Using Learning Spaces to Encourage Deeper Learning

Jose Mestre

Department of Physics

University of Massachusetts

Amherst, MA 01003

Copyright Jose Mestre 2004. This work is the intellectual property of the author.

Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

Outline

• What salient findings from the science of learning should inform classroom teaching?

• What types of activities are important in building deeper learning?

• What kind of assessment should be built in to measure learning gains?

• How can the traditional classroom and the technology in it encourage deeper learning?

• What teaching approaches align with what types of spaces?

What salient findings from the science of learning should inform classroom teaching?

Backdrop: The National Research Council has

released 2 reports related to human learning:

1. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (1999).

2. How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice (2000).

The Nature of Expertise

Research with experts & novices reveals marked differences in the way they store, and apply knowledge.

Expertise: Knowledge Acquisition & Organization

• Experts have a rich knowledge basethat is hierarchically organized.

• Experts notice and remember largeamounts of complex information intheir domain of expertise after shortexposures to a new situation (called"chunking").

Classic Studies with Chess Masters

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• Chess Masters

• Electronic Technicians

• Computer Programmers

Expertise: Knowledge Acquisition & Organization

• Expertise in one area does nottransfer to another area: Expertise iscontext-bound.

• The more you know about a topic theeasier it is to learn more about thattopic.

Expertise: Knowledge Application

• Experts' knowledge is linked toconditions of applicability.

• Experts cue on major idea neededto solve a problem.

Classic Studies with Physics Novices & Experts

• Novices : • “These are inclined

plane problems”• Experts: • “This can be viewed as a

work-energy problem” (Chi, Feltovich and Glaser, 1981).

Summary of what we know about the nature of expertise

• Experts have well-organized knowledge -- not just “problem solving” strategies; their knowledge is organized to support understanding (qualitative before quantitative) and it is “conditionalized” for use. Experts have fluent access to their knowledge. Such knowledge is acquired over time and depends on multiple, contextualized experiences.

• Implications -- “wisdom” can’t be taught directly and instruction must be directed towards the gradual acquisition of understanding & expertise.

Implications for Teaching

• Being an expert in a topic does notimply you are effective at teachingthat topic. You also have to be anexpert on teaching that topic(pedagogical techniques are alsobound to context). Hence, needcontent expertise and pedagogicalcontent knowledge.

Implications for Teaching

• Teaching the "content" of a disciplinewithout helping the learner organizethat content is not optimal for learning.

• As important as the procedures andequations used to solve problems inthe sciences & math are theprinciples/concepts underlying theequations, and the context underwhich they can be applied.

The Transfer of Learning

The transfer of learning from one context to another is neither trivial, nor automatic.

Transfer Experiment A general wishes to capture a fortress in the center of a country. There

are many roads radiating outward from the fortress. All roads have been mined so that while small groups of men can pass over the roads safely, a large force will detonate the mines. A full-scale direct attack is therefore impossible. The general’s solution is to divide his army into small groups, send each to the head of a different road, and have the groups converge simultaneously on the fortress.

You are a doctor faced with a patient who has a malignant tumor in the stomach. It is impossible to operate on the patient, but unless the tumor is destroyed, the patient will die. There is a kind of ray that may be used to destroy the tumor. If the rays reach the tumor all at once and with sufficient high intensity, the tumor will be destroyed, but surrounding tissue may be damaged as well. At lower intensities, the rays are harmless to healthy tissue, but they will not affect the tumor either. What type of procedure might be used to destroy the tumor with the rays, and at the same time avoid destroying the healthy tissue?

Few college students could solve the second problem on their own. When told to use information from first, >90% were able to solve it.

Transfer

• Transfer is facilitated by knowing themultiple contexts under which an ideaapplies. (i.e., effective transfer isinextricably linked to the conditions forapplicability; rote learning rarelytransfers.)

• New learning depends on previouslearning, and previous learning ofteninterferes with what you are trying toteach.

Lionni’s Fish is Fish

The Fish’s Image of Birds

The Fish’s Image of Cows

The Fish’s Image of People

Some Analogs to the Fish is Fish Story

• Young children who believe the earth is flat….• Physics students who assume “force of the

hand” when a ball is thrown into the air• Student beliefs that history is about the “good

guys” vs the “bad guys” • Students’ (of different ages) beliefs about

seasons -- distance from sun not tilt

Implications for Teaching

• When teaching science, placeemphasis on the multiple contexts towhich major concepts apply.

• To facilitate transfer, tie concepts tocontexts in which they can be applied,and encourage verbalization of why aconcept applies to a given context.

• Probe for pre-conceptions that mayinterfere, or support, learning andtransfer.

What types of activities are important in building deeper learning?

Designing Learning Environments Based on the NRC’s How People Learn

Making Classrooms Learner-Centered

• Learners use their current knowledgeto construct new knowledge.Effective instruction must take intoaccount what learners bring to theclassroom. Active engagement inlearning supports the construction ofknowledge.

Making Classrooms Learner-Centered (cont’)

• Learners should be assisted indeveloping metacognitive strategies.

