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HowLearningWorks:The
ImportanceofPrac9ce
Carpentries’PedagogicalModel
• Favourprac%calandhands-on▪ Teach,prac9se,feedback,nextstep->loop
• Developlearners’confidence• Layfounda9onforfuturelearning
Cogni9veDevelopmentandMentalModels
• Mentalmodel:concepts/facts+rela9onships• Effec9velearninghappenswhenalearnercreatesamentalmodelofthedomain
• Characterisetheskillleveltoknowhowbesttoteachthemtodevelopamentalmodel
HowtoCharacteriseSkill?
• Differencesinskill–mentalmodel‘bigpicture’• Dreyfusmodelofskillacquisi9onsimplified:
Doesn’t know what they don’t know – no mental model (key ideas) of domain Reason by analogy and guesswork Borrow from other mental models that seem similar
Good mental model for everyday purposes, e.g. driver and car Model perhaps not completely accurate Can do normal tasks with normal effort under normal circumstances
Can handle out of the ordinary situations Diagnose problem causes
Novice Competent Practitioner Expert
TutorialvsManual
• Novices,competentprac99oners&expertsneedtobetaughtdifferently
vs
Tutorial Reference Manual
CarpentryLearnersareNovices
• Helpthemdevelopaworkingmentalmodel• Easytooverloadnoviceswithtoomanyfacts▪ Unixshelllesson–16commandsin3hours!
5-15% use GPU clusters to analyze petabytes
in the cloud
85-95% send each other spreadsheets
by email
TheImportanceofGoingSlowly
“Ifsomeonefeelsit’stooslow,they’llbebored.Iftheyfeelit’stoofast,they’llnevercomebacktoprogramming.”-aCarpentryinstructor
• Meetlearnerswheretheyareat,whateverthestar9ngpointorcurrentskillset
• Adjustourteachingtotheirskillleveltoaidlearning,withoutmakingthemfeelinferior
Exercise1:Mentalmodels
• Writesomeaspectsofthementalmodelyouusetoframeandunderstandyourwork
• Whatconcepts/factsareincluded?Whattypesofrela9onshipsareincluded?
How“Knowledge”GetsintheWay
“Itain’twhatyoudon’tknowthatgetsyouintotrouble,it’swhatyouknowforsurethatjustain’tso”–MarkTwain
• Clearinguplearners’misconcep9ons:▪ Simplefactualerrors–easiesttocorrect▪ Brokenmodels–correctbyreasoning,addresscontradic9ons
▪ Fundamentalbeliefs–e.g.“worldisonlyafewthousandyearsold”,can’treallyaddressthese
Ourfocus!
Iden9fyingandCorrec9ngMisconcep9ons
• Instructorsneedfeedback!• Needaninsightinto/toassessmentalmodelofstudents
• Shouldbedonefrequently!
Ourfocus!
AssessingMentalModels
• Toexposeincomplete/brokenmentalmodels• Repe99onvs.reflec9veprac9ce Summative Assessment Formative Assessment
Did desired learning take place? Can learner move on?
e.g. a driving test Pass or fail
Guide learning by informing instructor and learner what to focus on Takes place during teaching
No pass or fail
Mul9pleChoiceQues9ons
• Forma9veassessmentneedstobequicktoadministerandevaluateandcomesinmanyforms–e.g.MCQs
Q:whatis27+15?a) 42b) 32c) 312d) 33
Exercise2:Iden9fyingMisconcep9ons
Q:whatis27+15?a) 42b) 32c) 312d) 33
Choose one wrong answer and write what the misconception is associated with it
ApplyingMCQs
1. Teachsomestuff2. PresentMCQprobingformisconcep9ons3. StudentsvoteonMCQanswers▪ Mostlyallrightanswers,moveon▪ Mostlyallsamewronganswer,addressmisconcep9on▪ Mixofrightandwrong,rewindtopreviouspointwhereall
wereonthesamepage,orgetthemtodiscuss• Doitfrequently-e.gevery15minsorso• Preemp9vely!• Break-upteachingandre-focusajen9on
NotesonMCQs
• AgoodMCQtestsforconceptualmisunderstanding,notfactualknowledge
• Fordistractors,thinkaboutproblemsfromprevioustrainingevents
• MCQsareusefulevenifnotusedinclass!
Exercise3:DesignaMCQ
• Createmul9plechoiceques9onrelatedtotopicyouintendtoteach
• Explaindiagnos9cpowerofeachdistractor,i.e.whatmisconcep9oniseachdistractormeanttoiden9fy?
• PairupwithyourneighbouranddiscussyourMCQs,providingfeedback
Summary
• Ourgoalasexpertswhenteachingnovicesistohelpthembuildusefulmentalmodelsandcorrectmisconcep9ons
• Usereflec%veprac%ce• Forma%veassessmentprovidesfeedbackforbothinstructorsandlearners
• Forma9veassessmentismostpowerfulwheninstructormodifiesherteaching(changepace,rewind,refocus)basedontheresult
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