Dr. Susie Nyman from the Sixth Form College in Farnborough has introduced an engaging and tactile method to help students understand complex biological concepts. As the Curriculum Manager for Health and Social Care with 24 years of teaching experience, Dr. Nyman has found that using materials like funky foam and even biscuits can make learning more interactive and enjoyable. Below is a transcript of Dr. Nyman’s explanation.
Dr. Susie Nyman from the Sixth Form College in Farnborough serves as the Curriculum Manager for Health and Social Care. With 24 years of teaching experience at the Sixth Form College, she shared an innovative teaching method:
“One morning, one of my students came up to me and said, ‘Susie, I don’t understand the leaf.’ I actually took some funky foam into college and broke the leaf down, using it to represent different layers of the leaf. They could actually feel what those different cells were like, and we could discuss the different functions of each cell within the leaf. After using the funky foam, we then made the same model out of biscuits and shortbread. They absolutely loved that because they could go away and eat their way through the leaf.
Here’s an example: this would be the waxy cuticle on the surface, the next layer is the upper epidermis, and then we’ve got these column-like cells, the palisade layer. Then we have the spongy mesophyll layer where photosynthesis takes place, which also occurs in the palisade. Lastly, we have the lower epidermis, which contains specialized cells called guard cells that form stoma, meaning mouth. Stomata refers to many stoma.”
