Lesson Overview
An instructor's words are powerful, but they are not always enough. Some things are far easier to show than to say: the shape of a piece of ground, the inside of a mechanism, the sequence of a procedure, the relation of one part to another. A training aid is anything the instructor uses, beyond their own words, to help a class see and understand: the real piece of equipment, a model, a diagram on the board, a printed handout, a projected image. Used well, an aid makes the unseen seen and turns a hard explanation into an easy one. Used badly, it clutters the lesson, distracts the class, or fails on the day and leaves the instructor stranded. This lesson teaches how to choose, make, and use training aids so they serve the learning and never get in its way.
The governing idea is simple and worth fixing at the start: the aid serves the lesson, never the other way round. A training aid exists to help the class reach the lesson's aim, and it is judged by that and nothing else. An aid that does not help the class learn the point, however clever, handsome, or expensive, has no place in the lesson; and an aid that does help, however plain or home-made, earns its place. Instructors go wrong with aids in two opposite directions, by using none where a simple one would have made everything clear, and by using too many, or too elaborate, so that the class watches the aids instead of learning the skill. The instructor who keeps the aid firmly in its place, as a servant of the learning point, avoids both.
This is the knowledge layer. It teaches you the kinds of aid, how to choose the right one, how to make a sound aid, and how to use it well in front of a class, so that you can plan a lesson's aids knowing what each is for. The skill of using an aid smoothly on the day, revealing it at the right moment, handling it without fumbling, keeping the class with you and not lost in the aid, is built by practice and rehearsal and confirmed in person by a qualified instructor. Read this to know how aids work; learn to use them by using them.
By the end you will be able to explain why training aids help learning and the rule that governs their use, name the main kinds of aid and what each is good for, choose the right aid for a learning point, make a sound aid, and use an aid well while avoiding the common faults.
Key Terms
- Training aid: anything beyond the instructor's own words used to help a class see and understand, such as real equipment, a model, a diagram, a handout, or a projected image.
- Instructional media: the means through which a lesson's content is shown, from the board and printed handout to projected slides and video.
- The real thing: the actual equipment or object the lesson is about, the best aid of all where it can be used, because it is exactly what the student will meet.
- Model or replica: a made stand-in for the real thing, used when the real thing is too large, small, dangerous, scarce, or hard to see inside.
- The board: the whiteboard, blackboard, or flip-chart on which the instructor writes and draws, built up in front of the class as the lesson develops.
- Handout: printed material given to students, usually at the end of a lesson, to take away and keep, so they need not copy everything down.
- Aid that serves the lesson: the principle that an aid exists only to help the class reach the aim, and is judged by that alone, never used for its own sake.
- Cluttered aid: an aid carrying too much at once, so the class cannot find the point in it; the commonest fault of made and projected aids.
- Backup: a planned alternative for when an aid fails on the day, so the lesson can go on without it.
- Reveal and conceal: the discipline of showing an aid only when it is needed and removing it from view when it is not, so it does not distract.
Why training aids help
People learn through more than their ears. A point that is hard to take in through words alone can become plain the moment it is seen, because sight carries shape, relation, and sequence directly, where words must describe them one at a time and the listener must build the picture in their head. Tell a class how a mechanism works and some will follow and some will lose the thread; show them the mechanism, or a clear model of it, working, and nearly all will see at once. The training aid earns its place by doing this: making the unseen seen, the abstract concrete, the complicated clear, so that the class understands faster and remembers longer than words alone could manage.
Aids help in three plain ways worth holding in mind, because they tell you when an aid is worth using. They show what cannot easily be said: a shape, a layout, the inside of a thing, a spatial relation. They hold attention, because a class looking at a clear, relevant aid is engaged with the lesson in a way that a class listening to unbroken talk often is not. And they aid memory, because a thing seen, and especially a thing handled, is remembered better than a thing only heard. Where a learning point is shape, structure, sequence, or relation, an aid will usually help; where it is a simple fact or an idea that words carry well, an aid may add nothing, and forcing one in is the first of the faults.
