Cheryl Anderson Family and Preventative Medicine, UC San Diego and Peter Newbury Center for Teaching Development, UC San Diego teachingmethodsinpublichealth.ucsd.edu

1. Teaching Methods in Public Health Week 6: Cooperative Learning
November 19, 2014
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2. Active Learning
Last week
This week
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Freeman et al. (2014) show active learning in class
enhances student learning
reduces withdrawals and failures
What kinds of active learning activities are most effective? (“2nd generation research)”

3. What do you see?
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2010–2011 Higher Education Research Initiative (HERI) Faculty Survey of 23,824 full-time faculty at 417 four-year colleges and universities [1]

4. What do you see?
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2013–2014 Higher Education Research Initiative (HERI) Faculty Survey of 16,112 full-time faculty at 269 four-year colleges and universities [2]

5. Invention activity in Cell Biology
Taylor, J. L., Smith, K. M., van Stolk , A. P., Spiegelman, G. B. (2010). Using Invention to Change How Students Tackle Problems. CBE – Life Sciences Education, 9 (4), 504-512.
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The authors of the invention activity ask that the slides describing the activity are not distributed or shown in public.
They’ve demonstrated that when students know about the activity ahead of time, especially when students know the connection to cell biology ahead of time, it reduces their creativity and the number of solutions they invent.
If you need the resources, talk to Peter or Cheryl.

7. Cooperative Learning[3]
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Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning.
(Rique Campa)
constructivism
social constructivism
recognizes that knowledge is constructed in the mind of the learner by the learner
([1], p.262)
implies that this “building” process is aided through cooperative social interactions
([1], p. 262)

8. Why use cooperative learning?[3]
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emulates work environment: professionals work in teams
enhances communication skills (especially science communication)
improves efficiency, effectiveness, and success of team work
can deal with complex problems
What skills are employers looking for?
teamwork
critical thinking / reasoning
oral and written communication
Cooperative learning - teachingmethodsinpublichealth.ucsd.edu

9. Cooperative learning groups
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group type
description
advantages
tasks for instructor
informal
groups of 2-4 students formed spontaneously in class
•for example, during peer instruction with clickers
•good for large classes
•can be used at any time
•opportunity for students to practice learning goals describe, define, draw, rank,…
•opportunity for students to process what they just read or heard
•be explicit about expectations and responsibilities
•be explicit about how much time they have
•reinforce benefits of group interaction
•can be difficult to make both individual and group accountable
formal
base

10. Cooperative learning groups
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group type
description
advantages
tasks for instructor
informal
formal
students stay in same group throughout term for
•in-class activities
•presentations
•group exams
•study group
Groups formed
•randomly
•engineered for diversity
•self-selected
•formal group is closer to real, professional setting
•groups can accomplish bigger tasks like group presentations
•students learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses, earn each other’s trust
Instructor must give more structure/guidance:
•objectives of tasks
•tell groups how to make decisions
•explain positive interdependence
•explain individual and group accountability
•mentor groups on conflict resolution, group management
•regular, formative feedback
base

11. Cooperative learning groups
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group type
description
advantages
tasks for instructor
informal
formal
base
long-term, stable group of 3-5 students to accomplish large, complex task
•build a robot, create an app
•write a paper
•form mock (or real) company
•groups meet regularly (typically outside of class time)
•self-selected or formed by instructor by students’ skills
•facilitate and scaffold meeting schedule, how to share resources, how to support each other
•regularly check on groups, meet with each group (don’t form and forget)
•may need to scaffold students through project: objectives, methods, results, presentation, etc. (there should be no surprises at end of term)

12. Key to successful cooperative learning
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If you choose to use cooperative learning so that students learn to work effectively as a team,
you need to teach the students how to work effectively as a team
You can’t leave it up to them to figure out
positive team member traits
team-building, management, conflict-resolution skills
how to remain inquiry-based: asking questions of each other, making recommendations
how to make effective, professional presentations

13. Signs of a successful CL group
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positive interdependence between group members
individual and group accountability
face-to-face meetings (with meeting minutes?)
group and interpersonal skills
group can process and facilitate itself through tasks, challenges, set-backs

