cirtl class meeting 5: active learning

What the best college teachers do[1]

Active learning - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu 1

“More than anything else, the best teachers try to create a

natural critical learning environment: natural

because students encounter skills, habits, attitudes, and

information they are trying to learn embedded in questions

and tasks they find fascinating – authentic tasks that arouse

curiosity and become intrinsically interesting, critical

because students learn to think critically, to reason from

evidence, to examine the quality of their reasoning using a

variety of intellectual standards, to make improvements

while thinking, and to ask probing and insightful questions

about the thinking of other people.”

The College Classroom – Spring 2015

Class Meeting 5: Active Learning

Dave Gross dgross@ biochem.umass.edu

Thursday, February 26, 2015

1:00-2:30p ET, 12:00-1:30p CT, 11:00a-12:30p MT, 10:00-11:30a PT

Peter Newbury

[email protected]

@polarisdotca

Objectives for Today


By the end of today’s session you will be able to

explain to a colleague what “active” in active learning achieves

summarize different types of active learning activities and identify how they support effective teaching and learning

create classroom activities that enhance student learning

Constructivist theory of learning


Students need to construct their own understanding of the

concepts, where

each student assimilates new material into his/her own

framework of initial understanding and preconception

each student confronts his/her (mis)understanding of

the concepts

What the best college teachers do[1]


“More than anything else, the best teachers try to create a

natural critical learning environment: natural

because students encounter skills, habits, attitudes, and

information they are trying to learn embedded in questions

and tasks they find fascinating – authentic tasks that arouse

curiosity and become intrinsically interesting, critical

because students learn to think critically, to reason from

evidence, to examine the quality of their reasoning using a

variety of intellectual standards, to make improvements

while thinking, and to ask probing and insightful questions

about the thinking of other people.”

In natural critical learning environments


“students encounter safe yet challenging conditions in

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

without facing a summative evaluation.”[1]

try

fail receive

feedback


www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/20/professors-year-named

Active learning increases student performance

in science, engineering and mathematics[2]


Meta-analysis of 225 research studies that explored the

impact of active learning:

Active learning engages students in the process of learning

through activities and/or discussions in class, as opposed to

passively listening to an expert. It emphasizes higher-order

thinking and often involves group work.

(Freeman et al., pp 8413-8414)

What do you feel is the most important finding in Bhatia’s

Wired post[3], Wieman’s commentary[4] or Freeman et al.[2]?

Write it in the chat window.


Researchers compared

assessment scores of

students in active

classes and traditional

classes. This is roughly

how many standard

deviations the average

of the active learning

grades are above the

traditional grades.

Figure 2


Figure 2


Conclusion:

Active learning

increases student

performance

Figure 2

Wieman (2014) [4]


This is like a histogram showing

how many active classes and how

many traditional classes have

failure rates of 0-10%, 10-20%...

Instead of showing how many in

each category, graph shows

fraction in each category of total

number of classes.

Figure 1


Figure 1


Conclusion:

Failure rates in

active classes drop

significantly.

Figure 1


Conclusion:

Failure rates in

active classes drop

significantly.

Figure 1

Bigger Conclusion:

Under-represented

minorities and

women make up a

disproportionate

number of students who fail STEM classes. Fewer

failures means enhanced success for URM and women.

Active learning techniques


Peer instruction (“clickers”)

think-pair-share (TPS)

concept map

interactive lecture demo

using students’ data

games

showing video

1-minute papers

(Question: Sujatha Raghu from Braincandy via LearningCatalytics)

(Image: CIM9926 by number657 on flickr CC)

Discussion (peer instruction)

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.


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…







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 asks students to turn to their neighbors

and “convince them you’re right.”

4. After that “peer instruction”, students may vote again.

5. The instructor leads a class-wide discussion concluding

with why the right answer(s) is right and the wrong

answers are wrong.

Watch for an upcoming class meeting on

cooperative learning and peer instruction

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

students practice

how to think,

communicate

like experts

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 know (and

don’t know) and reacts, building on their initial

understanding and preconceptions.

students practice

how to think,

communicate

like experts

Think – Pair – Share (TPS)


(ancestor of peer instruction)

1. instructor poses interesting question or thought prompt

2. invites each student to think

[option: students record thoughts on index cards]

3. instructor asks students to pair with a neighbor to

discuss their thinking

4. instructor moderates class-wide discussion where

students share their thinking with the entire class


Chemistry Day 4 by pennstatenews on flickr CC-BY-NC

In-class demonstrations


1. Instructor (meticulously) sets up the equipment, flicks

a switch, “Taa-daaah!

2. Students

don’t know where to look

don’t know when to look, miss “the moment”

don’t recognize the significance of the event

amongst too many distractions

To engage students and focus their attention on the key

event, get students to make a prediction (using

clickers, for example)

Prediction


Ice cubes are floating in a glass of water

that is filled to the brim.

Prediction


Ice cubes are floating in a glass of water

that is filled to the brim.

As the ice cubes melt, what happens to

the water level?

A) it stays the same

B) it rises and spills water over the brim

C) it falls to a level below the brim.

Interactive Lecture Demos (ILD) [5]


By making a prediction, each student

cares about the outcome (“Did I get it right?”)

knows when to look (can anticipate phenomenon)

knows where to look (sees phenomenon occur)

gets immediate feedback about his/her understanding

of the concept

is prepared for your explanation

Concept maps

Active Learning– The College Classroom 30

A concept map graphically connects conceptual elements

by actions.

