Download - CTD Wi14 Weekly Workshop: How People Learn
CTD WEEKLY WORKSHOP:
HOW PEOPLE LEARN
Peter Newbury
Center for Teaching Development,
University of California, San Diego
[email protected] @polarisdotca
ctd.ucsd.edu #ctducsd
Resources: ctd.ucsd.edu/programs/weekly-workshops-winter-2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
12:00 – 12:50 pm NSB Auditorium
How People Learn 2
Survey
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Which of these do you associate with a typical
university lecture?
A) listening
B) absorbing
C) note-taking
D) learning
The traditional lecture is based on the
transmissionist learning model
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(Image by um.dentistry on flickr CC)
Let’s have a learning experience…
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Here is an important number system.
Please learn it.
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1 = 4 = 7 =
2 = 5 = 8 =
3 = 6 = 9 =
Test
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What is this number?
Scientifically Outdated, a Known Failure
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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
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1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
What is this number?
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Constructivist Theory of Learning
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New learning is based on knowledge you already have.
You store things in long term memory through a set of connections that are made with your existing memories.
(Images by Rebecca-Lee on flickr CC)
Creating memories (aka learning) involves having neurons fire and link up in networks or patterns. (fMRI is allowing us to observe learning as it happens.)
learning is done
by individuals
How People Learn
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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
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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
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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 People Learn, p 16.)
How People Learn
Key Finding 3
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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.
(How People Learn, p 18.)
How People Learn
Aside: metacognition
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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
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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.
(How People Learn, p 18.)
How People Learn
Please gather into groups of 3-4
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Each set of colored cards has
3 Key Findings
3 Implications for Teaching
3 Designing Classroom
Environments
TASK: Match the cards into
3 sets of 3 cards
Designing Classroom
Environment
Key Finding
2 Implications
for Teaching
Key Finding
3
19
How People Learn
Key Finding 1
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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.)
Implications for Teaching 1
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Teachers must draw out and work with the preexisting understandings that their students bring with them.
(How People Learn, p 19.)
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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
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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]
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Learning requires interaction [5]
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% of class time
NOT lecturing
Learning gain:
pre-test 0
100%
post-test
0.50
Learning requires interaction [5]
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52 classes in sizes 25 to >100 students, at
2- and 4-yr colleges and research
universities across US, wrote an astronomy
test. Each point shows a class’ learning gain.
Learning requires interaction [5]
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1 2
3 4
Key Finding 2
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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 People Learn
(How People Learn, p 16.)
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Implications for Teaching 2
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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.
Classroom Environments 2
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.
(How People Learn, p 20.)
(How People Learn, p 24.)
Key Finding 3
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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.
(How People Learn, p 18.)
How People Learn
Implications for Teaching 3
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The teaching of metacognitive skills should be integrated into the curriculum in a variety of subject areas.
Classroom Environments 3
Formative assessments — ongoing assessments designed to make students’ thinking visible to both teachers and students — are essential.
(How People Learn, p 21.)
(How People Learn, p 24.)
Putting How People Learn theory into practice
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student-centered instruction traditional lecture
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peer instruction with clickers
interactive demonstrations
surveys of opinions
reading quizzes
worksheets
discussions
videos
student-centered instruction
Introductory Chemistry
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Today, we’ll be learning about changes of state.
Remember, there are 3 states (also called “phases”) of
matter:
solid
liquid
gas
Clicker question
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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)
Typical Episode of Peer Instruction (PI)
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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”, 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
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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 learn
and practice
how to think,
communicate
like experts
Upcoming Weekly Workshops at the CTD:
To register, look for the
Teaching and Learning Weekly Workshops
at ctd.ucsd.edu
To learn more about peer instruction
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Feb 12 Peer Instruction I: 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
Feb 19 Peer Instruction II: 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.
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Learning is not about what the
instructor does. It’s about what
students do for themselves.
How People Learn
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Learning is not about what the
instructor does. It’s about what
students do for themselves.
Students will not learn (just) by
listening to the instructor explain.
How People Learn
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Learning is not about what the
instructor does. It’s about what
students do for themselves.
Students will not learn (just) by
listening to the instructor explain.
BE LESS HELPFUL
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If in doubt, ask yourself…
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Who is doing the work,
you or the students?
How People Learn
CTD WEEKLY WORKSHOP:
HOW PEOPLE LEARN
Peter Newbury
Center for Teaching Development,
University of California, San Diego
[email protected] @polarisdotca
ctd.ucsd.edu #ctducsd
Resources: ctd.ucsd.edu/programs/weekly-workshops-winter-2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
12:00 – 12:50 pm NSB Auditorium
References
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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.