How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… ·...
Transcript of How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… ·...
![Page 1: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
![Page 2: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning?
Marie Norman, PhD Teaching Consultant and Research Associate Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence
www.cmu.edu/teaching
![Page 3: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Objectives of this workshop
You will be able to: • Identify four problematic prior knowledge (PK) situations. • Generate examples of each in your own discipline. • Discuss instructional strategies to address each situation. • Enlist students’ PK more effectively to promote learning.
![Page 4: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Concept map
You were asked (as homework) to create a concept map that addresses the question:
How does students’ prior knowledge affect their learning?
What were some of the issues and connections you identified?
![Page 5: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Themes and big ideas?!
![Page 6: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Students blank slates
• They come into our classrooms with facts, models, attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions.
• They build on and interpret incoming information through the lens of their existing knowledge.
“The most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows.”
D.P. Ausubel (1968)
![Page 7: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Prior knowledge plays a critical role in new learning... "
but can be problematic if it’s... • Inactive • Insufficient • Inappropriate • Inaccurate
![Page 8: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
LEARNING PRINCIPLE: Students’ prior knowledge can help or hinder learning.
From Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, Lovett, & Norman (2010). How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. Jossey-Bass.
![Page 9: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Inactive Prior Knowledge
![Page 10: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
What is the minimum number of cards you would have to turn over to check whether the rule is being followed? Which ones? (adapted from Wason, 1966, 1968)
A 2 X 3
Incorrect (but common) answer
Each card below has a letter on one side and a number on the other. Rule: If a card has a vowel on one side, it must have an even number on the other side.
Try this logic problem
X X
![Page 11: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
What is the minimum number of cards you would have to turn over to check whether the rule is being followed? Which ones? (adapted from Wason, 1966, 1968)
A 2 X 3
Each card below has a letter on one side and a number on the other. Rule: If a card has a vowel on one side, it must have an even number on the other side.
Try this logic problem
Correct answer
![Page 12: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
What is the minimum number of cards you would have to turn over to check whether everyone’s behavior is legal? Which ones? (adapted from Griggs and Cox, 1982)
Beer 22 Coke 17
Each card represents a student at a bar. The age of the student is on one side and what he’s drinking is on the other. Rule: If a person is drinking a beer, then he is over 21.
Now try it using prior knowledge
![Page 13: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Students are be9er able to reason if they can draw on prior knowledge.
![Page 14: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Which is great, but...
Students do not necessarily think to use the relevant prior knowledge they possess.
![Page 15: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Students were given this scenario and solution
Scenario: A general wishes to capture a fortress. Roads radiate outward from the fortress, but all of them have been mined so that if a large force travels on them, it will detonate the mines. A full-‐scale direct aHack is therefore impossible.
SoluIon: Divide the army into small groups, send each group to the fortress on a different road, and have the groups converge simultaneously on the fortress.
(adapted from Gick and Holyoak, 1980)
Principle: convergence
![Page 16: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
But they did not think to apply the same reasoning to this analogous problem."
Scenario: A paIent has a malignant, inoperable tumor. If the tumor is not destroyed, the paIent will die. Fortunately, there is a kind of ray that can be used to destroy the tumor. If the ray reaches the tumor at sufficiently high intensity, the tumor will be destroyed. However, if the ray is used at high intensity, it will damage surrounding Issues.
QuesIon: What type of procedure might be used to destroy the tumor with the rays, and at the same Ime avoid destroying healthy Issue?
(adapted from Gick and Holyoak, 1980)
![Page 17: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Can you think of situa>ons in your own teaching when students possessed relevant prior knowledge but didn’t use it?
Why do you think they didn’t?
![Page 18: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Because students do not necessarily tap into relevant prior knowledge...
It’s important to deliberately ac#vate PK to facilitate learning and performance.
![Page 19: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
• Asked Canadian adults to study facts about Canadian history (e.g., The first game of baseball was played in Ontario).
• Found that subjects did not learn or retain most of the information.
• However, when researchers posed “why” questions (e.g., “Why would Ontario have been the first place baseball was played?”):
o Participants drew on their knowledge of Canadian history. o Related it logically to the new information. o Learned more new information. o Retained it longer.
Mar>n and Pressly, 1991
![Page 20: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
• Designed a study in a college statistics course, focusing on the concept of variability.
• Asked students to: o generate examples of activities in their own lives with high or
low variability o represent their examples graphically o draw on these examples as they reasoned about aspects of
variability.
• Found students who generated relevant prior knowledge outperformed students in a traditionally-taught class 2 to 1.
Garfield, Del Mas, & Chance, 2007
![Page 21: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
Strategies Brainstorm
Drawing on these examples and your own experiences, what are some ways we can activate students’ prior knowledge to promote learning?
What can you do in a place like CMU-Q when you simply don’t know much about students’ background knowledge and experiences?
