Following me now?
That’s right, commercials. Think about the power of advertising, the effectiveness of those 60 seconds of information and how pervasive that information is to our daily lives. You can’t tell me that when you drive by McDonald’s your first thought isn’t, “I’m lovin’ it.” There’s a reason commercials are so powerful and why companies are willing to invest billions of dollars in their use. They convey a concept so completely and effectively that one 60 second spot can make you want to buy a burger.
it is this concept that we want to tap into in the classroom. How can we create activities that are so powerful, so memorable, that students can’t help but learn the concepts they are meant to convey? it is really not as difficult as you think. it is just a matter of honing in on three principles:
Short
Engaging
Repetitive
Pretty much spells out commercials in a nutshell, doesn’t it? Commercials are extremely short, so much so that many are as short as 20 to 30 seconds in length. And yet in that short span of time we are so engaged as to be introduced to something we didn’t even know we needed. Then we see a single commercial, on average, 6-7 times a day, reinforced by billboards, signs, colors, and sound. We’re bombarded with images which have one purpose: to get us to buy their products. What if we could recreate this experience, get students to buy into what we’re teaching them?