CTD Sp14 Weekly Workshop: How People Learn

Peter Newbury, Ph.D.

Center for Teaching Development,

University of California, San Diego

[email protected]

@polarisdotca #ctducsd

ctd.ucsd.edu

resources: ctd.ucsd.edu/programs/weekly-workshops-spring-2014/

April 9, 2014

12:00 – 12:50 pm NSB Auditorium

Unless otherwise noted, content

is licensed under a Creative Commons

Attribution-Non Commercial 3.0 License.

CTD WEEKLY WORKSHOP:

HOW PEOPLE LEARN

How (you can help) People Learn 2

Survey


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 4 (Image by um.dentistry on flickr CC)

Let’s have a learning experience…

5 How (you can help) People Learn

Here is an important new number

system. Please learn it.


1 = 4 = 7 =

2 = 5 = 8 =

3 = 6 = 9 =

Test


What is this number?

Scientifically Outdated, a Known Failure

8 How (you can help) People Learn

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


1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

Test


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

14

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.


How (you can help) People Learn

Key Finding 3

15

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

17




In groups of 3 – 4...


Match an Implication for Teaching and Designing

Classroom Environments to each Key Finding

Key Finding

2

Implication

for Teaching

Implication

for Teaching

Implication

for Teaching

Designing

Classroom

Environments

19


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 =

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 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)

Learning requires interaction [4]


1 2

3 4

Key Finding 2

25

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.




26

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

29






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:

solid

liquid

gas

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

Upcoming Weekly Workshops at the CTD:

To register, look for the

Spring 2014 Teaching and Learning Weekly Workshops

at ctd.ucsd.edu

To learn more about peer instruction


May 7 Peer Instruction 1: Writing Good Peer Instruction (“Clicker”)

Questions A good episode of peer instruction requires a good

question. In this session, we’ll see a variety of questions and contrast

good vs bad questions, that you can adapt to your discipline

May 14 Peer Instruction 2: Best Practices for Running Peer Instruction with

Clickers In this session, we’ll discuss best practices for choreographing

an episode of peer instruction in your class including how to pose the

question, when to open and close the poll, how many votes, and how

to get the most out of the class-wide discussion.

How People Learn

39

Learning is not about what the

instructor does. It’s about what

students do for themselves.

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. 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.

CTD Sp14 Weekly Workshop: How People Learn

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Transcript of CTD Sp14 Weekly Workshop: How People Learn