Multimedia Learning - Using more than one mode to deliver concept to daycare children

In 1922, the famous inventor Thomas Edison proclaimed that "the motion picture is destined to revolutionize our educational system and that in a few years it will supplant...the use of textbooks". And almost one century after that statement was made, films are hardly used in classrooms as a means of teaching.

In one of my earlier posts, I had explored the various modes in which an individual learns. There are 3 ways in which an individual learn – via listening (auditory), looking (visual) or hands on (kinesthetic). In that study, it was stated that different learners learn best according to their preferred or dominate learning style.

In learning with multimedia, it suggests that when the brain simultaneously fed with two different forms of the same information; via audio and visual, instead of overwhelming the brain or overloading the learner, the brain will instead process the information in parallel. That is because there are two somewhat independent subcomponents that will be able to work in parallel when two different information are being introduced. In a series of studies by Richard Mayer and his associates, the man behind the research on multimedia learning, they found that students when given multimedia media with both animation and narration did better than those who learnt from purely animation or text based materials.

This means that individuals learns best when more than one mode of learning is applied in the process of gathering information/ knowledge. In fact, it is stated that when information is delivered, it should be both visually and auditory so that the brain can process the two types of information simultaneously. And in such instances, learners are better able to process the information as compared to when the information is simply delivered either visually or auditorily.

It seems to suggest that by having a multi modal approach, it helps the learner to pay attention and understand and learn the material that is being cover better. Which means that in the classroom when telling a story to introduce a new concept to the daycare children, the daycare teacher should try to engage both the daycare children’s visual senses by showing them visuals such as flash cards, pictures, etc as well as auditory senses, explaining the concept verbally.

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