Research on Human Learning:Understanding and Applications

Jose Mestre

Department of Physics

University of Massachusetts

Amherst, MA 01003

Backdrop

The National Research Council has

released 2 reports:

1) How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (1999).

2) How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice (2000).

Today's presentation

• Provide overview of some findings from reports related to teaching & learning.

• Do an activity with you to illustrate some of the points covered in the report.

• Discuss implications for designing learning environments that are learner centered, knowledge centered, assessment centered, and community centered.

The Nature of Expertise

Research with experts & novices reveals marked differences in the way they store, and apply knowledge.

Expertise: Knowledge Acquisition & Organization

• Experts have a rich knowledge base that is hierarchically organized.

• Experts notice and remember large amounts of complex information in their domain of expertise after short exposures to a new situation (called “chunking”).

Classic Studies with Chess Masters

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• Chess Masters

• Electronic Technicians

• Computer Programmers

Expertise: Knowledge Acquisition & Organization

• Expertise in one area does nottransfer to another area: Expertise iscontext-bound.

• The more you know about a topic theeasier it is to learn more about thattopic.

Expertise: Knowledge Application

• Experts' knowledge is linked toconditions of applicability.

• Experts cue on major idea neededto solve a problem.

Classic Studies with Physics Novices & Experts

• Novices : • “These are inclined

plane problems”• Experts: • “This can be viewed as a

work-energy problem” (Chi, Feltovich and Glaser, 1981).

Summary of what we know about the nature of expertise

• Experts have well-organized knowledge -- not just “problem solving” strategies; their knowledge is organized to support understanding (qualitative before quantitative) and it is “conditionalized” for use. Experts have fluent access to their knowledge. Such knowledge is acquired over time and depends on multiple, contextualized experiences.

• Implications -- “wisdom” can’t be taught directly and instruction must be directed towards the gradual acquisition of understanding & expertise.

Implications for Teaching

• Being an expert in a topic does notimply you are effective at teachingthat topic. You also have to be anexpert on teaching that topic(pedagogical techniques are alsobound to context). Hence, needcontent expertise and pedagogicalcontent knowledge.

Implications for Teaching

• Teaching the "content" of a disciplinewithout helping the learner organizethat content is not optimal for learning.

• As important as the procedures andequations used to solve problems inthe sciences & math are theprinciples/concepts underlying theequations, and the context underwhich they can be applied.

The Transfer of Learning

The transfer of learning from one context to another is neither trivial, nor automatic.

Transfer Experiment A general wishes to capture a fortress in the center of a country. There

are many roads radiating outward from the fortress. All roads have been mined so that while small groups of men can pass over the roads safely, a large force will detonate the mines. A full-scale direct attack is therefore impossible. The general’s solution is to divide his army into small groups, send each to the head of a different road, and have the groups converge simultaneously on the fortress.

You are a doctor faced with a patient who has a malignant tumor in the stomach. It is impossible to operate on the patient, but unless the tumor is destroyed, the patient will die. There is a kind of ray that may be used to destroy the tumor. If the rays reach the tumor all at once and with sufficient high intensity, the tumor will be destroyed, but surrounding tissue may be damaged as well. At lower intensities, the rays are harmless to healthy tissue, but they will not affect the tumor either. What type of procedure might be used to destroy the tumor with the rays, and at the same time avoid destroying the healthy tissue?

Few college students could solve the second problem on their own. When told to use information from first, >90% were able to solve it.

Transfer

• Transfer is facilitated by knowing the multiple contexts under which an idea applies (i.e., effective transfer is inextricably linked to the conditions for applicability; rote learning rarely transfers.)

• New learning depends on previous learning and previous learning often interferes with what you are trying to teach.

Lionni’s Fish is Fish

The Fish’s Image of Birds

The Fish’s Image of Cows

The Fish’s Image of People

Some Analogs to the Fish is Fish Story

• Young children who believe the earth is flat….

• Physics students who assume “force of the hand” when a ball is thrown into the air

• Student beliefs that history is about the “good guys” vs the “bad guys”

• Students’ (of different ages) beliefs about seasons -- distance from sun not tilt

Implications for Teaching

• When teaching science, place emphasis on the multiple contexts to which major concepts apply.

• To facilitate transfer, tie concepts to contexts in which they can be applied, and encourage verbalization of why a concept applies to a given context.

• Probe for pre-conceptions that may interfere, or support, learning and transfer.

LET'S GET ENGAGED INAN ACTIVITY--PLEASEWAKE UP THOSE NEARYOU WHO HAVE FALLENASLEEP

track B

track A

Vote for A, B, or C if you think race results in a tie.

I will ask for volunteers to explain the reasoning leading to your selection.

Designing Learning Environments Based on HPL

Learner-Centered Learning Environments

• Learners use their current knowledgeto construct new knowledge.Effective instruction must take intoaccount what learners bring to theclassroom. Active engagement inlearning supports the construction ofknowledge.

Learner-Centered Learning Environments

• Learners should be assisted indeveloping metacognitive strategies.

"Metacognition refers to people'sabilities to predict their performanceson various tasks ... and to monitortheir current levels of mastery andunderstanding" (HPL, p. 12)

Transfer can be improved by helpingstudents become more aware ofthemselves as learners who activelymonitor their learning andperformance strategies.

Learner-Centered Learning Environments

• Learners learn more efficiently andeffectively when they are providedwith feedback to help them monitorprogress. Students need to be givenopportunities to practice skilledproblem solving and provided withboth, feedback to monitor progress,and support to ensure progress.

Knowledge-Centered Learning Environments

• Students are not blank slates, soinstruction should begin with students'current knowledge and skills.

• Instruction should help studentsorganize knowledge in ways that areefficient for recall and for application insolving problems.

• Instruction should focus on helpingstudents gain deep understanding ofthe major concepts and principles,rather than the acquisition ofdisconnected facts and skills.

Is this any way to develop expertise?

Assessment-Centered Learning Environments

• Formative assessment (assessment done duringthe course of instruction to monitor students'progress and to help shape instruction) is pivotalfor providing feedback to students so that theycan revise and improve the quality of theirthinking, and should be done continuously as apart of instruction.

• Formative assessment strategies should bedeveloped that make students' thinking visible tothe instructor, to the learner, and to otherclassmates.

Assessment-Centered Learning Environments

• Summative assessments (assessment done atthe end of instruction for such purposes asassigning grades or evaluating competence)should reflect the knowledge, concepts,principles, and problem solving & lab skills of thediscipline that are considered crucial by experts.

• Students should learn how to assess their ownwork and that of peers.

Community-Centered Learning Environments

• Learners are embedded in social contexts. To make effective use of their “prior knowledge,” they need to relate the origins of their learning to school-based concepts.

• It is important to help students see the relevance

of their school-based learning to non-school contexts and problem solving. (Students' "awake" time: 14% in school, 53% out of school.

• Communities of practice need to be

encouraged. How? Internships, class participation, dorm

floors arranged by major, etc.

Summary Points

• There is an emerging science of learning• It has major implications for all aspects of

schooling -- curriculum, instruction, assessment, plus preservice and inservice teacher education

• It provides a basis for knowing when, how and why to use various instructional strategies

• It can guide the intelligent design and use of new curricular materials as well as information technologies