The College Classroom Week 8 - Alternatives to Lecture

The College ClassroomFebruary 27, 2013

Week 8:Alternatives to Lecture

collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu #tccucsd

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student-centered instruction

listening

interacting

engaged

learning

traditional lecture

listening


Key Finding 33

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.

(How People Learn [1], p. 18)

Instructors need to provide opportunities for

students to practice being metacognitive –

thinking about their own thinking


Key Finding 24

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.

(How People Learn [1], p. 16)These are

characteristics of

expertize(together with metacognition)


Key Finding 15

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.


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Learning requires interaction [2]


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% of class time NOT lecturing

Learning gain:

pre-test0

100%

post-test

0.50


8


1 2

3 4

good


9

listening

interacting

engaged

learningpeer instruction w clickersworksheetsinteractive demonstrationsvideossurveys of opinionsreading quizzesdiscussions



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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)

Opinion: Videos in class11

In your opinion, the Paul Hewitt videoA) is engagingB) is entertainingC) is interactiveD) stimulates deep thinking


Unlike you, 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

Videos in class


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instructor does this before class

instructor does this unconsciously,the “curse” of expertise

This is what you want to discuss in class! Anticipate & recognize are pre-requisites.

Videos: implications for instructors


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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.


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listening

interacting

engaged



In-class demonstrations15

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


Interactive Lecture Demos (ILD) [3]

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To engage students and focus their attention on the key event, get students to make a prediction (using clickers, for example)


Clicker question17

A ball is rolling around the inside of a circulartrack. The ballleaves the trackat point P.

Which pathdoes the ballfollow?

P

AB

CD

E

(Mazur)collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu #tccucsd

Interactive Lecture Demos (ILD) [3]

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After the prediction, each student cares about the outcome (“Did I get it

right?”) knows where to look (can anticipate

phenomenon) knows when to look (sees phenomenon

occur) gets immediate feedback about his/her

understanding of the concept is prepared for your explanation

(don’t be afraid to mess with their heads – inclined table example)



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listening

interacting

engaged



Gen-Ed astronomy class20

Before beginning an in-class worksheet, be sure the students are properly prepared:

Stars have various diameters and surface areas temperatures (hot stars are blue,

cooler stars are red)A star’s luminosity is the rate at which it emits energy.

Orion by John GauvreauAPOD 2008 October 15



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In class, we did a worksheet about cooking spaghetti and then, by analogy, the temperature, size and luminosity of stars.

The worksheet is removed from this slide deck because it is copyrighted.

In-class worksheets22

carefully-designed sequence of questions guide students through the exploration of a concept

first few questions may be trivial – checks students read intro paragraph, gives them confidence

give formative feedback along the way most effective when done collaboratively (group

reaches consensus before answering) long, evidence-based history via “Washington

Tutorials” and “Lecture Tutorials for introductory astronomy” (interactive activities in Prather et al. [2] is primarily lecture-tutorials + peer instruction)


In-class worksheet assessment

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don’t “go over” the worksheet that only encourages students to

sit and wait for your solutions don’t post solutions later

again, encourages non-participation students bring last year’s sol’ns to class


good alternative: ask a clicker question(s) if students get the question right, they can be

confident they successfully completed the worksheet

force students to self-assess their answers: metacognition

Clicker question 24

You observe two stars with the same luminosity and determine that one is larger than the other. Which star has the greater temperature?

A) the smaller starB) the larger starC) the temperatures are the sameD) there is insufficient information to

answer this question

(Prather et al., [4])collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu #tccucsd


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listening

interacting

engaged




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Clicker question

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.

(Question: Sujatha Raghu from Braincandy via LearningCatalytics)

(Image: CIM9926 by number657 on flickr CC)


Typical episode of peer instruction27

Alternating with 10-15 minute mini-lectures, 1. Instructor poses a conceptually-challenging

multiple-choice question.2. Students think about question on their own.3. Students vote for an answer using clickers,

colored/ABCD voting cards,...4. The instructor reacts, based on the

distribution of votes. Typically1. “turn to your neighbor, convince them you’re right”2. 2nd vote3. Instructor orchestrates class discussion, concluding

with explanation of solution (plus why wrongs are wrong?)


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In effective peer instruction

students teach each other whilethey may still hold or remembertheir preconceptions

students discuss the concepts in theirown (novice) language

the instructor finds out what the students know (and don’t know) and reacts

students learn and practice how to think, communicate like experts


Effective peer instruction requires

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1. identifying key concepts, misconceptions2. creating multiple-choice questions that

require deeper thinking and learning

3. facilitating peer instruction episodes thatspark student discussion

4. resolving the misconceptions

beforeclass

duringclass


t h e l e a r n i n g c y c l e

Clickers help students learn...

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BEFORE DURING AFTER

setting upinstruction

developingknowledge

assessinglearning

Adapted from Rosie Piller, Ian Beatty, Stephanie Chasteen




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BEFORE DURING AFTER


developingknowledge

assessinglearning

asse

ss p

rior

know

ledg

e

prov

oke

thin

king

pred

ict

mot

ivat

e

disc

ove

r



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Clicker question

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.

(Question: Sujatha Raghu from Braincandy via LearningCatalytics)

(Image: CIM9926 by number657 on flickr CC)

assess prior knowledge


Clicker question33

In your opinion, which had the most positive impact on the modern world?

A) coffeeB) teaC) chocolateD) spiceE) sugar

(Herbst, UCSD)

motivate


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Clicker question

A leopard goes into a deep cavewhere there is no light. After anhour, can it see in the dark?

