How People Learn: Study Guide Compiled by EDUC 381 Spring 2007, Brian Beck, & Kym Buchanan

A Cat’s Learning Box –Box 1.1 (pg. 7) • Behaviorism-Edward L. Thorndike (1913)–hungry cats learn to pull a string to

open a door to get food. • Escape by trial and error • Rewards, such as food, increase the connections between stimuli and response. • 1950’s cognitive science-approached learning from a multidisciplinary viewpoint.

o Anthropology, philosophy, and computer science • Begin study of mental functioning-about thinking and learning. • Recently, realize the importance of social and cultural background of learning.

Learning with Understanding (pg.8-9) • New science • Students have inadequate chances to study for understanding because many

subjects require students to memorize many different facts. • Facts are important, but to apply “usable knowledge” students can connect and

organize significant ideas. –Transfer information. • Individuals with a variety of knowledge are more likely to use what they know,

solve problems, and show evidence of transfer.

Pre-Existing Knowledge (pg.10-12) • Prior knowledge affects the students’ capability to “remember, reason, solve

problems” and learn new concepts. • The current examination of learning is that people develop new knowledge from

what they already know. • Some students may be misinformed or given the wrong interpretation in their

lives. • Teachers need to concentrate on a student’s partial understandings and limited

beliefs and create ideas to help students become successful.

Fish is Fish (pg.11) • Children’s story-by Leo Lionni

o Illustrates dangers of children only building knowledge on prior knowledge without any additional direction.

• “Teaching by Telling” works well, but teachers need to give direction when necessary.

• Students learn more by sharing prior knowledge –inquiry based instruction

Active Learning (pg.12-13) • Students take control of their own learning. • Metacognition- “people’s abilities to predict their performances on various tasks

and to monitor their current levels of mastery and understanding.” ~This idea focuses on sense making, self-assessment and reflection.

• Improves on transfer of information

Implications for Education (13-19)

• New science of learning is providing knowledge to increase people’s ability to become active learners

o Seek understanding of complex subject matter o Relate what is learned to new problems and settings

• As educators we should Rethink:

o What is taught o How it is taught o How we assess what is learned

An Evolving Science

• Scientific Achievements include a deeper understanding of: • Memory and knowledge structures • Problem solving and reasoning • Foundations of learning • Learning processes (Ex: meta-cognition) • How the learner’s symbolic thinking comes from the culture and

community he or she lives in.

• Even with this deeper understanding we still don’t have the full picture the principles that govern all domains of learning.

Scientific Understanding

Complete Understanding

of Learning

of Learning

• Scientists study Learning

New Research procedures and methodologies Alterations in current theoretical concepts of learning

Scientific Work

Cognitive & Neuroscience Issues in:

• Learning • Memory • Language • Cognitive development

• The research is designed to: o Develop explicit computational models

Refine and extend basic principles Apply models to substantive research questions through:

Behavioral experiments Computer simulations Functional brain imaging Mathematical analyses

• These studies lead to changes in theory and practice Key Findings (Note: these findings have strong implications for how we teach and a solid research base to support them)

1. Students come to class with their own ideas about how the world works. If their ideas are not engaged (either reinforced or challenged) they may not learn the material presented in class. Or they will memorize it for a test and then forget it.

“Effective teaching . . . elicits from students their pre-existing understanding of the subject matter . . . and provides opportunities to

build-on or challenge the initial understanding.” This is true for all ages!

2. To develop competence in an area of inquiry students must:

a. Have a deep foundation of factual knowledge b. Understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework c. Organize knowledge in a way that allows for “finding” and using it later

Learning with understanding leads to competence Deep understanding transforms facts into usable knowledge

Organizing information into a conceptual framework allows students to apply what they learned to new situations and to learn related information more easily

3. A “meta-cognitive” 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.

a. Children can be taught meta-cognitive strategies such as:

• The ability to predict outcomes • Explain things to self to better understand them • Note times when they don’t comprehend something • Activate/Use background knowledge • Plan ahead • Apportion time and memory

These things must be incorporated into the subject matter that the students are learning because the processes are not generic; they are

unique to each subject

b. Ultimately the students will be able to prompt themselves and monitor their own comprehension without the teacher support

Self monitoring of understanding:

• Note when more information is needed • Decide if new information is consistent with previous

knowledge • Make analogies to increase understanding

Throwing Darts under Water (18-23)

• 2 groups of children – comparing the effects of learning a procedure with learning with understanding.

• Group one received explanation of refraction of light, which causes deception of the target.

• Group two only practiced throwing the darts.

• Target was originally placed under 12 inches of water. Both groups did equally well.

• When target was moved to only 4 inches below the water, group one did better, from the knowledge given to them.

Implications for Teaching

• Teachers must draw out and work with the preexisting understandings that their students bring them.

• 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.

• The teaching of metacognitive skills should be integrated into the curriculum in a variety of subject areas.