14. What to watch for and what to do about it
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lack of group maturity insufficient guidance and training from instructor about how to work together
“free-riding” instructor hasn’t built in enough individual accountability
loss of motivation instructor needs to stay in touch with groups frequently
lack of skills and abilities instructor needs to create groups with more diverse skills and abilities

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active learning
cooperative learning
peer instruction

16. What is expertise? [4]
To develop competence in an area of inquiry, student 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
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knowledge

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knowledge framework

19. 19
knowledge
framework
retrieval
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20. What the best college teachers do[5]
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More than anything else, the best teachers try to create a natural critical learning environment: natural because students encounter skills, habits, attitudes, and information they are trying to learn embedded in questions and tasks they find fascinating – authentic tasks that arouse curiosity and become intrinsically interesting, critical because students learn to think critically, to reason from evidence, to examine the quality of their reasoning using a variety of intellectual standards, to make improvements while thinking, and to ask probing and insightful questions about the thinking of other people.

21. In natural critical learning environments
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students encounter safe yet challenging conditions in which they can try, fail, receive feedback, and try again without facing a summative evaluation.[5]
try
fail
receive feedback

22. Supporting expert-like thinking: Introductory Biology class
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The molecules making up the dry mass of wood in a tree come mostly from
A)sunlight
B)the air
C)the seed
D)the soil
(Question: Bill Wood)
(Image: Autumn? No Doubt! by blavandmaster on flickr CC)

23. Typical Episode of Peer Instruction
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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.

24. In effective peer instruction
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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

25. the learning cycle
Peer instruction helps students learn...
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BEFORE
DURING
AFTER
setting up
instruction
developing knowledge
assessing
learning
Adapted from Rosie Piller, Ian Beatty, Stephanie Chasteen

26. the learning cycle
Peer instruction helps students learn...
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BEFORE
DURING
AFTER
setting up instruction
developing
knowledge
assessing
learning
Adapted from Rosie Piller, Ian Beatty, Stephanie Chasteen
The students have not resolved Concept X.
But they’re know X exists and why X is interesting.

27. the learning cycle
Peer instruction helps students learn...
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BEFORE
DURING
AFTER
setting up
instruction
developing
knowledge
assessing
learning
Adapted from Rosie Piller, Ian Beatty, Stephanie Chasteen
Students have had opportunities to try, fail, receive feedback and try again without facing a summative evaluation.

28. the learning cycle
Peer instruction helps students learn...
Cooperative learning - teachingmethodsinpublichealth.ucsd.edu
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BEFORE
DURING
AFTER
setting up
instruction
developing
knowledge
assessing
learning
Adapted from Rosie Piller, Ian Beatty, Stephanie Chasteen

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1.identifying key concepts, misconceptions
2.creating multiple-choice questions that require deeper thinking and learning
3.facilitating episodes of peer instruction that spark and support expert-like 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. so next year’s peer instruction will be better
before class
during
class
after
class
Effective peer instruction requires

30. clarity
Students waste no effort trying to figure out what’s being asked.
context
Is this topic currently being covered in class?
learning outcome
Does the question make students do the right things to demonstrate they grasp the concept?
distractors
What do the “wrong” answers tell you about students’ thinking?
difficulty
Is the question too easy? too hard?
stimulates thoughtful discussion
Will the question engage the students and spark thoughtful discussions? Are there openings for you to continue the discussion?
What makes a good question?
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(Adapted from Stephanie Chasteen, CU Boulder)

31. Sample Questions
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With others in your group, look through the collection of questions (start with the questions in subjects you’re familiar with. )
WARNING: Some are good, some are not.
Try to identify at least one characteristic (clarity, context,…) that makes each question good (or bad).

32. References
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1.Hurtado, S., Eagan, M. K., Pryor, J. H., Whang, H., & Tran, S. (2012). Undergraduate teaching faculty: The 2010–2011 HERI Faculty Survey. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA. www.heri.ucla.edu
2.Eagan, M. K., Stolzenberg, E. B., Berdan Lozano, J., Aragon, M. C., Suchard, M. R., & Hurtado, S. (2014). Undergraduate teaching faculty: The 2013–2014 HERI Faculty Survey. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA. www.heri.ucla.edu
3.Derek Bruff, Henry (Rique) Campa, III, Trina McMahon, Bennett Goldberg (2014). “An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching” (coursera MOOC) class.coursera.org/stemteaching-001
4.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.
5.Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.