Talk given during visit to UKZN 16th-20th May 2011. Interactive lectures. Presented by: Simon Bates

1. Interactive Engagement techniques
for large class lectures
Simon Bates
Dean of Learning and Teaching Professor of Physics Education
College of Science and Engineering School of Physics & Astronomy
s.p.bates@ed.ac.uk UKZN May 2011 1
Sunday, 22 May 2011

2. or
‘Inverting your classroom’
Simon Bates
Dean of Learning and Teaching Professor of Physics Education
College of Science and Engineering School of Physics & Astronomy
s.p.bates@ed.ac.uk 2
Sunday, 22 May 2011

3. or
‘Rousing the Dead’:
getting students to come to, stay awake and participate in
large class lectures
Simon Bates
Dean of Learning and Teaching Professor of Physics Education
College of Science and Engineering School of Physics & Astronomy
s.p.bates@ed.ac.uk 3
Sunday, 22 May 2011

4. Learning in phases
Acquisition
- reading, listening, lectures etc.
Assimilation
- making meaning, connections, practice,
discussion, integrating ….
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5. 5
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6. 6
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7. There are 2 problems:
• We spend much class
contact time in
activities towards the
bottom
• We provide most
access to expert help
and guidance during
class hours
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8. Consequences:
• Lack of engagement
• Strategic / shallow
learning, geared totally
towards passing exam
• Helplessness, general
despair.
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9. ‘Inverting the classroom’…
Is about making more time for more
cognitively demanding tasks in class hours
And / or
About finding new ways to engage
participants outside class hours.
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10. Lectures
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11. “Despite the changes in the learning
environment, teaching methods do not
appear to have changed considerably.
Initial findings from research suggest
that many staff still see teaching
primarily in terms of transmission of
information, mainly through lectures.”
Dearing, National Committee of Enquiry into Higher Education: Dept. for Education 1997
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12. Teaching is the art
of leading students
into a situation from
which they can only
escape by thinking
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13. “Lectures (in physics) can be
incredibly passive experiences
for students, particularly dangerous for those
who believe that if they follow the professor,
they’ve mastered the material”
Van Heuvelen “Learning to think like a Physicist”
Am J Phys 59(10) 1991 891-897
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20. Multi-mode
delivery
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21. ATHERTON J S (2010) Learning and
Teaching; Lectures [On-line] UK: Available:
http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/
lecture.htm
Sunday, 22 May 2011

22. “ The complex cognitive skills required to
understand Physics cannot be
developed by listening to lectures…
… any more than one can learn to play
tennis by watching tennis matches.”
Hestenes, D. Am. J. Phys., 66, 465-7 (1998)
Sunday, 22 May 2011

23. • A “clicker”, a.k.a.
– An Electronic Voting
System
– A Personal Response
System
– An Audience Response
System
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27. Underpinned College Learning
and Teaching strategy
‘Loanership’ of 3000 handsets
Wide range of disciplines
Science, Eng,Vet. Med.
Sunday, 22 May 2011

28. “Although multiple choice questions may seem
limiting, they can be surprisingly good at
generating the desired student engagement and
guiding student thinking.
They work particularly well if the possible answers
embody common confusions or difficult ideas.”
Wieman, C. and Perkins K., Physics Today (2005) 36-42.
Sunday, 22 May 2011

29. • What makes a
good question?
– Concept-testing
– Where known
misconceptions live
– Spread of answers
expected
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30. • What if you don’t know what
misconceptions exist?
– Get students to tell you; the “1 minute
paper”
– Feedback loop from end-of-course
assessment
Sunday, 22 May 2011

31. “Electronic classroom response systems....are
merely tools, not a 'magic bullet'.
To significantly impact student learning (they)
must be employed with skill in the service of a
sound, coherent pedagogy.
This is not easy.”
Beatty, I.D., Gerace, W.J., Leonard, W.J., Dufresne, R.J., Am. J. Phys 2006
Sunday, 22 May 2011

32. • The “friendly” question
– “ What is your background study
of subject X? ”
– Useful as a test-how-it-works question early
on
– Can address attention span limit in lectures
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33. • The recap question
– “ In the last lecture we covered Y; let’s see
what you can recall ”
– Can be useful at the start of a lecture to
engage
– Use to reinforce key concepts.
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35. 1
2
3
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36. • Peer Instruction
– Question
– Individual poll
– Students discuss
– Repoll
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37. Reproduced from Eric Mazur
(search “Confessions of a converted lecturer” on YouTube)
Sunday, 22 May 2011

38. • The reduction in coverage
– Departure from the A-Z content
transmission
– The A-Z must be elsewhere (book, web,
tutorial…)
– The students must buy-in to “the learning
contract”
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39. • The first lecture is crucial
– Why we are doing this
– What we expect of them
– Practice use with friendly questions
• There is a learning curve
– This is not an “out of the box” solution
– Whole-team buy-in
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40. • What makes a good question ?
• How many to have each lecture ?
• Where to place it / them ?
• Beware shoe-horning content in
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41. But does it work ?
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42. Am. J. Phys. 66 1, January 1998
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43. Reproduced from Eric Mazur
(search “Confessions of a converted lecturer” on YouTube)
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44. Reproduced from Eric Mazur
(search “Confessions of a converted lecturer” on YouTube)
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47. Summary
• There are effective, evidenced,
research-based strategies out there
• Adoption takes time
• It’s a slippery slope…..
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48. EdPER group website
http://bit.ly/EdPER
s.p.bates@ed.ac.uk
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