Bringing Order to Chaos

Designing Classroom Environments (p. 23-26)

Four interrelated attributes of learning environments which need cultivation to better optimize learning…

1. Learner centered schools and classrooms (p.23-24)

Teachers must be… -Aware of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes students bring into class -Sensitive to the variety of differences exhibited by students -Paying close attention to individual progress in order to establish suitable tasks

2. A knowledge-centered classroom environment is focused on what is taught, why it is taught, and what proficiency or mastery looks like (p.24) -Learning with understanding is essential to the development of expertise -Assess student understanding rather than factual memory (i.e. tests usually reinforce memorization rather than understanding) 3. Assessment-centered classroom environments allow formative assessments to assist both teachers and students monitor progress (p.24-25) -Students’ thinking is visible to both teachers and students -Assessments should be learner-friendly (i.e. not the Friday quiz) -Allow students to revise and improve thinking -Help students to see their own progress 4. A community-centered approach involves the development of norms for the classroom and connections to the outside world which support core learning values (p. 25-26) -Learning influenced by the context in which it takes place -Norms in the classroom have major impact on student achievement. They must be able to support students’ preconceptions, questions, and progress toward understanding -Cognitive development enhanced by student cooperation and argumentation -Community must support questioning rather than knowing -Students create new ideas that build off one another and gain a sense of ownership -Connect classroom learning to other aspects of students’ lives Applying the Design Framework to Adult Learning (p. 26-27) -Principles apply to adult learning as well -Professional development programs for teachers are often: 1. Not learner centered 2. Not knowledge centered 3. Not assessment centered 4. Not community centered

-Principles of learning and their implications for creating effective learning environments apply equally to child and adult learning -For educational practice to change these principles must also be applied to others, such as policy makers and the public 28-31? 31-36 Experts vs. Novices • Those who are experienced in certain areas are known to think effectively with

problems in those particular areas. • Understanding of expertise is important because it provides an insight into the

nature of thinking and problem solving itself. • Experts have acquired extensive knowledge that affects: what they notice, as

well as how they organize, represent and interpret information within their environment which can then affect their ability to remember, reason, and solve problems.

• There are key principles of knowledge and its potential implications for learand instruction:

ning

One of the earliest studies

Chess Study/ DeGroot

Experts: notice features and meaningful patterns of information that are not noticed by novices.

~ have acquired a great deal of content knowledge that is organized in ways that reflect a deep understanding of their subject matter. ~ knowledge cannot be reduced to sets of isolated facts or propositions but, instead, reflects contexts of applicability: that is, the knowledge is “conditionalized” on a set of circumstances. ~ are able to flexibly retrieve important aspects of their knowledge with little attentional effort ~ are not always guaranteed the ability to teach others even though they know their disciplines thoroughly. ~ have varying levels of flexibility in their approach to new situations.

Meaningful Patterns of Information

of expertise showed that the same stimulus is interpreted differently depending on the knowledge that a person brings to the situation.

(1965) Study

• wanted to understand how chess-masters were consistently able to outthink their opponents

• Hypothesis: Chess-masters are more likely than nonmasters to:

o A) think through all possibilities before making a move (greater breadth of search)

o B) think through all possible countermoves of the opponent for every move considered (greater depth of search)

- Conclusion: Knowledge acquired over tens of thousands of hours of chess playing enabled the masters to out-play their opponents: Recognize meaningful chess configurations while also realizing strategic implications of these situations

- Observations: Chunking/ Experts have the ability to chunk information into meaningful patterns which is then perceived. Affecting the memory of what they see. Other Examples

• Expert skills have been demonstrated in other domains as well including: • Electronic Circuitry • Radiology • Computer programming • Mathematics • Teaching

Final Thoughts:

• Acquiring greater competence requires an increased ability to segment the perceptual field.

• It is important to provide students with learning experiences that specifically enhance their ability to recognize meaningful patterns of information.

ORGANIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE Pgs. 36-42

• Expert Organization • • IS centered on Core Concepts and Big Ideas

Is NOT centered on a list of facts and formulas

•

• Is the exact opposite

Experiment focusing on major principles (Newton’s 2nd Law)

Novices simply tried to plug numbers in equations

Times

Experts seek out sets of related equations with meaningful relations

• FINAL OBSERVATIONS…

Novice Organization

• Physics

• Experts set out a plan•

• Pause

• Novices appear to retrieve information in a sequential memory search •

• Novices tend to be more superficial while experts formulate reasonable interpretations and look past the problem

Looking at most current academic curricula the problem seems to be that we

• Based on this knowledge this is a poor way of going about developing s that prepare students for future education and work

BOX 2

ce very different things in a class

Experts have the ability to know why the students are acting in a certain way

ady for class

• FINAL

• nds of students while experts look at physical signs h as facial expressions

• This is very similar to “thinking outside the box” •

are teaching “a mile wide and an inch deep”

the competencie

.2 Pg. 37

• Expert and novice teachers noti• Novices have the ability to see what is going on•

• Examples • Novice: Students are getting re• Expert: The students are used to this format and setting

OBSERVATION… Novices try to read the mi

suc

Understanding and Problem Solving (41-45) -In Mathematics expert tand a problem be-In a s -Ex -Some -M

Context and Ac

s more likely than novices first try and undersfore attempting it.

tudy, Experts and Students were asked to solve a word problem perts realized problem was logically impossible

students realized this as well but others tried to solve the problem ost children try to provide some kind of numerical answer to problems.

cess to Knowledge -Experts have a lot of knowledge in their field but only a small portion of it is relevant.

ng relevant knowledge for a specific task. -This knowledge is called “conditionalized.” activated.

t of conditionalized knowledge is useful in: esign of a curriculum

ze

irs to solve

-Experts are good at retrievi -Knowledge that is not conditionalized is called “inert” because it is not

-Concep -D -Instruction -Assessment practices that promote effective learning -Many forms of curricula and instruction don’t help students conditionaliknowledge.

tion-action pa -It is left to students to generate condiproblems.

-To help students learn about conditions should require them use appropriate concepts and formulas.

ne right students will learn appropriate ways to

ess how much of their

Flu

to -If douse knowledge (can fail). -The concept of conditionalized knowledge has important implications for assessment practices that provide feedback about learning. -Many types of tests fail to help teachers and students assknowledge is conditionlized.

ent Retrieval -People’s ability to retrieve relevant knowledge can vary from effortful to relevantly

val doesn’t necessarily mean you will do a task faster; you could spend

important because effortless processing places fewer demands on onsci s att tion.

nderstanding learning and instruction

rieved from memory.

effortless to automatic. -Automatic and fluent are important characteristics of experts. -Fluent retriemore time thinking about the task than actually doing it. -Fluency is c ou en -Issues of fluency are important for u-Important for students to become fluent at recognizing problem types so appropriate solutions can be easily ret

Experts and Teaching -Just because you’re an expert doesn’t mean you’re a good teacher.

