The most interesting things I’ve learnt about learning
Jason Yip
[email protected]@thoughtworks.com
@jchyiphttp://jchyip.blogspot.com
Break up into small groups of 5
• 10 minutes• Identify a skill that you know very
well and design an approach to teach it, including assessment
• Include rationale for choices if you can
Prepare for redesign
1. I will introduce some concepts2. Jot down ideas for improvement for
your teaching approach3. Share with group at end
MASTERY VS GRADES
In Australia, what is a passing grade?
• Letter or %?
Simple availability calculation
50% 50%
0.5 * 0.5 = 0.25 or 25%
Compound skill
A B C
AA BB CC DD
Just passed… Aced it! Did ok… Just passed…
What level of performance do we expect here?
Can do it or can’t
do it; there is no “passing grade”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwjones/2619602001/in/photostream/
Compound skill
A B C
ROUTINE VS ADAPTIVE EXPERTISE
d
d = ½gt2
What is d if…
t = 2 sg = 10 m / s2
Let’s work through it
d = ½gt2
d = ½(10)(2) 2
d = 5 * 4d = 20
But I’m sure you could do this faster…
Speed round
1. I’ll show the question and 3 possible answers
2. Raise 1 finger to choose the first answer, 2 to choose the second, 3 to choose the third
3. Answer as fast as you can4. Ready?
Dropped from the same height, ignoring air resistance, which one hits the ground first?
(1) (2) (3)
Other
Were we learning an equation or an underlying concept?
Speed round 2
1. I’ll show the question and 3 possible answers
2. Raise 1 finger to choose the first answer, 2 to choose the second, 3 to choose the third
3. Answer as fast as you can4. Ready?
(1)
(2)
(3)
You’re about to shoot at an apple when it just starts to fall out of the tree. Where should you aim?
Adaptive Expertise
(survives change in context)
Routine Expertise
(context-specific)Indistinguishable without change in context
Superficial
Semantic
Qualitative
What equation do I use?
The equation indicates that d is independent of mass
Just shoot the apple, the arrow will fall at the same rate
Necessary for Adaptive Expertise
Routine expertise comes from mastering visible behaviour; adaptive
expertise comes from mastering invisible concepts
MISCONCEPTIONS
Did you know this?
• The success of Toyota comes from the cumulative impact of daily kaizen from every employee
How many people agree with this?
Actually that’s wrong
• Most impact of improvements come from project kaizen and strategic kaizen. Daily kaizen is not about impact so much as learning and values
http://kaizeninstituteindia.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/kaizen-flag-its-all-about-people-people-people/
How did you feel when I said “Actually, that’s wrong”?
This is not learning
• “blah blah blah A”• “Yeah, I already knew about B”
This is learning
• “blah blah blah B”• “Yeah, I already knew about B”• “Actually, B is wrong. Blah blah blah
A.”• “Huh?”
“Yeah, I already knew that” = not learning
“Huh?” = learning
If it feels comfortable, you’re probably not learning anything
Learning starts with unlearning misconceptions
SIMULATIONS VS DELIBERATE PRACTICE
How many people have played an Agile game / simulation?
Try to think back to what was happening and how you felt. How many people when playing the game, were playing to win?
How many people were playing the game, intentionally focusing on exercising their weaknesses and thus probably losing the
game?
What stage is best for performance?
1. Unconscious incompetence2. Conscious incompetence3. Conscious competence4. Unconscious competence
What stage is best for learning?
1. Unconscious incompetence2. Conscious incompetence3. Conscious competence4. Unconscious competence
There is no learning when you are in flow
Staying conscious and out of flow during practice is a deliberate act, hence “deliberate practice”
In simulations and games people tend to exercise their strengths; deliberate practice needs to address weaknesses
TEACH ONE CONCEPT AT A TIME
What’s the better delivery approach?
Why?
What’s the better learning approach?
We only have so much working memory (7+/-2)
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_load
One-point lessons
• “…create lessons based on a single point, typically on a single piece of paper, which is then reviewed during the daily meeting.”
http://jchyip.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/instead-of-teaching-whole-bunch-of.html
THEORY VS PRACTICE
If someone understands all the theoretical concepts behind a skill, but never practices, will
they master the skill?
If someone practices but has no real understanding about theory and rationale, will they master the skill?
Theory without practice means no skill; practice without theory means
wasted effort
So, what’s the role of a teacher?
Effective teaching is not about conveying facts so
much as enabling effective practice and exploration
Share your insights
To learn more
• http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html
• http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA413046
• http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/super/theses/PhD(Muller).pdf