The College Classroom Week 2: How People Learn

The College Classroom
October 8 and 10, 2013
Week 2: How People Learn

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collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu #tccucsd

Evidence-based teaching
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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.

“…exploit the patterns…”
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Put up your hand when you recognize what this is:
NBCFBIOMGUSAIRS

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 yourselves if you haven’t yet.
2. Tell the others at your table about how, 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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Designing Classroom Environments – 1
Schools and classrooms must be learner centered.
(How People Learn, p. 23)
Students need to “encounter safe yet challenging
conditions in which they can try, fail, receive feedback,
and try again without facing summative evaluation”
(What the best college teachers do, p.108)
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Learning requires interaction [3]
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% of class time
NOT lecturing
Learning gain:
pre-test
0
100%
post-test
0.50

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1 2
3 4

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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Tic-Tac-Toe code
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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 and
organized for retrieval

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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Tell the others at your table about how, in the class you
observed, the instructor talked about (or never talk
about) the framework of concepts and the organization
and retrieval of the concepts. (5 minutes)

To 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
outcomes
(Week 4)
development
of expertise
(Week 3)

Key Findings – 3
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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
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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.
([4], [5])
cognitionmeta

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 Commons
http://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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Formative 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)

Another way to “teach metacognitive skills”
 write a blog post
 ask students to write blog posts
 provide them with the tools to write posts
 help them set up their own blogs
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Writing blog posts help you to be
metacognitive: it’s something the
students should do.
So what should the instructor do?
upcoming
TCC
homework
If you’re
interested,
talk to Peter

Your classroom observations
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Did anyone observe a time when students had an
opportunity to be metacognitive – to have an internal
dialogue about their understanding of the concepts?
 How did the instructor prompt them?
 e.g.
 What task did the instructor give them?
 e.g.

Introductory Chemistry
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Today, we’ll be learning about changes of state.

Clicker question
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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 (PI)
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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.
an “agile” instructor can try variations on 3 – 4

In effective peer instruction
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 students teach each other while
they may still hold or remember
their novice preconceptions
 students discuss the concepts in their
own (novice) language
 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 student discussion
4. resolving the misconceptions
before
class
during
class
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Teacher C
(HPL p. 12)

PI and How People Learn
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The College Classroom
October 15 and 17, 2013
Watch the blog for the Week 3 Homework
collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu
Week 3: Development of Expertise

References
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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. Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
3. 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.
4. Flavell, J. H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In
L. B. Resnick (Ed.), The nature of intelligence (pp.231-236).
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
5. Brame, C. (2013). Thinking about metacognition. [blog] January,
2013, Available at: http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/2013/01/thinking-
about-metacognition/ [Accessed: 14 Jan 2013].

The College Classroom Week 2: How People Learn

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The College Classroom Week 2: How People Learn