How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)

HOW PEOPLE LEARN

Peter Newbury, Ph.D.

Center for Teaching Development,

University of California, San Diego

pnewbury@ucsd.edu

@polarisdotca #ctducsd

ctd.ucsd.edu

slides and resources: tinyurl.com/SDSUpeerinstruction

April 8, 2014

San Diego State University

Unless otherwise noted, content

is licensed under a Creative Commons

Attribution-Non Commericial 3.0 License.

How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)

instruction

people

(Image: iStock by Getty Images)

Survey

How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction) 3

Which of these do you associate with a typical college

or university lecture?

A) listening

B) absorbing

C) note-taking

D) learning

The traditional lecture is based on the

transmissionist learning model

How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction) 4 (Image by um.dentistry on flickr CC)

Let’s have a learning experience…

5 How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)

Here is an important new number

system. Please learn it.

1 = 4 = 7 =

2 = 5 = 8 =

3 = 6 = 9 =

What is this number?

Scientifically Outdated, a Known Failure

8 How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)

We must abandon the tabula rasa

“blank slate” and “students as

empty vessels” models of teaching

and learning.

New Number System = tic-tac-toe code

What is this number?

You store things in long term memory through a set of connections made with your existing memories.

Constructivist Theory of Learning

New learning is based on knowledge you already have.

(Image by Rebecca-Lee on flickr CC)

learning is done

by individuals

How People Learn

National Research Council (2000).

How People Learn: Brain, Mind,

Experience, and School: Expanded

Edition. J.D. Bransford, A.L Brown

& R.R. Cocking (Eds.), Washington,

DC: The National Academies

Press.

Available for free as PDF

www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=9853

Key Finding 1

Students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or they may learn them for the purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside of the classroom.

(How People Learn, p 14.)

Key Finding 2

To develop competence in an area, students must:

a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge,

b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and

c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application.

Key Finding 3

A “metacognitive” approach to instruction can help students learn to take control of their own learning by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving them.

Aside: metacognition

Metacognition refers to one’s knowledge concerning one’s

own cognitive processes or anything related to them.

For example, I am engaging

in metacognition if I notice

that I am having more

trouble learning A than B.

([2], [3])

cognition meta

Key Finding 3

Please break into groups of 3-4...

Sort your cards into 3 sets of 3:

Key Finding

Implication

for Teaching

Implication

for Teaching

Implication

for Teaching

Designing

Classroom

Environments

Key Finding 1

Students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or they may learn them for the purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside of the classroom.

Implications for Teaching 1

Teachers must draw out and work with the preexisting understandings that their students bring with them.

1 = 4 = 7 =

2 = 5 = 8 =

3 = 6 = 9 =

unsupported, unfamiliar content built on pre-existing

knowledge

(tic-tac-toe board)

Transmissionist Constructivist

Classroom Environments 1

Schools and classrooms must be learner centered.

(How People Learn, p. 23)

Students need to encounter safe yet challenging conditions

in which they can try, fail, receive feedback, and try again

without facing summative evaluation.

(What the best college teachers do, p.108)

Learning requires interaction [5]

Key Finding 2

To develop competence in an area, students must:

a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge,

b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and

c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application.

Why Your Students Don’t Understand You

Expert brains differ from novice brains because novices:

lack rich, networked connections, cannot make

inferences, cannot reliably retrieve information

have preconceptions that distract, confuse, hinder

lack automization (“muscle memory”) resulting in

cognitive overload

Teachers must teach some subject matter in depth, providing many examples in which the same concept is at work and providing a firm foundation of factual knowledge.

To provide a knowledge-centered environment, attention must be given to what is taught (information, subject matter), why it is taught (understanding), and what competence or mastery looks like.

Key Finding 3

The teaching of metacognitive skills should be integrated into the curriculum in a variety of subject areas.

Formative assessments — ongoing assessments designed to make students’ thinking visible to both teachers and students — are essential.

