ctd spring 2015 weekly workshop: active learning

Discuss this definition with others

at your Table.

Does anything surprise you?

Active Learning 1

“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.(2014) pp 8413-8414

Peter Newbury, Ph.D.

Center for Teaching Development,

University of California, San Diego

[email protected]

@polarisdotca #ctducsd ctd.ucsd.edu

CTD Weekly Workshops:

Active Learning

Unless otherwise noted, content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 3.0 License.

resources: ctd.ucsd.edu/programs/weekly-workshops-spring-2015/

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Scholarly approach to teaching:

Active Learning 3

Carl Wieman

Science Education Initiative

cwsei.ubc.ca

What should

students

learn? learning

outcomes

(goals, objectives)

assessment

that supports

learning

active learning

peer instruction

(May 20, 27)

What should

students

learn?

What are

students

learning?

What instructional

approaches

help students

learn?

Prediction

Active Learning 4

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.

Key Finding 1

Active Learning 5

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 [1], p. 14)

Instructors must

draw out students’

pre-existing

understandings.

Instruction must be

student-centered.

Key Finding 2

Active Learning 6

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.


These are

characteristics of

expertize

Instructors need to give

students opportunities

to practice being more

expert-like.

Key Finding 3

Active Learning 7

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.


Instructors need to

provide opportunities for

students to practice being

metacognitive

Metacognition: that

voice in your head

that checks if you

understand

Constructivist theory of learning

Active Learning 8

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

opportunities to “try, fail, receive feedback and try again,

before facing a summative evaluation.” [2]

Freeman et al. (2014): Meta-analysis of

225 studies of STEM education.

Active Learning 9

Two important conclusions:

1. In classes with effective, active learning, student

performance increased by 6% on final exams (about

half a letter grade.)

2. The average failure rate decreased from 34% to 22%.

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.

Active Learning 10

student-centered

active learning traditional lecture

Active Learning 11

peer instruction with clickers

interactive demonstrations

What do you notice?

What do you wonder?

surveys of opinions

reading quizzes

worksheets

discussions

videos student-centered

active learning

(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.

Active Learning 12

Typical Episode of Peer Instruction

Active Learning 13

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.

In effective peer instruction

Active Learning 14

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 and doesn’t know

the instructor finds out what the students know

(and don’t know) and reacts, building on their current

understanding and preconceptions.

students practice

how to think,

communicate

like experts

To learn more about peer instruction

Active Learning 15

Upcoming Weekly Workshops at the CTD:

To register, look for the

Teaching and Learning Weekly Workshops

at ctd.ucsd.edu

May 20 Peer Instruction 1: Writing Good Peer Instruction (“Clicker”)

Questions A 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

May 27 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.

Active Learning 16



What do you notice?

What do you wonder?

surveys of opinions

reading quizzes

worksheets

discussions


active learning

Active Learning 17

Chemistry Day 4 by pennstatenews on flickr CC-BY-NC

In-class demonstrations

Active Learning 18

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)

Prediction

Active Learning 19

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.

Interactive Lecture Demos (ILD) [3]

Active Learning 20

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

Active Learning 21



What do you notice?

What do you wonder?

surveys of opinions

reading quizzes

worksheets

discussions


active learning

Learning Outcomes 22 Flight Deck by Wayan Volta on flickr CC

CTD Weekly Workshop:

Learning Outcomes

Start teaching before the bell rings

Active Learning 23

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?” [8]

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!

Engage

Explore

Explain

Elaborate

Evaluate

“The 5 Es”

Active Learning 24 The Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) 5E Instructional Model

bscs.org/bscs-5e-instructional-model

Active Learning 25

student-centered instruction



What do you notice?

What do you wonder?

surveys of opinions

reading quizzes

worksheets

discussions

videos

What do you see?

Active Learning 26

A) old lady

B) young woman

Let your students contribute

authentic data, especially when

studying about their behavior.

(For issues when privacy is

important, clickers can be set

to “anonymous”)

Active Learning 27

student-centered instruction



What do you notice?

What do you wonder?

surveys of opinions

reading quizzes

worksheets

discussions

videos

Showing video in class

Active Learning 28

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)

Showing video in class

Active Learning 29

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.

Videos: implications for instructors

Active Learning 30

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.

Is Lecture Dead?

Active Learning 31

No! There is still a time and place for lecture. You can

lecture (for 10-15 minutes) when the students are

prepared to learn:

active learning has 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

Alternatives to Lecture

Active Learning 32



What do you notice?

What do you wonder?

surveys of opinions

reading quizzes

worksheets

discussions

videos

To enhance

students’ learning and

retention, some instruction

must be active and student-centered.

That’s how people learn.

References

Active Learning 33

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. 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.

3. Bain, K (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge, MA: Harvard

University Press.

4. Get the full story of interactive lecture demos (ILDs) at

serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/demonstrations/index.html

5. Read more about “What do you notice? What do you wonder” at

ctd.ucsd.edu/2013/08/you-dont-have-to-wait-for-the-clock-to-strike-to-

start-teaching/

Active Learning

ctd.ucsd.edu 34

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.(2014) pp 8413-8414