Understanding Learners and Learning

Lesson 2.1

How adults learn

Adults do not arrive on a course as empty vessels.  They bring years of experience, firm beliefs and clear reasons for being there.  Good adult teaching works with these rather than against them.

Principles of adult learning

• Relevance. Adults learn best when they can see how the learning applies to their own lives.  A motorcycle rider will engage with a scenario set at a roadside far more readily than with an abstract explanation.
• Experience. Learners’ own experiences of emergencies are a rich resource.  Invite them, use them and, where necessary, gently correct them.
• Autonomy. Adults expect to be treated as capable people who can take responsibility for their learning.
• Problem centred learning. Adults respond well to problems to solve rather than lists of facts to remember.

Learning from experience

Kolb described learning as a cycle in which a person has an experience, reflects on it, draws general conclusions and then tries out those conclusions in a new situation.  Scenario based training follows this cycle closely: learners take part in a scenario, reflect on it during the debrief, identify what they would do differently and then try again in the next scenario.  This is why the debrief matters as much as the scenario itself.

Lesson 2.2

Memory and skill retention

First responder skills are often needed months or years after a course, under great stress.  Teaching for long term retention is therefore essential.

Cognitive load

Working memory can only handle a small amount of new information at once.  When learners are given too much, too quickly, little of it is retained.  Reduce load by teaching one step at a time, removing unnecessary detail, demonstrating before explaining and allowing practice before adding the next step.

Retrieval practice

Each time a learner recalls something from memory, that memory becomes stronger.  Short quizzes, oral questions at the start of each session and asking learners to talk a partner through a procedure are all forms of retrieval practice.  Recalling is far more effective than simply re reading or listening again.

Spaced practice

Practice spread over time is remembered for longer than the same amount of practice done all at once.  Return to core skills, such as the response to a collapsed casualty, several times during a course rather than teaching them once and moving on.

Skill decay

Practical skills fade without practice, often within months.  Encourage learners to rehearse mentally, practise with one another where safe and attend refresher sessions whenever the programme offers them.

Lesson 2.3

Evaluating claims about learning

Teaching is full of popular ideas that sound convincing but are not supported by evidence.  A good tutor learns to ask, “What is the evidence for this?”

Example: learning styles

Many people believe that each learner has a fixed learning style, such as visual, auditory or kinaesthetic, and that teaching matched to that style produces better learning.  Learners often enjoy identifying their style, and the idea feels intuitive.  However, careful research has repeatedly failed to show that matching teaching to a preferred style improves learning.

What the evidence does support is using the method that best suits the content.  Chest compressions are learned by doing them, whatever a learner’s preferences.  Recognising the signs of a stroke is helped by pictures and stories.  Combining words with clear visuals benefits almost all learners.

Lesson 2.4

Knowing your learners

CFAR learners come from every part of community life.  They may include motorcycle and taxi riders, market traders, teachers, farmers, faith and community volunteers, security staff, workplace first aiders and health facility support staff.  Each group brings different experience and different reasons for attending.

Language

Courses are often taught in an official language of instruction alongside one or more local languages.  Agree a fixed set of key terms, such as those for “responsive”, “breathing normally” and “severe bleeding”, in each language you use, and make sure every tutor and interpreter uses the same terms.

Literacy

Some learners read and write with ease; others do not.  Literacy is not the same as intelligence or ability to give first aid.  Use demonstration, pictures, stories and oral questioning so that written tasks never become a barrier to learning practical skills.

Culture and belief

Learners may hold traditional, religious or community beliefs about illness, injury and death.  Some of these may conflict with the course content.  Discuss them respectfully, give clear and evidence based reasons for each action you teach and avoid ridicule.  Learners are far more likely to change a belief when they feel respected.

Physical contact

Practical skills involve touch.  Agree in advance how this will be handled, offer same gender pairings where learners prefer them and use manikins wherever possible.

Lesson 2.5

Initial assessment and inclusion

Initial assessment

Initial assessment establishes where each learner is starting from, so that you can pitch teaching correctly and spot needs early.  In first responder courses it is usually informal and quick.

• A short conversation during registration.
• A show of hands or an anonymous card activity about previous experience.
• A practical warm up, such as asking pairs to show what they would do if someone collapsed.
• Simple oral questions rather than written forms.

Barriers to learning

Barriers may be physical (a disability, pregnancy, age or the heat of the room), linguistic (the language of instruction), economic (travel costs or the loss of a day’s income) or social (childcare, gender roles or status within a mixed group).

Adapting teaching

• Offer alternative positions for practical skills where a learner has a physical limitation, while keeping the core standard.
• Pair learners with a bilingual partner.
• Start and finish on time so that learners do not lose more income than necessary.
• Separate groups by status or gender where this helps everyone take part.
• Provide pictorial reference cards for learners to keep.