Economic Education andHow People Learn

Scott Simkins, Interim DirectorAcademy for Teaching and Learning (ATL)

North Carolina A&T State University

Acknowledgements: Mark Maier, Glendale Community College, Glendale, CA, USA

Learning and the Brain

What do we know about learners and how people learn?

Brain research, neurons,

and synapses …

Learning is a biological process…- Robert Leamnson

Learning Sciences Research

What do we know about learners and how people learn?

… learning sciences research and implications for teaching …

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (2000) Bransford, Brown, and Cocking, National Academies Press

Learning Sciences Research

What do we know about learners and how people learn?

… learning sciences research and implications for teaching …

How Students Learn: History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom (2005) Committee on How People Learn, A Targeted Report for Teachers, Center for Studies on Behavior and Development, National Research Council

A Focus on Learning

The Goal: Better Learning

How can we apply and extend new knowledge about how people learn?

How can we create learning environments that provide more opportunities for learning?

Three Significant Learning Principles

Engaging Students’ Prior Understandings

Building Factual Knowledge and Conceptual Frameworks

Developing Self-Monitoring Students

Engaging Prior Understandings

Engaging Prior Understandings

Students have their own mental models already in place.

Learning new ideas often requires “unlearning” prior understandings.

Find out students’ prior understandings and help them challenge those preconceptions.

Preconceptions developed from everyday experiences … impose serious constraints on understanding formal disciplines.

- How Students Learn History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom

Building Conceptual Frameworks

Learning with understanding affects our ability to apply what is learned.

- How Students Learn History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom

Developing “expert” (vs. novice) learners, deep vs. surface learning

Help students use concepts to organize information. To improve transfer of knowledge, encourage effort

and practice, requesting multiple representations, and introduce “desirable difficulties.”

Build upon mental models that are already in place.

Building Conceptual Frameworks

Depth matters more than breadth

Give students lots of practice using concepts and theories – applying them to real-world tasks.

Facts are important, but will be quickly forgotten if not developed in a conceptual framework.

Developing Self-Monitoring Students

“You are the owners and operators of your own brain, but it came without an instruction book. We need to learn how we learn.”

- How Students Learn History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom

Help students become aware of their learning processes.

Encourage students to ask questions – What information is needed? What do I know about this problem? How did I solve this?

Encourage student reflection about the learning process.

Developing Self-Monitoring Students

Understanding how we know things matters,not just the things we know.

Help students reflect on the thought process of “knowing,” not just the content.

From Theory to Practice

Potential Pedagogies to Promote Learning

Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) Problem-based learning Collaborative learning techniques (CoLTs) Context-rich problems Peer Instruction Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) + others…

Designing Learning Environments

Knowledge-centered

Experts vs. novices Transfer of

knowledge

Learner-centered

Pre-conceptions Metacognition

Assessment-centered

Formative assessment and feedback

Self-assessment

Community-centered

Knowledge is socially constructed

Creating an environment for intentional learning

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (2000) Bransford, Brown, and Cocking, National Academies Press.