-Being an expert can hurt your teaching because you may not realize what is easy and difficult for students.

n teaching needs to be different from pedagogical content

ltie students have while learning a topic, typical paths students

ap into their knowledge to

acquired pedagogical content knowledge as well as content

edagogical content knowledge is a very important part of what teacher needs to learn

ledge may be better at helping people remain flexible

-Content knowledge iknowledge to provide effective teaching. -There are difficu s follow while learning, and set strategies to help students learn. -Shulman argues teaching strategies differ across disciplines. -Expert teachers know difficulties students face, how to tmake it more meaningful, and how to assess student’s knowledge. -Expert teachers haveknowledge. -Textbooks are used in the absence of pedagogical knowledge but textbooks don’t know the students difficulties. -Pto be more effective. Adaptive Expertise (p.45-48) Some ways of Organizing Knowand adaptive to new situations than others.

The challenge at hand is to figure out how particular types of learning experiences develop adaptive expertise. To be flexible in new situations one must use metacognition, which allows him/her tthink about his/her own understanding/thinking, and decide when it i

o s inadequate.

eas:

eve that they can remember information, and as a result

be an expert can affect the degree to which people earch for what they do not know and take steps to improve a situation.

eone who knows all the answers. When oking at it from this perspective, it can limit new learning.

xperts” to “accomplished novices,” meaning that ccomplished novices” are skilled in many areas, but they realize that what they know

Box 2.4 (p.46-46)

y learns in the same way.

Teachers need to look at situations from their students’ perspective.

hemes and issues similar to new topic prior to introducing the new topic.

attern recognition is an important strategy that helps students develop confidence.

information is important. The ability to retrieve formation effortlessly places fewer demands on conscious attention which has a

on conscious attention so effort is laced on remembering rather than learning.

Some Big Id • Some children wrongfully belithey do not use strategies such as studying that will help them remember/retain the information. • Beliefs about what it means tos • Some people believe that an expert is somlo • Switch from “answer filled e“ais a small amount compared to all there is to know. Teaching Hamlet There are different ways to teach the same topic. Not everybod Some Big Ideas: • • It may be helpful to have students make connections with ta Conclusion (p.48-50) P Understanding when and where to useinlimited capacity. Effortful retrieval places demandsp

Adaptive expertise raises the question of whether certain ways of organizing knowledge ads to increased flexibility in problem solving.

etacognition is an important aspect of competence. Having the ability to think about

ome Big Ideas:

Curricula that emphasizes breadth of knowledge may prevent the effective

oroughly or in depth.

ut

1-55)

rstand how people develop important ompetencies

-main goals of transfer problem to the next

-school year to school year

to broadly ‘educate’ people than simply ‘train’ them to erform particular tasks.”

ansfer shows quality of people’s learning experience -when focusing on remembering-learning experiences look the same

pes of learning experiences but poor transfer

-first to use transfer to test assumptions about learning

-learning Latin and other difficult subjects lead to development of general and attention

t like developing a “mental muscle”

-based on match between the elements of the two

in writing letters of alphabet lead to skills in writing words -transfer from school subjects to non-school settings

le Mones’ own understanding and decide if it is inadequate is an important skill. S • organization of knowledge because there is not enough time to learn anything th • Expertise in an area does not guarantee that one can effectively teach others abothat subject area. (5A.Learning and Transfer 1.Learning and transfer of learning help undec -transfer of learning-ability to use what was learned in one context to new contexts -one -school to home/workplace Big Ideas: “It is better p 2.Measure of tr -ty -good memory -good memory and good transfer 3. Thorndike -Doctrine of “formal discipline”

skills of learning -discovered learning is no -learn more specific things

-transfer between initial and later learning

-specific facts and skills -example: skills

-teach knowledge and skills that have elements identical to activities

e event can hurt performance on related sks

at uses existing

4.Key ch-initial learning is needed for transfer with large amounts of experience to support

educes transfer-abstract representation

amic process vs. passive end-product of a set of learning

-new leearn

B.Box 3.1 What People Learn 1.E d with 7 digits ingful groups

s for famous races to chunk large

ings-returned to seven digits C.Elements that Promote Initial Learning 1.in

designed to assess effects of learning to program in computer

knowledge to areas that use thinking and problem solving

uch transfer

related tasks once students learned an adequate level of

pages 54-55) Luchins and Lsometimes make it more difficult when transferring to a new situation

ants three jars of varying sizes and asking them to obtain a specified water amount

lem tal group were given 5 additional practice problems before

were given test problems immediately after the original practice pro

outside of school -negative transfer-experience from onta-modern theories of learning and transfer-emphasis on practice thknowledge and strategies

aracteristics of learning and transfer:

transfer -overly contextualized knowledge rpromotes -active, dynexperiences

arning involves transfer based on previous learning -creates design of instruction to help students l

xperiment-increasing a college student’s digit string retention capacity -starte-worked up to 70+ -chunked into mean

-used vast knowledge of winning timestrings

-letter str

itial learning -used studieslanguage LOGO

-hypothesis: students who learn LOGO transfer this

-tests showed no s -later tests paid attention to degree of LOGO learned

-transferred to LOGO

Box 3.2 – An Example of Negative Transfer (uchins performed a test to demonstrate how previous experience can

• Experiment included giving particip

• Everyone received a practice prob• Experimen

proceeding to the test problems • Control group

blem

• The practice problems in the experimental group were designed to teach this s

• Afte e likely to use the method they were taught to solve the test problems even

blem. Those in the

ility to solve the problem in th

t problem, roup.

