Upload
mark-laumakis
View
164
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
how to study more effectively, based on research in psychology
Citation preview
Mark A. Laumakis, Ph.D.San Diego State Universtiy
Lecturer, Department of Psychology
4 November 2014
Subtitle or catch phrase for the presentation
Successful Learning: What Psychology Says about Learning Better
A.B. in Psychology and Sociology from Duke University
Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Southern California
A Little Bit about Me…
The SDSU campus My 500-student lecture hall
Introductory Psychology at San Diego State University
Since 2000, I have taught 20,000 students…
Learning: How do you try to learn?
What does psychological science suggest about how to be a successful learner?
Having heard this, what will you do differently now, if anything?
Questions, some answers, and lively discussion
Some resources to take with you…
Our Agenda Today
Results from Karpicke, Butler, and Roediger (2009; N = 177 college students)
Study Strategy % endorsing the use of this strategy
Reread notes or textbook 84%
Do practice problems 43%
Use flashcards 40%
Rewrite notes 30%
Study with a group of students 27%
Practice recall (self-testing) 11%
What are the disadvantages, if any, of these study strategies?
“When students rely purely on their subjective experience while they study (e.g., their fluency of processing during rereading) they may fall prey to illusions of competence and believe they know the material better than they actually do.”
“A challenge for instructional practice is to encourage students to base their study strategies on theories about why a particular strategy – like practicing repeated retrieval – promotes learning and long-term retention.”
“Illusions of competence”
What does psychological science suggest about how to be a successful learner?
learning is deeper and more durable when it is effortfulwe are poor judges of when we are learning well and when we’re notrereading text and massed practice of a skill or new
knowledge are by far the preferred study strategies of learners of all stripes, but they are also among the least productive
retrieval practice -- recalling facts or concepts or events from memory -- is a more effective learning strategy than review by rereading
when you space out practice at a task and get a little rusty between sessions, or you interleave the practice of two or more subjects, retrieval is harder and feels less productive, but the effort produces longer lasting learning and enables more versatile application of it in later settings
Major claims in make it stick
the popular notion that you learn better when you receive instruction in a form consistent with your preferred “learning style” is not supported by the empirical research
we’re all susceptible to illusions that can hijack our judgment of what we know and can dotesting can help calibrate our judgments of what
we’ve learnedin virtually all areas of learning, you build better
mastery when you use testing as a tool to identify and bring up your areas of weakness
all new learning requires a foundation of prior knowledge
Major claims in make it stick
if you practice elaboration, there’s no limit to how much you can learnelaboration is the practice of giving new material meaning by
expressing it in your own words and connecting it with what you already know
putting new knowledge into a larger context helps learning people who learn to extract the key ideas from new material and
organize them into a mental model and connect that model to prior knowledge show an advantage in learning complex masterya mental model is a mental representation of some external reality
many people believe that their intellectual ability is hardwired from birth, and that failure to meet a learning challenge is an indictment of their native abilitybut every time you learn something new, you change the brain -- the
residue of your experiences is stored
Major claims in make it stick
Investigated the testing effect If students are tested on material and successfully recall or recognize
it, they will remember it better in the future than if they had not been tested
Experiment 1120 undergraduates read a prose passage on a single topic (sun, sea
otters), covering 30 idea unitsResearchers manipulated the learning condition of participants (study,
study OR study, test)Dependent variable was % of idea units recalled at 5-minute, 2-day,
or 1-week retention intervals
Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term Retention (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006)
Experiment 1 Results
Experiment 2
180 undergraduates read a prose passage on a single topic (sun, sea otters), covering 30 idea units (same as Experiment 1)
Researchers manipulated the learning condition of participants (repeated study [SSSS], single test [SSST], OR repeated test [STTT])
Dependent variable was % of idea units recalled at 5-minute or 1-week retention intervals
Researchers also asked participants to predict how well they would remember the passage
Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term Retention (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006)
Experiment 2 Results
Experiment 2 Results
Both experiments showed the same pattern Immediate testing after reading a prose passage promoted better
long-term retention than repeatedly studying the passage
The testing effect is dramatic In Experiment 2, students in the repeated-testing condition
recalled much more after a week than did students in the repeated-study condition (61% vs. 40%)
Even though students in the repeated-testing condition read the passage only 3.4 times and those in the repeated-study condition read the passage 14.2 times
Major conclusion: TESTING HAS A POWERFUL EFFECT ON LONG-TERM RETENTION
Conclusions
Judicious use of testing may improve learning in educational settings at all levels from elementary through university education
Why?
1. Frequent testing leads students to space their study efforts (no cramming)
2. Frequent testing permits students and their instructors to assess their knowledge on an ongoing basis
3. Frequent testing serves as a powerful mnemonic aid for future retention
Implications
Adaptive Quizzing (LearningCurve) in Psychology 101 at San Diego State University
Two sections of Intro Psych800 TTH section: 273 students (TRADITIONAL)930 TTH section: 491 students (LEARNINGCURVE)
800 section completed conventional online quizzes14 pre-lecture quizzes & 14 mastery quizzes5 points for each of up to 12 quizzes in each category completed
with a score of 65% or moreUnlimited attemptsMaximum point total = 120 points (out of 700 in course)
PSY 101 Pilot Study – Spring 2012
930 section completed 3-5 LearningCurve activities for each of 14 chapters
LearningCurve activities were worth 10 points per chapter
Maximum point total = 120 points (out of 700 in course)
Results
Mean Median0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
88.9100101.5
120
TraditionalLearningCurve1.8% of course grade
2.9% of course grade
More Results
Traditional LearningCurve0
200400600800
10001200140016001800
545
1661
Total number of quiz questions completed
Total number of quiz questions completed
LearningCurve Quizzes: Feel the Burn!% of students who did MORE than the minimum required to get all of their quiz points
Traditional Learning Curve0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
27%
56%
% doing more than the minimum
Test and Course Grade Results
Course Grade Distributions
Eliminating Confounds: Spring 2012 vs. Spring 2011
One Last Result:Fall 2012 Course Grade Distributionsas a Function of LearningCurve Completion Status
What does psychological science suggest about how to be a successful learner?
http://bit.ly/1thDazf
Deep processing is better than shallow processing
Examples of deep processing:
Relating new information to prior knowledge Analogy of lock and key for neurotransmitters and receptor sites
Making information personally meaningful Your own examples of negative reinforcement
Examples of shallow processing:
Memorizing definitions of termsMindlessly reading notes and/or the textbook
Levels of Processing
How can I achieve deep processing?
1. Elaborate: how does this concept relate to other concepts?Example: how are hair cells similar to rods and cones?
2. Differentiate: how is this concept different from other concepts?
Example: how is negative reinforcement different from positive punishment?
3. Personalize: how does this concept relate to my own personal experiences?
Example: when have I experienced shaping in my own life?
4. Retrieve and Apply: how will I be expected to use or apply this concept?
Example: take practice quizzes (use the testing effect to your advantage)
Other Recommendations about Learning Better
Let’s discuss
Having heard this, what will you do differently now, if anything?
http://aptaujucentrs.com/uploads/images/focus-group.jpg
Any other questions?
Some resources for you
http://bit.ly/1thDazf
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22113681/3/3