How people learn, exploring the key findings from Chapter 1 of "How People Learn." Plus, implications for teaching including peer instruction. A weekly workshop by the Center for Teaching Development at UCSD.
The College Classroom Wi16: Sample Peer Instruction Questions
How People Learn
1. slides and resources: ctd.ucsd.edu/2012/11/how-people-learn/
HOW PEOPLE LEARN
Peter Newbury
Center for Teaching Development,
University of California, San Diego
pnewbury@ucsd.edu
@polarisdotca
#ctducsd
5. How People Learn1
5
People actively construct their own knowledge
Individual
Based in pre-existing understanding
Biologically, learning changes the brain
Proteinsform, neurons fire
Technology allowing us to observe learning as it
happens (fMRIs)
[1] Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning with additional material from
the Committee on Learning Research and Educational Practice, National Research
Council. "1 Learning: From Speculation to Science." How People Learn: Brain, Mind,
Experience, and School: Expanded Edition. Washington, DC: The National Academies
Press, 2000.
6. How People Learn
6
Learning is not about what
professors do.
It’s about what students do!
7. How People Learn
7
Learning is not about what
professors do.
It’s about what students do!
Corollary: Students will not
learn (just) by listening to the
professor explain
13. Constructivism
13
All new learning is based in pre-existing
knowledge that you hold.
You store things in long term memory through a
set of connections that are made with previous
existing memories.
Higher-level learning = brain development
T.J. Shors, “Saving New Brain Cells”
Sci. Amer. 300, 46-54 (March 2009).
14. Another Example of
14
Constructivism:
Put up your hand when you know what this
means:
NBCNRAFBIUSAIRS
15. Key Finding 1
15
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 – Chapter 1, p 14.
16. How do you think undergrad
students feel about learning your
16
field?
A B C D E
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Agree
1. To learn [your field], I only need to memorize
facts and definitions.
17. How do you think undergrad
students feel about learning your
17
field?
A B C D E
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Agree
1. To learn [your field], I only need to memorize
facts and definitions.
2. Knowledge in [your field] consists of many
disconnected topics.
18. Key Finding 2
18
To develop competence in an area of inquiry,
students must:
have a deep foundation of factual knowledge,
understand facts and ideas in the context of a
conceptual framework, and
organize knowledge in ways that facilitate
retrieval and application.
How People Learn – Chapter 1, p 16.
19. Key Finding 3
19
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 – Chapter 1, p 18.
20. Please break into groups of 3...
20
Each set of cards has
3 Key Findings
3 Implications for Teaching
3 Designing Classroom Environments
TASK: For each Key Finding, match one
Implication for Teaching and one Designing
Classroom Environment.
22. 22
Implications for Instructors
and Teaching Assistants
23. Traditional (lecture) class
23
Lecture Textbook Homework Exam
First Read Hard Stuff See if You Show Knowledge
Exposure Know Hard Stuff Mastery
students get very little opportunity for “expert”
feedback
24. Constructivist class
24
Homework Lecture Lab Exam
Q
U
I
Z
First Exposure: Learn Hard Stuff: Practice
Show Knowledge
With resources and With teacher and Knowledge
Mastery
Feedback discussion Mastery
Everyone constructs their own understanding:
I can’t dump understanding into your brain.
To learn, YOU must actively work with a problem
and construct your own understanding of it.
Greater opportunity for expert feedback
25. When you are the instructor,
25
try…
Peer Instruction (aka “clickers”)
One of most-studied active learning
techniques for improving learning
Works in the large and small lecture halls
Focuses students on their role and
responsibility as the learner
26. Typical Peer Instruction
26
Episode
Alternating with 5-10 minute “mini-lectures”,
1. Instructor poses a conceptually-challenging
multiple-choice question.
2. Students think about question on their own.
3. Students vote for an answer using clickers,
coloured cards, ABCD voting cards,...
4. The instructor reacts, based on the
distribution of votes.
27. Reacting to their votes
27
When you know the first-vote distribution (but the
students don’t) you have many options:
confirm and move on
ask students to discuss with their peers, vote
again
ask students to advocate for the choices they
made, vote again
check that the question made sense
eliminate one or more choices before re-
voting
and more...
28. In effective peer instruction
28
students teach each other immediately,
students learn
while they may still hold or remember
and practice
their novice misconceptions
how to think,
students discuss the concepts in theircommunicate
own language like experts
the instructor finds out what the students know
(and don’t know) and reacts
29. Effective peer instruction
29
requires
1. identifying key concepts,
misconceptions before
2. creating multiple-choice questions that class
require deeper thinking and learning
3. facilitating peer instruction episodes during
that spark student discussion class
4. resolving the misconceptions
30. Clicker Question
30
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.
Veritasium (Derek Muller)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KZb2_vcNTg
Question credit: Bill Wood
31. Active Learning Techniques for
31
Discussion Sections
Think, Pair Share or peer instruction with
clickers
One-Minute papers: What is most confusing
right now? (“muddiest point”)
Problem Solving in Groups
Provide scaffold/structure
Ask what steps would you take to solve
problem
(versus actually solving them)
Critique or “fix” sample work/problem
overhead slides, document cameras, board?
32. Discussion Sections
32
Learning is not about what TAs explain.
It’s about what students understand!
33. Discussion Sections
33
Learning is not about what TAs explain.
It’s about what students understand!
Corollary 1: Students will not understand
(just) by watching the TA solve problems.
34. Discussion Sections
34
Learning is not about what TAs explain.
It’s about what students understand!
Corollary 1: Students will not understand
(just) by watching the TA solve problems.
Corollary 2: BE LESS HELPFUL.
35. But really ask yourself…
35
Who is doing the work?
You or the students?
36. slides and resources: ctd.ucsd.edu/2012/11/how-people-learn/
HOW PEOPLE LEARN
Peter Newbury
Center for Teaching Development,
University of California, San Diego
pnewbury@ucsd.edu
@polarisdotca
#ctducsd
Notes de l'éditeur
The how is most important… and it also applies to teaching any course.
The how is most important… and it also applies to teaching any course.
The how is most important… and it also applies to teaching any course.
The how is most important… and it also applies to teaching any course.
In this class, we will be changing the “design” of the learning process with the goal of giving you much greater opportunity to get feedback on your learning from the “expert” – the professors.Since you are intelligent, and you can buy access to the basics of the knowledge needed for this class in the form of the textbook, we’ll ask you to get your first exposure to the material by reading the book (or other assigned resources) and getting the “basics” for yourself. To help guide you in this, we’ll provide a set of questions that give you the idea of the kind of things you should “get” after reading the textbook. At least 2 of these questions will be on the “quiz” that we’ll give (with clickers) at the beginning of lecture.Why a quiz at the beginning of lecture? A few reasons: 1) it gives you an excuse to do the homework. You are busy people, and by giving you quiz points for doing the homework and preparing for lecture, we’re giving you the incentive to fit it into your schedule. 2) You should ACE every quiz. Quizzes are over the *basic* information from the textbook – getting all the questions on the quiz right let’s you know you learned enough from reading in order to be prepared to engage and learn in “lecture”.During lecture, I’ll be presenting some of the “hard stuff” that I know that students often struggle with or that the book doesn’t explain particularly well. Sometimes I will “explain things” in a way that looks like lecture. But a lot of the time, I will be letting you TEST YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING and deepen your understanding – by presenting a question for you to solve, and having your discuss it in a team of your peers to help you make sure you really do get it. This is where the clickers come in – you will vote on your answer with them, so I can adapt what we do in class to address issues you are not sure about. Finally in lab, we’ll have you practice your mastery of the material <<TAKE THIS OUT IF YOU DON’T HAVE LAB, PERHAPS REPLACE WITH WHATEVER YOU DO>>. And then we’ll let you show us how much you have mastered on exams.Again: This process is based around giving you the opportunity to get access to expert help and explanation, when you need it. Not leaving you alone at night when you are doing your homework…This process is also based in research on “how people learn”. Researchers have shown that people each construct their own understanding – individually. It’s not possible for me to “dump” or transmit understanding into your brain. Each of you is a unique individual, and you will each need to work and construct your own understanding.
The how is most important… and it also applies to teaching any course.
The how is most important… and it also applies to teaching any course.
The how is most important… and it also applies to teaching any course.