Understanding Versus Memorizing (pages 55-56)

with actual understanding as opposed to just memorization of facts

BoTw

t throwing

• Both groups performed equally well on a practice task involving a target under

e could transfer the

takes time to learn complex subject matter e to become an expert at something. Even

ecome

dents to learn some things because they do not yet

wary about covering too many topics too quickly because

y limited.

re

group a specific way of obtaining the desired resultr the practice problems, participants in the experimental group were mor

though there were easier methods of solving the procontrol group were able to perform the test problems quicker because theydid not have any preconceived notions that inhibited their ab

e fastest way possible. Therefore, participants in the experimental group “negatively transferred” their method to the tescausing slower times than the control g

The ability to transfer knowledge is also affected by the extent to which people learn

• Simply remembering something is not the same as understanding its concept and intricacies

• The ability to transfer knowledge is increased with comprehension of the idea

x 3.3 - Throwing Darts (page 56) o groups of children practiced throwing darts at a target underwater

• One group was taught about refraction of light and how it affects what you areseeing through water (the target looks deceptive) and practiced dar

• The other group only practiced dart throwing and was given no lesson on refraction of light

12 inches of water • The group given information about refraction did much better in a task wher

the target was only under 4 inches of water because they knowledge they learned about refraction to aid them in throwing the darts

Time to Learn (pages 56-58) It

• It requires a great deal of timthose who are “talented” need extensive amounts of time to bmasterful in the area.

• The amount of time it takes to learn something is proportional to the amount of material being learned

• It is difficult for stuunderstand the underlying concepts

• Teacher should be students need time to integrate each area into their current patterns of understanding.

• Students also need time to process information – short-term memory is ver

Pg. 57 Figure 3.4 Finding the Area of a Figu

• Three different methods are used to convey the idea.

• Understanding method

in the “Understanding” group than in the

Th o solve the problem of an area of a figure when it was not a typical shape than those who

Who actually learned?

how” and be able to transfer nowledge to new situations to have truly learned.

Pg

ffective when people engage in “deliberate practice” learning but is not

ling progress for memorization of facts.

hanced through ”contrasting cases” • Contrasting cases highlight points that may have been missed before.

ptual. g students see potential transfer

of feed back to gauge the students’ understanding. Pg

ion.

Bi significant investment.

• Rote method • Transfer

• Some combinations of these methods are better than others. • Transfer of knowledge was more evident

“Rote” method group. e students who actually understood the “why” and “how” were better equipped t

had memorized a formula and only knew a set of rules to solve a practiced problem. -

Big Ideas: Students must understand “why” and “k

. 58-60 Beyond “Time and Task”

• Learning is most e• Feedback is traditionally identified as important for successful

a unidementional concept. • Feedback signa• Feedback signaling the state of the student’s understanding.

• Understanding when, where and why. • Students need this to know how to use the knowledge they are learning • Can be en

• Appropriately arranged contrasting cases apply to perceptual and conce• Transfer of knowledge is enhanced by helpin

implications of what they are learning. • LOGO programming • Students weren’t taught to memorize procedures of programming, but to

generate a clear, bug free program Big Ideas: Use different methods

. 58 Box 3.5 “Learning Algebra”

• Students who were taking regular algebra received an average of 65 hours of instruction.

• Students in the advanced algebra classes receive 250 hours of instruct• What are the expectations of each of the classes and did the school invest

enough time into the regular algebra class?

g Idea: Significant learning takes

Pg. 60

• Students are motivated to develop competence. nd intrinsic motivations.

• Intrinsic motivation is the desire to do the activity for its own sake.

some external catalyst.

-62 Motivation to Learn.

• According to White (1959) students have “competence motivation”

• Students have extrinsic a

• Extrinsic motivation is desiring to do something for the sake of

• Keep motivation at a proper level of difficulty. • i.e. Design the Experience!

• Too easy is boring • Too difficult is frustrating • Both situations are ineffective in designing a good learning

dents are. e than

• So

999) e usefulness of what they are

th

at had s.

architecture to build the ld hold them to

Big Ideas:

ience. Stay in the “Wobbly Place” but don’t be the training wheels!

St the m

1) Box 3.6

experience. • Keep in mind who your stu

• Performance oriented will worry more about making the gradlearning. So if it is too difficult will shut down and not learn.

• Learning oriented like new challenges. • The orientation will change across different disciplines. cial opportunities also affect motivation. • Feeling that one is contributing something to others appears to be

ally motivating (Schwartzespeci et al., 1• Students are more motivated when they see th

learning. • Ex. “When am I ever going to use Algebra????” • When asked what the highlights where from the year before, 6 grade

students from an inner city school frequently mentioned projects thsocial consequence

• Designing playhouses. • Presenting the blueprints for the playhouses.

The students had to learn geometry andplayhouses, then present them to professionals who wouhigh expectations.

Design the exper

udents are motivated in different ways, so know your students motivations and linkaterial to be learned with real life.

A) 3 groups of students received different types of instruction on schemaand memory.

1. Group 1: Read a

theory

nd summarized text and then listened to lecture to help organize thoughts and gain a better understanding. 2. Group 2: Did not read text but actively compared data. Then listened to same lecture as group 1.

t did not listen to the organizing lecture.

1. Group 2 performed much better than groups 1 and 3. a. Actively working with data helped them learn from the lecture.

2) Other Fact

A) Trarather

a. Could potentially make it more difficult to retrieve taught information in other contexts because knowledge tends to be more

ial with details

ultiple contexts, learners are more likely entation of knowledge.

3. Findings from instructional programs using case based and problem this context, they

f flexibility. with

“What

to create a solution

3) Problem R

A) Tra nts represent problems at higher

1. Candegree to which a previous solution strategy is used inappropriately. 2. Research has shown that receiving abstract learning enables learners to think flexibly about complex domains.

3. Group 3: Spent twice3 as much time as group 2 working with data, bu

B) Results

2. Lecture was necessary. a. Proven by poor performance of group 3.

ors That Influence Transfer (Context) pages 62-63 nsfer across contexts is difficult when a subject is taught in a single context than a multiple contexts. 1. One frequently used technique is to get learners to elaborate on example used during learning.

context –bound when learners elaborate new materof the context in which material is learned.

2. When concepts are taught in mto grasp the concepts and develop a flexible repres

based learning indicate that if students learn only inoften fail to transfer flexibility to new situations. 4. Way to deal with lack o

a. Ask learners to solve a specific case and then provide theman additional similar caseb. Let students learn in a specific context and then help withif” problem solving designed to increase the flexibility of their understanding. c. Generalize the case so learners are askedthat applies not to a single problem, but a whole class of related problems.

epresentations (page 63) nsfer is enhanced by instruction that helps stude levels of abstraction

help increase probability of positive transfer and decrease the

4) Relationships bet

A) Whether student will transfer across domains (subject areas) depends on whether they

1. Sing of the degree to which the tasks share cognitive elements. 2. Biederman and Shiftrar (1987): Provided strong support for the benefits

ent their experiences at levels of abstraction that

B) Mem rive from a

Pgs 64-69

Box 3.2 3 Doctor4 90% o mpare it to

genera5 BIG ID

out, pr Active

6 evaluate strategies, consider resources, and receive feedback

ased on initial performance, transfer based on second day of learning 8 Transfer better with prompting 9 “graduated prompting”-amount of help needed for transfer by counting number of

fore a transfer is made

egotiation for understanding

ering 11 Procedural facilitation- prompts learners to adopt to metacognitive activities

elves gages students as active participants in learning

earning as a Transfer from Previous Experiences

ween learning and transfer conditions (pages 63-66)

receive successful transfer or unsuccessful transfer. ley & Anderson (1989) ague: Transfer between tasks is a function

of helping students represtranscend the specifics of particular contexts and examples.

ory retrieval and transfer are promoted by schemata because they de broader scope of related instances than single learning experiences.

7 Flexible Transfer General and Fortress

and malignant tumor f students couldn’t solve doctor problem until being told to col story EA: When connection between two sets of information is explicitly pointed oblems are easier solved.

vs. Passive Approaches to Transfer Transfer- a dynamic process that requires learners to actively choose and

7 Not b

prompts needed be Transfer and Metacognition

10 Reciprocal teaching- instruction and practice, provision, social setting that enables joint n

o Students and teacher take turns leaning group to discuss strategies for understanding and rememb

embedded in subject strategies 12 Alan Schoenfield- taught mathematical problem solving to college students

o Modeling, coaching scaffolding o As teacher fades out, students ask self-regulatory questions to thems

13 Emphasis on metacognition enand evaluating own progress toward understanding

L

14 “all learning involves transfer from previous experiences”

because of previous knowledge 17 Stu

conflic

und s , measurement 19 Mis

uilding on Existing Knowledge p.69

15 Students may have previous relevant knowledge that is not yet activated 16 Students may misinterpret new information

dents may have difficulty with particular school teaching practices that t with community practices

Box 3.8 Everyday and Formal Math

18 Fasheh’s mother used math in a way that was basic to her operation of er tanding: order, pattern, relationstakes in her math entailed practical consequences, unlike mistakes in

Fasheh’s math B

he student carries with them from hmetic.

t in ey

It is important to consider what existing knowledge teveryday life that can be used to learn abstract ideas such as arit By tapping into the existing knowledge of the student, the teacher can aid the studen“acquir[ing] a more coherent and thorough understanding of [the lessons] than if thtaught them as isolated abstractions.” Understanding Conceptual Change

ake it identifying the

lem formulate their own understanding of the

ew information in an erroneous way and don’t recognize the misunderstanding. Spherical Flat Earth

ifferent that hat adults intend.”

g blem and perpetuate further misunderstandings

hile keeping the student from a clear understanding of the concept. Examples: ood for plants and photosynthesis

s with using existing nowledge. While lectures under the right circumstances can be useful, making a

ransfer and Cultural Practices

While learning involves transferring prior knowledge, this prior knowledge can mdifficult to learn new information. Confusion aids the student inincongruence between their existing knowledge and the new information. A probarises when students use prior knowledge tonExamples: Chapter 1 Fish is Fish and the Kym Bulletin: “Children’s interpretations of the new information are much dw Failing to probe a student for prior misconceptions when teaching a new idea or buildinon an existing idea can amplify the prowPhysics – forces on objects; Biology – f Assumptions children make when learning the fundamentals can hurt their understanding of more complex concepts. Example: Math is counting can hurt understanding of rational numbers. “Teaching by telling” can perpetuate some of the above problemkstudent’s thinking visible helps them to identify and re-think misconceptions. T

Knowledge learned as a result of the culture in which a student lives can both hinder and accelerate a student’s learning in school. This type of prior knowledge is not attributed to developmental stages or personal experiences (i.e travel or parents’ jo

bs).

ym Bulletin: “School failure may be partly explained by the mismatch between what school.”

ence and academic capabilities of a student by eir readiness or resistance to answer what may seem like obvious questions

king about n object or asking to evaluate an object plays a role in the broad set of skills that a

classroom, and how the students react to changes in

merican students usually write in topic-associative oral stiles compared to white

ssociative oral style as lower academic achievers.

s ns of ‘deficits.’”

