How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)

HOW PEOPLE LEARN
Peter Newbury, Ph.D.
Center for Teaching Development,
University of California, San Diego
pnewbury@ucsd.edu @polarisdotca
ctd.ucsd.edu
slides and resources: tinyurl.com/PI-CSULA
September 11, 2013
CSULA
Unless otherwise noted, content
is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommericial 3.0 License.

Peter
How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)2
 PhD (Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada) 1998
in applied math
 taught math and astronomy 1998 – 2007
 Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative in Dept. of Physics and
Astronomy at UBC, 2008 – 2012
 Center for Teaching Development, UCSD since August, 2012
Teaching and learning interests:
 how people learn science, technology, engineering, arts, math (STEAM)
 how to coax instructors to transform the way they teach and then
providing effective “coaching”
 finding the most effective ways to implement peer instruction (clickers)
 establishing and maintaining an online personal learning network
@polarisdotca peternewbury.org

3
how
people
learn
How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)
(Image: Sunset in Antartica by
Christopher.Michel on flickr CC)

Survey
Which of these do you associate
with a typical university lecture?
A) listening
B) absorbing
C) note-taking
D) learning
E) other

Survey
Which of these do you think students associate
with a typical university lecture?
A) listening
B) absorbing
C) note-taking
D) learning
E) other

The traditional lecture is based on the
transmissionist learning model
How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)6 (Image by um.dentistry on flickr CC)

Let’s have a learning experience…
7 How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)

Here is an important new number
system. Please learn it.
1 = 4 = 7 =
2 = 5 = 8 =
3 = 6 = 9 =

Test
What is this number?

Scientifically Outdated, a Known Failure
10 How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)
We must abandon the tabula rasa
“blank slate” and “students as
empty vessels” models of teaching
and learning.

New Number System
Here’s the structure of the “tic-tac-toe” code:
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

Test
What is this number?

Constructivist Theory of Learning
New learning is built on and from existing knowledge.
You store things in long term memory
through a set of connections that are
made with previous existing memories.
(Images by Rebecca-Lee on flickr CC)
Creating memories (aka learning) involves
having neurons fire and neurons link up in
networks or patterns.

What are the patterns
of how people learn?
(And how do we use them?)
(Image: entropy memory creativity by jef_safi on flickr CC)How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)
15

How People Learn
National Research Council (2000).
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.
Available for free as PDF
www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=9853

Key Finding 1
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, p 14.)

Key Finding 2
18
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
19
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.

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.
([2], [3])

Key Finding 3
21
achieving them.

Please break into groups of 3-4...
Each set of cards has
 3 Key Findings
 3 Implications for Teaching
 3 Designing Classroom Environments
TASK: Sort your cards into 3 groups of 3 cards each by
matching the Implication for Teaching and Classroom
Environments to the Key Finding:
Implication
for Teaching

23

Key Finding 1
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
Teachers must draw out and work with the preexisting
understandings that their students bring with them.

New Coding System
Please memorize this code:
1 = 4 = 7 =
2 = 5 = 8 =
3 = 6 = 9 =
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
unsupported, unfamiliar content built on pre-existing
knowledge
(tic-tac-toe board)

Classroom Environments 1
Schools and classrooms must be learner centered.

Learning requires interaction [4]

% of class time
NOT lecturing
Learning gain:
pre-test
0
100%
post-test
0.50

1 2
3 4

Key Finding 2
31
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.

32

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.
To 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 [5]
conscious
unconscious
incompetent competent
Level of Expertise
Behavior

Level of Expertise

conscious
unconscious
adikko.deviantart.com
Behavior

conscious
unconscious
Level of Expertise
Behavior

conscious
unconscious
1
Level of Expertise
Behavior

conscious
unconscious
1
2
Level of Expertise
Behavior

conscious
unconscious
1
2 3
Level of Expertise
Behavior

conscious
unconscious
1
2 3
4
Level of Expertise
Behavior

Why Your Students Don’t Understand You
Expert brains differ from novice brains because novices:
 lack rich, networked connections, cannot make
inferences, cannot reliably retrieve information
 have preconceptions that distract or confuse
 lack automization, resulting in cognitive overload

Key Finding 3
43
achieving them.

