2 Strategies for Teaching Facts

One of the types of content instructional designers and training professionals need to teach often are facts. Items and information that require simple recall. Here are two strategies that work well for teaching facts.

One is Chunking content:
This is the breaking down of content into small pieces of information that can be easily memorized. Studies indicate that the average adult learns best if presented with information in a logical group of approximately five to seven items. Chunking information into small lists or grouping under a common heading is an effect method of chunking.

The other is Storytelling:
Embedding facts into the body of story is an effective method for teaching facts. Studies indicate that humans have a natural tendency to remember facts more accurately if those facts are contained within a story rather than presented merely as a list of facts to be memorized. When presenting new facts to be memorized, consider using a story or narrative to present the information.

Also, both of these techniques are great when designing an instructional game. Chunking is presenting small bits of game information in tiny doses (in other words, levels) and most great and engaging games have stories.