This document discusses key findings from research on how people learn and implications for teaching. It summarizes three main findings from the book "How People Learn": 1) Students come to class with preexisting understandings that must be engaged, 2) To develop competence, students need deep factual knowledge within a conceptual framework, and 3) A metacognitive approach helps students control their own learning. It provides examples of shifting classroom environments and instruction to be more learner-centered, knowledge-centered, and assessment-centered based on these findings. The goal is to exploit patterns of learning to make instruction more effective.

1. HOW PEOPLE LEARN
Peter Newbury
Center for Teaching Development,
University of California, San Diego
pnewbury@ucsd.edu @polarisdotca
ctd.ucsd.edu #ctducsd
February 5, 2013

2. 2 How People Learn (Biology)

3. Evidence-based teaching
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.
3 How People Learn (Biology)

4. The traditional lecture is based on the
transmissionist learning model
4 How People Learn (Biology) (Image by um.dentistry on flickr CC)

5. Scientifically Outdated, a Known Failure
We must abandon the tabula rasa
―blank slate‖ and ―students as
empty vessels‖ models of teaching
and learning.
5 How People Learn (Biology)

6. Let’s have a learning experience…
6 How People Learn (Biology)

7. Here is an important new number
system. Please learn it.
1= 4= 7=
2= 5= 8=
3= 6= 9=
7 How People Learn (Biology)

8. Test
What is this number?
8 How People Learn (Biology)

9. New Number System
Here’s the structure of the ―tic-tac-toe‖ code:
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
9 How People Learn (Biology)

10. Test
What is this number?
10 How People Learn (Biology)

11. Constructivist theory of learning
 New learning is based on pre-existing knowledge
that you hold.
 You store things in long term memory through a set
of connections that are made with previous existing
memories.
 Higher-level learning = brain development
Physical changes occur in
your brain when you learn.
T.J. Shors, ―Saving New Brain Cells‖
Sci. Amer. 300, 46-54 (March 2009).
11 How People Learn (Biology)

12. What are the patterns of
how people learn?
How do we use them?
12 How People Learn (Biology)

13. 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 – Chapter 1, p 14.
13 How People Learn (Biology)

14. Key Finding 2
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 People Learn – Chapter 1, p 16.
14 How People Learn (Biology)

15. Key Finding 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.
How People Learn – Chapter 1, p 18.
15 How People Learn (Biology)

16. 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.
(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].
16 How People Learn (Biology)

17. Key Finding 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.
How People Learn – Chapter 1, p 18.
17 How People Learn (Biology)

18. Please break into groups of 3-4...
18
Each set of cards has
3 Key Findings
3 Implications for Teaching
3 Designing Classroom Environments
TASK: For each Key Finding, match one Implication for
Teaching and one Designing Classroom Environment.

19. 19

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.
How People Learn – Chapter 1, p 14.
20 How People Learn (Biology)

21. Implications for Teaching 1
Teachers must draw out and work with the preexisting
understandings that their students bring with them.
21 How People Learn (Biology)

22. Clicker Question
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.
Veritasium (Derek Muller)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KZb2_vcNTg
Question credit: Bill Wood
22

23. Classroom Environments 1
Schools and classrooms must be learner centered.
23 How People Learn (Biology)

24. Learning requires (good) interaction
E.E. Prather, A.L. Rudolph, G. Brissenden and W.M. Schlingman, ―A national study assessing the teaching and
24 How People Learn (Biology) learning of introductory astronomy. Part I. The effect of interactive instruction,‖ Am. J. Phys 66, 64-74 (1998).

25. Learning requires (good) interaction
Learning gain:
100%
0.50
% of class time
NOT lecturing
0
pre-test post-test
E.E. Prather, A.L. Rudolph, G. Brissenden and W.M. Schlingman, ―A national study assessing the teaching and
25 How People Learn (Biology) learning of introductory astronomy. Part I. The effect of interactive instruction,‖ Am. J. Phys 66, 64-74 (1998).

26. Learning requires (good) interaction
1 2
3 4
E.E. Prather, A.L. Rudolph, G. Brissenden and W.M. Schlingman, ―A national study assessing the teaching and
26 How People Learn (Biology) learning of introductory astronomy. Part I. The effect of interactive instruction,‖ Am. J. Phys 66, 64-74 (1998).

27. Key Finding 2
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 People Learn – Chapter 1, p 16.
These are
characteristics of
expertize.
27 How People Learn (Biology)

28. Implications for Teaching 2
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.
Classroom Environments 2
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.
28 How People Learn (Biology)

29. Development of Mastery
conscious
Behavior
unconscious
incompetent competent
Level of Expertise
Sprague, J., & Stuart, D. (2000). The speaker’s handbook. Fort Worth, TX:
29 How People Learn (Biology)
Harcourt College Publishers.

