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 #ctducsd
ctd.ucsd.edu
slides and resources: tinyurl.com/SDSUpeerinstruction
April 8, 2014
San Diego State University
Unless otherwise noted, content
is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Non Commericial 3.0 License.

How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)
2
peer
instruction
how
people
learn
(Image: iStock by Getty Images)

Survey
How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)3
Which of these do you associate with a typical college
or university lecture?
A) listening
B) absorbing
C) note-taking
D) learning

The traditional lecture is based on the
transmissionist learning model
How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction)4 (Image by um.dentistry on flickr CC)

Let’s have a learning experience…
5 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Scientifically Outdated, a Known Failure
8 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 = tic-tac-toe code
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

Test
What is this number?

You store things in long term
memory through a set of
connections made with your
existing memories.
Constructivist Theory of Learning
New learning is based on knowledge
you already have.
(Image by Rebecca-Lee on flickr CC)
learning is done
by individuals

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
15
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
16
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])
cognitionmeta

Key Finding 3
18
achieving them.

Please break into groups of 3-4...
Sort your cards into 3 sets of 3:
Key Finding
2
Implication
for Teaching
Implication
for Teaching
Implication
for Teaching
Designing
Classroom
Environments

20

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.

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)
Transmissionist Constructivist

Classroom Environments 1
Schools and classrooms must be learner centered.
(How People Learn, p. 23)
Students need to encounter safe yet challenging conditions
in which they can try, fail, receive feedback, and try again
without facing summative evaluation.
(What the best college teachers do, p.108)

Learning requires interaction [5]
1 2
3 4

Key Finding 2
26
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.

27

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, confuse, hinder
 lack automization (“muscle memory”) resulting in
cognitive overload

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.

Key Finding 3
30
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 give students opportunities to
practice being metacognitive: having an internal
dialogue about their own thinking

student-centered instructiontraditional lecture

Evidence-Based Instructional Strategies (EBIS)
peer instruction with clickers
interactive demonstrations
surveys of opinions
reading quizzes
worksheets
simulations
discussions
videos
student-centered instruction

Introductory Chemistry
Today, we’ll be learning about changes of state.
Remember, there are 3 states (also called “phases”) of
matter:
 solid
 liquid
 gas

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)

Chemistry learning outcomes
Students will be able to
 name all 6 changes of state
 translate back and forth between technical (“melt”)
and plain English (“solid into liquid”)
Imagine… misconception?

Typical episode of peer instruction
1. Instructor poses a conceptually-challenging
multiple-choice question.
2. Students think about question on their own
and vote using clickers, colored ABCD cards,
smartphones,…
3. The instructor prompts students, “Turn to your
neighbors and convince them you’re right.”
4. After the peer-to-peer discussion, [the students vote
again and] the instructor leads a class-wide
discussion concluding with why the right answer(s) is
right and the wrong answers are wrong.

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
 each student finds out what s/he does(n’t) know
 the instructor finds out what the students (don’t) know
and reacts, building on their initial understanding
and preconceptions.
students learn
and practice
how to think,
communicate
like experts

Effective peer instruction requires
1. identifying key concepts, misconceptions
2. creating multiple-choice questions that
require deeper thinking and learning
3. facilitating peer instruction episodes that
spark and support student discussion
4. leading a class-wide discussion to clarify
the concept, resolve the misconception
5. reflecting on the question: note curious
things you overheard, how they voted, etc.
before
class
during
class
after
class

Clicker Question
40
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)

41

reduce course content by 25%
Effective peer instruction requires
 students be prepared to engage in conceptually-
challenging discussions
 TIME! 5 minutes of student-centered
activity every 10 – 15 minutes
means 25% of class time is
not lecturing.
Where does that time come from?
But I’ve got
material to fill
(more than)
100% of my
lecture!

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 (Mazur [6])
1. learn easy
stuff together
2. learn hard
stuff alone

Flipped classroom
1. Transfer: student learns easy content at home
through reading, video, etc.: definitions, basis skills,
simple examples.
2. Assimilate: students come to class prepared to
immediately tackle challenging concepts, with timely,
formative feedback from peers, TAs, instructor (Mazur [6])
2. learn hard
stuff together
1. learn easy
stuff alone

How People Learn
45
Learning is not about what the
instructor does. It’s about what
students do for themselves.

How People Learn
46
Students won’t learn just by
listening to the instructor explain.

How People Learn
47
Students won’t learn just by
listening to the instructor explain.
BE LESS HELPFUL

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. Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
5. 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.
6. Mazur, E. (2009). Farewell, Lecture? Science, 323, 5910, 50-51.

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