michelle miller: design for the mind: what cognitive science tells us about teaching with technology

Design for the Mind: ��What Cognitive Science Tells Us ��About Teaching with Technology

MICHELLE MILLER

DIRECTOR, FIRST YEAR LEARNING INITIATIVEPROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES

NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY

AUTHOR, MINDS ONLINE: TEACHING EFFECTIVELY WITH TECHNOLOGY.

Memory

© Jiri Kaipr | Dreams.me Stock Photos

Contemporary theories emphasize: ��•  Goal relevance and memory

•  What is memory for?•  Working memory/multistore concept•  7 +- 1?

•  Relationship between working memory, encoding and attention

Attention��the key to memory

Memory without attention?

Change Blindness��

www.viscog.comDaniel J. Simons

http://nivea.psycho.univ-paris5.fr/#CBJ.K. O’Regan

See also: Rensink, O’Regan, & Clark, 1997Simons & Ambinder, 2005

Effortful, attentive practice: Useful ��Passive exposure: Useless��

��

Testing is an especially effective form of practice��

��Especially when spacing and interleaving are used, quizzes provide the best results

for time invested

Karpicke, J. D., Butler, A.C., & Roediger, H. L. (2009). Metacognitive strategies in student learning: Do students practice retrieval when they study on their own? Memory, 17, 471-479.

•  Rereading was ranked as the #1 strategy by 55%•  Self-testing was ranked as #1 strategy by 1.2%•  Only 18% preferred to self-test vs. re-studying a

chapter they just read

According to a 2009 survey of college students:

Take-aways:

•  Don’t think of memory like a holding tank – rather, a set of mechanisms for taking in and getting back goal-relevant information

•  Attention drives memory; without attention, little will be remembered

•  Retrieval practice (testing, quizzing) is particularly powerful for building memory

What Technology Buys Us:

1. More opportuni.es to take advantage of the tes.ng effect



2. More op.ons for spacing and interleaving prac.ce



2. More op.ons for spacing and interleaving prac.ce

3. More op.ons for aligning material with individual learners’ exis.ng knowledge, goals

Ask Students to Respond

Discourage Divided Attention

Resource for teaching students ��about multitasking and learning

Interested in adap.ng AIen.on MaIers! for use in your own course? Email Michelle Miller to get started.

Harness the Testing Effect

Encourage Spaced Study

Tie In to What Students Know

Tie In to What Students Care About

Higher Thought Processes

Try this reasoning task... ��

!1.! ! 2.! 3.! 4.!!!!

!

7

2

If a card has an odd number on one side, it has an animal on the other side.

Choose ALL of the cards you would need to turn over in order to verify that the rule is being followed. Choose ONLY the cards that would help you verify the rule.

Flip Card 1 Flip Card 2 Flip Card 3 Flip Card 4

Try Another Rule

!1.! ! 2.! 3.! 4.!!!!

!

2



Back

!1.! ! 2.! 3.! 4.!!!!

!

7



Back

!1.! ! 2.! 3.! 4.!!!!

!

7

2

4



Back

!1.! ! 2.! 3.! 4.!!!!

!

7

2

3



Back

Try another rule... ��

If a person is drinking alcohol, he/she is over 21.


Finish

Flip Card 1 Flip Card 2 Flip Card 3 Flip Card 4



1.# # 2.# 3.# 4.##

!

!

17

Juice

Age 30

Age 19

Back



1.# # 2.# 3.# 4.##

!

!

Beer

20

Age 30

Age 19

Back



1.# # 2.# 3.# 4.##

!

!

Beer

Juice

Red Bull

Age 19

Back



1.# # 2.# 3.# 4.##

!

!

Beer

Juice

Age 30

Margarita

Back

What does this tell us ��about reasoning?

Other major challenges in reinforcing thinking skills:

1.  Creating effective transfer is notoriously difficult

Other major challenges in reinforcing thinking skills:

1.  Creating effective transfer is notoriously difficult2.  Thinking skills don’t just fall out of content knowledge

When you focus on structural elements, you’re more successful – and more likely

to transfer what you’ve prac.ced.

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking��What gets in the way?

Critical Thinking��What gets in the way?

1.  Failing to foreground deep structure 2.  Failing to realize cri.cal thinking is needed (cuing) 3.  Effort 4. Mo.va.ons to maintain illogical beliefs

What helps?

•  Focus on structural elements•  Practice identifying when to apply•  Focus on why (why an answer is right or

wrong, why you believe one thing or another)

Take-aways:

•  Reasoning is context dependent and doesn’t flow from content knowledge alone

•  Success depends on identifying structural elements of problems

•  Students need abundant practice across examples with common structural elements, but varying surface elements


1. More ways to require and reinforce prac.ce


1. More ways to require and reinforce prac.ce 2. More systema.c presenta.on of problems


1. More ways to require and reinforce prac.ce 2. More systema.c presenta.on of problems 3. More opportunity for reflec.on, delibera.on

��Assign Students to Practice the ��

Thinking Skills You Want Them To Have

��

Set Up Varied, Realistic Scenarios for Reasoning

��Use Discussion to Build Thinking Skills

Closing thoughts: ��

What’s next as we seek a more evidence-based approach to teaching with

technology?

