Using Audio in Incarcerated Youth Education
I have much experience teaching and mentoring incarcerated youth in Southern California. Incarcerated youth have a difficult time relating to their academic work and feeling empowered by their education. Many times, the academic topics to do not relate to their own life experiences, or the students lack fundamental learning to increase their knowledge. This affects their motivation and ability to focus in subject matter learning.
Students in juvenile hall are heavily invested in hip hop and rap music as they relate with the artists’ experiences and backgrounds. Many rap artists speak on their backgrounds revolving around poverty, racial oppression, abuse, trauma, etc. Rap music is essentially poetry in music form. Most of these students come from minority and generationally oppressed populations, yet poetry, or rap or spoken word, represents power as a voice for these dispossessed populations (Ciardiello, 2010). Rap music is fundamental to many of these students’ lives and it plays a large role in their social-emotional, interpersonal, and intellectual-artistic development (Armstrong, 2016).
Rap songs can be used to assist with vocabulary learning and memorization. In this learning environment, students will be encouraged to write their own songs using the given vocabulary lists from their teachers. Students will perform their raps in front of the class, and these raps will essentially act as mnemonic devices (Klaus, 2018).
The effectiveness of this activity is supported by the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning as there are multiple cognitive processes happening to effectively support the learning (Mayer, 2014). Both visual and auditory measures are used in songwriting and these are powerful mnemonic devices as stated in the Dual Coding Theory (Thomas, 2014).
These multiple representations of information trigger critical thinking as the students tackle a very creative process to memorize vocabulary words, which can normally be seen as an unstimulating assignment. With the students sharing their raps to each other, they will be exposed to a variety of auditory representation of the material. The verbal stimulation will surely be an effective part of the memorization process.
References
Ciardiello, V. (2010). Talking walls: presenting a case for social justice poetry in education. The Reading Teacher, 63(6), pp. 464-473. http://web.a.ebscohost.com.oclc.fullsail.edu:81/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=b42530c1-582d-4dbe-9095-9de6ce79e9e2%40sdc-v-sessmgr01.
Armstrong, S. (2016). Integrating rap music into counseling with adolescents in a disciplinary alternative education program. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 11(3-4), pp. 423-435. http://web.a.ebscohost.com.oclc.fullsail.edu:81/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=7&sid=3aaa5d96-388e-441f-bdab-b74804d32b29%40sessionmgr4006
Klause, J. (2018). What are the advantages of audio teaching aids. Classroom. https://classroom.synonym.com/importance-audiovisual-aids-classroom-10053260.html
Mayer, R. E. (2014). Cognitive theory of multimedia learning. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.), Cambridge handbooks in psychology. The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139547369.005
Thomas, N. (2014). Dual coding theory and common coding theories of memory. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mental-imagery/theories-memory.html
Interactive Media in Incarcerated Youth Education
Education under the supervision of probation is very different from education on the outside. There are many policies to adhere to as well as a limited amount of resources and educational tools. These students do not have access to many hands-on learning experiences, so teachers are forced to be creative with the materials that they are allowed to have in the classrooms.
Most incarcerated students lack the fundamental subject knowledge to academically move forward in their grade level. This is because most of these students come from low socioeconomic classes that do not have the same access to high-quality education as other areas (Pace, 2018). The lack of fundamentals is mostly apparent during reading and math exercises. To advance in algebra and geometry, students must intensely practice math basics, such as multiplication and division, so they can more effectively learn advanced math subjects.
In the juvenile hall I worked in, students were allowed to use laptops for certain assignments as long as the teacher requested them in advance. This is an opportunity for teachers to implement interactive media. Teachers can encourage students to play online games that actually allow students to practice math fundamentals. Online math games are not only engaging, but they motivate students to engage in problem solving by encouraging their desire to win. Students can even play these online games with their peers to further encourage this competitive spirit and allow them to practice collaborative learning. This learner-content and learner-learner interaction enhances learner control over the content and process (Zhang, 2005). Games make students emotionally engaged, and this principle is particularly important when teaching a subject, like math, that can be commonly seen as boring (Siegal, 2020).
Here is an example of an online game that acts as an interactive media component in math education. As you can see, this game used a combination of visuals and audio to create a very engaging, exciting experience for the user. Games are an effective way to improve education and change attitudes in K through 12 education (Byun. 2018).
References
Byun, J. (2018). Digital game-based learning for K-12 mathematics education: A meta-analysis. School Science and Mathematics, 118(3-4), pp. 113-126. doi: 10.1111/ssm.12271
Pace, S. (2018). From correctional education to school re-entry. Texas Journal on Civil Liberties & Civil Rights, 23(2), pp. 127-144. http://sites.utexas.edu/tjclcr/
Siegal, D. (2020). Video recording about interactive media. Full Sail University.
Zhang, D (2005). Interactive multi-media based e-learning: A study of effectiveness. The American Journal of Distance Education. https://knilt.arcc.albany.edu/images/4/45/Zhang,_2005._interactive_multimedia.pdf