"Metacognition refers to people'sabilities to predict their performanceson various tasks ... and to monitortheir current levels of mastery andunderstanding" (HPL, p. 12)

Transfer can be improved by helpingstudents become more aware ofthemselves as learners who activelymonitor their learning andperformance strategies.

Making Classrooms Learner-Centered (cont’)

• Learners learn more efficiently andeffectively when they are providedwith feedback to help them monitorprogress. Students need to be givenopportunities to practice skilledproblem solving and provided withboth, feedback to monitor progress,and support to ensure progress.

Making Classrooms Knowledge-Centered

• Students are not blank slates, soinstruction should begin with students'current knowledge and skills.

• Instruction should help studentsorganize knowledge in ways that areefficient for recall and for application insolving problems.

• Instruction should focus on helpingstudents gain deep understanding ofthe major concepts and principles,rather than the acquisition ofdisconnected facts and skills.

The way the teacher taught in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is no way to engage students in learning

What kind of assessment should be built in to measure learning gains?

• Formative assessment (assessment done duringthe course of instruction to monitor students'progress and to help shape instruction) is pivotalfor providing feedback to students so that theycan revise and improve the quality of theirthinking, and should be done continuously as apart of instruction.

• Formative assessment strategies should bedeveloped that make students' thinking visible tothe instructor, to the learner, and to otherclassmates.

Formative assessment

What kind of assessment should be built in to measure learning gains?

• Summative assessments (assessment done atthe end of instruction for such purposes asassigning grades or evaluating competence)should reflect the knowledge, concepts,principles, and problem solving & lab skills of thediscipline that are considered crucial by experts.

• Students should learn how to assess their ownwork and that of peers.

Summative assessment

How can the traditional classroom and the technology in it

encourage deeper learning?

• Help students construct and organize their knowledge

• Illustrate multiple contexts in which knowledge can be applied

• Perform continuous formative assessment during the course of instruction

• Help students develop metacognitive strategies so they monitor their own learning

Need to:

How can the traditional classroom and the technology in it

encourage deeper learning?

• Teach interactively (see refs. at end)– Cooperative/collaborative learning in small and

large classes– Active learning via classroom communication

systems (infrared or RF clickers, wireless tablets, etc)

• Goal: Teacher should be a learning coach rather than a dispenser of information

Opportunities

How can the traditional classroom and the technology in it

encourage deeper learning?

• Seats usually bolted to the floor and prevent efficient communication among students and prevent teacher from “roaming”

• 50-minute slots 3 times a week may not be optimal

• The way we train PhDs is not conducive to breaking the teach-as-you-were-taught cycle

Obstacles

What teaching approaches align with what types of spaces

Two exemplars from physics

Robert Beichner, NC State Univ.

• Student- Centered Activities for Large Enrollment Undergraduate Programs (SCALE-UP) Project

• Develop functional understanding of physics

• Develop expert-like problem solving skills • Develop technology skills • Develop favorable cognitive attitudes• Develop communication, interpersonal,

and questioning skills

Course Objectives

Attendance

Priscilla Laws, Dickinson Col.• Workshop Physics • Reduce Content

and Emphasize Process of Scientific Inquiry

• Emphasize Directly Observable Phenomena

• Eliminate Formal Lectures

• Use Computer as a Flexible Tool

Summary Points

• There is an emerging science of learning• It has major implications for all aspects of

schooling -- curriculum, instruction, assessment, plus preservice & inservice teacher education, and learning space design

• It provides a basis for knowing when, how and why to use various instructional strategies

• It can guide the intelligent design and use of new curricular materials as well as information technologies

Useful References• http://physics.dickinson.edu/~wp_web/wp_homepage.html• http://www.ncsu.edu/per/scaleup.html• http://umperg.physics.umass.edu/• Hake, R. (1998). Interactive-engagement vs traditional methods: A six-thousand-student survey of

mechanics test data for introductory physics courses, American Journal of Physics, 66, 64-74. • Dufresne, R.J., Gerace, W.J., Leonard, W.J., Mestre, J.P., & Wenk, L. (1996). Classtalk: A

classroom communication system for active learning. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 7, 3-47.

• Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L. & Cocking, R.R. (1999). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

• Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T., & Smith, K.A. (1991). Active Learning: Cooperation in the College Classroom. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Co.

• Mestre, J. (2003). Transfer of Learning: Issues and Research Agenda. National Science Foundation Report #NSF03-212. 27 pages. (Available at www.nsf.gov/pubs/2003/nsf03212/nsf03212.pdf)

• Mestre, J.P. & Cocking, R.R. (2000). Special Issue on the Science of Learning. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 21 (#1).

• National Research Council. (2001). Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

• Etkina, E., Mestre, J., & O’Donnell, A. (in press). The impact of the cognitive revolution on science learning and teaching. In J.M. Royer (Ed.) The Cognitive Revolution in Educational Psychology. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

• Mestre, J. (in press). Transfer of Learning from a Modern Multidisciplinary Perspective. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.