CIRTL Spring 2016 The College Classroom Meeting 5 - Active Learning

CIRTL – The College Classroom Meeting 5:

Active Learning

February 25, 2016

Unless otherwise noted, content is licensed under

a Creative Commons Attribution- 3.0 License.

Peter Newbury

Center for Engaged Teaching, UC San Diego

[email protected]

Tom Holme

Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University

[email protected]

collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

Constructivist theory of learning

Active Learning - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu 2

Students need to construct their own understanding of the

concepts, where

each student assimilates new material into their own

framework of initial understanding and preconception

each student confronts their (mis)understanding of the

concepts

What the best college teachers do[1]


“More than anything else, the best teachers try to create a

natural critical learning environment: natural

because students encounter skills, habits, attitudes, and

information they are trying to learn embedded in questions

and tasks they find fascinating – authentic tasks that arouse

curiosity and become intrinsically interesting, critical

because students learn to think critically, to reason from

evidence, to examine the quality of their reasoning using a

variety of intellectual standards, to make improvements

while thinking, and to ask probing and insightful questions

about the thinking of other people.”

In natural critical learning environments


“students encounter safe yet challenging conditions in

which they can try, fail, receive feedback, and try again

without facing a summative evaluation.”[1]

try

fail receive

feedback

Active learning increases student performance

in science, engineering and mathematics[2]


Meta-analysis of 225 research studies that explored the

impact of active learning:

Active learning engages students in the process of learning

through activities and/or discussions in class, as opposed to

passively listening to an expert. It emphasizes higher-order

thinking and often involves group work.

(Freeman et al., pp 8413-8414)


What do you feel is the most important finding in

Freeman et al., Bhatia’s Wired post, or Wieman’s commentary?

Use the textbox tool to write on this page.


Researchers compared

assessment scores of

students in active

classes to traditional

classes. This is roughly

how many standard

deviations the average

of the active learning

grades are above the

traditional grades.

Figure 2


Figure 2

Wieman (2014) [3]


Figure 2

Wieman (2014) [3]


Conclusion:

Active learning

increases student

performance

Figure 2

Wieman (2014) [3]


This is like a histogram

showing how many active

classes and how many

traditional classes have

failure rates of 0-10%, 10-

20%...

Figure 1


Conclusion:

Failure rates in

active classes drop

significantly.

Figure 1


Conclusion:

Failure rates in

active classes drop

significantly.

Figure 1

Bigger Conclusion:

Under-represented

minorities and

women make up a

disproportionate

number of students who fail STEM classes. Fewer

failures means enhanced success for URM and women.

Active Learning


student-centered instruction traditional instruction

peer instruction with clickers

think – pair – share (TPS)

demonstrations/artefacts

surveys of opinions

whiteboards

videos


student-centered instruction

Poll


How many of these instructional strategies have you

experienced (as a student or as an instructor)?

peer instruction (clickers) think-pair-share surveys

whiteboards in-class demonstrations videos

A) none of them

B) 1

C) 2-3

D) 4-6

E) another strategy I want to tell the class about




surveys of opinions

whiteboards

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.


Chemistry learning outcomes


Students will be able to

name all 6 changes of state

translate back and forth between technical (“melt”) and

plain English (“solid into liquid”)

Chemistry learning outcomes


Students will be able to

name all 6 changes of state

translate back and forth between technical (“melt”) and

plain English (“solid into liquid”)

Imagine… misconception?

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, devices,…

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.

Next week’s meeting will be

all about peer instruction.

A 50.0 L cylinder of Cl2 with a pressure of 103,401 torr springs a leak.

The following day the pressure is found to be 41,361 torr and the

temperature is 20 oC. How many moles of Cl2 escaped?

1. 85.0

2. 113

3. 170

4. 207

5. 280


A 50.0 L cylinder of Cl2 with a pressure of 103,401 torr springs a leak.

The following day the pressure is found to be 41,361 torr and the

temperature is 20 oC. How many moles of Cl2 escaped?

1 2 3 4 5

4% 5%8%

66%

17%

1. 85.0

2. 113

3. 170

4. 207

5. 280


What was the first step you took in

solving this problem?

1. Converting torr to atmosphere (atm)

2. Calculating molar mass of Cl2

3. Converting temperature into Kelvin

4. Finding initial pressure in atm

5. Finding the change in pressure in torr

6. Looking up the value of R (gas const.)

7. Rearranging PV=nRT to isolate “n”

8. I read the problem and didn’t know where to start


What was the first step you took in

solving this problem?

6%

18%

1%

12%

5%

12%

1%

45% 1. Converting torr to atmosphere (atm)

2. Calculating molar mass of Cl2

3. Converting temperature into Kelvin

4. Finding initial pressure in atm

5. Finding the change in pressure in torr

6. Looking up the value of R (gas const.)

7. Rearranging PV=nRT to isolate “n”

8. I read the problem and didn’t know where to start


Rate your mental effort on this

problem.

1. Very little

2. Little

3. Moderate

4. Much

5. Very much


Rate your mental effort on this

problem.

1 2 3 4 5

5% 11%28%37%19%

1. Very little

2. Little

3. Moderate

4. Much

5. Very much





surveys of opinions

whiteboards

videos



Think-Pair-Share (Physics)


If for every action there is

a reaction, how does

anyone win a tug-of-war?

(Image: Universidad Europea de Madrid, CC-BY-NC-ND)

Write down your thoughts.

Then discuss it with your neighbors.

