Solution: Create a multi-sensory learning experience by combining technology, pedagogical strategies, and the content.
a. What is the TP knowledge for the solution?
The technology that I have selected (simulations and images from different camera types) allows me to bring the visual and experiential aspect of my lesson to students. The affordance of simulations, the use of images, and visual learning is that when combined they provide a multi-sensory learning experience that appeals to multiple levels of learners. In the past, it has been difficult for many students to process this terminology because they could not actually see it or begin to imagine it. This caused for students to become detached from the content and unmotivated. Incorporating the visual component will allow more students to process the information, which in turn will increase their motivation and level of engagement.The technology allows me to bring an experiential learning experience as well, as students will be able to use infrared goggles. The benefit of the infrared goggles and experiential learning to the student’s growth is that it provides a real-world application of the content. It takes information that is otherwise abstract and makes it concrete. As students interact with the terminology, they are able to make more connections to the content as they see it through their own perspective.
b. What is the TC knowledge for the solution?
The use of simulations when studying the different types of wavelengths in the Electromagnetic Spectrum, will make the content more readily accessible for students because it provides a re-representation of the information. Without the use of technology, the visuals provided would be static (no movement; like a diagram in a textbook). Therefore, simulations provide students with not only a re-representation, but an extension of information accessible. The simulations show the wavelengths in action, which allows students to comprehend the terminology and develop comparisons between the different wavelengths.
The use of images that have been taken with different cameras/satellites (therefore, capturing different wavelengths and showing another example of how their frequencies differ) makes the content more accessible to students because it provides them with a real-world application of their knowledge. These images, accessed online, do so by providing a perspective of how one object can look when each different wavelength strikes it (every other wavelength is filtered out). From this, students can use their higher order thinking skills to create inferences and form comparisons between the wavelengths.
c. What is the PC knowledge for the solution?
In dealing with students who find it challenging to conceptualize the terminology, bringing experiential and visual learning experiences will provide another avenue for them to be exposed to the content. I chose to pair these pedagogical strategies with the terminology because it affords students the opportunity to create more connections to the content. Students are not just trying to memorize definitions; instead they are interacting with the content and each other. This offers students with an opportunity to identify and clarify misconceptions that may have formed, as they are taking part in social learning.
Incorporating a kinesthetic experience where students will role play as if they were different types of wavelengths will be the final piece that integrates all of the learning styles. The affordance of role playing as different wavelengths heightens recall of the content. This is possible because the kinesthetic learners create connections between their movement and the terminology. It removes any abstract elements left for students within the concept, by putting them physically into the action of the wavelengths. By combining visual, experiential, and kinesthetic experiences, it allows a variety of learners to have access to the content and to constructively build their own knowledge in a way that best suits them.
