Enhancing Large Classes with Active and Cooperative Learning

Karl A. SmithCivil Engineering

University of Minnesotaksmith@umn.edu

http://www.ce.umn.edu/~smith

Michigan State University

Active Learning and Inclusive Teaching

10th Annual Summer Institute on College Teaching and Learning

August, 2005

2

Session GoalsMSU Guiding Principle #2:

Achieve More Active Learning

• Overview of cooperative learning (CL)

• Key concepts of CL

• Approaches for implementing CL

• Participants – Networking– Background & experience?– Goals and expectations?

To teach is to engage students in learning; thus teaching consists of getting students involved in the

active construction of knowledge. . .The aim of teaching is not only to transmit information, but also to

transform students from passive recipients of other people's knowledge into active constructors of their

own and others' knowledge. . .Teaching is fundamentally about creating the pedagogical, social, and ethical conditions under which students agree to take charge of their own learning, individually and

collectively

Education for judgment: The artistry of discussion leadership. Edited by C. Roland Christensen, David A. Garvin, and Ann Sweet. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School, 1991.

The Current Situation

• Classes with Over 50 students B Prevalent and Increasing; ditto for Classes with Over 100 students

Classes of 50 students or more:Best National Universities (Top 50) B 1-28%, Avg = 12.4, S.D. = 6.3

National Universities (Next 50) B 0.3-50%, Avg = 12.1, S.D. = 7.7

U.S. News & World Report (www.usnews.com (Accessed 10/16/00)

Instructional Approach

•Gardiner(1994) report that 73-83 percent of college instructors surveyed identified the lecture method as their usual instructional strategy

Instructional Techniques1

EngineeringFaculty

All Faculty

Extensivelecturing

78% 54%

Classdiscussion

45 70

Graduate TAs 18 6

Cooperativelearning

14 27

Percent of those using the technique in all ormost classes

Astin, Alexander W. 1993. Engineering outcomes. ASEE PRISM, 3(1), 27-30.

Large Classes: How Well are They Working?

Carbone and Greenberg (1998) indicate a general dissatisfaction with the quality of large-class learning experiences

• Lack of interaction with faculty members (in and out of class

• Lack of structure in lectures• Lack of or poor discussion sections• Inadequate contact with teaching assistants• Inadequacy of classroom facilities and

environment• Lack of frequent testing or graded assignments

Large Classes:How Well are They Working?

Students= Comments

• Wulff, Nyquist & Abbott (1987):$AIt is easier to do anything you want, sleep, not attend, or lose attention@$ANo one knows I=m here@$ARude people come late, leave early, or sit and talk to their buddies@

Lila M. Smith

Pedago-pathologies B Lee Shulman

Amnesia

Fantasia

Inertia

Shulman, Lee S. 1999. Taking learning seriously. Change, 31 (4), 11-17.

What do we do about these pathologies? – Lee Shulman

Activity Reflection

Collaboration Passion

Combined with generative content and the creation of powerful learning

communities

Shulman, Lee S. 1999. Taking learning seriously. Change, 31 (4), 11-17.

Lila M. Smith

Cooperative Learning Task Groups

Perkins, David. 2003. King Arthur's RoundTable: How collaborative conversations create

smart organizations. NY: Wiley.

Active/Cooperative Learning, Learning Community

Success Story

Reflect on and Talk about your Active/Cooperative Learning, Learning

Community Success(es)

1. Context?2. Structure/Procedure?

3. Outcome?

Getting Students Actively Involved Using Cooperative Learning: Principles, Strategies, and Problem-Solving

What is it? How do you do it? Why bother?

Cooperative Learning is instruction that involves people working in teams to accomplish a common goal, under conditions that involve both positive

interdependence (all members must cooperate to complete the task) and individual and group

accountability (each member is accountable for the complete final outcome).

Key Concepts

!Positive Interdependence!Individual and Group Accountability!Face-to-Face Promotive Interaction

!Teamwork Skills!Group Processing

Tracking Change - Seymour

"The greatest single challenge to SMET pedagogical reform remains the problem of whether and how large classes can be infused with more active and interactive

learning methods."

Seymour, Elaine. 2001. Tracking the processes of change in US undergraduate education in science, mathematics, engineering, and

technology. Science Education, 86, 79-105.

Retention Research

Talking about leaving: Why undergraduates leave the sciencesby Elaine Seymour & Nancy M. Hewitt

Westview, 430 pages, 1997.

Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition (Second edition)

by Vincent TintoUniversity of Chicago Press, 1993, 296 pages.

The Chilly Classroom Climate: A Guide to Improve the Education of Women

by Bernice Sandler, Lisa A. Silverberg & Roberta M. HallNational Association for Women in Education,

125 pages, 1996.

Talking about leaving: Why undergraduates leave the sciences

"Field switching is only the tip of an iceberg: The same set of problems that prompt some science, mathematics, and engineering undergraduates to

leave make persistence difficult for those who stay." (Cover jacket).

"Contrary to the common assumption that most switching is caused by personal inadequacy in the face of academic challenge, one strong

finding is the high proportion of factors cited as significant in switching decisions which arise either from structural or cultural sources within

institutions, or from students' concerns about their career prospects (p. 32)." The four most commonly cited concerns leading to switching

decisions (also cited by between 31 and 74 percent of the non-switchers) were:

1. Lack or loss of interest in science2. Belief that a non-S.M.E. major holds more interest, or offers a better

education3. Poor teaching by S.M.E. faculty

4. Feeling overwhelmed by the pace and load of curriculum demands.

Students' voices:

I do work hard, and my average load over these four years--even when I was transferring out--has been 17, 18 hours a semester, plus a couple of night classes sometimes. It doesn't really

bother me to work that hard. But when it's a concept I don't

understand and I go to get help from faculty and they just don't

give it, that's discouraging. (Male white engineering switcher)

What bothers me is the number of people who know what

engineering is about, and really have the capability to do well and be good in the field, but end up

going a different way for reasons other than the lack of ability.

(Female white engineering non-switcher).

You get people that would probably do well if they were given half a chance, but there's so much competition, and not a heck of a

lot of help. (Female black engineering senior).

The first two years in physics are so dull. I mean, they have

absolutely nothing to do with what you'll be doing later. I'm afraid that's why you might be losing

good students from engineering that are really qualified and have the intelligence. . .There are ways to make the introductory material interesting so that it doesn't drive

away good people through boredom. (Male white engineering

non-switcher).

Shaping the Future: New Expectations for Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics,

Engineering and Technology

Goal B All students have access to supportive, excellent undergraduate education in science, mathematics,

engineering, and technology, and all students learn these subjects by direct experience with the methods and processes

of inquiry.

Recommend that SME&T faculty: Believe and affirm that every student can learn, and model good practices that increase

learning; starting with the student's experience, but have high expectations within a supportive climate; and build inquiry, a

sense of wonder and the excitement of discovery, plus communication and teamwork, critical thinking, and life-long

learning skills into learning experiences.

http://clte.asu.edu/active

Book Ends on a Class Session

Book Ends on A Class Session

1.Advance Organizer2.Formulate-Share-Listen-Create (Turn-to-

your- neighbor) B repeated every 10-12 minutes

3.Session Summary (Minute Paper)1.What was the most useful or meaningful thing you learned during this session?2.What question(s) remain uppermost in your mind as we end this session?3.What was the Amuddiest@ point in this session?

Advance Organizer

AThe most important single factor influencing learning is what the

learner already knows. Ascertain this and teach him accordingly.@

David Ausubel - Educational psychology: A cognitive approach, 1968.

Quick Thinks

PReorder the stepsPParaphrase the idea

PCorrect the errorPSupport a statementPSelect the response

Johnston, S. & Cooper,J. 1997. Quick thinks: Active- thinking in lecture classes and televised instruction. Cooperative learning and college teaching, 8(1), 2-7.

Formulate-Share-Listen-Create

Informal Cooperative Learning GroupIntroductory Pair Discussion of a

FOCUS QUESTION

1.Formulate your response to the question individually

2.Share your answer with a partner3.Listen carefully to your partner's answer4.Work together to Create a new answer

through discussion

Minute Paper• What was the most useful or meaningful thing

you learned during this session?• What question(s) remain uppermost in your

mind as we end this session?• What was the “muddiest” point in this

session?• Give an example or application• Explain in your own words . . .

