Pedagogical Engineering 101 – How to Maximize the Gain in a Learner Centered Classroom Ed Prather and Gina Brissenden University of Arizona Center for

Pedagogical Engineering 101 – How to Maximize the Gain in a Learner Centered Classroom

Ed Prather and Gina BrissendenUniversity of Arizona

Center for Astronomy Education

Sponsored by the NASA JPL Navigator Public Engagement Program, & the Spitzer EPO Program

AND

NSF DUE CCLIII #0715517

http://astronomy101.jpl.nasa.gov

Goals:

• Provide you with the support to become the teacher you want to be.

• Create learning situations that allow you to acknowledge where you pedagogical content knowledge is in need of improvement

• Create a framework that you can use to construct the course that meets your needs and reaches your goals.

• Work to improve your understanding of how to asses your students understanding and measure the success of your teaching.

Introductions

Take 10 seconds to tell us a little about yourself

Fuel this experience with your:

Burning Questions

Expectations

• This is an important time to share and to learn: – Engage yourself in as many discussions as possible

(among the participants and presenters, there is enormous expertise and experience around the room)

– Critically examine your own beliefs about teaching and learning and respectfully question others’ rationale

• If you didn’t learn anything new in a particular session, you may need to engage more actively!

Eventually, Billy came to dread his father’s lectures over all other forms of punishment.

You need YOU to be a part of all this!!!!

• Attendance is strongly encouraged

• Audience participation

• Demos are sometimes life-threatening

Some Quotes to Frame Our Teaching and Their

Learning

The best learners … often make the worst teachers. They are, in a very

real sense, perceptually challenged. They cannot imagine what it must be

like to struggle to learn something that comes so naturally to them.

Stephen Brookfield

Lecture has often been described as the process of taking the information

contained in the teachers notes and transferring them into the students

notes without the information passing through the brains of either

Memorization is what we resort to when what we are learning makes no sense.

What we need to learn before doing, we learn by

doing

Aristotle

Most ideas about teaching are not new, but not

everyone knows the old ideas

Euclid

It's not what the teacher does that matters; rather, it

is what the students do

What you are doing is relentlessly searching for

the teachable moment

The fatal pedagogical error is to give answers to

students who do not yet have questions

Are you really teaching if no one is learning?

Our planet is not the center of our solar system.

Our solar system is not the center of our galaxy.

Our galaxy is not the center of the universe.

And we are not the center of learning in our class.

Help People.

If you can’t help them,at least try not to hurt them.

The Dalai Lama

If you want others to be happy,practice compassion.

If you want to be happy,practice compassion.

The Dalai Lama

Getting Our "Problems" on the TableHave a look at what you said in your homework (or do it now)?

• Time, time, time!

• What to leave in and what to take out

• Knowing what activities are out there and how to fit them in my class

• How to create my own activities

• When to give answers or if things should be graded

• Getting students engaged

• Assessment & evaluation

Getting Our “challenges" on the Table

For the discussions to come please try to elevate your thoughts and contributions by considering the following.

• Refrain from providing cases that are anecdotal. We need to stay centered on issues that can be applied to all classes and students and are based on significant occurrences.

• Always balance your thoughts with the question of whether or not your choices actually will help students learn or significantly improve their attitudes and beliefs.

• Did you assess that it worked?• If you don’t understand something we talk about, that is ok but be sure to ask questions and seek answers.

Let’s watch a example video from our ASTRO-101 class• As you watch:

– Think about when the instructor is in the role of lecturer and when they are in the role of facilitator. – Think about when the students are in a passive mode and when they are actively involved in their learning.– Pay attention to how the class is directed to participate in different ways (vote, answer questions, make

predictions….)– As the class engages in group work notice the behavior of the students and the behavior of the instructors.

A Commonly Held Inaccurate Model of a Student’s Conceptual Framework

A Commonly Held Inaccurate Model of Teaching and Learning

Teaching is not telling and Learning is not Listening!!

