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The mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting.

-Plutarch

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Learning style test

Students have different preferred learning styles, such as visual, auditory, or kinesthetic, and learn best when taught to their strongest learning style.

Myth or truth?


Fact:

Learning is most efficient when presented in the style that best fits the content being learned.

Source: http://www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/pspi/PSPI_9_3.pdf


Left-brained people think more logically, and right-brained people think more creatively.

Myth or truth?


Fact:

People do, in fact, use one side of the brain more than the other for specific tasks (such as handwriting, performing math tasks, or using language).

However, neither our personality characteristics nor our cognitive functions are determined by hemispherical dominance. Most people use both hemispheres for most tasks.

Source: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/

daniel-willingham/willingham-the-leftright-brain.html


Intelligence is fluid and can be affected by effort, achievement, challenges, and support.

Myth or truth?


Fact:

Acknowledging a student’s genuine effort and progress rather than their inborn talent encourages students to try harder and take more risks, which increases performance success.

However, it’s important to see education as a journey, not a destination. View mistakes and setbacks as catalysts for growth without ignoring the need for objective achievement.

Source: http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/

praise-undermining-student-motivation/


Visual thinking vs. verbal thinking

• Think of a recent event: visual or verbal?

• Think of your bedroom, then change it: can you do it?

• Most people are somewhere in the middle. But some can’t think visually at all (called aphantasia), and some have extremely detailed visual thought (called hyperphantasia).

• Also: pattern thinking, spatial thinking, kinesthetic thinking

• Interesting combinations: synesthesia (synesthete.org)


Visual Verbal

Example of synesthesia


SYNESTHESIASYNESTHESIA

Personality types (MBTI)

Examples: ESTP (very common), INFJ (very rare)

ISFJ (“guardian”), INFP (“healer”)


Are you… or Are you…

Extraverted (process info outside) or Introverted (process info inside)

Sensing (step-by-step, details) or iNtuitive (big jumps, big picture)

Thinker (task-oriented) or Feeler (people-oriented)

Perceiving (possibilities) or Judging (decisive)

Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)


What is your type?

personalityhacker.com personalityjunkie.com 16personalities.com


Extraverted:Talk with others

Where do you get your energy? Introverted:Think about things

Sensing:Notice details, present

How do you gather new information?

iNtuition:Start w/ big picture, trends

Thinking:Rational, logical

How do you make decisions? Feeling:Impact on people

Perceiving:Processes, divergent

How do you organize your life? Judging:Outcomes, convergent


Jill: INTP (“architect”)

How do different students learn?

• Activities: Group work, or individual work?

• Understanding: Top down (big picture to details), or bottom up (details to big picture)?

• Motivation: Checklists, or relationships?

• Process: Teach more brainstorming, or teach better decision-making?


Extraverted (processes info outside) Introverted (processes info inside)

Sensing (step-by-step, details) iNtuitive (big jumps, big picture)

Thinker (task-oriented) Feeler (people-oriented)

Perceiving (possibilities, divergent) Judging (decisive, convergent)

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Create = innovation

Evaluate = justification

Analyze = organization

Apply = demonstration

Understand = comprehension

Remember = factual knowledge


Bloom’s Taxonomy


Verbs in CompTIA objectives require different levels of thinking, and have been going to higher levels with new objectives:

• Identify (remember) becomes configure (apply)

• Compare and contrast (understand) becomes troubleshoot (analyze)

Progression of learning


Illustration by David Somerville based on original by Hugh MacLeod (@gapingvoid)

DIKW model


DataInformationKnowledgeWisdom

DIKW model


How people learn

• Relate content to what you already know (knowledge begets knowledge)

• Practice retrieving new information (learning loop)

• Look at new information from many different angles

• Apply new information in problem-solving scenarios

• Monitor your own learning– identify what you don’t know

– requires metacognition

(thinking about thinking)More information (gives some good search terms): http://deansforimpact.org/the_science_of_learning.html


Stages of competence


Teach self-learning

• Culture of curiosity– how to ask questions

• How to identify and use resources– to answer questions

– to learn content in different ways

• Confidence in students’ ability to find answers– don’t enable

– allow failure

• How to monitor and gauge one’s own learning– identify what you don’t know

– educational strategies, academic and life goals, self-testing skills

• Practice-practice-practice


Research says: Study strategies

• Distributed practice: Spread studying over longer periods of time

• Interleaved practice: Mix up different topics

• Elaborative interrogation: Develop your own “why” questions and search for answers (curiosity beyond presented information)

• Self-explanation: Explain what was learned (tutor others)

• Self-testing: Take practice tests and use flash cards

Source: “What Works, What Doesn’t” in Scientific American Mind [online]

Also: http://bigthink.com/neurobonkers/assessing-the-evidence-for-the-one-thing-you-never-get-taught-in-school-how-to-learn


Online tools for implementing study strategies

• Quizlet: make flash cards, make test questions for each other

• Cram.com, Flashcardmachine.com: create and share flash cards

• MindTap: flash cards, RSS feeds, study guides (make and share)

• RSS feeds (e.g., Feedly), blogs, videos

• Online study groups/forums

• Practice tests: Certblaster, Professor Messer, Transcender, CompTIA website, books

• Avoid these sites:

http://tinyurl.com/comptia3rdpartysites


Exam preparation tips

• Before you begin—pretest

• Understand the depth of knowledge required (Bloom’s taxonomy)

• Know the breadth of knowledge required (read the objectives)

• Create a cram-sheet of memorized facts (such as tables, lists, and any mnemonics) and review just before the test (helps you focus on the content)

• Answer practice questions from multiple sources

What are some tips you give your students?


Test-taking strategies

• Immediately write down significant mnemonics on whiteboard before starting

• Read each question carefully

• Think of answer before looking at options

• Eliminate options you know are wrong

• If you’re not sure, go with your gut, flag the question, and come back later—work quickly through first pass

• Answer all questions—not penalized for wrong answers

• Don’t be afraid to change answer later—but don’t keep changing it

• Ask why an answer is right or wrong

• Think about your environment when you learned the content


Managing test anxiety

• Consider your backup plan before test day

• Know where you’re going

• Get there early

• It’s normal to be nervous

• Instead of panicking, breathe deeply and focus on surroundings


What more can instructors do?

• Give frequent practice test questions during lectures and projects

• Explain Bloom’s Taxonomy

• Help students think of themselves as IT technicians

• Discuss test anxiety strategies

• Require benchmark on practice tests (90-95%)

• Develop a personal relationship with each student


http://tinyurl.com/JillsBrainHacks

THANK YOU!

Jill West

LinkedIn: Mike and Jill West

[email protected]

Jean Andrews

[email protected]

Joy Dark

[email protected]


the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that ...the mind is not a vessel that needs...

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