A) No because there is no light.B) No because its eyes have not had

enough time to adjust.C) Yes because its eyes have adjusted to the

darkness.D) Yes because leopards can see in the dark.(Question: Paul Simeon from Braincandy via

LearningCatalytics)(Image: Villy at the “door” of his cave by Tambako the Jaguar

on flickr CC)

provoke thinking


Clicker question35

A ball is rolling around the inside of a circulartrack. The ballleaves the trackat point P.

Which pathdoes the ballfollow?

P

AB

CD

E

(Mazur)

predict




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BEFORE DURING AFTER


developingknowledge

assessinglearning

asse

ss p

rior

know

ledg

e

prov

oke

thin

king

pred

ict

mot

ivat

e

disc

ove

rpr

obe

misc

once

ption sy

nthe

sis

exer

cise

skillev

alua

tio

n

analys

i

s

chec

k

know

ledg

e

real w

orld

appl

icat

ion



Clicker question37

How many of these are reasons for the seasons?

the height of the Sun in the sky during the day

Earth’s distance from the Sun how many hours the Sun is up each day

A) none of themB) oneC) twoD) all three

probe misconception


Clicker question38

Select the line that you feel has the strongest imagery in “Fast rode the knight” by Stephen Crane (1905).

analysis

Fast rode the knightWith spurs, hot and reeking,Ever waving an eager sword,"To save my lady!"Fast rode the knight,And leaped from saddle to war.Men of steel flickered and gleamedLike riot of silver lights,And the gold of the knight's good bannerStill waved on a castle wall.. . . . .A horse,Blowing, staggering, bloody thing,Forgotten at foot of castle wall.A horseDead at foot of castle wall.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP

(David Kurtz, via LearningCatalytics)


Clicker question39

Which of the following is an incorrect step when using the substitution method to evaluate the definite integral

A)

B)

4

0

32 1 dxxx

31 xu

dxxdu 2

3 C. none of the above

4

03

1duu

(adapted from Bruff (2009))

evaluation


Clicker question40

Susan throws a ball straight up into the air. It goes up and then falls back into her hand 2 seconds later.

Draw a graph showing the velocity of the ball from the moment it leaves her hand until she catches it again.

time

velocity

2 sec0

exercise skill

(CWSEI UBC)


time

velocity

2 sec0

Atime

velocity

2 sec0

B

time

velocity

2 sec0

Ctime

velocity

2 sec0

D

E) some other graph

Which one is the closest match to your graph?exercise skill

(CWSEI UBC)41


t h e l e a r n i n g c y c l e de

mon

stra

te

succ

ess


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BEFORE DURING AFTER


developingknowledge

assessinglearning

asse

ss p

rior

know

ledg

e

prov

oke

thin

king

pred

ict

mot

ivat

e

disc

ove

rpr

obe

misc

once

ption sy

nthe

sis

exer

cise

skillev

alua

tio

nre

view

/

reca

p“b

ig p

ictu

re”

exit

poll

analys

i

s

chec

k

know

ledg

e

real w

orld

appl

icat

ion



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Clicker question

Which point on the phylogenetic tree represents the closest relative of the frog?

AB

CD

E

(UBC CWSEI)

demonstrate success


Clicker question44

For the data set displayed in the following histogram, which would be larger, the mean or the median?

A) meanB) medianC) can’t tell from the given histogram(Peck, mathquest.carroll.edu/resources.html)

review / recap


Clicker question45

In your opinion, which had the most positive impact on the modern world?

A) coffeeB) teaC) chocolateD) spiceE) sugar

“big picture”

(Herbst, UCSD)


Clickers help teachers teach...

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BEFORE DURING AFTER


developingknowledge

assessinglearning





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BEFORE DURING AFTER


developingknowledge

assessinglearning

Do they care about this?

Are they ready for the next topic?

What DO they care about, anyway?

What do they already know?



Did they notice key idea X?

Where are they in the activity?


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BEFORE DURING AFTER


developingknowledge

assessinglearning

Are they getting it?

Do I need to intervene?



How did I do?

Did they get it?


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BEFORE DURING AFTER


developingknowledge

assessinglearning

Can I move to the next topic?

Did that activity work?

What makes a good clicker question?

starts a conversation between students

“lays bare” the heart of a juicy problem

prepares student to grasp expert’s explanation

doesn’t answer the problem: that’s what peer discussions AND YOU are for

exam question with exactly 1 correct answer

memorization question (you either remember or you don’t)

part of discouraging lecture-quiz-lecture-quiz-lecture... cycle

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YES NO

Lots of practice writing, running peer instruction in SGTS Practical wkshps

The College ClassroomMarch 6, 2013

Week 9:First Day of Class


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References

1. 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.

2. Prather, E.E, Rudolph, A.L., Brissenden, G., & Schlingman, W.M. (2009). A national study assessing the teaching and learning of introductory astronomy. Part I. The effect of interactive instruction. Am. J. Phys. 66, 64-74.

3. Get the full story of ILDs at serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/demonstrations/index.html

4. Prather, E.E., Slater, T.F., Adams, J.P., & Brissenden, G. (2007). Lecture Tutorials for Introductory Astronomy. (2e). San Francisco, CA: Pearson Addison-Wesley.


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listening

interacting

engaged




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Discussions

students share their understanding, opinions, ideas

students hear other students’ ideas, viewpoints

students practice communicating like experts

students get timely feedback from peers and instructor


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Discussions: Implications for instructors

ensure students come to class prepared to contribute to the discussion

pre-readings that students want to complete (marks?)

must orchestrate activity so EVERY student speaks (no just enthusiastic volunteers)

“talking stick”, wiffle balls, pass the duck, popsicle sticks

build in time/tasks for listening, getting feedback from peers and instructor

Education

The College Classroom Week 8 - Alternatives to Lecture