Kstudents have learned in their home cultures and what is required of them in Teachers often (mis)judge the intelligth(depending on their home experiences). Cultural differences between mother and infant interactions such as either asastudent may bring with them to thecontext. The transfer of learning between mother and child is also culturally bound. African Achildren who tend to write in a linear expository style. Ironically (or not so) the linear expository style is most often taught in schools and view students who use the topic a Kym Bulletin: “Teachers can be helped to view different cultural backgrounds astrengths to be built on, rather than as sig Box 3.9 Eating Pie and Learning Fractions p.72

This box cautions against using “commonplace” examples in learning activities. For tudents who are unfamiliar with the “commonplace” item, they become more interested

is es

on at hand: Fractions.

73-77)

s to information from a wide set of purposes

sin what the item is rather than what the activity is about. In this case, the teacher is trying to help the students learn fractions by using pumpkin pie as a model for howfractions are part of a whole. One of the students is unfamiliar with what pumpkin pie(being of African American decent, sweet potato pie is the commonplace) and becomfocused on what pumpkin pie is, rather than the less

Transfer between School and Everyday Life

(P

2 The ultimate goal of learning is to have acces

3 The learning will in some way transfer to other circumstances

4 The ultimate goal of schooling is to help students transfer what they have learned in school to everyday settings of home, community, and workplace.

5 An important strategy for enhancing transfer from schools to other settings may

vironments in which students must function

6 Important to explore ways to help students develop the characteristics of

Three Major Contrasts between everyday settings and school environments

o One is that the latter place much more emphasis on individual work than

ship alone, it takes a collaboration of people working together

ttings, compared with “mental work” in school settings Helps people work almost error free

hat ikely is used by professionals in workplaces

whereas contextualized reasoning is often used in everyday settings

te contexts

8 The most effe examples and general principles

Summary an(P.77-78)

9 a major goal tation to new problems and settings

10 the t can help te

11 students are motivated to spend the time needed to learn complex subjects and to solve probl

12 In order for learners to gain insight into their learning and their understanding,

gies and their current levels of understanding 13 With multiple contexts, students are more likely to abstract the relevant features

p a more flexible representation of knowledge.

be to better understand the nonschool en

adaptive expertise

7

most other environments navigation on U.S. ships found no individual can pilot a

o A second one is the heavy use of tools to solve problems in everyday

se

New technology makes it possible for students to use tools tmost l

o A third one is that abstract reasoning is often emphasized in school,

Reasoning can be improved when abstract logical arguments are embodied in concre

ctive transfer may come from a balance of specific

d Conclusion

of schooling is to prepare students for flexible adap

ability of students to transfer provides an important index of learning thaachers evaluate and improve their instruction

ems that they find interesting

frequent feedback is critical: students need to monitor their learning and activelyevaluate their strate

of concepts and develo

14 In assessing learning, the key is increased speed of learning the concepts

ing problems is one way to

se to s

p e, removed that amount from the measuring cup and then patted

ded it into quarters, and used three of the

Three Solutions to the Best-Buy Problem (Box 3.11 P.76)

ore shoppers use nonschool mathematics under standard supermarket and simulated conditions

underlying the new material, rather than early performance attempts in a new subject domain

15 All new learning involves transfers 16 Help learners choose, adapt, and invent tools for solv

facilitate transfer while also encouraging flexibility

The Cottage Cheese Problem (Box 3.10 P.75)

17 A man who needed three-fourths of two-thirds of a cup of cottage cheecreate a dish he was cooking. He did not attempt to multiply the fractions astudents would do in a school context. Instead, he measured two-thirds of a cuof cottage cheesthe cheese into a round shape, diviquarters

18 Grocery st

(79-84)

Infants Capabilities

• Originally thought that a newborn baby’s mind was a blank slate. nd

s a necessity in abstract thought

sical awareness by seeking environmental stimulation

Proximal Development

n tomorrow on their own.

• Experience is gradually impressed on the mi• Was assumed that language wa

• New Ideas• 1920’s Piaget – idea that the young human mind is cognitively complex

and develops in stages • Babies develop phy

Zone of Vygotsky (1978)

• Distance between the actual developmental level and the level of potential

development. • Under guidance of adults or more capable peers • Big Idea: What a child can perform today with assistance, they ca

perform

Methodological Advances

e what babies know:

Non-nutritive sucking – pacifier is hooked up to a screen that brings the

eep the image in focus own environment.

esented with an event (picture, sound, movie) will lose interest if there is no change after a extended amount of time, but, their interest returns if the event changes slightly

can distinguish small discrepancies in an event. They also have a certain attention span.

Visual Expectation – A flashing pattern is developed by flashing one side

te the flashes.

Big Idea: Infants are able to understand basic patterns and rhythms. By

Early

(p. 84-88)

2 ts 3 the ones that are

consistent with the infants expectations 4 Infants

by mov understand object

months a child can discover that they can bring toys near themselves with

ght tool to

New methods to measur •

picture in and out of focus – babies quickly learn to suck the pacifier at a certain rate to kBig Idea: Infants can quickly learn to control their

• Habituation – babies that are pr

Big Idea: Infants

•

of a screen for a count, then the other for another count. For instance, the left side of the screen flashes twice, then the right flashes three times. The infant’s eye gaze begins to anticipa

following the pattern, the infant exhibits the ability to count.