But the help is real only if the aid is good and well used, and a poor aid does positive harm. An aid no one can see, a diagram so cluttered the point is lost in it, a model that misleads, a slide the instructor reads aloud, all of these take the class's attention and give back confusion or boredom. So the value of aids comes with a duty: an aid is worth using only if it genuinely helps the class reach the aim, and only if it is good enough and used well enough to do so. That duty is the rest of this lesson.
WHAT A GOOD TRAINING AID DOES
SHOWS what cannot easily be said shape, layout, the inside of a
thing, a sequence, a relation
HOLDS attention a class looking at a clear, relevant
aid is engaged with the lesson
AIDS memory what is seen, and especially handled,
is remembered better than what is heard
USE AN AID when the point is shape, structure, sequence, or relation.
DO NOT force one in for a simple fact words carry well.
THE RULE: the aid serves the lesson, never the lesson the aid.
The kinds of aid
Aids run from the real object in the hand to the image on a screen, and each kind has things it is good for. The instructor chooses among them by what the learning point needs, not by what is grandest.
The real thing. The actual equipment or object the lesson is about is the best aid of all where it can be used, because it is exactly what the student will meet for real: the true size, weight, feel, and behaviour, with nothing lost in translation. A weapon, a radio, a piece of medical kit, a length of rope, taught on the real article, gives the student the genuine experience. Use the real thing whenever it is available, safe, and visible enough for the class.
Models and replicas. When the real thing cannot be used, too large to bring, too small to see, too dangerous, too scarce, or sealed so its working cannot be seen, a made model or replica stands in for it. A cutaway model shows an inside; an enlarged model shows a small thing; a simple replica lets a class practise without the real article. A model is a compromise, so it must be accurate in what matters and must not teach a falsehood by what it simplifies.
The board. The whiteboard, blackboard, or flip-chart is the instructor's most flexible aid, because it is built up live, in front of the class, as the lesson develops. Its strength is exactly that growth: a diagram drawn stage by stage as the instructor explains lets the class follow the building of an idea, where a finished diagram handed over whole gives them the answer before the working. The board is treated in its own section below.
Printed handouts. A handout is printed material the student takes away and keeps, so they need not copy everything down during the lesson. Its great value is after the lesson, as a reference; its great danger is during it, because a class given a full handout at the start will read it instead of listening. So handouts are usually given at the end, a point taken up below.
Projected and visual media. Projected slides, images, and video can show what is otherwise unavailable: a place the class cannot visit, a process too fast or slow or large to watch live, a photograph of the real thing. Used sparingly and kept clear, they are powerful; used as a wall of text the instructor reads aloud, they are the deadest thing in instruction. The rules for them are the rules for all aids, only more strictly, because they tempt the instructor most toward clutter and reading.
THE KINDS OF AID, AND WHAT EACH IS BEST FOR
AID BEST FOR
---------------- ------------------------------------------
The real thing true size, feel, and behaviour; what the
student will actually meet (use when you can)
Model / replica when the real thing is too big, small, scarce,
dangerous, or sealed to see inside
The board building an idea or diagram up LIVE, stage by
stage, as you explain
Handout reference to keep AFTER the lesson (not during)
Projected media showing the unavailable: places, processes,
images (keep clear; never read aloud)
Choose by what the LEARNING POINT needs, not by what is grandest.
Choosing and making an aid
Choosing an aid is a matter of fitting the aid to the learning point and then choosing the simplest aid that does the job. Ask first what the point actually needs: if it is the inside of a mechanism, a cutaway model or a built-up board diagram; if it is the feel of a real article, the real thing; if it is a place the class cannot go, a clear photograph. Then choose the plainest aid that meets that need, because a simple aid the class reads instantly beats an elaborate one they have to decode, and because the plain aid is less likely to fail, clutter, or distract. The most common error of judgement here is reaching for the grand aid, the elaborate model, the busy slide deck, when a line on the board would have made the point faster.