Angelo, T.A. & Cross, K.P. 1993. Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Informal CL (Book Ends on a Lecture) with Concept Tests

Physics Peer Instruction

Eric Mazur - Harvard B http://galileo.harvard.eduPeer Instruction www.prenhall.com

Richard Hake

Chemistry Chemistry ConcepTests - UW Madison B

www.chem.wisc.edu/~conceptVideo: Making Lectures Interactive with ConcepTests

ModularChem Consortium B http://mc2.cchem.berkeley.edu/

STEMTECVideo: How Change Happens: Breaking the ATeach as You Were

Taught@ Cycle B Films for the Humanities & Sciences B www.films.com

Thinking Together video: Derek Bok Center B www.fas.harvard.edu/~bok_cen/

Richard Hake (Interactive engagement vs traditional methods) http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/

Traditional (lecture)

Interactive (active/cooperative

)

<g> = Concept Inventory Gain/Total

Informal CooperativeLearning Groups

Can be used at any time

Can be short term and ad hoc

May be used to break up a long lecture

Provides an opportunity for students to process material they have been listening to (Cognitive Rehearsal)

Are especially effective in large lectures

Include "book ends" procedure

Are not as effective as Formal Cooperative Learning or Cooperative Base Groups

Strategies for Energizing Large Classes: From

Small Groups toLearning Communities:

Jean MacGregor,James Cooper,

Karl Smith,Pamela Robinson

New Directions for Teaching and Learning,

No. 81, 2000.Jossey- Bass

From Small Groups to Learning Communities: Energizing Large Classes

1.The argument for making large classes seem small2.Getting started: Informal small-group strategies in

large classes3.Going deeper: Formal small-group learning in large

classes4.Restructuring large classes to create communities of

learners5.Implementing small-group learning: Insights from

successful practitioners6.Making small-group learning and learning

communities a widespread reality

Theoretical and Empirical Rationale for Using Small Groups

• Promoting Cognitive Elaboration

• Enhancing Critical Thinking

• Providing Feedback

• Promoting Social and Emotional Development

• Appreciating Diversity

• Reducing Student Attrition

Getting Started: Informal Small- Group Strategies in Large Classes

• Launching the Class in Discussion Applications of Small-Group Approaches

• Breaking Up the Lecture for Comprehension Checks

• Closing Class with Small-Group Conversation• Reviewing for Exams• Debriefing Exams• Deepening Audiovisual Presentations• Predicting Processes and Outcomes of

Demonstrations

Cooperative Learning Research SupportJohnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T. & Smith, K.A. 1998. Cooperative learning returns

to college: What evidence is there that it works? Change, 30 (4), 26-35.

!Over 300 Experimental Studies!First study conducted in 1924

!High Generalizability!Multiple OutcomesOutcomes

1.Achievement and retention2.Critical thinking and higher-level reasoning

3.Differentiated views of others4.Accurate understanding of others'

perspectives5.Liking for classmates and teacher

6.Liking for subject areas7.Teamwork skills

Small-Group Learning: Meta- analysis

Springer, L., Stanne, M. E., & Donovan, S. 1999. Effects of small-group learning on undergraduates in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology: A meta-analysis.

Review of Educational Research, 69(1), 21-52.

Small-group (predominantly cooperative) learning in postsecondary science, mathematics, engineering, and

technology (SMET). 383 reports from 1980 or later, 39 of which met the rigorous inclusion criteria for meta-analysis.

The main effect of small-group learning on achievement, persistence, and attitudes among undergraduates in

SMET was significant and positive. Mean effect sizes for achievement, persistence, and attitudes were 0.51, 0.46,

and 0.55, respectively.

The Harvard Assessment Seminars B Richard J. Light

All the specific findings point to, and illustrate, one main idea. It

is that students who get the most out of college, who grow the most

academically, and who are the happiest, organize their time to include interpersonal activities with faculty members, or with fellow students, built around substantive, academic work.

Environmental Factors That Enhance Students= Academic and Personal Development and

SatisfactionAlexander Astin in What matters

in college: Four critical years revisited.

Jossey-Bass, 1993.

Student-student interactionStudent-faculty interactionA faculty that is very student-

orientedDiscussing racial/ethnic issues

with other studentsHours devoted to studying B

Time on taskTutoring other students

Socializing with students of different race/ethnicity

A student body that has high socioeconomic status

An institutional emphasis on diversity

A faculty that is positive about the general education program

A student body that values altruism and social activism

Making the Most of CollegeRichard J. Light

Harvard University Press (2001)

1. Meet the faculty2. Take a mix of courses

3. Study in groups4. Write, write, write

5. Speak another language6. Consider time7. Hold the drum

Session Summary(Minute Paper)

Reflect on the session:1.What were the most important points for

you?2.What is one thing you would be willing to try?

3.What questions do you have?

Discuss with a partner:1.Points that were useful, meaningful,

interesting, applicable, etc.2.Questions that you have.