Competencies in the Privileged Domains: Physical Concepts

1 Infants as young as 3 months have the beginnings of useful knowledge such as understanding that objects need support to prevent them from falling Study shows that infants observe impossible events longer than possible evenInfants also observe physically inconsistent events longer than

as young as 2-1/2 months understand that when stationary objects are hiting objects they themselves move and by 6-1/2 months then

the size of the moving object has a larger impact on the stationarydistance moved

5 At 9 objects such as a blanket, box, or table cloth

6 Although it is not until a child is 24 months old that they can pick the rireach an object

Big Ideas 7 Point of contact 8 Demonstrations are needed for better understanding

Biological Causality (p. 88-89)

9 Infants learn at a very young age the difference between inanimate and an10 Inanimate objects

imate need to be propelled or pushed into movement

als verses machines and inanimate objects

hildren can construct rational accounts

d by 50% once they became bored. st

. Big Idea: They are able to process information that represents numbers at

s of arithemetic racting) n an item is added or subtracted from what they

the

nowledge umerical

Early Atte

6. Apple g. n a highchair

ile in a playpen.

i. Child threw the apple.

11 Young children show an understanding that if they are made of “biological stuff” they can move themselves

12 Young children can give an answer to the differences between insides and outsides of anim

Big Ideas: 13 At a young age c

Early Number Concepts (89-91)

2. Human mind has the ability to facilitate attention to the number of items in a visual array.

a. Examples (drumbeats and jumps of a toy bunny (2-4 jumps) 3. 6-8 month olds showed 2 or 3 item displays; ½ shown 2, ½ shown 3

b. Looking times droppec. When display showed different number of items than before the intere

was regained. d

a rather abstract level. 4. Young infants and toddlers respond correctly to the effect

operations (adding and subte. Children can tell whe

expect. f. Train them to see two objects, they show them they are adding one so

child expects 3 and not 1. g. Big Idea: Children are actively engaged in using their implicit k

of nof number to attend to and make sense of novel examplesdata in their environments.

ntion to Language (91-95)

5. Children have the ability to understand their own world using physical andbiological concepts.

a. Infants also have this same trait to learn language. b. At 4 months infants prefer listening to words rather than other sounds.c. They are able to distinguish between languages. d. Infants pay attention to features of speech (intonation and rhythm). e. Learning environment is critical. f. Attracted to faces, especially the lips of a speaker.

Experiment done on a 13 month old child. Told to eat the apple while i

i. Child bit the apple.h. Told to throw the apple wh

i. Told to eat the apple while in the playpen. i. Child threw the apple.

do in the situation

age rather than e and use of the skills are

cess

Page 92) An experim n do mathematical reasoning:

• The experimenter starts out with five toy mice on a plate. • emoves a number of mice. • Th to remember where the other mice had been.

co

ing. Page 95)

possess

I. Vi

develop competence: “Learning is development and development is learning.”

• Alternative view of learning: This view of learning takes into account first s

at all humans have limits in

age 96)

Big Idea: According to the view based on these principles, then, development means overcoming information-processing constraints.

j. Told to throw the apple while in the highchair. i. Child bit the apple.

k. Big Idea: Child assumed what they usually shouldi. Highchair-eat ii. Playpen-play or throw

l. Big Idea: The child uses meaning as a clue to langulanguage as a clue to meaning. Experiencimportant. This needs to be an active pro

Box 4.2

e t shows how three- to five-year-old children

Without the child noticing, the experimenter re child reacts by trying

• He decides that to “fix the game…some [of the mice] might have to me back.”

• The child puts four mice back, decides that there are too many, and takes some away, ending up with five mice as he had at the beginn

Strategies for Learning and Metacognition: Big Idea: “In order to thrive, children must…engage in self-directed and other-directed learning, even in areas of early competence.”

• Scientific research in recent years has shown that children strategic competence and metacognitive knowledge.

ews of Learning: • Traditional view of learning: Young children have little knowledge and are

incapable of much, but as they grow older and gain experience they

that information processing is used to explain developments in children’learning. This view also takes into account ththeir short-term memory storage.

P

• Psychologists ask: Do children have less information processing skil

than do adults? -One

ls

view of learning in children is that they have less memory capacity than adults do.

Strategies for Memory Storage:

• Clustering

s, especially groups of five, seven, and nine.

ring groups of more nine items proves to be difficult. To f

ers that have meaning for them. Page 97)

• Metacognition• ng strengths and weaknesses.

t on one’s own performance so that one can self-regulate and plan.

Page 98)

An experime under e cups. He tells the child to remember which cup the dog is under and leaves

e room for some amount of time. While the experimenter was gone, the children each re the dog was.

mnemonic

ct cup away from the others. Big lation and planning, people will forget informatio

uide 98-102 ultiple Strategies, Strategy Choices

-Alternatively, there is a view that children have the same memory capacity as adults do, but that they develop skills and strategies to remember better as they get older.

• This strategy helps humans to remember seemingly unimportant pieces of information in meaningful group

• Chunking • Remembe

overcome this limitation, people group items together into sets oletters, pictures, or numb

involves: Knowledge of one’s own learni• The ability to reflec

• Self-regulation and reflections. • Gradual development over time.

• The study on page 98 describes a group of three- and four-year old children’s strategies to help them remember information.

nter shows the children, one at a time, a toy dog. He then hides itone of threthused strategies to remember whe

• These include mnemonic strategies and retrieval cueing. One strategy was to look at the target cup and nod yes. One retrieval cuestrategy was to move the corre

Idea: Without some effort in self-regun.