Instructors need to give students opportunities to

practice being metacognitive: having an internal

dialogue about their own thinking

student-centered instruction traditional lecture

Evidence-Based Instructional Strategies (EBIS)

peer instruction with clickers

interactive demonstrations

surveys of opinions

reading quizzes

worksheets

simulations

discussions

videos

student-centered instruction

Introductory Chemistry

Today, we’ll be learning about changes of state.

Remember, there are 3 states (also called “phases”) of

matter:

liquid

Clicker question

Melt chocolate over low heat. Remove the chocolate

from the heat. What will happen to the chocolate?

A) It will condense.

B) It will evaporate.

C) It will freeze.

(Question: Sujatha Raghu from Braincandy via LearningCatalytics)

(Image: CIM9926 by number657 on flickr CC)

Chemistry learning outcomes

Students will be able to

name all 6 changes of state

translate back and forth between technical (“melt”)

and plain English (“solid into liquid”)

Imagine… misconception?

Typical episode of peer instruction

1. Instructor poses a conceptually-challenging multiple-choice question.

2. Students think about question on their own and vote using clickers, colored ABCD cards, smartphones,…

3. The instructor prompts students, “Turn to your neighbors and convince them you’re right.”

4. After the peer-to-peer discussion, [the students vote again and] the instructor leads a class-wide discussion concluding with why the right answer(s) is right and the wrong answers are wrong.

In effective peer instruction

students teach each other while

they may still hold or remember

their novice preconceptions

students discuss the concepts in their

own (novice) language

each student finds out what s/he does(n’t) know

the instructor finds out what the students (don’t) know

and reacts, building on their initial understanding

and preconceptions.

students learn

and practice

how to think,

communicate

like experts

Effective peer instruction requires

1. identifying key concepts, misconceptions

2. creating multiple-choice questions that

require deeper thinking and learning

3. facilitating peer instruction episodes that

spark and support student discussion

4. leading a class-wide discussion to clarify

the concept, resolve the misconception

5. reflecting on the question: note curious

things you overheard, how they voted, etc.

before

during

Clicker Question

The molecules making up the dry mass of wood that

forms during the growth of a tree largely come from

A) sunlight.

B) the air.

C) the seed.

D) the soil.

Question credit: Bill Wood How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)

reduce course content by 25%

Effective peer instruction requires

students be prepared to engage in conceptually-

challenging discussions

TIME! 5 minutes of student-centered

activity every 10 – 15 minutes

means 25% of class time is

not lecturing.

Where does that time come from?

But I’ve got

material to fill

(more than)

100% of my

lecture!

Traditional classroom

1. Transfer: first exposure to material is in class,

content is transmitted from instructor to student

2. Assimilate: learning occurs later when student

struggles alone to complete homework, essay,

project (Mazur [6])

1. learn easy

stuff together

2. learn hard

stuff alone

Flipped classroom

1. Transfer: student learns easy content at home

through reading, video, etc.: definitions, basis skills,

simple examples.

2. Assimilate: students come to class prepared to

immediately tackle challenging concepts, with timely,

formative feedback from peers, TAs, instructor (Mazur [6])

2. learn hard

stuff together

1. learn easy

stuff alone

How People Learn

Learning is not about what the

instructor does. It’s about what

students do for themselves.

How People Learn

Students won’t learn just by

listening to the instructor explain.

How People Learn

Students won’t learn just by

listening to the instructor explain.

BE LESS HELPFUL

References

1. National Research Council (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition. J.D. Bransford, A.L Brown & R.R. Cocking (Eds.),Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

2. Flavell, J. H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.), The nature of intelligence (pp.231-236). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

3. Brame, C. (2013). Thinking about metacognition. [blog] January, 2013, Available at: http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/2013/01/thinking-about-metacognition/ [Accessed: 14 Jan 2013].

4. Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

5. Prather, E.E, Rudolph, A.L., Brissenden, G., & Schlingman, W.M. (2009). A national study assessing the teaching and learning of introductory astronomy. Part I. The effect of interactive instruction. Am. J. Phys. 77, 4, 320-330.

6. Mazur, E. (2009). Farewell, Lecture? Science, 323, 5910, 50-51.

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