How Much Do You Know? Tell Someone and Find Out!
Yesterday we talked about the 4 parts of the Feynman technique (pick out concept and write it out; Identify weak areas and fill in gaps; organize notes into story; and finally, Tell Someone About It!
One of the best ways to learn something is to explain it to someone else. Often, if we are told we have to do this, we often realize that we don't know as much as we thought we did and end up doing a little more research before we present the information. The act of telling someone else, in an easily understandable way, firmly establishes the information into our brain.
How can we use this in safety training?
A great safety training activity, especially for refresher classes where trainees have been exposed to the information before, is to ask teams of trainees to work together to present a short lesson on a particular part of the topic that is being covered. For example, in a class on hazard communication, one team could focus on summarizing what the class needs to know about storage and another could focus on labeling. After a set amount of time, each team could present their topic to the rest of the class.
Why is this great? First, the teams will likely have to think hard about what they know about the topic and may need to do some research to be able to present the topic. Also, different team members also likely remember different things so there will be a lot of discussion and team members will learn from one another. Finally, by presenting the topic to others, they are cementing the information into their long term memory.
A quicker version of this activity would be to have each team develop a short quiz to be presented to the other groups and then have the groups exchange quizzes for completion. This will also require the teams to recall what they know, do a little research or discussion to fill in the gaps, and tell someone else about it in the form of a quiz.
Give it a try and see how much more your trainees remember!
Leave a comment
Comments will be approved before showing up.
