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

How People Learn 4

(Image by um.dentistry on flickr CC)

Let’s have a learning experience…

5 How People Learn

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Scientifically Outdated, a Known Failure

8 How 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

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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

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 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.


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

17



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.


Implications for Teaching 1

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Teachers must draw out and work with the preexisting understandings that their students bring with them.


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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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% of class time

NOT lecturing

Learning gain:

pre-test 0

100%

post-test

0.50


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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.


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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


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29


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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.


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

31



How People Learn


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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.



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

How People Learn 40

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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41

Learning is not about what the

instructor does. It’s about what

students do for themselves.

How People Learn

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Students will not learn (just) by

listening to the instructor explain.

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Students will not learn (just) by

listening to the instructor explain.

BE LESS HELPFUL

How People Learn

If in doubt, ask yourself…

44

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

How People Learn 46

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.

ctd wi14 weekly workshop: how people learn

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