How People Learn (Biology edition)

HOW PEOPLE LEARN

Peter Newbury Center for Teaching Development,University of California, San Diego

[email protected] @polarisdotca

ctd.ucsd.edu #ctducsd

YOU CAN HELP

February 5, 2013

BIOLOGY

2 How People Learn (Biology)

Evidence-based teaching

How People Learn (Biology)3

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.

The traditional lecture is based on the transmissionist learning model

How People Learn (Biology)4 (Image by um.dentistry on flickr CC)

How People Learn (Biology)

Scientifically Outdated, a Known Failure

5

We must abandon the tabula rasa “blank slate” and

“students as empty vessels” models of teaching and

learning.


Let’s have a learning experience…

6

7

Here is an important new number system. Please learn it.


1 = 4 = 7 =

2 = 5 = 8 =

3 = 6 = 9 =

8

Test


What is this number?

9

New Number System


Here’s the structure of the “tic-tac-toe” code:

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

10

Test


What is this number?


Constructivist theory of learning

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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 inyour brain when you learn.

T.J. Shors, “Saving New Brain Cells”

Sci. Amer. 300, 46-54 (March 2009).


What are the patterns of how people learn?

How do we use them?


Key Finding 1

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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.


Key Finding 2

14

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.



Key Finding 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. How People Learn – Chapter 1, p 18.

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].


Key Finding 3

17


Please break into groups of 3-4...18

Each set of cards has3 Key Findings3 Implications for Teaching3 Designing Classroom Environments

TASK: For each Key Finding, match one Implication for Teaching and one Designing Classroom Environment.

19


Key Finding 1

20

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.



Implications for Teaching 1

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Teachers must draw out and work with the preexisting understandings that their students bring with them.

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Clicker QuestionThe 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.

Question credit: Bill Wood

Veritasium (Derek Muller)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KZb2_vcNTg


Classroom Environments 1

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Schools and classrooms must be learner centered.


Learning requires (good) interaction

E.E. Prather, A.L. Rudolph, G. Brissenden and W.M. Schlingman, “A national study assessing the teaching and

learning of introductory astronomy. Part I. The effect of interactive instruction,” Am. J. Phys 66, 64-74 (1998).



% of class time NOT lecturing

Learning gain:

pre-test0

100%

post-test

0.50





1 2

3 4




Key Finding 2

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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.


These are characteristics

of

expertize.



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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 2To 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.

Development of Mastery


conscious

unconscious

incompetent competent

Level of Expertise

Behavio

r

Sprague, J., & Stuart, D. (2000). The speaker’s handbook. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt College Publishers.




Level of Expertise



conscious

unconscious

adikko.deviantart.com

Behavio

r



conscious

unconscious


Level of Expertise

Behavio

r



conscious

unconscious


1

Level of Expertise

Behavio

r



conscious

unconscious


1

2

Level of Expertise

Behavio

r



conscious

unconscious


1

2 3

Level of Expertise

Behavio

r



conscious

unconscious


1

2 3

4

Level of Expertise

Behavio

r

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


Key Finding 3

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The teaching of metacognitive skills should be integrated into the curriculum in a variety of subject areas.

Classroom Environments 3Formative 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

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)


Clicker question

Are features X and Y ridges or valleys?A) X=ridge,

Y=valleyB) X=valley,

Y=ridgeC) both are ridgesD) both are valleys

X

Ycrater

(EOS/CWSEI - UBC)

Implications for Instructorsand Teaching Assistants

42


student-centered instruction

listening

interacting

engaged

learning

traditional lecture

listening


student-centered instruction

listening

interacting

engaged

learningpeer instruction w clickersworksheetsvideosinteractive demonstrationssurveys of opinionsreading quizzesdiscussions


Archimedes’ PrincipleIn today’s Physics class, we’re going to study buoyancy and Archimedes’ Principle.

(Image: Wikimedia Commons – public domain)

Clicker question


An ice cube is floating in a glass of waterthat is filled entirely to the brim. As the icecube 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)


Typical episode of peer instruction

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Alternating with 10-15 minute mini-lectures, 1. Instructor poses a conceptually-

challengingmultiple-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.


In effective peer instruction students teach each other immediately,

while they may still hold or remembertheir novice misconceptions

students discuss the concepts in theirown (novice) language

the instructor finds out what the students know (and don’t know) and reacts

students learn and practice how to think, communicate like experts

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Clicker QuestionSuppose 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)

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Some other phylogeny

A) B)

C) D)

Which one is the closest match to your phylogeny?

Quiz

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Selection is the stimulus/pressure (internal or external) that affects life and/or the ability to reproduce.True or False?1. Some plants don’t experience selection.

2. Insects often experience a different type of selection as larvae than as adults.

3. Birds can experience different directions of selection in different years.

4. Selection in mammals always operates more strongly on survival than on reproduction.

T F

T F

T F

T F

Sync with Key Findings?

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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?

Clicker question: Selection

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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

Active Learning in Discussion Sections

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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?


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?


Traditional classroom

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

learn easy stuff

together

learn hard stuff alone


Flipped classroom

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

learn hard stuff

together

learn easy stuff alone

How People Learn

58

Learning is not about what TAs explain.It’s about what students understand!

How People Learn

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Corollary 1: Students will not understand (just) by watching the TA solve problems.

How People Learn

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Corollary 1: Students will not understand (just) by watching the TA solve problems.

Corollary 2: BE LESS HELPFUL.

If in doubt, ask yourself…

61

Who is doing the work?You or the students?

HOW PEOPLE LEARN

Peter Newbury Center for Teaching Development,University of California, San Diego

[email protected] @polarisdotca

ctd.ucsd.edu #ctducsd

YOU CAN HELP

Monday, February 4, 2013Eleanor Roosevelt College

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How People Learn (Biology edition)