Where an aid must be made, and in a small force aids are often home-made, a few rules keep it sound. It must be correct, because an aid teaches what it shows and a wrong aid teaches a wrong thing. It must be clear and simple, carrying one point or a few related ones, not crammed, because the commonest fault of made and projected aids is clutter, so much on the aid that the class cannot find the point in it. It must be large and legible enough to be seen and read by the furthest student, because an aid the back row cannot make out is no aid to them. And it should be robust enough to survive handling and the day. A plain, correct, clear, large home-made aid does its job; a beautiful but cluttered or illegible one does not, and the home-made plainness is no shame, in keeping with the honesty that runs through the Army's training.
Using an aid well
A sound aid still has to be used well, and the using is its own small skill. A handful of disciplines separate an aid that helps from one that hinders.
Reveal it when needed, conceal it when not. An aid on show is an aid drawing the class's eye, so it should be visible only while it is the focus. An aid set out too early, or left up after its moment, competes with whatever the instructor is saying now and splits the class's attention. The instructor reveals the aid at the point it serves and removes it, or turns from it, when the lesson moves on. This is one reason the board is built up live and wiped when done, and one reason a model is brought out and then set aside.
Make sure everyone can see. An aid half the class cannot see properly is half an aid, and the members who cannot see will guess. The instructor positions the aid, and the class, so the furthest student has a clear view, stands clear of it themselves rather than blocking it, and points to the part in question so the class knows where to look. With a handled aid, it is passed round or each student given one, so the seeing becomes a touching.
Teach the lesson, not the aid. The instructor remains the teacher; the aid supports them, and they must not vanish behind it. The deadest instruction of all is the instructor who turns to the screen and reads the slides aloud, or who lets the class copy a diagram in silence while nothing is taught. The aid is shown, pointed to, talked about; the teaching continues, with the aid in its supporting place, and the instructor's eyes stay on the class, not on the aid.
Rehearse with the aid, and have a backup. An aid fumbled on the day, a model dropped, a projector that will not start, a board pen dry, breaks the lesson's flow and the instructor's authority. So the instructor rehearses with the actual aid (Lesson 02), and, for any aid that can fail, especially anything that needs power or a machine, has a backup: a planned way to make the point without it, so a failed aid is an inconvenience and not a disaster. The instructor who can lose the projector and teach the point on the board has the right relationship with their aids: useful servants, not masters the lesson depends on.
USING AN AID WELL (and the faults to avoid)
DO AVOID
--------------------------------- ---------------------------------
reveal it when needed, conceal leaving it on show, splitting
it when done the class's attention
make sure EVERY student can see; an aid half the class can't see
point to the part (they will guess)
teach the lesson; the aid reading the slides aloud; hiding
supports you behind the aid
rehearse with it; have a BACKUP fumbling it live; a lesson that
dies when the projector fails
And keep aids SIMPLE and FEW: the cluttered or needless aid distracts
more than it teaches.
The board and the handout
Two everyday aids deserve a closer word, because nearly every instructor uses them and many use them poorly.
The board is the instructor's live aid, and its strength is being built up in front of the class. A diagram drawn stage by stage as it is explained lets the class follow the building of the idea and keeps their attention on each part as it appears; the same diagram pinned up finished gives the conclusion without the working. So use the board to develop, not just to display. Keep it legible, large and clear writing the back row can read, and uncluttered, wiping what is no longer needed so the board never becomes a wall of stale scribble. Write the key word, draw the simple diagram, and turn back to the class to teach; do not deliver the lesson to the board with your back to the room, which is both a board fault and one of the delivery faults of Lesson 10.
The handout is the aid most often mistimed. Its value is as a reference to keep after the lesson, so the student need not frantically copy everything down and can give their attention to the teaching. Its danger is that a class given a full handout at the start will read it instead of listening to the instructor, and a class told everything is on the handout may switch off entirely. So the rule is usually to give the handout at the end, telling the class at the start that they will get one so they need not copy it all, and then teaching them, with the handout following as the thing they take away. Where a handout must be used during a lesson, such as a worksheet to be filled in, it is given out at the moment it is needed and worked through together, not left for the class to read alone while the instructor talks past it.