Quickly jot some ideas down.
![Page 22: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
A few strategies Begin each class with a reminder of (or questions about) ideas and terminology from the previous class.
Connect material to students’ lives and interests (requires finding out what these are!)
Ask questions that require students to remember and connect to relevant knowledge (from your own course or previous courses).
Use reminders and prompts (“Remember the sorting algorithm we used in the last assignment?”)
(See handout for more)
![Page 23: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
Insufficient Prior Knowledge
![Page 24: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
Students may lack critical background knowledge and skills. This undermines subsequent learning, e.g...
If students don’t know... ...they can’t effecIvely...
colonial history
differenIal equaIons
principles of visual hierarchy
analyze contemporary geopoliIcs
solve complex engineering problems
create typographical designs
What’s an example from your field?
![Page 25: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
Thus, it’s important for instructors to know what students do and don’t know, in order to... "
Fill gaps Reinforce weak areas Build on a strong foundation
and avoid this
![Page 26: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
However, four things make assessing students’ prior knowledge tricky...
![Page 27: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
(1) Faculty may have difficulty identifying prerequisite prior knowledge.
To figure out whether students know what they need to know coming into a course or assignment, faculty need to be able to break down complex tasks into component knowledge and skills.
This can be difficult for experts, who tend to roll these skills together and take them for granted.
![Page 28: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
(2) Students may not assess their own abilities accurately.
• They often over-estimate their skills and knowledge (Kruger and Dunning, 1999). This is especially true of weaker students!
• Thus, asking your students “Do you know X?” "may yield unreliable information.
![Page 29: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
(3) Students may have prior knowledge, but not of the right type or level.
Knowing what knowing why Knowing how knowing when
Just because students have one kind of knowledge does not mean they have another.
![Page 30: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
So, for example, students might be able to...
• define Newton’s Second Law, but not apply it.
• create a typographical design but not explain their design decisions.
• describe different statistical tests, but not identify which to apply in the context of a problem.
• apply a formula, but not explain the concept from which it is derived.
![Page 31: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
(4) Students may have the necessary prior knowledge but still lack fluency.
They may “know” it, but not well enough to use it efficiently, smoothly, or in combination with other skills.
Example: Students have learned Java but are not yet comfortable enough with it to use it efficiently when solving computer science problems.
![Page 32: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
Again, four things make assessing students’ prior knowledge tricky:
1. Faculty may have difficulty identifying prerequisite prior knowledge.
2. Students may not assess their own abilities accurately.
3. Students may have prior knowledge, but not of the right type/level.
4. Students may have the necessary prior knowledge, but lack fluency.
![Page 33: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
Given these complexities, how can faculty determine...
• what prior knowledge students should have? • whether students possess it? • how to address gaps?
DISCUSSION
![Page 34: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
Strategy to identify prerequisite knowledge and skills: task analysis "
Think of a task you’ve assigned and ask yourself: “What will students need to know to do this well?”
Keep asking that question for each of the sub-skills, drilling down until you feel confident that students are on a firm foundation."
![Page 35: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
Strategy to reveal students’ prior knowledge: prior knowledge assessments
Short assessments of students’ knowledge coming into a course or unit. Can be either a performance assessment or a self-assessment.
For example...
![Page 36: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
Sample performance assessment
Which of the following best describes the process of mitosis?
Within a cell, chromosomes create copies of themselves and then separate into identical sets, forming two new cells.
Within a cell chromosome pairs divide, one half of each pair forming a new cell.
Within a pair of chromosomes, a piece breaks off and attaches to the other end or middle, thus creating a new gene.
![Page 37: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)
Sample self-assessment 1
How familiar are you with Karnaugh maps? I have never heard of them or I have heard of them but don’t know what they are. I have some idea what they are, but don’t know when or how to use them. I have a clear idea what they are but haven’t used them. I can explain what they are, what they do, and I have used them.
![Page 38: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
Sample self-assessment 2
For each of the following Shakespearean plays, place a check mark in the cell if it describes your experience.
Play Have read it Have seen a live performance
Have seen a TV or movie production
Have written a college-level paper on it
Hamlet
King Lear
Henry IV
Othello
![Page 39: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
Some strategies to address gaps in students’ prior knowledge
Small number of students with insufficient PK
Direct students to remedial resources.
Provide addiIonal review sessions.
Large number of students with insufficient PK
Bite the bullet and teach the skills and knowledge students need.
Reevaluate the curriculum.
Offer supplementary pre-‐college or summer courses.
![Page 40: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
What doesn’t work?
• plowing forward when large numbers of students are missing critical prior knowledge.
• expecting students to make up significant missing knowledge on their own time (e.g., through lengthy help sessions).
![Page 41: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
Inappropriate Prior Knowledge
![Page 42: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/42.jpg)
From Fish is Fish by Leo Leonni
![Page 43: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/43.jpg)
Knowledge may be appropriate for one context and inappropriate for another.