•  Learning that lives outside of courses•  Expert collaborations: subject matter + design•  Flipping the textbook?•  ABS: Anything but Slideshows

How do we get faculty on board?

Thank you – and keep up the good work!

[email protected]@MDMillerPHD

www.facebook.com/MichelleDMillerPhD

© Jenny Solomon | Dreams.me Stock Photos

References and recommended reading��Memory and attention

Ambrose, S., Bridges, M., DiPietro, M., and Lovett, M. (2010). How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Atkinson, R.C. and Shiffrin, R. M. (1968). Human memory: A proposed system and its control processes. In The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Advances in Research and Theory, Volume 2, edited by K. W. Spence and J. T. Spence, 89-105. New York: Academic Press.

Baddeley, A. D. (1998). Human Memory: Theory and Practice. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.Chabris, C., and Simon, D. (2010). The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us. New York: Crown.Chickering, A., and Ehrmann, S. (1996). Implementing the seven principles: Technology as lever. AAHE Bulletin, October, pp. 3-6.Cowan, N.(2010). The magical mystery four: How is working memory capacity limited, and why? Current Directions in Psychological

Science, 19, 51-57. Dickey, M.D. (2005). Engaging by design: How engagement strategies in popular computer and video games can inform

instructional design. Educational Technology Research and Development, 53, 67-83.Mayer, R. (2009 ). Multimedia learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Miller, M.D., Brauer, E., and Shaber, J. (2011). Getting to Carnegie Hall: Novel timed homework practice to develop basic circuit

analysis skills. Paper presented by E. Brauer, Annual Conference & Exposition, American Society for Engineering Education. Miller, M.D. (2009) What the science of cognition tells us about instructional technology. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning,

41, 71-74 Miller, M.D. (2011). What college teachers should know about memory: A perspective from cognitive psychology. College Teaching,

59, 117-122. Simons, D.J., & Ambinder, M.S. (2005). Change blindness: Theory and consequences. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14,

44-48.Nickerson, R.S., & Adams, M.J. (1979). Long-term memory for a common object. Cognitive Psychology, 11, 287-307.Willingham, D. (2009). Why Don’t Students Like School? A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It

Means for the Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

References and recommended reading��Higher thought processes

•  Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. C. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

•  Butler, A. C., Godbole, N., & Marsh, E. J. (2013). Explanation feedback is better than correct answer feedback for promoting transfer of learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 105(2), 290-298. doi:10.1037/a0031026

•  Carpenter, S. K. (2012). Testing enhances the transfer of learning. Current Directions in Psychological Science (Sage Publications Inc.), 21(5), 279-283. doi:10.1177/0963721412452728

•  Cheng, P.W., & Holyoak, K.J. (1985). Pragmatic reasoning schemas. Cognitive Psychology, 17, 391-416. •  Dennen, V.P. (2000). Task structuring for on-line problem based learning: A case study. Educational Technology & Society, 3(3),

329-336. •  Halpern, D.F. (1998). Teaching critical thinking for transfer across domains: Dispositions, skills, structure training, and

metacognitive monitoring. American Psychologist, 53(4), 449-455. •  Hennessey, B. A., & Amabile, T. M. (2010). Creativity. Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 569-598. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.

093008.100416

•  Lilienfeld, S.O. (2005). The 10 commandments of helping students distinguish science from pseudoscience in psychology. APS Observer, 18. Retrieved from http://www.psychologicalscience.org

•  Pellegrino, J. W., & Hilton, M. L. (2012). Education for life and work: Developing transferable knowledge and skills in the 21st century. National Academies Press.

•  Şendağ, S., & Ferhan Odabaşı, H. H. (2009). Effects of an online problem based learning course on content knowledge acquisition and critical thinking skills. Computers & Education, 53(1), 132-141. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.01.008

•  Szabo, Z., & Schwartz, J. (2011). Learning methods for teacher education: The use of online discussions to improve critical thinking. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 20(1), 79-94.

•  Van Gelder, T. (2007). The rationale for Rationale™. Law, Probability & Risk, 6(1-4), 23-42. doi:10.1093/lpr/mgm032 •  Wason, P.C. (1966). Reasoning. In B.M. Foss (Ed.), New horizons in psychology (pp. 135–151). Harmondsworth, United Kingdom:

Penguin.

michelle miller: design for the mind: what cognitive science tells us about teaching with technology

Education

flip card

teaching students

working memory

students knowtie

memory jiri kaipr

odd number

survey of college students

retrieval practice testing