Presented at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California on November 14, 2014. Peter Newbury Center for Teaching Development, UC San Diego ctd.ucsd.edu

1. What do you notice?What do you wonder?
(16th Century carving
Wikimedia Commons)
Alternatives to Lecture1
Center for Teaching
Development
Course Design 2:
Alternatives to
Lecture

2. Prediction
Alternatives to Lecture2
Ice cubes are floating in a glass of water
that is filled to the brim.
As the ice cubes melt, what happens to
the water level?
A) it stays the same
B) it rises and spills water over the brim
C) it falls to a level below the brim.

3. Course Design 2:
Alternatives to Lecture
Unless otherwise noted, content is
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-
Non Commercial 3.0 License.
Peter Newbury, Ph.D.
Center forTeaching Development,
University of California, San Diego
pnewbury@ucsd.edu
@polarisdotca #ctducsd
ctd.ucsd.edu
Scripps Institute of Oceanography November 14, 2014

4. Scholarly approach to teaching:
Alternatives to Lecture4
CarlWieman
Science Education Initiative
cwsei.ubc.ca
What should
students
learn?
learning
outcomes assessment that
supports learning
(Nov 21)
alternatives
to lecture
(today!)
What should
students
learn?
What are
students
learning?
What instructional
approaches
help students
learn?

5. Constructivist theory of learning
Alternatives to Lecture5
Students need to construct their own understanding of the
concepts, where
 each student assimilates new material into his/her own
framework of initial understanding and preconception
 each student confronts his/her (mis)understanding of
the concepts
A traditional, one-way lecture doesn’t give students an
opportunity to construct their own knowledge, practice a
skill, or receive timely, formative feedback.

6. Active learning increases student performance
in science, engineering and mathematics[1]
Alternatives to Lecture6
Massive meta-analysis of 225 research studies that explored
the impact of active learning:
Active learning engages students in the process of learning
through activities and/or discussions in class,as opposed to
passively listening to an expert.It emphasizes higher-order
thinking and often involves group work.
(Freeman et al., pp 8413-8414)

7. Alternatives to Lecture7
Conclusion:
Active learning
increases student
performance
Figure 2
Wieman (2014)[2]
Freeman et al (2014)[1]

8. Alternatives to Lecture8
student-centered instruction
peer instruction with clickers
interactive demonstrations
What do you notice?
What do you wonder?
surveys of opinions
reading quizzes
whiteboards
discussions
videos

9. (Question: Sujatha Raghu from Braincandy via LearningCatalytics)
(Image: CIM9926 by number657 on flickr CC)
Discussion (peer instruction)
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.
Alternatives to Lecture9

10. Chemistry learning outcomes
Alternatives to Lecture10
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?

11. Typical Episode of Peer Instruction
Alternatives to Lecture11
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 asks students to turn to their neighbors
and “convince them you’re right.”
4. After that “peer instruction”, students may vote again.
5. The instructor leads a class-wide discussion concluding
with why the right answer(s) is right and the wrong
answers are wrong.

12. In effective peer instruction
Alternatives to Lecture12
 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 know (and don’t
know) and reacts, building on their initial
understanding and preconceptions.
students practice
how to think,
communicate
like experts

13. To learn more about peer instruction
Alternatives to Lecture13
UpcomingWeeklyWorkshops at the CTD:
To register, look for the
Teaching and LearningWeeklyWorkshops
at ctd.ucsd.edu
Nov 19 Peer Instruction 1:Writing Good Peer Instruction (“Clicker”)
QuestionsA good episode of peer instruction requires a good question. In
this session, we’ll see a variety of questions and contrast good vs bad
questions, that you can adapt to your discipline
Nov 26 Peer Instruction 2: Best Practices for Running Peer Instruction
with Clickers In this session, we’ll discuss best practices for
choreographing an episode of peer instruction in your class including how to
pose the question, when to open and close the poll, how many votes, and
how to get the most out of the class-wide discussion.

14. Alternatives to Lecture14
Conclusion:
Failure rates in
active classes drop
significantly.
Figure 1
Bigger Conclusion:
Under-represented
minorities and
women make up a
disproportionate
number of students who fail STEM classes. Fewer
failures means enhanced success for URM and women.
Freeman et al (2014)[1]

15. Alternatives to Lecture15
student-centered instruction
peer instruction with clickers
interactive demonstrations
What do you notice?
What do you wonder?
surveys of opinions
reading quizzes
whiteboards
discussions
videos

16. Alternatives to Lecture16
Chemistry Day 4 by pennstatenews on flickr CC-BY-NC

17. In-class demonstrations
Alternatives to Lecture17
1. Instructor (meticulously) sets up the equipment, flicks
a switch,“Taa-daaah!
2. Students
 don’t know where to look
 don’t know when to look, miss “the moment”
 don’t recognize the significance of the event
amongst too many distractions
To engage students and focus their attention on the key
event, get students to make a prediction (using
clickers, for example)

18. Prediction
Alternatives to Lecture18
Ice cubes are floating in a glass of water
that is filled to the brim.
As the ice cubes melt, what happens to
the water level?
A) it stays the same
B) it rises and spills water over the brim
C) it falls to a level below the brim.