We need to change our paradigm about what constitutes teaching and about who is responsible for learning!

Your role is to do everything you can to create a Learner-Centered environment: i.e. promote Active

learning! • Active learning is when students take

active responsibility for participating in and monitoring of their own learning by engaging in critical reasoning about the ideas presented in the class.

They are doing stuff, but are they learning?

How would you know?

The Human Continua...Gauging Our Beliefs About EVERYTHING

Use a “1(weak)” through “5 (strong)” scale to arrange yourselves

• Desire for control

• Student vs. teacher responsibility for learning

• Desire to achieve deepest levels of understanding

• Giving answers

• Including material in the course that's not on the test

• Desire for "authentic" astronomy experience (e.g. observing, using real data, labs, etc.)

• Textbooks: reading for understanding vs. not using


• I understand the underlying principles supporting the need

to create a learner-centered classroom.


• I have a class that is informed by the research on teaching

and learning of ASTRO 101.

Research on the effectiveness of Lecture Tutorials versus just Lecture.

Pre-Course mean: 30% (nA=39,nB=42)Post-Lecture mean: 52% (n ~ 100)Post-Lecture Tutorial: 72% (n ~ 100)

Results: Averages for Eight Core Topics

0

25

50

75

100

Pretest

Post-Lecture

Post-Ranking TasksStudy Trial

Percent

Correct

32%

61%

77%

( N ~ 100 )

Best results with lecture!

More difficult gains!

Post-Lecture to Post-Ranking Task:

Hake's Normalized Gain = 0.41 ("moderately large effect")

Cohen's d = 0.62 ("Large effect")

Ranking Tasks: Gender Effect?

0

25

50

75

100

Pretest

Post-Lecture


Percent

Correct

( N ~ 100 )

Male Female

Ranking Tasks benefited both groups equally.

Ranking Tasks: High vs Low Pretests Groups?

0

25

50

75

100

Pretest

Post-Lecture


Percent

Correct

( N ~ 100 )

11%

59%

76%

55%

64%

76%

Upper Median Group

Lower Median Group

Ranking Tasks benefited both groups equally.

Normalized Gain vs Pretest

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

% <Pretest>

No

rma

lize

d G

ain

Research Inst.

Primarily Bachelors Granting Inst.

Primarily Bachelors & Masters Granting Inst.

2 year Suburban College

0 > <g> < 0.3 “Low”

0.3 > <g> < 0.7 “Medium”AVE PRE = 25%

AVE POST = 44%

AVE <g> = 0.26

2 Year College

0.7 > <g> < 1

“Un-ubtanium”

SOME IDEAS: What are the main problems when using research to motivate faculty teaching.

• Professors do not believe that by continuing to stay professor-centered they are impairing their students’ ability to learn.

• These results do not apply to the VERY special case that is their classroom. My college and students are sooo different form those in the studies. Because they are not humans?

• The research is flawed and not compelling. Just more time on task and the questions are repeated….

How Do Humans Learn?:Key results from educational psychology and

cognitive science research

1. Learning is productive and constructive—it requires mental effort.

2. Knowledge is associative—it is linked to prior mental models and cognitive structures.

3. The cognitive response is context dependent—what and how we learn depends on the educational setting.

4. Most humans require some social interactions in order to learn deeply and effectively.

From How People Learn"Humans are viewed as goal-directed agents who actively seek information. They come to formal education with a range of prior knowledge, skills, beliefs, and concepts that significantly influence what they notice about the environment and how they organize and interpret it. This, in turn, affects their abilities to remember, reason, solve problems, and acquire new knowledge. … If students' initial ideas and beliefs are ignored, the understandings that they develop can be very different from what the teacher intends."

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (Expanded Edition)National Research Council, National Academy Press, 2000.

If We Can ArticulateWhat Learner-Centered Instruction Is & How It Improves Student Learning, Only Then Can

We Be Effective At Implementation!

• If you can’t discuss it, in your own words, and make sense of your beliefs to others, do you really understand it?

