how people learn - eleanor roosevelt college

HOW PEOPLE LEARN

Peter Newbury Center for Teaching Development,University of California, San Diego

[email protected] @polarisdotca

ctd.ucsd.edu #ctducsd

YOU CAN HELP

Monday, February 4, 2013Eleanor Roosevelt College

2 How People Learn - ERC

Evidence-based teaching

How People Learn - ERC3

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.

The traditional lecture is based on the transmissionist learning model

How People Learn - ERC4 (Image by um.dentistry on flickr CC)

How People Learn - ERC

Scientifically Outdated, a Known Failure

5

We must abandon the tabula rasa “blank slate” and

“students as empty vessels” models of teaching and

learning.


Let’s have a learning experience…

6

7

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


1 = 4 = 7 =

2 = 5 = 8 =

3 = 6 = 9 =

8

Test


What is this number?

9

New Number System


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

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

10

Test


What is this number?


Constructivist theory of learning

11

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 inyour 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

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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’ pre-

existing understandings

.

Instruction must be student-centered.


Learning requires (good) interaction

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




% of class time NOT lecturing

Learning gain:

pre-test0

100%

post-test

0.50




1 2

3 4


Key Finding 2

17

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.

How People Learn – Chapter 1, p 16.

These are characteristics

of

expertize.

There’s another…


Key Finding 3

18

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.

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

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 – Chapter 1, p 18.

Instructors need to provide opportunities for

students to practice being metacognitive –

thinking about their own thinking

Development of Mastery


conscious

unconscious

incompetent competent

Level of Expertise

Behavio

r

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




Level of Expertise



conscious

unconscious

adikko.deviantart.com

Behavio

r



conscious

unconscious


Level of Expertise

Behavio

r



conscious

unconscious


1

Level of Expertise

Behavio

r



conscious

unconscious


1

2

Level of Expertise

Behavio

r



conscious

unconscious


1

2 3

Level of Expertise

Behavio

r



conscious

unconscious


1

2 3

4

Level of Expertise

Behavio

r

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

unconscious


1

2 3

4

Level of Expertise

Behavio

r


student-centered instruction

listening

interacting

engaged

learning

traditional lecture

listening


student-centered instruction

listening

interacting

engaged

learningpeer instruction w clickersworksheetsvideosinteractive demonstrationssurveys of opinionsreading quizzesdiscussions

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

Are features X and Y ridges or valleys?A) X=ridge,

Y=valleyB) X=valley,

Y=ridgeC) both are ridgesD) both are valleys

X

Y


Archimedes’ PrincipleIn 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 waterthat is filled entirely to the brim. As the icecube 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

37

Alternating with 10-15 minute mini-lectures, 1. Instructor poses a conceptually-

challengingmultiple-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,

while they may still hold or remembertheir novice misconceptions

students discuss the concepts in theirown (novice) language

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

students learn and practice how to think, communicate like experts


Effective peer instruction takes timeFive 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

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

learn easy stuff

together

learn hard stuff alone


Flipped classroom

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

learn hard stuff

together

learn easy stuff alone

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

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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

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Learning is not aboutwhat instructors do.

It’s about what students do!


How People Learn

45

Learning is not aboutwhat 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

Education

national study

defining learning

people learn

people learn

introductory

flickr cc

learning requires

archimedes