If students apply prior knowledge that is inappropriate for a new learning context, it can: • impede learning • distort understanding • inhibit performance
![Page 44: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/44.jpg)
Students may, for example:
Misapply disciplinary conventions. • E.g., apply expressive writing conventions to lab reports.
Act on inappropriate cultural assumptions. • E.g., Refrain from asking questions so as not to insult the teacher.
Confuse technical with non-technical meanings. • E.g., Interpret “negative reinforcement” as punishment.
Carry analogies too far. • E.g., Over-analogize from skeletal muscles to heart muscles.
![Page 45: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/45.jpg)
Can you think of any situa>ons in your own teaching when students have...
• Applied inappropriate disciplinary conventions? • Acted on inappropriate cultural assumptions? • Confused technical with non-technical meanings? • Carried an analogy too far?
...or otherwise misapplied prior knowledge?
![Page 46: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/46.jpg)
Strategies Brainstorm
In small groups, identify 2-4 things instructors can do to help students avoid applying prior knowledge inappropriately.
![Page 47: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/47.jpg)
A few strategies...
Explicitly identify discipline-specific conventions.
Explicitly identify cultural expectations.
Highlight differences between everyday and technical meanings.
(More strategies in handout)
![Page 48: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/48.jpg)
Inaccurate prior knowledge
![Page 49: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/49.jpg)
Some of the things we think we know are just plain wrong.
Inaccurate prior knowledge can distort new learning.
“It’s not what we don’t know that gives us trouble. It’s what we know that ain’t so.”
Will Rogers
![Page 50: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/50.jpg)
Some inaccuracies can be corrected simply by introducing accurate knowledge, others not.
Particularly tenacious inaccuracies are referred to as “misconceptions”.
![Page 51: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/51.jpg)
Why are misconceptions so tenacious? "
• reinforced over time and across contexts • may include accurate—as well as inaccurate—elements • may permit some successful explanations and predictions
(think of stereotypes)
![Page 52: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/52.jpg)
Can you think of any common student misconcep>ons in your discipline?
![Page 53: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/53.jpg)
Strategies Brainstorm What strategies can we use to help correct inaccurate student knowledge?
![Page 54: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/54.jpg)
Strategy: Bridging Analogies
Clement (1993): • College students could not comprehend how a table exerts force on a book placed on its surface. • Clement used “bridging analogies” to help students grasp the concept:
• Intermediate cases helped bridge the conceptual divide.
![Page 55: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/55.jpg)
LEARNING PRINCIPLE: Students’ prior knowledge can help or hinder learning.
From Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, Lovett, & Norman (2010). How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. Jossey-Bass.
![Page 56: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/56.jpg)
Implications: As instructors, we need to:
1. Find out what students know and don’t know. 2. Activate relevant prior knowledge. 3. Identify and fill gaps in students’ knowledge . 4. Identify inappropriate applications of prior knowledge. 5. Actively work to correct misconceptions.
![Page 57: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/57.jpg)
Questions? Thoughts?"
![Page 58: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/58.jpg)
Bibliography Ausubel, D. P. (1968). Educational psychology: a cognitive view. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Clement, J. (1993). Using bridging analogies and anchoring intuitions to deal with students' misconceptions in physics. Journal of Research in Science Training, 30, 1241-1257.
Dunbar, K. N., Fugelsang, J. A., & Stein, C. (2007). Do naïve theories ever go away? Using brain and behavior to understand changes in concepts. In M. C. Lovett & P. Shah (Eds.), Thinking with data. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Garfield, J., delMas, R. C., & Chance, B. (2007). Using students' informal notions of variability to develop an understanding of formal measures of variability. In M. C. Lovett & P. Shah (Eds.), Thinking with data (pp. 117-147). New York: Erlbaum.
Gick, M. L., & Holyoak, K. J. (1980). Analogical problem solving. Cognitive Psychology, 12, 306-355.
Griggs, R. A., and Cox, J. R. (1983). The effects of problem content and negation on Wason’s selection task. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A, 35: 3, 519-533.
Kruger, J., & Dunning, D. (1999). Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6), 1121-1134.
Martin, V. L., & Pressley, M. (1991). Elaborative-interrogation effects dependent on the nature of the question. Journal of Educational Psychology, 83, 113-119.
Wason, P. C. (1966). Reasoning. In Foss, B. (Ed.), New Horizons in Psychology, pp.135-151. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Wason, P. C. (1968). Reasoning about a rule. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 20, 273-281.
![Page 59: How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? - Carnegie …ab/CS4Qatar/Part VII - Prior Knowled… · · 2010-11-03How Does Prior Knowledge Affect Learning? Marie Norman, PhD Teaching](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022030420/5aa7b53e7f8b9a294b8c6f03/html5/thumbnails/59.jpg)