How does learning occur during think-pair-share? Who is responsible for doing the

learning? • What are the learning and instructional goals when using TPS (for

them and for you)• What is needed in terms of the question used?• When or why should you or should you NOT give answers?

Some ideas: TPS• When should you use TPS – did you provide the information they needed?

• How to explain to students why you do this – get student buy in…

• Why does it matter if the students talk to each other

• Why does it matter if the questions are MC

• What is a good MC from a bad MC question?

• Should you show the results data at the end of the first voting before they pair

• Do you read the question to them?

• Sweet spot

• Broadcast time to vote – provide time limit

• Happy spot

• How do you debrief after second voting? When, if ever, do you provide the right answer?

• Clickers vs Cards and attendance/graded or not?

How do you know if you have found an Exo planet?

1. variation in the apparent brightness observed

2. detect heavy metals in the spectrum

3. determine the mass of the orbiting object

4. observe and measure the object's orbital period

Given the location marked on the star's radial velocity curve, at what location in the planet's orbit would you expect the planet to be?

2

1

3

4

+20

-20

Earth

Rad

ial V

eloc

ity

Orbit of planet

Orbit of star

Class Action – Bringing Technology to Questioning in

the Astronomy Classroom

How does learning occur during Lecture-Tutorials and Ranking Tasks? Who is responsible for

doing the learning? • What are the learning and instructional goals when using LTs and RTs (for

them and for you)• What is needed from you for them to succeed?• What do they need to do to succeed?• When or why should you or should you NOT give answers?

Some ideas: Lecture Tutorials and Ranking Tasks

• When should you use an LT as opposed to an RT• Did you provide students with the information they needed?• How to explain to students why you do this – get student buy in…• Why does it matter if the students talk to each other, come to

consensus.• How do you handle group questions?• How long do they need to finish • Is it ok to end the LT even if everyone is not done- provide time

limit? • How do you debrief at end of activity? When, if ever, do you provide

the right answer?

Lecture Tutorial Sample on Binary Stars.

Which of the two times (G or H) labeled below most likely indicates the time when the Sun-like star was passing IN FRONT of the A-spectral type, blue star (from the previous questions)? (circle G or H)?

Brightness

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

H

G

Imagine you are watching a different binary star system containing an M-spectral type main-sequence star and a B-spectral type main sequence star as they each complete one full orbit. During this time, you are able to see the stars entirely separate from one another. At another time, you see the B-spectral type star at one time in front of the M-spectral type star and, at an entirely different time, you see the B-spectral type star has moved behind the M-spectral type star. In the space below, draw three sketches showing what the stars would look like at the three times described.

Lecture Tutorial Sample on Binary Stars.

Ranking Task Sample on Size and Scale

Consider the six different astronomical objects shown below.

Rank these objects based on their size (width) from Largest to Smallest?


Use a “1(weak)” through “5 (strong)” scale to arrange yourselves

• Desire for control

• Student vs. teacher responsibility for learning

• Desire to achieve deepest levels of understanding

• Giving answers

• Including material in the course that's not on the test

• Desire for "authentic" astronomy experience (e.g. observing, using real data, labs, etc.)

• Textbooks: reading for understanding vs. not using


• I am skilled at handling the many different interactions that occur when my students raise their hand and need help.

Just how does one create learning sequences that

motivate students to learn what we want them to

know?Creating the Learner-Centered Environment

How do you decide what to teach out of all that could be covered?

How do you choose which learning strategies to integrate into you class and make it meaningful

for the students?

You must choose to engineer this sequence by considering the answers to the following questions:

What is the highest level question(s) you would want your students to be able to answer? Choose a question(s) that would demonstrate that they really understand?

What activities and experiences do your students need to engage with in order to develop their understanding?

What feedback do you and your students need so you both know you are ready for the next steps and to guide your instruction?

What limited “interactive lecturing” do you need to do to set students up for successful learning experiences in their activities?

