If someone were to show you a way to immediately double your ClassRoom learning effectiveness, you would probably defy the proverbial "hell or high water" to get at it. This would dramatically increase the quality of your most important product, the student. And, since effectiveness equates to efficiency, it would lead to substantive training and plant performance savings as well.
In 1991, a Carnegie Commission study called for new teaching methods to improve math and science education. The chair, Harvard Professor Lewis Branscomb, cited hands-on learning as part of the solution. Recently, the National Research Council's scientific arm, the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, recommended that student learning be by conducting experiments rather than by memorizing from a text-book. They submit that hands-on learning raises the level of instruction because the students can reason and apply what they learn. Learning by doing should be the rule ... rather than just telling the student. They also say that scientists and educators have long believed that schools have failed to teach adequately even the most basic concepts. Coincidentally, our manual, BASIC REACTOR BEHAVIOR is dedicated to explaining "basic concepts". And our REACTOR TRAINER provides the means for real time hands-on learning in the ClassRoom.
Instructor training courses frequently quantify ClassRoom learning effectiveness for various methods of instruction. Based on student retention after 2 or 3 days, theses ratings are typically:
.... METHOD ..... EFFECTIVENESS
........Tell ..................... 20%
........Show .................. 30%
........Hands-on ............ 80%
Needless to say, the relative numbers are not sacrosanct because of the many variables in any given situation. And, there is some cumulative effect when using a mix of methods. But, to quibble over a few percentage points is to miss the point. There is an astonishing message here. The secret of success is revealed ... by adding a healthy portion of HANDS-ON learning to a lecture one can, conservatively, DOUBLE learning effectiveness.
Studies show that hands-on learning focuses to the subject, and away from the Instructor ... shifts the synergy between student and Instructor ... as the student leads and the Instructor guides, working together as a team. In hands-on learning the spark is human curiosity. The student internalizes questions, which trigger mental reasoning. The student begins to do his or her own thinking, rather than just accepting the explanation of the Instructor ... starts to relate cause and effect. The student, in doing ... instead of just listening and observing ... begins to see purpose to the learning. It is a form of discovery, which, in itself, is an exhilarating experience that promotes understanding and impacts the brain in a unique and superior way.
In hands-on learning the student is guided through a specific task as he or she performs the actual steps. Reactor training organizations have long recognized the advantage of hands-on training, albeit mostly outside the ClassRoom setting. There is OJT (On the Job Training), practice rad-con suit ups, and full scale Control Room simulators, to name a few diverse examples. One obvious reason that hands-on learning has eluded the ClassRoom is the enormous physical size of the commercial nuclear plant equipment, control panels, systems, etc. There has been no practical, cost effective vehicle to bring hands-on learning into the ClassRoom. That barrier no longer exists. The escalation in processing power of the personal computer, the PC, now provides the means for entry of hands-on learning into the ClassRoom - along with its principal benefit, an exceptional gain in learning effectiveness.
Today, PCs abound within training organizations. However, their use is almost exclusively in the offices, outside the ClassRooms, to produce quality training material, such as Lesson Plans, HandOuts, and Transparencies, and to serve in program record keeping, administration, etc. And that's certainly a plus, but it pales in comparison to their potential in the ClassRoom. The PC is a fantastic electronic chameleon that can mimic almost anything ... given an appropriate set of instructions. And, therein lies the catch. These instructions, called software, are, for the most part, lacking for specialized applications like nuclear training. The Reactor Trainer is the software that allows you to bring hands-on learning to the ClassRoom for teaching reactor behavior. It offers you the means to realize a substantive gain in learning effectiveness for this important subject. And granted, its only one ClassRoom subject of many in your curriculum. But, as with walking, to get anywhere one must take that first step. The Reactor Trainer will be a catalyst. When others observe how far ClassRoom hands-on learning surpasses show-and-tell, there will be an urgency to move other ClassRoom subjects in that direction.
In summary, hands-on learning causes two extremely positive transformations: