How People Learn - Eleanor Roosevelt College

HOW PEOPLE LEARN

Peter Newbury
Center for Teaching Development,
University of California, San Diego
pnewbury@ucsd.edu @polarisdotca
ctd.ucsd.edu #ctducsd

Monday, February 4, 2013
Eleanor Roosevelt College

Evidence-based teaching
We know How People Learn.1

There is research that informs us. Let’s exploit the
patterns of learning to make instruction more effective.

1. National Research Council. 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, 2000.
3 How People Learn - ERC

The traditional lecture is based on the
transmissionist learning model

4 How People Learn - ERC (Image by um.dentistry on flickr CC)

Scientifically Outdated, a Known Failure

We must abandon the tabula rasa
“blank slate” and “students as
empty vessels” models of teaching
and learning.


Let’s have a learning experience…


Here is an important new number
system. Please learn it.

1= 4= 7=

2= 5= 8=

3= 6= 9=


Test
What is this number?


New Number System
Here’s the structure of the “tic-tac-toe” code:

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9


Test
What is this number?


Constructivist theory of learning
 New learning is based on 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
Physical changes occur in
your brain when you learn.

T.J. Shors, “Saving New Brain Cells”
Sci. Amer. 300, 46-54 (March 2009).

What are the patterns of
how people learn?

How do we use them?


Key Finding 1
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.

Instructors must
draw out students’ Instruction must be
pre-existing student-centered.
understandings.


Learning requires (good) interaction

E.E. Prather, A.L. Rudolph, G. Brissenden and W.M. Schlingman, “A national study assessing the teaching and
14 How People Learn - ERC learning of introductory astronomy. Part I. The effect of interactive instruction,” Am. J. Phys 66, 64-74 (1998).

Learning gain:
100%

0.50

% of class time
NOT lecturing
0
pre-test post-test


1 2

3 4

Key Finding 2
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.

These are
characteristics of There’s another…
expertize.

Key Finding 3
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.


Aside: metacognition
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.
(Flavell1,2, 1976, p. 232)

1. Flavell, J. H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.), The
nature of intelligence (pp.231-236). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
2. Brame, C. (2013) Thinking about metacognition. [blog] January, 2013, Available at:
http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/2013/01/thinking-about-metacognition/ [Accessed: 14 Jan 2013].

Key Finding 3
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.

Instructors need to provide
opportunities for students to
practice being metacognitive –
thinking about their own thinking


Development of Mastery
conscious
Behavior

unconscious

incompetent competent
Level of Expertise
Sprague, J., & Stuart, D. (2000). The speaker’s handbook. Fort Worth, TX:
Harcourt College Publishers.


Level of Expertise

conscious
Behavior

unconscious

adikko.deviantart.com


conscious
Behavior

unconscious

Level of Expertise

conscious
Behavior

unconscious 1
Level of Expertise

conscious
2
Behavior

unconscious 1
Level of Expertise

conscious
2 3
Behavior

unconscious 1
Level of Expertise

conscious
2 3
Behavior

unconscious 1 4
Level of Expertise

Why Your Students Don’t Understand You
Expert brains differ from novice brains because novices:
 Lack rich, networked connections, cannot make
inferences
 Have preconceptions that distract or confuse
 Lack automization, resulting in cognitive overload


conscious
2 3
Behavior

unconscious 1 4
Level of Expertise

traditional lecture student-centered instruction


student-centered instruction

peer instruction w clickers
worksheets
videos
interactive demonstrations
surveys of opinions
reading quizzes
discussions


Evolution of the Solar System
Today, we’ve been learning about the formation of the
Solar System.
Just like a geologist
studies the exposed layers
on a cliff-face, we study
landforms on other planets
and moons to find the
chronology (sequence) of
processes.
(Image: NASA)


Clicker question
X Are features X and Y
ridges or valleys?
A) X=ridge, Y=valley
B) X=valley, Y=ridge
C) both are ridges
Y D) both are valleys


Archimedes’ Principle
In today’s Physics class, we’re going to study buoyancy
and Archimedes’ Principle.

(Image: Wikimedia Commons – public domain)


Clicker question
An ice cube is floating in a glass of water
that is filled entirely to the brim. As the ice
cube melts, the water level will

A) stay the same, remain at the brim.
B) rise, causing the water to spill.
C) fall to a level below the brim.
D) cannot say without knowing the density of ice.


Typical episode of peer instruction
Alternating with 10-15 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,
colored/ABCD voting cards,...
4. The instructor reacts, based on the
distribution of votes.


In effective peer instruction
 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 their communicate
own (novice) language like experts

 the instructor finds out what the students know (and
don’t know) and reacts


Effective peer instruction takes time
Five minutes of peer instruction every 15 minutes means
25% of class time is spent on interactive, students-
centered instruction.

Where does that time come from?


Traditional classroom

learn easy learn hard
stuff together stuff alone
 first exposure to material is in class, content is
transmitted from instructor to student
 learning occurs later when student struggles alone to
complete homework, essay, project


Flipped classroom

learn easy learn hard
stuff alone stuff together

 student learns easy content at home: definitions,
basis skills, simple examples. Frees up class time for...
 students come to class prepared to tackle
challenging concepts in class, with immediate
feedback from peers, instructor


42
(Image: Eleanor Roosevelt College by NPTang on flickr CC)

ERC Orientation – Flip it!
 don’t waste your precious time and students’
enthusiasm by covering details available online
 make them read it before the Orientation
 incentives! swag for bringing completed quiz?
 spend your time together unwrapping what’s
important to ERC
 why are the rules this way?
 what if you break [the most important rule]
 who wants to do activities X, Y, Z? Why?


How People Learn
Learning is not about
what instructors do.
It’s about what students do!


How People Learn
Learning is not about
what instructors do.
It’s about what students do!

Students will not learn
(just) by listening to the
instructor explain.


How People Learn - Eleanor Roosevelt College

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