Teaching Strategies for Teaching Strategies for Instructors of the Instructors of the Physical SciencesPhysical Sciences

UNC Orientation for New Graduate Students

Fall 2001Presented by Duane Deardorff

Director of Undergraduate Laboratories

Dept. of Physics and Astronomy

Introduction

• Which department are you from?

• Will you teach labs, recitations, or a course?

• What teaching techniques are you aware of?

• What do you hope to learn from this session?

Workshop Goals

• Learn teaching strategies to add to your teaching tool box.

• Develop plan to implement teaching tools.

Summary of PER Findings

• Traditional lecturing is not as effective as active-engagement methods of instruction.

• Students are not “blank slates.” They construct new knowledge based on their prior experiences and beliefs.

• Students’ knowledge is not as well-organized as that of experts.

• Research-based curricula can improve students’ conceptual understanding.

Active Learning

Fifty years of modern scientific research has yielded the same conclusion stated hundreds of years earlier by Confucius.

Active Learning

Fifty years of modern scientific research has yielded the same conclusion stated hundreds of years earlier by Confucius.

I hear and I forget,

I see and I remember,

I do and I understand.

- Chinese proverb

Cooperative Learning Groups

Requirements for successful cooperative learning:

Cooperative Learning Groups

Requirements for successful cooperative learning:

• Positive interdependence

Cooperative Learning Groups

Requirements for successful cooperative learning:

• Positive interdependence

• Individual accountability

Cooperative Learning Groups

Requirements for successful cooperative learning:

• Positive interdependence

• Individual accountability

• Face-to-face interaction

Cooperative Learning Groups

Requirements for successful cooperative learning:

• Positive interdependence

• Individual accountability

• Face-to-face interaction

• Appropriate use of interpersonal skills

Cooperative Learning Groups

Requirements for successful cooperative learning:

• Positive interdependence

• Individual accountability

• Face-to-face interaction

• Appropriate use of interpersonal skills

• Regular group self-assessment

Peer Instruction,Think-Pair-Share

• Instructor poses a challenging question

• Students commit to an answer individually

• Instructor calls for class vote (~50% correct)

• Students discuss answers with neighbors

• After several minutes, students vote again, this time about 80% of students are correct.

• Instructor summarizes correct reasoning.

What does the scale read?

A) 0

B) 5 lbs.

C) 10 lbs.

5 lbs5 lbs

Interactive Lecture Demonstrations

• Lecture demonstrations are most effective when there is an active-learning component.

• Students predict the outcome of a demo

• Instructor performs demo and discusses

• Ideal for pre-lab presentations

Socratic Dialogue

Ask students leading questions instead of giving an answer that will be easily forgotten.

S: “Isn’t the ball’s acceleration zero at the top?”

T: “What is the definition of acceleration?”

S: “It’s the change in the velocity.”

T: “Is the direction of the velocity changing?”

S: “Yes, so I guess the acceleration is not zero.”

T: “Right!”

Scaffolding

• Guidance and structure are removed as students gain experience.

Useful for learning experimental design– Transition from “cookbook” to open-ended labs

Model-Coach-Fade

Complex tasks require guidance and practice:

• Model what is expected (show example)

• Coach students as they practice

• Fade until students can master on their own

This technique is ideal for recitations.

Bridging

• Connects students’ common-sense beliefs to an intended way of thinking that may not make sense at first.

Example: The question about scale force.

Learning Styles

• Visual/Verbal

• Active/Reflective

• Intuitive/Sensing

• Inductive/Deductive

• Sequential/Global

Try to match your teaching style to your students’ learning styles:

Relevant Applications

• Abstract concepts can be made real by giving students examples of applications

• Motivates interest - good for introduction

• After instruction, ask students to think of other applications

Analogies

This is another way to connect with the familiar.

Examples:

• Electric current is like water flowing in pipes

• Voltage is like water pressure

• Resistance is like a constriction in the pipe

• An emf is like a pump

Multiple Representations

Words, symbols, diagrams, math, graphs:

acceleration

a

dv/dtv

t

aa

MnemonicsSine is Mercury MyOpposite over Venus VeryHypoteneuse. Earth EducatedCosine is Mars MotherAdjacent over Jupiter JustHypoteneuse. Saturn ServedTangent is Uranus UsOpposite over Neptune NineAdjacent. Pluto Pizza

Planet X Pies “ELI the ICE man”

GOAL Problem-Solving Strategy

Gather information

Organize your approach

Analyze the problem

Learn from your efforts

Concept Tests

30+ diagnostic test instruments for physics alone

•FCI - Force Concept Inventory•TUG-K - Test of Understanding Graphs•FMCE - Force and Motion Concept Exam•CSEM - Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism•MPEX - Maryland Physics Expectations

Minute Paper

• What is the main thing you learned today?

• What questions do you still have?

What can you use in your teaching?

• Think-Pair-Share

• Cooperative Learning

• Demonstrations

• Socratic dialogue

• Model-coach-fade

• Scaffolding

• Bridging

• Learning styles

• Representations

• Analogies

• Mnemonics

• GOAL

• Concept Tests

• Minute Paper