Electricity Concept Map from NASA via Wikimedia Commons

Concept map creation

provides students with

a framework for their

own learning

Concept maps


A concept map graphically connects conceptual elements

by actions.

Electricity Concept Map from NASA via Wikimedia Commons

Concept map creation

provides students with

a framework for their

own learning

What do you see?


A) old lady

B) young woman

What do you see?


A) old lady

B) young woman

Let your students contribute

authentic data.

(For sensitive issues, clickers

can be set to “anonymous.”)


Wheel of Fortune

“Buy” letters to get the punch line:

Einstein, Newton and Pascal walk into a bar.

After a few drinks, Einstein says “Let’s play ‘it’. I’ll be ‘it’ first.

Einstein covers his eyes and starts counting down from 100. Pascal runs off to hide.

Newton stays at the bar, drinking.

When Einstein gets to 10, Newton gets up, steps to the side, pulls a pencil from his

vest, and draws a square 100 cm on a side on the floor. He steps into the square as

Einstein gets to 0.

Einstein looks up, sees Newton, and says “Newton, you are ‘it’.”

Newton says “No, Pascal is ‘it’ because

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

UNDERGRADUATE TEACHING FACULTY:

The 2013-2014 HERI faculty Survey[6]

Active learning - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu 35 Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA

November 12, 2014

Showing video in class


There are times when a video is the perfect resource.

Archimedes’ Principle

In today’s Physics class, we’re going to

study buoyancy and Archimedes’ Principle.

Open up a new tab in your browser, follow this

link, come back here in 3 minutes.

http://tinyurl.com/TCCdemo

(Image: Wikimedia Commons – public domain)

In your opinion, the Archimedes video


A) is engaging

B) is entertaining

C) is interactive

D) stimulates deep thinking



The students do not

select the video

check it contains key events

anticipate key events

recognize key events

interpret key events

relate key events to

class concepts



The students do not

select the video






class concepts

instructor does this

before class



The students do not

select the video






class concepts


before class

instructor does this unconsciously,

(expert blindness)



The students do not

select the video






class concepts


before class

instructor does this unconsciously,

(expert blindness)

This is what you want to do in class!

Anticipate and recognize are

necessary for rich discussion/analysis.

Videos: implications for instructors


Coach the students how to watch the video like an

expert:

As you watch this video…

watch for when the A starts to B.

count how often the C does D.

watch the needles on the scales as water drains.

Don’t “give away” the key event (Notice the buoyant force

is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced.) That’s what

the follow-up discussion is for: help the students get

prepared for that discussion.

1-minute papers


Give your students a 1 minute to stop, think, write, be

metacognitive!

To be effective,

invest time making it easy for them to get writing

give students a clear writing prompt

…so they don’t waste any time getting to the writing.

Is Lecture Dead?


No! There is still a time and place for lecture. You can

lecture (for 10-15 minutes) when the students are

prepared to learn:

the activities have activated the concepts in their

memories

they’ve tried, failed, received feedback, tried again and

are waiting for confirmation

they’re prepared to intellectually appreciate the

expertise you’re about to share with them

Active learning techniques


Peer instruction (“clickers”)

think-pair-share (TPS)

concept map

interactive lecture demo

using students’ data

games

showing video

1-minute papers

To enhance

student learning

and retention, some

instruction must be

interactive and

student-centered.

That’s how people learn.

Next week: Cooperative learning

and peer instruction

Watch the blog for next meeting’s readings and assignments

collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu CIRTL Schedule

46 Active learning - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

One-minute paper


1. Follow the link in the chat window to a shared Google

document.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1s0V7CBkJ4b

CEbACnexRPSRVJowjSdgJkhd_8Gb1i81U/edit?usp=shar

ing

2. Find your row (alphabetical by first name)

3. Take a minute (or longer if you wish) to write about

one active learning technique you’ll use the next time

you teach.

References


1. Bain, K. (2004). What the Best College Teachers Do. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

2. Freeman, S., Eddy, S.L. McDonough, M., Smith, M., Okoroafor, N., Jordt,. H. & Wenderoth, M.P.

(2014) Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics.

PNAS 111, 23, 8410–8415.

3. Bhatia, A. (05/12/2014) “Active Learning Leads to Higher Grades and Fewer Failing Students in

Science, Math, and Engineering” on blog “Empirical Zeal”.

http://www.wired.com/2014/05/empzeal-active-learning/

4. Wieman, C. (2014). Large-scale comparison of science teaching methods sends clear message.

PNAS 111, 23, 8319–8320.

5. Get the full story of ILDs at serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/demonstrations/index.html and

Miller, K. (2013). Use demonstrations to teach, not just entertain. The Physics Teacher 51, 570 – 571.

6. Eagan, M. K., Stolzenberg, E. B., Berdan Lozano, J., Aragon, M. C., Suchard, M. R. & Hurtado, S.

(November, 2014). “Undergraduate Teaching Faculty: The 2013-2014 HERI Faculty Survey.”

http://heri.ucla.edu/pr-display.php?prQry=151

References

49

1. Handelsman, J., Miller, S. and Pfund, C., Scientific Teaching, Freeman, New York,

NY, (2007) ISBN 1-4292-0188-6.

Active learning - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu