The College Classroom Week 7: They're not dumb, they're different

Week 7:
They’re not dumb, they’re different.
The College Classroom
November 12 and 14, 2013

Today…
2

collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

#tccucsd

Discussion procedure
3

1. The person with the ball will give the first comment.
(Hang onto the ball until the next slide.)
2. After that, everyone is welcome to comment.
3. When we advance to the next slide, pass the ball to
your right.

Today, you are instructors, not students.
Start your comments with
 “When I’m the instructor…”
 “If this was *my* class…”

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The Eric Experiment [1]
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I still get the feeling that unlike a humanities course, here
the professor is the keeper of the information, the one
who knows all the answers. This does little to propagate
discussion or dissent.
(p. 21)

Assessment, Expertise Development, How People Learn,
Learning Outcomes, Cooperative Learning, Fixed/Growth Mindset

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*

5

There was a Hispanic woman who sits next to me who is
already having trouble with the material. She tells me she
spends seven hours a night on homework and needs to get
an “A” to receive an ROTC scholarship next year.
(p. 22)


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*

6

… students in a science class try to identify people who
score well and then constantly compare their scores (or
time studying or answers on homework) to their own. I
have never been in a class before where my grade had
any effect, real or perceived, on anyone else.
(p. 23)


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7

The best classes I had were classes in which I was
constantly engaged, constantly questioning and pushing
the limits of the subject and myself.
(p. 25)


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8

If you find you do not understand something from the last
chapter, you must wait until after class to see wither the
professor or the teaching assistant. The professor’s office
hour is busy and there is not much time for in-depth help.
The teaching assistant, while well-meaning, has problems
communicating in English, and is only around on certain
days of the week.
(p. 26)

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9

What is not as well understood are the various ways in
which this already hard subject is made even harder and
more frustrating by the pedagogy itself.
(p. 29)


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*

10

[My classmates] will have had no training in working
collectively. In fact, their experience will have taught them
to fear cooperation, and that another person’s intellectual
achievement will be detrimental their own.
(p. 24)


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11

The lack of community, together with the lack of
interchange between the professor and the students
combines to produce a totally passive classroom
experience.
(p. 25)


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*

12

“…the greatest stumbling block to understanding” was
the lack of identifiable goals and the absence of
linkage between concepts.
(p. 29)


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*

13

[F]or the most part, “why” questions are neither asked
nor answered. The preference is for “how”
questions…[Eric’s] classmates didn’t appreciate his
interruptions, however. They seemed to “lose patience”
with his “silly ‘why’ questions.” These got in the way of
the mechanics of finding the right solution to their
assigned problems.
(p. 20-21)

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14

If physicists learned to regard every one of those
250,000 introductory physics students – most of them
somewhat better than “ordinary” – as having something
valuable to contribute and much to gain from science,
there might be no science “crisis” at all.
(p. 32)


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Eric’s physics professor: [1]
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I assume the students in [introductory physics] are preprofessionals who have already decided on a career in
science and are in class to lean problem-solving
techniques that will be required of them in their careers.
(p. 30)


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Eric’s physics professor: [1]
16

Students not interested in the physical world have a
harder time, since they don’t know and usually don’t care,
how things, cars, bodies, weather, the heavens, work.
(p. 30)


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*

17

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Teaching the History of Women [2]
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For the opportunity to introduce both the Middle East and
women’s history to a captive and diverse audience, I am
very grateful. But challenges abound, beginning with the
time-consuming obstacle of students’ ignorance of even
the region’s basic geography…


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*

19

[H]ow, in this tense climate, can we present our students
with honest, critical, and nuanced information about
contentious topics…


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*

20

My experience to date suggests that one of the most
effective teaching strategies is to address all topics in
comparative global perspective, drawing particular
parallels with the history of women in the United States
and Western Europe.


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Peer Instruction
21

Before class:
students read the text, watch online lectures
complete a reading quiz, online assessment

During class: Periodically, between mini-lectures,
1. instructor poses a conceptually challenging question
2. students vote individually
3. students discuss the concept in groups of 2-3 and then vote
again
4. class-wide discussion led by instructor, confirming why the
correct choice(s) is correct, why the incorrect choices are
incorrect

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Halving Fail Rates using Peer Instruction [3]
22

“Fail Rate” refers to the
number of students
earning a W (withdraw),
D, or F grade out of the
total number students
passing (A,B,C) and
failing (W, D, F).


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Halving Fail Rates using Peer Instruction [3]
23

By designing a course to better support students in their
attainment of learning goals, standards can be preserved
while facilitating “easier” learning.
Also, peer instruction
 builds on students’ knowledge
 has a social constructivism component
 gives students opportunities to practice talking like
experts
 timely, formative feedback
 student-centered / engaging / active learning

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Tobias’ conclusions:
24

But as least as important as content…will be changes in
the “classroom culture”









more attention to an intellectual overview
more context (even history) in the presentation of
physical models
less condescending pedagogy
differently challenging examinations
more discussion, more “dissent” (even if artificially
constructed)
more community in the classroom
([1], p. 31)


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Take away:
25

 become aware of your own biases about who can
succeed in your classes
 find ways for students to contribute to the class


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26

Next week:
Alternatives to Lecture
Watch for Homework 8 post


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References
27

1.

Tobias, S. (1990). They’re Not Dumb, They’re Different: Stalking the Second
Tier. Tuscon, AZ: Research Corporation.

2.

Scalenghe, S. (November, 2012). Teaching the History of Women in the
Middle East and North America. Perspectives on History, 50, 8.
http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2012/1211/TeachingWomens-History-Forum_History-of-Women-in-the-Middle-East-and-NorthAfrica.cfm

3.

Porter, L., Bailey-Lee, C., & Simon, B. (2012). Halving fail rates using peer
instruction: a study of four computer science courses. Under review.

4.

Kruger, J. & Dunning, D. (1999). Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties
in recognizing one’s own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 77, 1121-1134.


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28

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Unskilled and Unaware of it [4]
29

When people are incompetent in the strategies they adopt
to achieve success and satisfaction, they suffer a dual
burden: Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and
make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs
them of the ability to realize it.
(p. 1121)


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Unskilled and Unaware…
30


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31


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32


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Unskilled and Unaware Conclusions
33

 in domains where they have no intuition at all
(“translating Slovenian proverbs”, “reconstructing an
8-cylinder engine”) people do not overestimate their
ability, rate themselves worse than their peers

 when they have a “minimal threshold of knowledge,
theory or experience”, people poorly estimate their
own abilities and the abilities of their peers
(p. 1132)


#tccucsd

The College Classroom Week 7: They're not dumb, they're different

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