Think – Pair – Share (TPS)


(origin of peer instruction)

1. instructor poses interesting question or thought prompt

2. invites each student to think

[and write thoughts on an index card]

3. instructor asks students to pair with a neighbor to

discuss their thinking

4. instructor moderates class-wide discussion where

students share their thinking with the entire class

(TPS can be source for peer instruction questions next term.)




surveys of opinions

whiteboards

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

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)

Clicker question


A ball is rolling around

the inside of a circular

track. The ball

leaves the track

at point P.

Which path

does the ball

follow?

P

A

B C

E

D

(adapted from Eric Mazur)

Interactive Lecture Demos (ILD) [6]


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

Artefacts


Bring things – real things – to class/section.

Don’t just tell students what

they’re looking at. Ask them

what they notice, what they

think it is.

Artefacts courtesy of Ben Volta

Image: Peter Newbury

“Ask me a question an

archaeologist would ask.”




surveys of opinions

whiteboards

videos



What do you see?


A) old lady

B) young woman

What do you see?


A) old lady

B) young woman

Let your students contribute

authentic data.

(For sensitive issues, clickers

can be set to “anonymous.”)




surveys of opinions

whiteboards

videos



Example of a white board When students have to draw, even from a template (the basics of a power plant were on the board) and then annotate, you can find out new, important things.


Whiteboards = practice[8,9]


Use whiteboards to give your students practice

analyzing summarizing deriving illustrating

computing drafting brainstorming presenting

Tips:

groups of 3-4 with 1 pen per person

encourage students to show their thinking, not just

the final analysis

train students to listen to each other’s presentations




surveys of opinions

whiteboards

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)



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



The students do not

select the video






class concepts

instructor does this

before class



The students do not

select the video






class concepts


before class

instructor does this unconsciously,

(expert blindness)



The students do not

select the video






class concepts


before class

instructor does this unconsciously,

(expert blindness)

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…

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.

Q: What’s the goal of these techniques?


A: To give students an opportunity to

successfully practice thinking and

talking in expert-like ways.

Q: What’s the goal of these techniques?


A: To give students an opportunity to

successfully practice thinking and

talking in expert-like ways.

Discussions create opportunities for students to

share their understanding, opinions, ideas

hear other students’ ideas, viewpoints

practice communicating like experts

get timely feedback from peers and instructor

contribute to a new, shared understanding of the concepts

To make discussions useful,

the instructor must


ensure students come to class prepared to contribute to

the discussion

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

build into the lesson time/tasks/structure for thinking,

listening, getting feedback from peers and instructor

moderate activity so MANY (EVERY?) students speak

o talking stick, pass the duck, popsicle sticks, pass around an

artefact: ensure not just enthusiastic volunteers talking

o be aware of microaggressions: your unconscious bias to not

select students because of their appearance (especially gender,

race, differently abled) [11]

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[13]:

active learning has activated the concepts in students’

memories, aroused their curiosity

students have tried, failed, received feedback, tried

again and are waiting for confirmation

students are prepared to recognize and appreciate the

expertise you’re about to share with them




surveys of opinions

whiteboards

videos


To enhance

students learning and

retention, some instruction must

be interactive and student-centered.

That’s how people learn.

Watch your email and the blog for tasks.

Next meeting:

Peer Instruction

References

Active Learning - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

57

1. Bain, K. (2004). What the Best College Teachers Do. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

2. Freeman, S., Eddy, S.L. McDonough, M., Smith, M., Okoroafor, N., Jordt,. H. & Wenderoth, M.P. (2014) Active learning increases student

performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. PNAS 111, 23, 8410–8415.

3. Wieman, C. (2014). Large-scale comparison of science teaching methods sends clear message. PNAS 111, 23, 8319–8320.

4. Worthen, M. (2015, October 17). Lecture Me. Really. The New York Times. Retrieved October 26, 2015 from nyti.ms/1jLwbBk.

5. Eyler, J. (October 20, 2015). Active Learning Is Not Our Enemy: A Response to Molly Worthen. Retrieved October 26, 2015 from

josheyler.wordpress.com/2015/10/20/active-learning-is-not-our-enemy-a-response-to-molly-worthen/

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

7. Newbury, P. (23 Aug 2013). You don’t have to wait for the clock to strike to start teaching. Retrieved 3/3/2014 from

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

8. Noschese, F. The $2 Interactive Whiteboard. Retrieved November 18, 2013, from fnoschese.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/the-2-interactive-

whiteboard/

9. Seddon, S. Biological Whiteboarding - The use of mini whiteboards in my Biology class. Retrieved November 18, 2013 from

totallylearnedas.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/biological-whiteboarding

10. Weimer, M. Effective Ways to Structure Discussion. Retrieved February 2, 2015 from www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-

blog/effective-ways-structure-discussion

11. Wing Sue, D. Microaggressions in Everyday Life. Retrieved June 19, 2015, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/microaggressions-in-

everyday-life/201011/microaggressions-more-just-race

12. Eagan, M. K., Stolzenberg, E. B., Berdan Lozano, J., Aragon, M. C., Suchard, M. R. & Hurtado, S. (2014). Undergraduate teaching faculty:

The 2013–2014 HERI Faculty Survey. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.

http://www.heri.ucla.edu/facPublications.php

13. Schwartz, D. L., & Bransford, J. D.. (1998). A Time for Telling. Cognition and Instruction, 16(4), 475–522. Retrieved from

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3233709