Peter Newbury Center for Teaching Development, UCSD ctd.ucsd.edu 15 January 2014

1. Resources: ctd.ucsd.edu/programs/weekly-workshops-winter-2014
CTD WEEKLY WORKSHOP:
HOW PEOPLE LEARN
Peter Newbury
Center for Teaching Development,
University of California, San Diego
pnewbury@ucsd.edu
@polarisdotca
ctd.ucsd.edu
#ctducsd
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
12:00 – 12:50 pm NSB Auditorium

2. 2
How People Learn

3. Survey
Which of these do you associate with a typical
university lecture?
A) listening
B) absorbing
C) note-taking
D) learning
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How People Learn

4. The traditional lecture is based on the
transmissionist learning model
(Image by um.dentistry on flickr CC)
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How People Learn

5. Let’s have a learning experience…
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How People Learn

6. Here is an important number system.
Please learn it.
1=
7=
2=
5=
8=
3=
6
4=
6=
9=
How People Learn

7. Test
What is this number?
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How People Learn

8. Scientifically Outdated, a Known Failure
We must abandon the tabula rasa
“blank slate” and “students as
empty vessels” models of teaching
and learning.
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How People Learn

9. New Number System: tic-tac-toe code
1
5
6
7
How People Learn
3
4
9
2
8
9

10. What is this number?
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How People Learn

11. Constructivist Theory of Learning
New learning is based on knowledge
you already have.
You store things in long term memory
through a set of connections that are
learning is done
made with your existing memories.
by individuals
Creating memories (aka learning) involves
having neurons fire and link up in networks
or patterns. (fMRI is allowing us to observe
learning as it happens.)
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How People Learn
(Images by Rebecca-Lee on flickr CC)

12. How People Learn
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.
Available for free as PDF
www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=9853
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How People Learn

13. Key Finding 1
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, p 14.)
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How People Learn

14. Key Finding 2
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, p 16.)
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How People Learn

15. Key Finding 3
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, p 18.)
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How People Learn

16. Aside: metacognition
Metacognition refers to one’s knowledge concerning one’s
own cognitive processes or anything related to them.
For example, I am engaging
in metacognition if I notice
that I am having more
trouble learning A than B.
([2], [3])
meta cognition
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How People Learn

17. Key Finding 3
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, p 18.)
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How People Learn

18. Please gather into groups of 3-4
Each set of colored cards has
 3 Key Findings
 3 Implications for Teaching
 3 Designing Classroom
Environments
TASK: Match the cards into
Key Finding
3 sets of 3 cards
2
Key Finding
3
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How People Learn
Designing
Classroom
Environment
Implications
for Teaching

19. 19
How People Learn

20. Key Finding 1
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, p 14.)
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How People Learn

21. Implications for Teaching 1
Teachers must draw out and work with the preexisting
understandings that their students bring with them.
(How People Learn, p 19.)
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How People Learn

22. Transmissionist
Constructivist
1=
4=
7=
1
2
3
2=
5=
8=
4
5
6
3=
6=
9=
7
8
9
unsupported, unfamiliar content
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How People Learn
built on pre-existing
knowledge
(tic-tac-toe board)

23. Classroom Environments 1
Schools and classrooms must be learner centered.
(How People Learn, p. 23)
Students need to encounter safe yet challenging conditions
in which they can try, fail, receive feedback, and try again
without facing summative evaluation.
(What the best college teachers do, p.108)
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How People Learn

24. Learning requires interaction
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How People Learn
[5]

25. Learning requires interaction
Learning gain:
100%
0.50
% of class time
NOT lecturing
0
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pre-test
post-test
[5]

26. Learning requires interaction
[5]
52 classes in sizes 25 to >100 students, at
2- and 4-yr colleges and research
universities across US, wrote an astronomy
test. Each point shows a class’ learning gain.
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How People Learn

27. Learning requires interaction
[5]
1
3
27
2
4
How People Learn

28. Key Finding 2
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, p 16.)
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How People Learn