Reading GM

- Strategies used by children to memorize, conceptualize, reason and solve problems grow increasingly effective and flexible

• strategies are not solely related to age • children of same age use wide variety of strategies

answer from memory the broader the range of strategies the more precisely children can shape their

uations different strategies, and use the one with the

best advantage for different situations

ings de in the context of successful

cede more enduring

f new approaches often occurs very slowly

• children will use different strategies on different days Ex) 3 + 5 Preschool – add up from 1 6-8 yr old – add by counting from larger number 9 and Up – retrieve

- approaches to sit

- Young children can use the strengths of

Ex) 4+1 likely to retrieve answer 2+9 count from larger # 6+7 count from 1

-Microgenetic Studies - can identify when a new strategy is first used

- 3 key find 1. Discoveries are often ma performances 2. Short-lived transition strategies often pre approaches 3. Generalization o

- Understanding of children’s strategic development has led to instructional initiatives - Reciprocal teaching - Community of learners - The ideal student - Project Rightstart

Box 4.3 Remembering where Big Bird is -18-24 month children - B B d was- Children were told to find Big Bird when the bell rings - C ld n we

Multiple Inte

ig ir hid in various places in the room

hi re re focusing on Big Bird while they were playing and waiting “Big Bird hiding” “Me find Big Bird”

- Used a less systematic rehearsal strategy to keep the information alive

lligences - Gardner proposed 8 forms of intelligence

Linguistic, logical, musical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and

re typically used on tests and valued in schools have each intelligence nurtured

- naturalistic (newest form of intelligence) - Linguistic and logical a- Some educators believe that all children should

- Some educators focus on development on specific intelligences ing taught.

Understand

- Multiple intelligences offer many different approaches to the subjects be Motivation to Learn and

learn and are telligent There are two beliefs: entity theories and incremental theories

fixed property in individuals

ive judgments

- intelligence can be improved with effort and will petence as their goal

theories about learning affect how they learn and how they think about

- Children have their own conceptions about their minds, and how people in- -Entity Theory - children believe that intelligence is a - hold performance goals in learning situations - strive to perform well, attain posit - avoid challenges that will make them look bad - little persistence in the face of failure - Incremental Theory - children believe that intelligence is malleable - regard their own increasing com - seek challenges and show high persistence - Children’slearning Big Ideas -Teachers can guide children to a more health conceptualization of their learning

have. ltiple strategies.

dren) l learning situations

ressure to improve or reward other

Problem solvers and Problem Generators 1. Seek and create challenges

2. Adult w/ crossword vs. child w/ jigsaw

motivation and

earning

nships

potential if they understand the beliefs that their students-Good reasons exist for people to know and use mu Pgs. 102-104, Box 4.4I. Self-directed and Other Directed Learning A. Achievement or Competence Motivation (in chil 1. Strong desire to apply themselves in intentiona 2. Learn in situations with no external pthan satisfaction B. BIG IDEAS: A challenge in schools is to build on children’s harness it in the service of learning. II. Guided Children’s L A. Infants and Toddlers 1. First 4-5 yrs complimented by adult-child relatio 2. Model mature performance during activities 3. Arrangement of the child’s environment

BIG IDEAS: Caregiver to child communication to accomplish everyday goals is e gr ndw language and other cognitive

1. Connect new situations to more familiar ones ge is not always accessed

. Marking critical features

IG IDEAS: Effective teachers help people of all ages make connections among owledge.

ox 4. Solv

ups w ogether but given to children un-nested. “These m together without being told to do so.

without changing how they go ing limited changes and finally to

IG IDEAS: Children are persistent because success and understanding are

hich Toy? (Box 4.5 page 105) for toys.

Many trial and errors.

t

h parents is very important for language

nineteenth century as a nursery rhyme. t the pictures tell the story.

ry: Alice in a pool of tears example. ’s attention and invoke curiosity.

ue even if it is limited at first.

th ou ork for children’s early learning of the tools of their community. B. Connections 2. Relevant knowled C. Scaffolding 1. Interesting the child 2. Reducing the number of steps 3. Maintaining the pursuit of the goal 4 5. Controlling frustration 6. Demonstrating and idealized version Bdifferent aspects of their kn B 4 ing a Problem C ere previously nested tare for you to play with”. Children try to nest theYoung children try to use force to complete the taskabout solving the problem. They develop to maklooking at the problem as a whole. Bmotivating on their own. W• Adult and infant looking•• Finally find the right toy. Learning to Read and Tell Stories (Pages 105-108) • How is it that children born with no language learn to tell stories within the firs

three years? • Early reading/story telling wit

development. Alice in Wonderland • Reprinted in the late• Subtext aimed at adults bu• Adults are supposed to tell the sto• Adults must guide young children• Engage the child in dialogReading with young children

• Mother started “reading” at 8 months old and changed her expectations as her son learned more: “What’s that?”

• re information as children get older: that’s a beehive. Do you know what bees make……”

prehension

ment. tion with the

• bed or going to McDonalds.

skills

erence to Winnie the Pooh and giant kangaroo stuffed animal:

and

• Mother updated constantly to keep up with his new vocabulary. Adults can ask more questions and add mo

“That’s right • Use the material to provide more background knowledge: com

fostering activities will be helpful later in life. • These reading activities function in the child’s zone of proximal develop• With the “wobbly place” adults must continue to increase collabora

child as the child’s understanding gets greater. Children as Narrators • By age three or four children are telling stories.

Children like to learn scripts: going to • Everyday experiences foster story telling. • As children get older they increase the elements to their stories and in joint story

telling, they can even be the leaders. • Connection making and building scaffolds helps the children later in life with

such as math. Baby Reading (Box 4.6 page 106) • Grandfather “reading” a picture book of mothers and babies to distract child from

mother’s absence. • “Kanga, baby” ref

“Where’s Julie’s Kanga?” • Even at one word utterance stage children can “read,” “refer,”

“represent.”