In Practice: One Point, Three Aids
A sergeant of the RKA must teach a section how a particular piece of the Army's equipment works inside, a mechanism the class will use but cannot normally see into. The learning point is structure and sequence, how the parts fit and move, which is exactly the kind of point words struggle with and an aid can make plain. Watch her choose and use her aids by the rule that the aid serves the lesson.
She considers her options. The real thing she has, but sealed, so its inside cannot be seen working, which is the whole point of the lesson, so the real article alone will not do. She could find an elaborate projected animation, but the unit has none ready and a machine that could fail, and she judges it more than the point needs. So she chooses the plainest aids that do the job: the real thing in hand for its true size and feel, a simple cutaway model that shows the inside she cannot otherwise reveal, and the board to build up the sequence of the moving parts live as she explains. None is grand; all are clear, correct, and large enough for the back of the section to see.
She uses them by the disciplines of the lesson. She brings out each aid only when it is needed and sets it aside after, so the section is never split between an aid and her words. She positions the model and points to the very part in question, passes the real article round so the seeing becomes a handling, and builds the board diagram up stage by stage rather than pinning it finished, so the class follows the working. She teaches throughout with her eyes on the section, never turning to read or to lecture the board, and because she rehearsed she handles each aid smoothly. She has a backup in mind for the model, a board diagram that would carry the point alone, though she does not need it. The section leaves understanding the mechanism, not because the aids were clever, but because each plain aid was the right one for the point and was kept firmly in its place as a servant of the learning. That is the whole of this lesson.
Check Your Understanding
- Explain the three ways a training aid helps learning, and the single rule that governs all use of aids. When is an aid worth using, and when is forcing one in a mistake?
- Name the main kinds of aid and what each is best for. Why is the real thing usually the best aid, and why is the board's strength that it is built up live rather than displayed finished?
- Set out the disciplines of using an aid well (reveal and conceal, everyone can see, teach the lesson not the aid, rehearse and have a backup), and explain the usual rule about when to give a handout and why.
Reflection (write a short paragraph): Recall a lesson, class, or briefing you have sat through where an aid was used, a slide deck, a model, a diagram, a handout. Did the aid help you understand, or did it get in the way, and which of the faults in this lesson did the instructor commit or avoid (clutter, reading the slides, an aid you could not see, a handout that made you stop listening)? Now imagine teaching a point of your own that is really about shape or sequence. What is the simplest aid that would make it plain, and what backup would you have ready in case it failed on the day?
Summary
- A training aid is anything beyond the instructor's words used to help a class see and understand. The governing rule: the aid serves the lesson, never the lesson the aid, and an aid is judged only by whether it helps the class reach the aim.
- Aids help by showing what cannot easily be said, holding attention, and aiding memory. Use one when the point is shape, structure, sequence, or relation; do not force one in for a simple fact that words carry well.
- The main kinds are the real thing (best where it can be used), models and replicas (when the real thing is too big, small, scarce, dangerous, or sealed), the board (for building an idea up live), handouts (reference to keep after the lesson), and projected media (for the otherwise unavailable, kept clear and never read aloud).
- Choose the simplest aid that does the job; the grand aid is usually a misjudgement. A made aid must be correct, clear and simple, and large and legible; the commonest fault is clutter. Plain, correct, home-made aids are no shame.
- Use an aid well: reveal it when needed and conceal it when not, make sure every student can see and point to the part, teach the lesson and not the aid (never read the slides or hide behind it), and rehearse with it and keep a backup for anything that can fail.
- The board is built up live and kept legible and uncluttered, taught to the class and not to the board; the handout is usually given at the end, so the class listens rather than reading, and keeps it as reference afterward.
- This is the knowledge layer; using aids smoothly is built by rehearsal and practice and confirmed in person by a qualified instructor. This lesson supports the demonstration of Lesson 06, guards against the "teaching to the board" delivery fault of Lesson 10, and serves the structure and preparation of Lessons 02 and 03.
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