peer instruction questions to support expert-like thinking

Peer instructions questions that

drive expert-like thinking

1 CSULA 30 May 2014

Peter Newbury

Center for Teaching Development,

University of California, San Diego

[email protected] @polarisdotca

ctd.ucsd.edu #peerinstructionCSULA

Who are you?

Which of these best describes your job?

A) instructor

B) administrator

C) instructional support

D) student

E) other

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Who are you?

If you teach, what subject?

A) engineering

B) medicine / health

C) natural sciences

D) social sciences

E) arts & humanities

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Who are you?

How familiar are you with peer instruction

and clickers?

A) I’ve heard about it but never used it

B) I’ve used it once or twice

C) I use it every time I teach

D) I can’t imagine teaching without clickers

E) I could be running this workshop

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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. 5

What is expertise? [2]

To develop competence in an area of inquiry, student

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

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knowledge

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knowledge

framework

10

knowledge

framework

retrieval

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Supporting expert-like thinking

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Stop to let students

think and discuss

Pose a question for

students to think

about and discuss

Give choices to

direct the students’

conversations

2-min

pause 2-min

pause Pro peer

instruction

2-minute pause

Every 15-20 minutes of your lecture, stop talking

and invite the students to take 2 minutes to:

review their notes

consult with neighbors to fill in missing points

check with neighbors if anything is confusing

formulate a question(s) that will clear up

confusion or fill in a gap

When conversations dies down (wait longer than

2 minutes, if necessary), lead a brief class-wide

discussion to answer questions, resolve confusion.


2-minute pause (Pro version)

Pause to let students think and provide a

question in case they

don’t have anything to talk about

don’t know how to have an expert-like

conversion

summarize material just covered

“What do you think would have happened if they ran

the experiment with adults instead of children?”

motivate upcoming material

“How do you think this will change when we apply it in

3 dimensions instead of 2?”


Peer instruction

Pause to let students think, provide a question for

them to think about, and provide prompts so

they have the conversation you want them

to have.


Introductory Biology class

The molecules making up the dry mass of wood

that forms during the growth of a tree largely

come from

A) sunlight.

B) the air.

C) the seed.

D) the soil.


(Question: Bill Wood)

(Image: Autumn? No Doubt! by blavandmaster on flickr CC)

In effective peer instruction

students teach each other while

they may still hold or remember

their novice preconceptions

students discuss the concepts

in their (novice) language

each student finds out what s/he does(n’t) know

the instructor finds out what the students

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

understanding and preconceptions.


students learn

and practice

how to think,

communicate

like experts

t h e l e a r n i n g c y c l e

Peer instruction helps students learn...


BEFORE DURING AFTER

setting up

instruction

developing

knowledge

assessing

learning

Adapted from Rosie Piller, Ian Beatty, Stephanie Chasteen




BEFORE DURING AFTER

setting up

instruction

developing

knowledge

assessing

learning


The students have not

resolved concept X.

But they’re know X exists

and why X is interesting.




BEFORE DURING AFTER

setting up

instruction

developing

knowledge

assessing

learning


Students have had

opportunities to

try, fail, receive feedback and

try again without facing a

summative evaluation. [1]




BEFORE DURING AFTER

setting up

instruction

developing

knowledge

assessing

learning


Effective peer instruction requires

1. identifying key concepts, misconceptions

2. creating multiple-choice questions that

require deeper thinking and learning

3. facilitating peer instruction episodes that

spark and support student discussion

4. leading a class-wide discussion to clarify

the concept, resolve the misconception

5. reflecting on the question: note curious

things you overheard, how they voted, etc. so

next year’s peer instruction will be better


before

class

during

class

after

class

now

next

hour


What makes a good question?

clarity Students waste no effort trying to figure out

what’s being asked.

context Is this topic currently being covered in class?

learning

outcome

Does the question make students do the right

things to demonstrate they grasp the concept?

distractors What do the “wrong” answers tell you about

students’ thinking?

difficulty Is the question too easy? too hard?

stimulates

thoughtful

discussion

Will the question engage the students and

spark thoughtful discussions? Are there

openings for you to continue the discussion?

(Adapted from Stephanie Chasteen, CU Boulder)

Sample Questions

With a partner, look through the collection

of questions. Some are good, some are not.

Try to identify at least one characteristic

(clarity, context,…) that makes each

question good (or bad). Use the scorecard

to record your opinions.


Peer instruction helps you teach


BEFORE DURING AFTER

setting up

instruction

developing

knowledge

assessing

learning





BEFORE DURING AFTER

setting up

instruction

developing

knowledge

assessing

learning

Do they care about this?

Are they ready for the next topic?

What DO they care about, anyway?

What do they already know?

t h e l e a r n i n g c y c l e Did they notice key idea X?

Where are they in the activity?



BEFORE DURING AFTER

setting up

instruction

developing

knowledge

assessing

learning

Are they getting it?

Do I need to intervene?

t h e l e a r n i n g c y c l e How did I do?

Did they get it?



BEFORE DURING AFTER

setting up

instruction

developing

knowledge

assessing

learning

Can I move to the next topic?

Did that activity work?

Resources

1. Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

2. 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.

3. Colvin, G. (2006, October 19). What it takes to be great. Fortune, 88- 96. Available at money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391794/index.htm

4. Peer instruction resources from the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative at the Univ. of British Columbia : http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/clickers.htm

5. Videos by the Science Education Initiative at the Univ. of Colorado (Boulder) provide excellent background for using clickers: http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/SEI_video.html

6. Peer Instruction network blog.peerinstruction.net