19. Interactive Lecture Demos (ILD) [3,4]
Alternatives to Lecture19
By making a prediction, each student
 cares about the outcome (“Did I get it right?”)
 knows when to look (can anticipate phenomenon)
 knows where to look (sees phenomenon occur)
 gets immediate feedback about his/her understanding
of the concept
 is prepared for your explanation

20. Artefacts
Alternatives to Lecture20
Bring things – real things – to class/section.
Don’t just tell students what
they’re looking at.Ask them
what they notice, what they
think it is.
“Ask me a question an
archaeologist would ask.”
Artefacts courtesy of BenVolta
Image: Peter Newbury

21. Alternatives to Lecture21
student-centered instruction
peer instruction with clickers
interactive demonstrations
What do you notice?
What do you wonder?
surveys of opinions
reading quizzes
whiteboards
discussions
videos

22. What do you notice?What do you wonder?
(16th Century carving
Wikimedia Commons)
Alternatives to Lecture22

23. Start teaching before the bell rings
Alternatives to Lecture23
Students arrive, ready to engage with you, your content:
 Project a picture related to today’s lesson
 Add prompts:
“What do you notice?What do you wonder?” [5]
 Spend first few minutes leading a discussion:
o every student can contribute because everyone can wonder
o you learn their pre-existing knowledge
o activates concepts in their memories
Don’t let their enthusiasm slip away!

24. Alternatives to Lecture24
student-centered instruction
peer instruction with clickers
interactive demonstrations
What do you notice?
What do you wonder?
surveys of opinions
reading quizzes
whiteboards
discussions
videos

25. Showing video in class
Alternatives to Lecture25
There are times when a video is the perfect resource.
Archimedes’ Principle
In today’s Physics class, we’re
going to study buoyancy and
Archimedes’ Principle.
http://tinyurl.com/TCCdemo
(Paul Hewitt video)
(Image:Wikimedia Commons – public domain)

26. Opinion: Videos in class
Alternatives to Lecture26
In your opinion, the Paul Hewitt video
A) is engaging
B) is entertaining
C) is interactive
D) stimulates deep thinking

27. Showing video in class
Alternatives to Lecture27
The students do not
 select the video
 check it contains key events
 anticipate key events
 recognize key events
 interpret key events
 relate key events to
class concepts
instructor does this
before class
instructor does this unconsciously,
the “curse” of expertise
This is what you want to do in class!
anticipate and recognize are
necessary for rich discussion/analysis.

28. Videos: implications for instructors
Alternatives to Lecture28
 Coach the students how to watch the video like an
expert:
As you watch this video,try to…
watch for when the A starts to B.
count how often the C does D.
watch the needles on the scales as water drains.
 Don’t “give away” the key event (Notice the buoyant force
is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced.) That’s what
the follow-up discussion is for: help the students get
prepared for that discussion.

29. Is Lecture Dead?
Alternatives to Lecture29
No!There is still a time and place for lecture.You can
lecture (for 10-15 minutes) when the students are
prepared to learn:
 the alt-to-lecture activities have activated the concepts
in their memories
 they’ve tried, failed, received feedback, tried again and
are waiting for confirmation
 they’re prepared to intellectually appreciate the
expertise you’re about to share with them

30. Alternatives to Lecture30
peer instruction with clickers
interactive demonstrations
What do you notice?
What do you wonder?
surveys of opinions
reading quizzes
whiteboards
discussions
videos
To enhance
students learning and
retention, some instruction must
be interactive and student-centered.
That’s how people learn.

31. Alternatives to Lecture31
If the experiments analyzed here had been conducted as
randomized controlled trials of medical interventions,they may
have been stopped for benefit—meaning that enrolling patients in
the control condition might be discontinued because the treatment
being tested was clearly more beneficial.
(Freeman et al., pp 8413)
Finally,there is a strong ethical component.There is a growing
body of evidence showing that active learning differentially
benefits students of color and/or students from disadvantaged
backgrounds and/or women in male-dominated fields.It’s not a
stretch to claim that lecturing actively discriminates against
underrepresented students.”
(S. Freeman, in [6])

32. References
Alternatives to Lecture32
1. Freeman, S., Eddy, S.L. McDonough, M., Smith, M., Okoroafor, N., Jordt,. H. &Wenderoth,
M.P. (2014) Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and
mathematics. PNAS 111, 23, 8410–8415.
2. Wieman, C.E. (2014). Large-scale comparison of science teaching methods sends clear message.
PNAS 111, 23, 8319–8320
3. Get the full story of ILDs at
serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/demonstrations/index.html
4. Miller, K. (2013). Use demonstrations to teach, not just entertain. The PhysicsTeacher 51, 570 –
571.
5. Newbury, P. (23 Aug 2013).You don’t have to wait for the clock to strike to start teaching.
Retrieved 3/3/2014 from ctd.ucsd.edu/2013/08/you-dont-have-to-wait-for-the-clock-to-
strike-to-start-teaching/.
6. Bhatia,A. Active Learning Leads to Higher Grades and Fewer Failing Students in Science,Math,and
Engineering. Retrieved November 14, 2014 from
http://www.wired.com/2014/05/empzeal-active-learning/