how (you can help) people learn (using peer instruction)

HOW PEOPLE LEARN

Peter Newbury, Ph.D.

Center for Teaching Development,

University of California, San Diego

[email protected]

@polarisdotca

ctd.ucsd.edu

slides and resources: tinyurl.com/OCCpeerinstruction

November 15, 2013

Orange Coast College

Unless otherwise noted, content

is licensed under a Creative Commons

Attribution-NonCommericial 3.0 License.

How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction) 2

peer

instruction

how

people

learn

Survey


Which of these do you associate with a typical college

or university lecture?

A) listening

B) absorbing

C) note-taking

D) learning

E) other

The traditional lecture is based on the

transmissionist learning model

How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction) 4 (Image by um.dentistry on flickr CC)

Let’s have a learning experience…

5 How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)

Here is an important new number

system. Please learn it.


1 = 4 = 7 =

2 = 5 = 8 =

3 = 6 = 9 =

Test


What is this number?

Scientifically Outdated, a Known Failure

8 How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)

We must abandon the tabula rasa

“blank slate” and “students as

empty vessels” models of teaching

and learning.

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 built on existing knowledge.

You store things in long term memory through a set of connections with existing memories.

(Images by Rebecca-Lee on flickr CC)

Learning involves neurons firing and linking up in networks or patterns.

How People Learn


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.

Available for free as PDF

www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=9853

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, p 14.)

Key Finding 2

15

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 (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)

Key Finding 3

16

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.

([3], [4])

cognition meta

Key Finding 3

18




Please break into groups of 3-4...


Sort your cards into 3 sets of 3:

Implication

for Teaching

Implication

for Teaching

Designing

Classroom

Environments

Implication

for Teaching

Key Finding

2

20


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.


Implications for Teaching 1


Teachers must draw out and work with the preexisting understandings that their students bring with them.


New Coding System


Please memorize this code:

1 = 4 = 7 =

2 = 5 = 8 =

3 = 6 = 9 =

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

unsupported, unfamiliar content built on pre-existing

knowledge

(tic-tac-toe board)

Classroom Environments 1


Schools and classrooms must be learner centered. (How People Learn, p 23.)

Learning requires interaction [4]




% of class time

NOT lecturing

Learning gain:

pre-test 0

100%

post-test

0.50



1 2

3 4

Key Finding 2

28

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.




29



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.


To provide a knowledge-centered environment, attention must be given to what is taught (information, subject matter), why it is taught (understanding), and what competence or mastery looks like.



Development of Mastery [5]


conscious

unconscious

incompetent competent

Level of Expertise

Beha

vior




Level of Expertise



conscious

unconscious

adikko.deviantart.com

Beha

vior



conscious

unconscious


Level of Expertise

Beha

vior



conscious

unconscious


1

Level of Expertise

Beha

vior



conscious

unconscious


1

2

Level of Expertise

Beha

vior



conscious

unconscious


1

2 3

Level of Expertise

Beha

vior



conscious

unconscious


1

2 3

4

Level of Expertise

Beha

vior

Why Your Students Don’t Understand You


Expert brains differ from novice brains because novices:

lack rich, networked connections, cannot make

inferences, cannot reliably retrieve information

have preconceptions that distract or confuse

lack automization, resulting in cognitive overload

Key Finding 3

40






The teaching of metacognitive skills should be integrated into the curriculum in a variety of subject areas.


Formative assessments — ongoing assessments designed to make students’ thinking visible to both teachers and students — are essential.

Instructors need to provide opportunities for

students to practice being metacognitive: an

internal dialogue about their own thinking




student-centered instruction traditional lecture


peer instruction with clickers

interactive demonstrations

surveys of opinions

reading quizzes

worksheets

discussions

videos

student-centered instruction

Clicker question


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)

Typical episode of peer instruction


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.

In effective peer instruction


students teach each other while

they may still hold or remember

their novice preconceptions

students discuss the concepts in their

own (novice) language

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

the instructor finds out what the students know (and

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

understanding and preconceptions.

students learn

and practice

how to think,

communicate

like experts

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.

before

class

during

class

after

class

Clicker Question

48

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 credit: Bill Wood How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)

49


Student-centered instruction takes time


Five minutes of student-centered instruction every 15

minutes means 25% of class time is not lecturing. But you

(already) have lecture material to fill 100% of the time!

Where does that time come from?

Effective peer instruction requires


51

students be prepared to engage in conceptually-

challenging discussions

TIME! Five minutes of student-centered instruction

every 15 minutes means 25% of class time is not

lecturing. But you already have lecture material to

fill 100% (or more!) of the time.

Where does that time come from?

reduce course content by 25%

Traditional classroom


1. Transfer: first exposure to material is in class,

content is transmitted from instructor to student

2. Assimilate: learning occurs later when student

struggles alone to complete homework, essay,

project

1. learn easy

stuff together 2. learn hard

stuff alone

(Mazur [6])

Flipped classroom


1. Transfer: student learns easy content at home

through reading, video, etc.: definitions, basis skills,

simple examples.

2. Assimilate: students come to class prepared to

immediately tackle challenging concepts, with timely,

formative feedback from peers, TAs, instructor

2. learn hard

stuff together 1. learn easy

stuff alone

(Mazur [6])

References


1. 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.

2. Flavell, J. H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.), The nature of intelligence (pp.231-236). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

3. Brame, C. (2013). Thinking about metacognition. [blog] January, 2013, Available at: http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/2013/01/thinking-about-metacognition/ [Accessed: 14 Jan 2013].

4. 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.

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

6. Mazur, E. (2009). Farewell, Lecture? Science, 323, 5910, 50-51.

how (you can help) people learn (using peer instruction)

Education

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new concepts

ones knowledge

new number system heres