Example: Moon PhasesWhat is the highest level question(s) you would want your students to be able to answer? Choose a question(s) that would demonstrate that they really understand?

Now start thinking through the instruction sequence in terms of what a students needs to know to be able to answer this question.

If the moon is in the new phase today, how many of the moon phases shown above would the moon go through during the next 11 days.

A. only oneB. twoC. threeD. more than threeE. none


Which of the following groups of moon phases can be seen (above the horizon) at 11:00 am?

A. Third Quarter, Waning Crescent, and Waxing CrescentB. New Moon, First Quarter, and Waxing GibbousC. Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning GibbousD. Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous


If the moon is highest in the sky this morning at 6:00 am, what phase will the Moon be in one week from now?

A. fullB. waxing crescentC. waning crescentD. waning gibbousE. new

Example: Moon Phases





Think Pair Share Questions Lecture Tutorials

CLEA Ranking Tasks

Class-Action Project Light

and many more

You actually need to work through the activity you choose before you can move forward or you will not be able to design the lecture that supports the activity.




How many phases shown in the picture at the right will the Moon go through in one day?

How long does it take the Earth to complete one rotation? How far will the Moon have moved?

How long does it take the Moon to complete one orbit? How many of the phases will the Moon have gone through in this time?

How much of the Moons total surface is illuminated when it is in the phase identified?

How much of the illuminated surface of the Moon is visible from Earth when it is in the phase identified?

What time is it when the phase identified is highest in the sky? Rising? Setting? What phase will it be in in two weeks….

Questions that a student needs to be asked` (during the interactive lecture) :

Just how does one create learning sequences that

motivate students to learn what we want them to

know?Creating the Learner-Centered Environment

How do you decide what to teach out of all that could be covered?

How do you choose which learning strategies to integrate into you class and make it meaningful

for the students?






Example: Doppler ShiftWhat is the highest level question(s) you would want your students to be able to answer? Choose a question(s) that would demonstrate that they really understand?

Use the four spectra shown at right for objects A-D, to answer the next question. Note that one of the spectra is from an object at rest (not moving) and the remaining spectra come from objects that are all moving toward the observer.

Object C

Object D

Object A

Object B

Which of the four objects A-D is moving with the fastest speed?a.Object Ab.Object Bc.Object Cd.Object De.More than one object is moving with the fastest speed.




- Example Doppler ShiftWhat is the highest level question(s) you would want your students to be able to answer? Choose a question(s) that would demonstrate that they really understand?


You actually need to work through the activity you choose before you can move forward or you will not be able to design the lecture that supports the activity.

Think Pair Share Lecture Tutorials

CLEA Ranking Tasks

Class-Action Project Light

and many more




BLUE RED

Spectrum A

Spectrum B

Questions that a student needs to be asked (during the interactive lecture) :

Consider the two spectra shown below of two different Stars A and B.

Which star appears blueshifted?Which star is moving toward you?If it actually turns out that both stars are redshifted relative to a stationary source of light – which star is moving the fastest?

Questions that a student needs to be asked` (during the interactive lecture) :

Consider the star moving counterclockwise.

• When was the star moving toward Earth?

• The star’s light is redshifted by the greatest amount when it is at position ______

• The star’s light would not appear shifted at all when it is at ____________

1

2

3

4

Earth

Solving Our "Problems"

Get out your homework, and start to create a learning sequence to correct what you were unhappy

about for the topics that you chose.

You will be given ample time to really dig in and try to “fix” your most troubling classroom dilemmas. Ask for help and collaborate

with others if you wish.






Debrief!!!

This is a teachable moment for all of us, so share your evolution of thought or even better ask us questions to help us understand what you learned!!!!!!!!

Your Ticket Out...

• Evaluation

• Certificates

• Thank you!!!!

Documents

Pedagogical Engineering 101 – How to Maximize the Gain in a Learner Centered Classroom Ed Prather and Gina Brissenden University of Arizona Center for