PREVIOUS: Olfactory Learners (#3a)

SITEs: The World Though our Senses

• Learning Styles Affects How You Play GOLF

OLFACTORY Learning
According to Dr. Ira Greene, in “The Nose Knows : A Nasal-Based Curriculum Development Guide”, there are 3 distinct types of nasal learners:, which need to be treated differently : Goal-oriented, Activity-oriented & Learning-oriented.
“…while activity & goal oriented learners may be sufficiently motivated by the prospect of an olfactory reward at the end of a task, the learning-oriented students needs something more to sustain their interest.”

Research shows that smell has a unique relationship to words & images. Scents are normally experienced as purely visceral, subjective experiences, hard to put into words, yet writers often describe them.

Since 2000, Scholastic Scents in Cambridge, MA. has been working to fill the void in materials geared towards nasal learners, by providing scratch-and-sniff textbooks & variety of educational packets such as the Oregon Trail fragrance set, & “Speak and Smell” language workshops.  (Scented Children’s books)

In “What does purple smell like?” (Child-Ed) L. Stanley describes one of the few studies to examine smell as part of a multi-sensory approach to helping children learn – by investigating & discovering the world around them.
EXP: In one – teachers of 2-year-olds matched colors to familiar objects, like purple with the smell & taste of grapes, & then played the blindfold game “Smell the Color.” The children enthusiastically & successfully learned those colors presented, & paid closer attention to other colors in their environment.

In “They Snooze, You Lose : The Educator’s Guide to Successful Presentations “,L. Burmark,  recommends going beyond auditory or visual forms to more engaging lessons to keep students interested. Studies show that multi-media events increase effectiveness in learning by 300%.

Burmark is particularly interested in incorporating smell. A powerful tool for gathering info, it’s strongly related to memory & emotion, with 75% of emotional responses being based on smell. This connection makes it possible to use scents for memory improvement

The bi-annual Summer School on HUMAN OLFACTION is held in Dresden, Germany.  Its aim is to provide participants with up-to-date info on various aspects of human chemical senses, through lectures, experiments carried out by participants & practical demonstrations.
In 2025 – some included ——> acoustic rhino-metry, blood flow, endoscopy of the nasal cavity, rhinomano-metry,  recordings of electro-olfacto-grams & event-related potentials, and clinical aspects of olfactory dysfunction (diagnosis, treatment).

CAR CARE COUNCIL,  Bethesda, Md., May 18, 2020 : “Unusual smells can be a sign of serious, & potentially costly trouble for your vehicle”
6 Vehicle Warning SMELLS 
1. Burning Carpet – cam be a sign of brake trouble, a serious safety hazard, noticeable even under normal driving conditions
2. Burnt rubber – could mean slipping drive belts, or a misplaced loose hose rubbing against rotating accessory drive pulleys.

3. Gasoline – likely a gas leak, possibly from a fuel injector line, or the fuel tank. Check right away, as any gas leakage is a potential fire hazard
4. Hot oil – could mean oil is leaking on to the exhaust system.  Look for oil on the pavement, or smoke from the engine area

5. Rotten eggs – could mean the catalytic converter is not properly converting hydrogen sulfide into sulfur dioxide in the exhaust. Can cause converter to overload & break down
6. Syrup – could be that the car is leaking engine coolant from some component of the cooling system. 

ANOSMIA – is the clinical term for the inability to smell – is a little-known & invisible but serious problem. Olfaction is a vulnerable sense, & smell disorders or total loss are more common than realized.
Few people appreciate the range of info provided by the sense of smell. We do notice it’s loss when we have a cold or allergies, but rarely consider what would happen if it disappeared altogether.  (“A Sense of Hope” – Monell Center. PA)  (SMELLS: Consumer preferences)

The “PROUST EFFECT” – from Marcel Proust’s influential multi-volume novel “In Search of Lost Time” – illustrates literature’s role in shaping our understanding of how smell works. The ‘effect is when sensory cues (taste & smell) trigger sudden, vivid &  highly emotional involuntary memories from the past.

NEXT: SENSES  & Learning (Part 4a)