college classroom - week 2

The College ClassroomJanuary 16, 2013

Week 2: How People Learn

Please form 4 islands of 6 peopleby the color on the index card you

received.

2collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu #tccucsd

Evidence-based teaching

collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu #tccucsd

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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.

“…exploit the patterns…”4

Put up your hand when you know what this means:

NBCFBIOMGUSAIRS


recognize what this is:

How People Learn, Chapter 1 matrix

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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 purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside the classroom.

(How People Learn, p. 14)

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Discussion


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1. Introduce yourself.2. Tell the others in your group about how,

in the class you observed, the instructor successfully engaged the students’ preconceptions and initial understanding. (5 minutes)

Discussion


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in the class you observed, the instructor successfully engaged the students’ preconceptions and initial understanding. (5 minutes)

3. Tell your group about a time when the instructor failed to engage the students’ pre-existing knowledge. How did you know? (5 minutes)

Implications for Teaching – 1

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


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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)


Designing Classroom Environments – 1Schools and classrooms must be learner centered.


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Key Findings – 2

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.


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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.


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Discussion


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in the class you observed, the instructor talked about the framework of concept and organization/retrieval of the concepts. (5 minutes)

3. Tell your group about a time when the instructor failed at [see 2]. How did you know? (5 minutes)

Designing Classroom Environments – 2To 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.


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learning outcome

s(Week 4)

developmentof

expertise(Week 3)


Key Findings – 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.


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Aside: metacognition


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Metacognition refers to one’s knowledge concerning one’s own cognitive processes or anything related to them, e.g., the learning-relevant properties of information or data. For example, I am engaging in metacognition if I notice that I am having more trouble learning A than B; if it strikes me that I should double check C before accepting it as fact.

(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].

Aside: metacognition


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I wonder why I wonder why?I wonder why I wonder?I wonder why I wonder why I wonder why I wonder?

Richard Feynman

Image: Wikimedia Commonshttp://www.fnal.gov/pub/news/feynman.jpg

Key Findings – 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.


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


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Designing Classroom Environments – 3Formative 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.


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assessment

(Week 5)collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu #tccucsd

Evolution of the Solar System


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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.


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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


Typical Peer Instruction Episode

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.

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Peer Instruction and How People Learn25



In effective peer instruction

students teach each other while theymay still hold or remember their novice misconceptions

students discuss the concepts in theirown 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

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Effective peer instruction requires1. identifying key concepts, misconceptions2. creating multiple-choice questions that

require deeper thinking and learning

3. facilitating peer instruction episodes thatspark student discussion

4. resolving the misconceptions

beforeclass

duringclass

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Teacher C

(HPL p. 12)

The College ClassroomJanuary 23, 2013

Watch the blog for the Week 3 homework

collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

Week 3: Development of Expertise

college classroom - week 2

Documents