CTD Fa14 Weekly Workshop: Alternatives to lecture

Alternatives to Lecture 1 Train wreck at Montparnasse Station, Paris, France, 1895

(Image: Wikimedia Commons)

What do you

notice?

What do you

wonder?

CTD Weekly Workshops:

Alternatives to Lecture

Unless otherwise noted, content is

licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-

Non Commercial 3.0 License.

Peter Newbury, Ph.D.

Center for Teaching Development,

University of California, San Diego

[email protected]

@polarisdotca #ctducsd

ctd.ucsd.edu

resources: ctd.ucsd.edu/programs/weekly-workshops-fall-2014/

please

sign in

October 29, 2014

Scholarly approach to teaching:

Alternatives to Lecture 3

Carl Wieman

Science Education Initiative

cwsei.ubc.ca

What should

students

learn? learning

outcomes

(goals, objectives)

assessment

(Nov 5)

alt to lecture

(Oct 29)

peer instruction,

(Nov 19 & 26)

What should

students

learn?

What are

students

learning?

What instructional

approaches

help students

learn?

Prediction


Ice cubes are floating in a glass of water

that is filled to the brim.

As the ice cubes melt, what happens to

the water level?

A) it stays the same

B) it rises and spills water over the brim

C) it falls to a level below the brim.

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 [1], p. 14)

Instructors must

draw out students’

pre-existing

understandings.

Instruction must be

student-centered.

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.


These are

characteristics of

expertize

Instructors need to give

students opportunities

to be more expert-like.

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.


Instructors need to

provide opportunities for

students to practice being

metacognitive

Metacognition: that

voice in your head

that checks if you

understand

Constructivist theory of learning


Students need to construct their own understanding of the

concepts, where

each student assimilates new material into his/her own

framework of initial understanding and preconception

each student confronts his/her (mis)understanding of

the concepts

A traditional, one-way lecture doesn’t give students an

opportunity to “try, fail, receive feedback and try again,

before facing a summative evaluation.” [2]


student-centered instruction traditional instruction


student-centered instruction

peer instruction with clickers

interactive demonstrations

What do you notice?

What do you wonder?

surveys of opinions

reading quizzes

worksheets

discussions

videos

(Question: Sujatha Raghu from Braincandy via LearningCatalytics)

(Image: CIM9926 by number657 on flickr CC)

Discussion (peer instruction)

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.


Typical Episode of Peer Instruction


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”, students may vote again.

5. The instructor leads a class-wide discussion concluding

with why the right answer(s) is right and the wrong

answers are wrong.

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

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.

students practice

how to think,

communicate

like experts

To learn more about peer instruction


Upcoming Weekly Workshops at the CTD:

To register, look for the

Teaching and Learning Weekly Workshops

at ctd.ucsd.edu

Nov 19 Peer Instruction 1: 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

Nov 26 Peer Instruction 2: 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.





What do you notice?

What do you wonder?

surveys of opinions

reading quizzes

worksheets

discussions

videos


Chemistry Day 4 by pennstatenews on flickr CC-BY-NC

In-class demonstrations


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

To engage students and focus their attention on the key

event, get students to make a prediction (using

clickers, for example)

Prediction


Ice cubes are floating in a glass of water

that is filled to the brim.

As the ice cubes melt, what happens to

the water level?

A) it stays the same

B) it rises and spills water over the brim

C) it falls to a level below the brim.

Interactive Lecture Demos (ILD) [3]


By making a prediction, each student

cares about the outcome (“Did I get it right?”)

knows when to look (can anticipate phenomenon)

knows where to look (sees phenomenon occur)

gets immediate feedback about his/her understanding

of the concept

is prepared for your explanation





What do you notice?

What do you wonder?

surveys of opinions

reading quizzes

worksheets

discussions

videos

Alternatives to Lecture 21 Train wreck at Montparnasse Station, Paris, France, 1895

(Image: Wikimedia Commons)

What do you

notice?

What do you

wonder?

Start teaching before the bell rings


Students arrive, ready to engage with you, your content:

Project a picture related to today’s lesson

Add prompts:

“What do you notice? What do you wonder?” [8]

Spend first few minutes leading a discussion:

o every student can contribute because everyone can wonder

o you learn their pre-existing knowledge

o activates concepts in their memories

Don’t let their enthusiasm slip away!





What do you notice?

What do you wonder?

surveys of opinions

reading quizzes

worksheets

discussions

videos

What do you see?


A) old lady

B) young woman

If you’re studying human

behavior, let your students

generate authentic data

For sensitive issues, clickers

can be set to “anonymous”





What do you notice?

What do you wonder?

surveys of opinions

reading quizzes

worksheets

discussions

videos

Showing video in class


There are times when a video is the perfect resource.

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)

Showing video in class


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

instructor does this

before class

instructor does this unconsciously,

the “curse” of expertise

This is what you want to do in class!

anticipate and recognize are

necessary for rich discussion/analysis.

Videos: implications for instructors


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.

Is Lecture Dead?


No! There is still a time and place for lecture. You can

lecture (for 10-15 minutes) when the students are

prepared to learn:

the alt-to-lecture activities have activated the concepts

in their memories

they’ve tried, failed, received feedback, tried again and

are waiting for confirmation

they’re prepared to intellectually appreciate the

expertise you’re about to share with them





What do you notice?

What do you wonder?

surveys of opinions

reading quizzes

worksheets

discussions

videos

To enhance

students learning and

retention, some instruction must

be interactive and student-centered.

That’s how people learn.

Scholarly approach to teaching:


Carl Wieman

Science Education Initiative

cwsei.ubc.ca

What should

students

learn? learning

outcomes

(goals, objectives)

assessment

(Nov 5)

alt to lecture

(Oct 29)

peer instruction,

(Nov 19 & 26)

What should

students

learn?

What are

students

learning?

What instructional

approaches

help students

learn?

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. Bain, K (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge, MA:

Harvard University Press.

3. Get the full story of interactive lecture demos (ILDs) at

serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/demonstrations/index.html

4. Read more about “What do you notice? What do you wonder” at

ctd.ucsd.edu/2013/08/you-dont-have-to-wait-for-the-clock-

to-strike-to-start-teaching/

CTD Weekly Workshops:


Unless otherwise noted, content is

licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-

Non Commercial 3.0 License.

Peter Newbury, Ph.D.

Center for Teaching Development,

University of California, San Diego

[email protected]

@polarisdotca #ctducsd

ctd.ucsd.edu

resources: ctd.ucsd.edu/programs/weekly-workshops-fall-2014/

please

sign in

October 29, 2014

CTD Fa14 Weekly Workshop: Alternatives to lecture

Education

Transcript of CTD Fa14 Weekly Workshop: Alternatives to lecture