The teaching of metacognitive skills should be
integrated into the curriculum in a variety of subject
areas.
Formative 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: an
internal dialogue about their own thinking

student-centered instructiontraditional lecture

peer instruction with clickers
interactive demonstrations
surveys of opinions
reading quizzes
worksheets
discussions
videos
student-centered instruction

Clicker question
Melt chocolate over low heat. Remove the chocolate
from the heat. What will happen to the chocolate?
A) It will condense.
B) It will evaporate.
C) It will freeze.
(Question: Sujatha Raghu from Braincandy via LearningCatalytics)
(Image: CIM9926 by number657 on flickr CC)

Typical episode of peer instruction
Alternating with 10-15 minute mini-lectures,
1. Instructor poses a conceptually-challenging,
multiple-choice question.
2. Students think about question on their own.
3. Students vote for an answer using clickers,
smart phones, colored/ABCD voting cards,
Poll Everywhere,…
4. The instructor reacts, based on the
distribution of votes.

Typical “choreography”
1. Students think and answer on their own (“solo vote”)
2. Instructor says, “Interesting! Please turn to your neighbors
and convince them you’re right.” Walks around the
classroom, eavesdropping on conversations.
3. Students discuss question. As things quiet down, instructor
says, “I’ve heard some great discussions. Please vote
again.” (“group vote”)
4. Class-wide discussion, concluding with why the right
answer(s) is right and the wrong answers are wrong.
Depending on the solo vote distribution, agile instructors can
try other variations on 2 – 4.

In effective peer instruction
 students teach each other while
they may still hold or remember
their novice preconceptions
 students discuss the concepts in their
own (novice) language
 the instructor finds out what the students know (and
don’t know) and reacts, building on their initial
understanding and preconceptions.
students learn
and practice
how to think,
communicate
like experts

Clicker Question
51
The 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 WoodHow (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)

52

Lunch Task #1: Find a partner
Find a partner or two in your discipline – this afternoon,
you’ll be writing a peer instruction question together. It’s
important to have
 content knowledge (the concepts)
 pedagogical content knowledge (how to teach and
learn the concepts)
Sit together when you get back from lunch.

Lunch Task #2: Watch this video
Veritasium (Derek Muller)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KZb2_vcNTg

Student-centered instruction takes time
Five minutes of student-centered instruction every 15
minutes means 25% of class time is not lecturing. But you
(already) have lecture material to fill 100% of the time!
Where does that time come from?

Traditional classroom
1. Transfer: first exposure to material is in class,
content is transmitted from instructor to student
2. Assimilate: learning occurs later when student
struggles alone to complete homework, essay,
project
1. learn easy
stuff together
2. learn hard
stuff alone
(Mazur [6])

Flipped classroom
1. Transfer: student learns easy content at home:
definitions, basis skills, simple examples. Frees up
class time for...
2. Assimilate: students come to class prepared to
tackle challenging concepts in class, with immediate
feedback from peers, instructor
2. learn hard
stuff together
1. learn easy
stuff alone
(Mazur [6])

References
1. National Research Council (2000). 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.
2. Flavell, J. H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In L. B.
Resnick (Ed.), The nature of intelligence (pp.231-236). Hillsdale, NJ:
Erlbaum.
3. Brame, C. (2013). Thinking about metacognition. [blog] January, 2013,
Available at: http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/2013/01/thinking-about-
metacognition/ [Accessed: 14 Jan 2013].
4. Prather, E.E, Rudolph, A.L., Brissenden, G., & Schlingman, W.M. (2009). A
national study assessing the teaching and learning of introductory
astronomy. Part I. The effect of interactive instruction. Am. J. Phys. 77, 4,
320-330.
5. Sprague, J., & Stuart, D. (2000). The speaker’s handbook. Fort Worth, TX:
Harcourt College Publishers.
6. Mazur, E. (2009). Farewell, Lecture? Science, 323, 5910, 50-51.

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