Communication in

teaching

• Feedback skill

• Speaking in class

• Handling conflict

Pic 1

Pic 1

”–It´s something with the moon, gravitation”.

”– If this plate is Earth and my coffee cup is the Moon, then…”

”–Isn´t there a 6hr cycle? Any ideas why?”

”–I think the Sun is involved too..”

”–I remember when I visited the coast of X, …”

”– Anders’ idea with centrifugal/centripetal slingshot forces, really?”

What is tide? Which

mechanisms are

Involved?

Identifying and handling

conflicts

-“ Well, that comes with some

extra work for me, and you

will not provide feedback to

your group peers; have you

considered that? Next peer

feedback occasion is in 9

months, so you will not be able

to finish the course until then”.

-”I figure I´ll be absent this

week, after all, the Lund

carneval is only once in 4yrs. I

guess it´s OK to catch up next

week?”

Parent Parent

Adult Adult

Child Child

Teacher

Berne (1978), transaction analysis

Student

-”..Right, time to load the ipod

for ..”

-”Be onboard the excursion

buss tomorrow 8 sharp! Boots

on! I´ll compare number of

signed out geo-hammers with

signed participants in the

quarry, so don´t try to cheat”.

Parent Parent

Adult Adult

Child Child

Lärare Student

Berne (1978), transaction analysis

Really nasty behaviour..

• Mobbing techniques

– To ignore

– To ridicule

– To withhold info

– ”Damn you if you do – damn you if you don´t”

– Insinuate guilt

From interview of Berit Ås

Speaking in front of class

Stress & anxiety

Perf

orm

an

ce

Stress level

Heavy swetting,

High pulse,

Shallow breathing

Escape behaviour,

etc..

Listeners attention depends on

• Recognition

• Experienced relevance

• Consequence

Leve

rl o

f at

ten

tio

n

20 minutes

The talk..

vs everything else..

(cf. Hemlin 1960, Bligh 2000)

Feedback–

all you need is to: 1. Create the opportunity (time/space)..

2. ..communicate feedback criteria early..

3. ..let feedback come from you & others..

4. .. in a astructured way..

5. ..express it so that it will not be rejected

1 Opportunity

• Schedule/negotiate time & space

• Make the students produce ”X”

– Dialogue, experiment, problem,, etc

? ?

? !

2 Criteria

• Make them explicit.

• ”A first class answer/lab report report/thesis/

includes.., a weak report is typically..”

3 Design feedback from..

• You, the teacher

– (but, risk of the socratic bottle-neck)

• Peer students

• The performing student him/her-self

• The lab gear, etc

Overall coherence

and focus

Logical flow of information

between and within section

Matching tables and graphs with text

Links between

paragraphs

Headings Links between

Sentences

Jargon Abstract words Grammar

Spelling Capitalization Page layout Punctuation

Most complex

tasks

Least complex

tasks

Suggested feedback

order

Från Handal & Lauvås (2008). Urspr. Brown (1994)

4 Structured

feedback,

example

Scenario:You have just got an envelope back from the editor of the high

impact journal, Journal of Your Own Research (JoYOR). Both reviewers

value the ms similarly (accepted after moderate revision), but expresses

their feedback quite differently. Here´s just a copied sentence from their

letters trying to state similar judgment;

Reviewer 1: “This text section on ABC is sloppy - not good enough –

change. Logic is unclear!”.

Reviewer 2: “Ideas A and B seem congruent to me, but I could not

follow how arguments A and B could lead to conclusion C. Could you

please clarify this?”

Case: reviewers feedback skills.

Find at least 4 principal differences

5 Feedback that triggers

performance change, not

rejection by the receiver

Efficient feedback is thus..

• me-message, i.e., represents your reaction

• Balanced, negative & positive

• Concrete for both –”-, not general

• Helpful, not judgmental

• Immediate, not “bottled up irritation”

• Questions, rather than statements

• You did great advances this yr!

• I see you already got three ms in press this

yr!

• You ran that research group meeting really

poorly; I´m disappointed.

• I found the meeting problematic. You

seemed to make Jan-Ingvar loose face

deliberately. Not typical for your normal

meeting style in my view.

• Those calibration mistakes 2yrs ago will

certainly be costly at your dissertation day.

• When I checked your data calibration last

week I found errors in the range of a

magnitude. If you don’t deal with this now I

guess there will be difficulties at your

dissertation.

• You are not convincing when you present

your research so hesitantly, with a weak

voice and unstable body language.

• I´ve noticed you tend to speak quietly and

move back to the wall. I suggest you move

3m closer to the audience and start from

there with your most compelling research

issue, and why it intrigues you!

Learning in lab/field

• Student

– Encounters problem/difficulty

– Gathers useful facts

– Estimates approximate direction of solution

– Erects a hypothesis based on the facts

– Sketches personal theory on how aspects relate to eachother

– Experiments to verifiery/deny hypotheses and theories

John Dewey (1859-1956)

Typical intentions of lab/field learning activities

• Illustrate/demonstrate theory

• Develop practical lab abilities

• Inspire and motivate

• Get feedback on currently developing knowledge

• Develop analytical critical thinking

• Facilitate the understanding of scientific work

• Develop collaborative skills

• Develop the language of the subject discipline (cf. Hult 1999)

”Observation X in the lab didn´t fit given theory Z from previous

lecture”

• Guess and discuss possible student

reactions and compare with your own

conclusion

”There´s nothing as practical as a good theory” (Lewin 1952)

Observation Theory

Observation Theory

P-E Ellström Integrating Learning and Work: Problems and Prospects

Adaptive and developmental

learning

Questionaire: Is there a gap between

lectures and labs?

Students:

”Yes, this is

typical”

TAs:

”Yes, this is

typical”

Lecturers:

”If students and

TAs say it is,

yes..”

Barri et al 2006: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice

on an Example of Chemical Laboratory (LTH course report, 20pp)

Lab/Field Lect

Lect

Lect

Lect

Lab/Field

Lab/Field

Lab/Field Lect

Lect

Lect

Lect

Lab/Field

Lab/Field

Lecturers view

Students’ view

OK, but is this gap a

significant problem?

Students:

”Yes, this is

typical”

TAs:

”Yes, this is

typical”

Lecturers:

”Yes, if students

and TAs say

so..”

”No, it´s ok,

it´s normal!”

”It is a

frustrating

problem!”

”I don´t think

this is a big

problem”

Barri et al 2006: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice

on an Example of Chemical Laboratory (LTH course report, 20pp)

Bridging the gap

lecture lab lecture

Barri et al 2006: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice

on an Example of Chemical Laboratory (LTH course report, 20pp)