Multisensory education is one form of providing differentiated instruction. Some students learn better by hearing instructions spoken aloud, others by seeing step-by-step demonstrations. However, a lot of times the other components of multisensory education, such as finding ways for students to touch, taste, and smell, are abandoned in upper grades or mistakenly thought of only as tools to help students with special needs. This is not the case!

Multisensory experiences in education help create immersive learning—learning that becomes deeply connected to the student and creates strong schema. Students often report that field trips were their most memorable learning experiences. Field trips definitely have that immersive quality, but with multisensory education, you can create lots of “mini field trips” without going anywhere.

Need some ideas?

Science: When studying anything in the natural world, whether it be minerals, plants, or animals, bring in objects like claws, fur, leaves, petals, rocks, etc. for them to touch, see, and smell. Have them complete the scratch test for rocks and minerals and listen to the sounds that different ones make. For example, talc will make a soft, powdery sound, but harder minerals will make a louder, scraping sound. Rattle seed pods and listen to the echoing ocean in empty shells. You can even invite students to taste certain plants and minerals (just make sure they have their own individual samples)!

History: Incorporate senses from various time periods. Try to find clothing, books, or household goods you can borrow from the time period to have students feel, smell, and see. Certain time periods have scents associated with them, like tallow and beeswax candles from the early Colonial times, the sulfuric and smoky scents of gunpowder (don’t use actual gunpowder, but you can safely light and extinguish matches to create a smoky smell), or wet hay and geraniums for World War II. These common items were often used to train soldiers to avoid the chemical weapons phosgene and Lewisite.

Math: Ready to teach fractions? Use edible liquids with bright colors and fruity scents. Have students drink ⅓, ½, etc. Teaching weights? Use textured objects like whirly pasta, round couscous, or long-grain rice. These can be used with fractions as well.

ELA: This subject lends itself incredibly well to creating immersive, multisensory experiences. Have your students step into the shoes of a novel character for one day. They need to come dressed as their character would and bring a snack their character would have eaten. Have them listen to accents and dialects reflected in the book or object they can pass around. Futuristic books or historical fiction can really challenge your students and allow them to delve deeply and connect with literary characters in whole new ways!