Peter Newbury and Beth Simon Center for Teaching Development University of California, San Diego 14 January 2014 collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

1. Week 2: How People Learn
The College Classroom
January 14 and 16, 2014

2. 2
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3. Evidence-based teaching
3
We know How People Learn. [1]
There is research that informs us. Let’s exploit the
patterns of learning to make instruction more effective.
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4. “…exploit the patterns…”
4
What is this number?
1
5
6
7
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3
4
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2
8
9

5. How People Learn, Chapter 1 matrix
5
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6. Key Finding – 1
6
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
purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions
outside the classroom.
(How People Learn, p 14.)
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7. Discussion
7
1. (re)Introduce yourselves to the others at your table.
2. Tell the others at your table about how, in the class
you observed, the instructor


successfully engaged
failed to engage
the students’ preconceptions and initial
understanding. How did you know? (10 minutes)
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8. Implications for Teaching – 1
8
Teachers must draw out and work with the preexisting
understandings that their students bring with them.
(How People Learn, p 19.)
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9. Designing Classroom Environments – 1
9
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)
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10. Learning requires interaction [3]
10
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11. Learning requires interaction [3]
11
Learning gain:
100%
0.50
% of class time
NOT lecturing
0
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pre-test
post-test

12. Learning requires interaction [3]
12
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Each point is <g> on a
standard astronomy concept
inventory in one of 52 classes
from size 25 students to >100,
at 2- and 4-yr colleges and
research universities across U.S.
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13. Learning requires interaction [3]
13
1
2
3
4
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14. Key Findings – 2
14
To develop competence in an area of inquiry, 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, p. 16)
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15. 15
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16. Tic-Tac-Toe code
16
1=
4=
7=
1
2
3
2=
5=
8=
4
5
6
3=
6=
9=
7
8
9
unsupported, unfamiliar content
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built on pre-existing
knowledge and
organized for retrieval

17. Implications for Teaching – 2
17
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.
(How People Learn, p. 20)
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18. Discussion
18
Tell the others at your table about how, in the class you
observed, the instructor talked about (or didn’t talk
about) the framework of concepts and the organization
and retrieval of the concepts. (5 minutes)
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19. Designing Classroom Environments – 2
19
To provide a knowledge-centered classroom environment,
attention must be given to what is taught (information,
subject matter), why it is taught (understanding), and
what competence or mastery looks like.
(How People Learn, p. 24)
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20. Key Findings – 3
20
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, p 18.)
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21. Aside: metacognition
21
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.
([4], [5])
meta cognition
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22. Key Findings – 3
22
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, p. 18)
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23. Implications for Teaching – 3
23
The teaching of metacognitive skills should be integrated
into the curriculum in a variety of subject areas.
(How People Learn, p. 21)
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24. Designing Classroom Environments – 3
24
Formative assessments — ongoing assessments designed
to make students’ thinking visible to both teachers and
students — are essential. They permit the teacher to grasp
the students’ preconceptions, understand where the
students are in the “developmental corridor” from
informal to formal thinking, and design instruction
accordingly. In the assessment-centered classroom
environment, formative assessments help both teachers
and students monitor progress.
(How People Learn, p. 24)
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25. Designing Classroom Environments – 3
25
Another way to “teach metacognitive skills”
 write a blog post
Writing blog posts help you to be
metacognitive: it’s something the
students should do.
So what should the instructor do?
 ask students to write blog posts


provide them with the tools to write posts
help them set up their own blogs
If you’re
interested,
talk to Peter
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upcoming
TCC
homework

26. Your classroom observations
26
Did anyone observe a time when students had an
opportunity to be metacognitive – to have an internal
dialogue about their understanding of the concepts?
 How did the instructor prompt them?

e.g.
 What task did the instructor give them?

e.g.
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27. Putting How People Learn theory
into practice

28. Introductory Chemistry
28
[First make sure students are prepared to engage in
interesting, perplexing problems]
Today, we’ll be learning about changes of state.
Remember, there are 3 states (also called “phases”) of
matter:
 solid
 liquid
 gas
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29. Clicker question
29
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)
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30. Typical Episode of Peer Instruction (PI)
30
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.
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an “agile” instructor can try variations on 3 – 4

31. In effective peer instruction
31
 students teach each other while
they may still hold or remember
their novice preconceptions
 students discuss the concepts in their
own (novice) language
students learn
and practice
how to think,
communicate
like experts
 the instructor finds out what the students know (and
don’t know) and reacts, building on their initial
understanding and preconceptions.
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32. Effective peer instruction requires
32
1. identifying key concepts, misconceptions
2. creating multiple-choice questions that
require deeper thinking and learning
3. facilitating peer instruction episodes that
spark student discussion
4. resolving the misconceptions
Teacher C
(HPL p. 12)
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before
class
during
class

33. Peer Instruction and How People Learn
33
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34. Week 3: Development of Expertise
Watch the blog for the Week 3 Homework
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35. References
35
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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.
Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
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.
Flavell, J. H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In
L. B. Resnick (Ed.), The nature of intelligence (pp.231-236).
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Brame, C. (2013). Thinking about metacognition. [blog] January,
2013, Available at: http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/2013/01/thinkingabout-metacognition/ [Accessed: 14 Jan 2013].
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