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How People Learn

30. Implications for Teaching 2
Teachers must teach some subject matter in depth,
providing many examples in which the same concept is at
work and providing a firm foundation of factual
knowledge.
(How People Learn, p 20.)
Classroom Environments 2
To provide a knowledge-centered environment, attention
must be given to what is taught (information, subject
matter), why it is taught (understanding), and what
competence or mastery looks like.
(How People Learn, p 24.)
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How People Learn

31. Key Finding 3
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, p 18.)
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How People Learn

32. Implications for Teaching 3
The teaching of metacognitive skills should be integrated
into the curriculum in a variety of subject areas.
(How People Learn, p 21.)
Classroom Environments 3
Formative assessments — ongoing assessments designed
to make students’ thinking visible to both teachers and
students — are essential.
(How People Learn, p 24.)
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How People Learn

33. Putting How People Learn theory
into practice

34. traditional lecture
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How People Learn
student-centered instruction

35. peer instruction with clickers
interactive demonstrations
surveys of opinions
reading quizzes
worksheets
discussions
videos
student-centered instruction
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How People Learn

36. Introductory Chemistry
Today, we’ll be learning about changes of state.
Remember, there are 3 states (also called “phases”) of
matter:
 solid
 liquid
 gas
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How People Learn

37. 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)
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How People Learn

38. Typical Episode of Peer Instruction (PI)
1. Instructor poses a conceptually-challenging
multiple-choice question.
2. Students think about question on their own and vote
using clickers, colored ABCD cards, smartphones,…
3. The instructor asks students to turn to their neighbors
and “convince them you’re right.”
4. After that “peer instruction”, the students vote again
and the instructor leads a class-wide discussion
concluding with why the right answer(s) is right and
the wrong answers are wrong.
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How People Learn

39. In effective peer instruction
 students teach each other while
they may still hold or remember
their novice preconceptions
 students discuss the concepts in their
own (novice) language
students learn
and practice
how to think,
communicate
like experts
 each student finds out what s/he does(n’t) know
 the instructor finds out what the students know (and
don’t know) and reacts, building on their initial
understanding and preconceptions.
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How People Learn

40. To learn more about peer instruction
Upcoming Weekly Workshops at the CTD:
Feb 12 Peer Instruction I: Writing Good Peer Instruction (“Clicker”)
Questions A good episode of peer instruction requires a good
question. In this session, we’ll see a variety of questions and contrast
good vs bad questions, that you can adapt to your discipline
Feb 19 Peer Instruction II: Best Practices for Running Peer Instruction with
Clickers In this session, we’ll discuss best practices for choreographing
an episode of peer instruction in your class including how to pose the
question, when to open and close the poll, how many votes, and how
to get the most out of the class-wide discussion.
To register, look for the
Teaching and Learning Weekly Workshops
at ctd.ucsd.edu
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How People Learn

41. How People Learn
Learning is not about what the
instructor does. It’s about what
students do for themselves.
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How People Learn

42. How People Learn
Learning is not about what the
instructor does. It’s about what
students do for themselves.
Students will not learn (just) by
listening to the instructor explain.
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How People Learn

43. How People Learn
Learning is not about what the
instructor does. It’s about what
students do for themselves.
Students will not learn (just) by
listening to the instructor explain.
BE LESS HELPFUL
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How People Learn

44. If in doubt, ask yourself…
Who is doing the work,
you or the students?
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How People Learn

45. Resources: ctd.ucsd.edu/programs/weekly-workshops-winter-2014
CTD WEEKLY WORKSHOP:
HOW PEOPLE LEARN
Peter Newbury
Center for Teaching Development,
University of California, San Diego
pnewbury@ucsd.edu
@polarisdotca
ctd.ucsd.edu
#ctducsd
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
12:00 – 12:50 pm NSB Auditorium

46. References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
46
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.
Flavell, J. H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In
L. B. Resnick (Ed.), The nature of intelligence (pp.231-236).
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Brame, C. (2013) Thinking about metacognition. [blog] January,
2013, Available at: http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/2013/01/thinkingabout-metacognition/ [Accessed: 14 Jan 2013].
Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
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. 77, 4, 320-330.
How People Learn