30. Development of Mastery
incompetent competent
Level of Expertise
30 How People Learn (Biology)

31. Development of Mastery
conscious
Behavior
unconscious
adikko.deviantart.com
31 How People Learn (Biology)

32. Development of Mastery
conscious
Behavior
unconscious
incompetent competent
Level of Expertise
32 How People Learn (Biology)

33. Development of Mastery
conscious
Behavior
unconscious 1
incompetent competent
Level of Expertise
33 How People Learn (Biology)

34. Development of Mastery
conscious
2
Behavior
unconscious 1
incompetent competent
Level of Expertise
34 How People Learn (Biology)

35. Development of Mastery
conscious
2 3
Behavior
unconscious 1
incompetent competent
Level of Expertise
35 How People Learn (Biology)

36. Development of Mastery
conscious
2 3
Behavior
unconscious 1 4
incompetent competent
Level of Expertise
36 How People Learn (Biology)

37. Why Your Students Don’t Understand You
Expert brains differ from novice brains because novices:
 Lack rich, networked connections, cannot make
inferences
 Have preconceptions that distract or confuse
 Lack automization, resulting in cognitive overload
37 How People Learn (Biology)

38. Key Finding 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.
How People Learn – Chapter 1, p 18.
38 How People Learn (Biology)

39. Implications for Teaching 3
The teaching of metacognitive skills should be
integrated into the curriculum in a variety of subject
areas.
Classroom Environments 3
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 –
thinking about their own thinking
39 How People Learn (Biology)

40. Evolution of the Solar System
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.
(Image: NASA)
40 How People Learn (Biology)

41. Clicker question
X Are features X and Y
ridges or valleys?
A) X=ridge, Y=valley
B) X=valley, Y=ridge
C) both are ridges
Y D) both are valleys
crater
(EOS/CWSEI - UBC)
41 How People Learn (Biology)

42. 42
Implications for Instructors
and Teaching Assistants

43. traditional lecture student-centered instruction
43 How People Learn (Biology)

44. peer instruction w clickers
worksheets
videos
interactive demonstrations
surveys of opinions
reading quizzes
discussions
student-centered instruction
44 How People Learn (Biology)

45. Archimedes’ Principle
In today’s Physics class, we’re going to study buoyancy
and Archimedes’ Principle.
(Image: Wikimedia Commons – public domain)
45 How People Learn (Biology)

46. Clicker question
An ice cube is floating in a glass of water
that is filled entirely to the brim. As the ice
cube melts, the water level will
A) stay the same, remain at the brim.
B) rise, causing the water to spill.
C) fall to a level below the brim.
D) cannot say without knowing the density of ice.
(Physics and Astronomy/CWSEI - UBC)
46 How People Learn (Biology)

47. Typical episode of peer instruction
Alternating with 10-15 minute mini-lectures,
1. Instructor poses a conceptually-challenging
multiple-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.
47 How People Learn (Biology)

48. In effective peer instruction
 students teach each other immediately, students learn
while they may still hold or remember and practice
their novice misconceptions how to think,
 students discuss the concepts in their communicate
own (novice) language like experts
 the instructor finds out what the students know (and
don’t know) and reacts
48 How People Learn (Biology)

49. Clicker Question
Suppose that in the tree below new data were
uncovered indicating that taxon E is sister to a group
consisting of taxa D and F. Draw the new phylogeny.
(Biology/CWSEI - UBC)
49

50. Which one is the closest match to your phylogeny?
A) B)
C) D) Some other
phylogeny
50

51. Quiz
Selection is the stimulus/pressure (internal or external)
that affects life and/or the ability to reproduce.
True or False?
T F 1. Some plants don’t experience selection.
T F 2. Insects often experience a different type of selection as
larvae than as adults.
T F 3. Birds can experience different directions of selection in
different years.
T F 4. Selection in mammals always operates more strongly on
survival than on reproduction.
51

52. Sync with Key Findings?
 Does that lesson demand deep foundation of
knowledge, a conceptual framework, organization of
knowledge?
 Did instructor teach in depth, multiple examples of
concept, provide firm foundation?
 Is attention given to what is taught, why it’s taught
and what mastery looks like?
 Is there an opportunity for students to be
metacognitive?
52

53. Clicker question: Selection
How many of the following statements are true?
Plants: Some plants don’t experience selection.
Insects: Insects often experience a different type of
selection as larvae than as adults.
Birds: Birds can experience different directions of
selection in different years.
Mammals: Selection in mammals always operates more
strongly on survival than on reproduction.
A) 0 B) 1 C) 2 D)3 E)4
53

54. Active Learning in Discussion Sections
 Think, Pair Share or peer instruction with clickers or
colored ABCD cards
 One-Minute papers: What is most confusing right
now?
 Problem Solving in Groups
 Provide scaffold/structure
 Ask what steps would you take to solve problem
(versus actually solving them)
 Critique or ―fix‖ sample work/problem
 overhead slides, document cameras, board?
54

55. Student-centered instruction takes time
Five minutes of peer instruction every 15 minutes means
25% of class time is spent on interactive, students-
centered instruction.
Where does that time come from?
55 How People Learn (Biology)

56. Traditional classroom
learn easy learn hard
stuff together stuff alone
 first exposure to material is in class, content is
transmitted from instructor to student
 learning occurs later when student struggles alone to
complete homework, essay, project
56 How People Learn (Biology)

57. Flipped classroom
learn easy learn hard
stuff alone stuff together
 student learns easy content at home: definitions,
basis skills, simple examples. Frees up class time for...
 students come to class prepared to tackle
challenging concepts in class, with immediate
feedback from peers, instructor
57 How People Learn (Biology)

58. How People Learn
Learning is not about what TAs explain.
It’s about what students understand!
58

59. How People Learn
Learning is not about what TAs explain.
It’s about what students understand!
Corollary 1: Students will not understand
(just) by watching the TA solve problems.
59

60. How People Learn
Learning is not about what TAs explain.
It’s about what students understand!
Corollary 1: Students will not understand
(just) by watching the TA solve problems.
Corollary 2: BE LESS HELPFUL.
60

61. If in doubt, ask yourself…
Who is doing the work?
You or the students?
61

62. HOW PEOPLE LEARN
Peter Newbury
Center for Teaching Development,
University of California, San Diego
pnewbury@ucsd.edu @polarisdotca
ctd.ucsd.edu #ctducsd
Monday, February 4, 2013
Eleanor Roosevelt College