Successful learning what psychology says about learning better - november 4

Mark A. Laumakis, Ph.D.San Diego State Universtiy

Lecturer, Department of Psychology

mlaumakis@mail.sdsu.edu

4 November 2014

Subtitle or catch phrase for the presentation

Successful Learning: What Psychology Says about Learning Better

A.B. in Psychology and Sociology from Duke University

Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Southern California

A Little Bit about Me…

The SDSU campus My 500-student lecture hall

Introductory Psychology at San Diego State University

Since 2000, I have taught 20,000 students…

Learning: How do you try to learn?

What does psychological science suggest about how to be a successful learner?

Having heard this, what will you do differently now, if anything?

Questions, some answers, and lively discussion

Some resources to take with you…

Our Agenda Today

Results from Karpicke, Butler, and Roediger (2009; N = 177 college students)

Study Strategy % endorsing the use of this strategy

Reread notes or textbook 84%

Do practice problems 43%

Use flashcards 40%

Rewrite notes 30%

Study with a group of students 27%

Practice recall (self-testing) 11%

What are the disadvantages, if any, of these study strategies?

“When students rely purely on their subjective experience while they study (e.g., their fluency of processing during rereading) they may fall prey to illusions of competence and believe they know the material better than they actually do.”

“A challenge for instructional practice is to encourage students to base their study strategies on theories about why a particular strategy – like practicing repeated retrieval – promotes learning and long-term retention.”

“Illusions of competence”

What does psychological science suggest about how to be a successful learner?

learning is deeper and more durable when it is effortfulwe are poor judges of when we are learning well and when we’re notrereading text and massed practice of a skill or new

knowledge are by far the preferred study strategies of learners of all stripes, but they are also among the least productive

retrieval practice -- recalling facts or concepts or events from memory -- is a more effective learning strategy than review by rereading

when you space out practice at a task and get a little rusty between sessions, or you interleave the practice of two or more subjects, retrieval is harder and feels less productive, but the effort produces longer lasting learning and enables more versatile application of it in later settings

Major claims in make it stick

the popular notion that you learn better when you receive instruction in a form consistent with your preferred “learning style” is not supported by the empirical research

we’re all susceptible to illusions that can hijack our judgment of what we know and can dotesting can help calibrate our judgments of what

we’ve learnedin virtually all areas of learning, you build better

mastery when you use testing as a tool to identify and bring up your areas of weakness

all new learning requires a foundation of prior knowledge

Major claims in make it stick

if you practice elaboration, there’s no limit to how much you can learnelaboration is the practice of giving new material meaning by

expressing it in your own words and connecting it with what you already know

putting new knowledge into a larger context helps learning people who learn to extract the key ideas from new material and

organize them into a mental model and connect that model to prior knowledge show an advantage in learning complex masterya mental model is a mental representation of some external reality

many people believe that their intellectual ability is hardwired from birth, and that failure to meet a learning challenge is an indictment of their native abilitybut every time you learn something new, you change the brain -- the

residue of your experiences is stored

Major claims in make it stick

Investigated the testing effect If students are tested on material and successfully recall or recognize

it, they will remember it better in the future than if they had not been tested

Experiment 1120 undergraduates read a prose passage on a single topic (sun, sea

otters), covering 30 idea unitsResearchers manipulated the learning condition of participants (study,

study OR study, test)Dependent variable was % of idea units recalled at 5-minute, 2-day,

or 1-week retention intervals

Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term Retention (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006)

Experiment 1 Results

Experiment 2

180 undergraduates read a prose passage on a single topic (sun, sea otters), covering 30 idea units (same as Experiment 1)

Researchers manipulated the learning condition of participants (repeated study [SSSS], single test [SSST], OR repeated test [STTT])

Dependent variable was % of idea units recalled at 5-minute or 1-week retention intervals

Researchers also asked participants to predict how well they would remember the passage

Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term Retention (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006)

Experiment 2 Results

Experiment 2 Results

Both experiments showed the same pattern Immediate testing after reading a prose passage promoted better

long-term retention than repeatedly studying the passage

The testing effect is dramatic In Experiment 2, students in the repeated-testing condition

recalled much more after a week than did students in the repeated-study condition (61% vs. 40%)

Even though students in the repeated-testing condition read the passage only 3.4 times and those in the repeated-study condition read the passage 14.2 times

Major conclusion: TESTING HAS A POWERFUL EFFECT ON LONG-TERM RETENTION

Conclusions

Judicious use of testing may improve learning in educational settings at all levels from elementary through university education

Why?

1. Frequent testing leads students to space their study efforts (no cramming)

2. Frequent testing permits students and their instructors to assess their knowledge on an ongoing basis

3. Frequent testing serves as a powerful mnemonic aid for future retention

Implications

Adaptive Quizzing (LearningCurve) in Psychology 101 at San Diego State University

Two sections of Intro Psych800 TTH section: 273 students (TRADITIONAL)930 TTH section: 491 students (LEARNINGCURVE)

800 section completed conventional online quizzes14 pre-lecture quizzes & 14 mastery quizzes5 points for each of up to 12 quizzes in each category completed

with a score of 65% or moreUnlimited attemptsMaximum point total = 120 points (out of 700 in course)

PSY 101 Pilot Study – Spring 2012

930 section completed 3-5 LearningCurve activities for each of 14 chapters

LearningCurve activities were worth 10 points per chapter

Maximum point total = 120 points (out of 700 in course)

Results

Mean Median0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

88.9100101.5

120

TraditionalLearningCurve1.8% of course grade

2.9% of course grade

More Results

Traditional LearningCurve0

200400600800

10001200140016001800

545

1661

Total number of quiz questions completed

Total number of quiz questions completed

LearningCurve Quizzes: Feel the Burn!% of students who did MORE than the minimum required to get all of their quiz points

Traditional Learning Curve0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

27%

56%

% doing more than the minimum

Test and Course Grade Results

Course Grade Distributions

Eliminating Confounds: Spring 2012 vs. Spring 2011

One Last Result:Fall 2012 Course Grade Distributionsas a Function of LearningCurve Completion Status

What does psychological science suggest about how to be a successful learner?

http://bit.ly/1thDazf

Deep processing is better than shallow processing

Examples of deep processing:

Relating new information to prior knowledge Analogy of lock and key for neurotransmitters and receptor sites

Making information personally meaningful Your own examples of negative reinforcement

Examples of shallow processing:

Memorizing definitions of termsMindlessly reading notes and/or the textbook

Levels of Processing

How can I achieve deep processing?

1. Elaborate: how does this concept relate to other concepts?Example: how are hair cells similar to rods and cones?

2. Differentiate: how is this concept different from other concepts?

Example: how is negative reinforcement different from positive punishment?

3. Personalize: how does this concept relate to my own personal experiences?

Example: when have I experienced shaping in my own life?

4. Retrieve and Apply: how will I be expected to use or apply this concept?

Example: take practice quizzes (use the testing effect to your advantage)

Other Recommendations about Learning Better

Let’s discuss

Having heard this, what will you do differently now, if anything?

http://aptaujucentrs.com/uploads/images/focus-group.jpg

Any other questions?

Some resources for you

http://bit.ly/1thDazf

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22113681/3/3