11-9
7. MAKING TEACHING AIDS AS LIFELIKE AS POSSIBLE
Example The belly wrinkle test
APPROPRIATE (A DRAWING)
When teaching mothers and
children about the signs of
dehydration, health workers can
tell them about the ‘belly wrinkle
test’, or even show drawings like this:
It is much better, however, if
students actually do the test and find
out how it works.
Students can practice doing the test on the back of someone’s hand. (The hand of
an older person works better than the hand of a child.)
MORE APPROPRIATE (ACTUALLY DOING IT)
In this position, wrinkles will not stay
after the skin is pinched.
But in this position, the pinched skin
stays wrinkled for a moment-just as on
the belly or a dehydrated child.
Pinch here.
Wrinkles
disapper
Wrinkles
stay.
This is like the skin on the
belly of a healthy baby.
This is like the skin on the
belly of a dehydrated baby.
When you show the belly wrinkle test to children, make sure they realize that
the test should be done on the belly of a baby, not on the hand. You can have the
children make a doll like this, out of an old glove or stocking and an egg.
STILL MORE APPROPRIATE
When the ‘belly’ is pinched, the
wrinkle stays.
Using a doll like this makes the test more realistic. It also turns learning into a game.