshake. Thilo was the computing neuron and the connector between the two chains: When the EPSPs prevailed, he took a step forward, when the IPSPs prevailed, he took a step back. The finish line ahead of him was the threshold potential: If he reached it, an action potential was triggered. Thilo was stunned! So that's how it worked. It was only by feeling the handshake that he understood what effect IPSPs and EPSPs have on triggering an action potential.
The calculating neuron is shown here as a monkey that must cross the finish line so that the action potential can occur.
Yay! The group is happy that they have overcome the 4th stone. The shore is within reach.
The sense of smell - So can lessons actually smell?
In school, the sensory organ smell is certainly one of the organs that is difficult to depict in a teaching situation. Nevertheless, it has a significant influence on our perception in our everyday life, which is often underestimated. But it plays a crucial role in our daily lives, influences our emotions and helps us better understand the world around us. In this learning situation, students are taken on a fascinating journey through the world of smell. By exploring this world, students can not only expand their knowledge of the anatomy and function of smell, but also develop a deeper understanding of the importance of this sensory organ in their daily lives. In addition, combining sensory experience with specialist knowledge strengthens sustainable understanding - after all, a focus on the sense of smell is not one of the expectation patterns of students at the vocational college.
Fitness is not just fitness!
Franzi regularly goes to the gym and is surprised that Mrs. Sanjo has announced that the topic of fitness will also be an issue in bio lessons from the next hour. She simply doesn't understand what weight bench and steppers have to do with Evolution. Nevertheless, she is looking forward to class, because that is actually exactly her area of expertise.
When Franzi enters the classroom, all chairs and tables are already on the side of the room. “What's the point of that all at once?” she thinks to herself. Ms. Sanjo suddenly starts handing out nose clips and blindfolds. However, only half of their classmates get nose clips. No one sees anything anymore. “Okay, it's a bit different than in the gym,” she whispers to her girlfriend. “If you have the best fitness and find the boxes of coffee beans that are hidden in this room, you will survive and reproduce! To find the coffee, just use your sense of smell.” Now Franzi understands what it's about: Her classmates, who can smell, are best adapted to the environment in the classroom. Almost all of them were able to discover coffee beans! The group with the nose clips reported that they could only sneak across the room clueless. Fitness in evolution therefore does not mean building muscle, but having characteristics that are as appropriate as possible to cope in an environment. She is stunned - her ancestors were apparently lucky that they could smell.
Franzi is wearing a knight's helmet here and the coffee is already within reach, while the others are lost without their sense of smell.
They actually did it! The river has been crossed and everyone can reach the shore safely. What is in the treasure chest?
The group is now stronger than ever and rich—rich in methods, experience and group cohesion.
conclusion
In summary, it can be stated that the integration of sensory organs into the teaching and learning process offers an innovative opportunity to create new approaches to learning content. The conscious selection of sensory experiences in various teaching contexts has not only transformed the humorous challenge “theory stinks” into an educational philosophy, but has also made the combination of theory and practice a lively place of learning. This connection not only broadened the students' horizons, but can also be inspiring for aspiring and working teachers.
The classroom thus became not only a place of learning, but also a space in which the senses served as the key to the development of knowledge. The challenge of integrating all senses into the school learning process became clear, particularly in subjects where this is not traditionally practiced. Despite this challenge, the concrete examples show how sensory experiences can be effectively integrated into teaching in order to break existing patterns of expectation and offer promising access to upcoming teaching topics.
The diverse experience with different teaching methods and media opens up numerous teaching opportunities, which is undoubtedly an asset for prospective teachers. However, consideration should also not be neglected of the disadvantages of free space, in particular with regard to the lack of structures. A balanced approach that offers innovation and orientation at the same time can therefore optimally support the teaching and learning process.
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