Multimedia Presentations

Brain Rules

I have always had a fascination about how the brain works especially when it comes to learning. I recently finished an excellent, easy to read book about how the brain sciences can be used to influence how we teach children and the way we work. I highly recommend Brain Rules by John Medina.

There is lots of great information in the book, but I would like to share rules for multimedia presentations in light of student learning especially since we are using SMART Boards in our classrooms. If you read the book, you will find this information on page 210.

1. Students learn better from words and pictures than from words alone.
2. Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively.
3. Students learn better when words and pictures are presented near to each other.
4. Students learn better when extraneous material is excluded rather than included.
5. Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation and on-screen text.

These rules go hand in hand with the lesson design principles we have been talking about during our SMART Board training. Think about all those times we said to be careful of how much text you are putting on a page, just put the key points. And our emphasis on using relevant images that are clear and easy for the students to see. Finally, remember the points we made about using animation purposefully. All those design elements will help your students learn.