Individual Learning: The Simulation Method

Individual Learning: The Simulation Method

There is a Chinese proverb that states: "I see, I forget. I hear, I remember. I do, I understand." Becoming involved is a powerful agent in bringing understanding to a student, as it understates memorization of facts in favor of situational empathy. The student associates the action with the concept instead of associating facts with the concept. Because the memory techniques used to retain actions are different in every student and are customized to the each student's learning aptitudes, the information will be retained more accurately and for longer.

Although it is impossible to say for sure what a student will absorb and what he or she will not, it is demonstrable that being physically or personally involved in an activity leads to faster improvement. An excellent example is any sort of sport. Countless hours of lectures cannot create a good basketball player or tennis player. Endless television watching does not create football professionals. It is practice that makes perfect, to again borrow from the wisdom of cliche.

In the area of dental hygiene this is particularly important, as understanding the theory is not terribly effective in reducing oral detritus; rather, the purpose of theory is not to motivate to better hygiene, but to provide an impetus to create habits -- habits that will last a lifetime and ensure continued dental hygiene.

In practice, simulations are difficult to develop for dental hygiene. An effective simulation should have a conclusion with self-evident implication; a simulation with an answer that must be explained will be reduced to the effectiveness of lecture. The solution to this problem is to appeal to the student's strongest emotions.

In the area of dental hygiene, appeals to emotions are not difficult to find. Humans like their mouths to be clean, and a brief overview of the reasons that good dental hygiene is a practical asset -- creating more attractive teeth and generally a mouth more conducive to maraichinage -- is an excellent start to emphasizing the importance of dental hygiene. A follow-up that summons the disgust reflex is equally simply, thanks to subjects such as plaque and bacterial buildup. A directed emphasis on the idea of living organisms inhabiting the oral cavity is sure to be particularly effective on female students, although such techniques are vulnerable to logical attack (since certain organisms inhabit the human body that are beneficial or even necessary, such as certain bacteria that live in the intestines and aid digestion, or even mitochondria to a certain degree).

An example of a simulation would be one that demonstrates the exponential nature of germ growth (and thereby supports the concept that dental hygiene should be performed regularly). For instance: