ACTIVE LEARNING:Putting “how people learn” to work

Robin Wrightwrightr@umn.edu

Entrepreneurial teachers What is active learning?

Active learning activity (ALA)

example: think – pair – share

a new word… metadidaxis

Learning objectives: Define &

experience metacognition

Apply that knowledge to metadidaxis

Metacognition…thinking about thinking

Awareness of my thinking processesWhat do I know? What do I need to know? Where

will I find it? How will it be evaluated? Planning my strategies

How long will it take? What are my priorities? How should I organize my time? Am I on the right track? What approach should I use?

Reflection (formative/summative)What works best for me? What doesn’t? Is this

approach generally useful? Why? Why not? What can I take away from this experience?

What are the three components of metacognition?

http://scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10404186&wwwflag=2&imagepos=5

What happened in your brain?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Brontosaurus_(PSF).jpg/800px-Brontosaurus_(PSF).jpghttp://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2007/20070830_thunderstorm.jpg

Metacognition…consciously monitoring thinking

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Brontosaurus_(PSF).jpg/800px-Brontosaurus_(PSF).jpghttp://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2007/20070830_thunderstorm.jpg

What are the three components of metacognition?

Metadidaxis…consciously monitoring your teaching

Awareness of my students & my goalsWhat do my students know? What do they need

to know? Where will they learn it? How will they (& I) evaluate it?

Planning how to achieve these goalsHow long will it take? What are my priorities?

How should I organize my time? Am I on the right track? What approach should I use? What will they do?

Reflection (formative & summative)What works best for my students? What

doesn’t? Is this approach generally useful? Why? Why not? What can I take away from this class?

Metadidaxis…consciously monitoring your teaching

What is learning?

How do you know when you know something?

How do you know when your students know something?

What do we know about learning?

What is learning?

Information, ideas, & skills that a person can

Use after a significant period of disuse

Apply to a new problem

Psychology Biology

http://bjorklab.psych.ucla.edu/research.html

Key findings about learning1. The person who _____ does the learning.2. The brain is social; _____ learn better _____.3. Each brain is _____.4. Making memories requires _____, _____ ,

and _____ .5. Human brains work best when _____ are

activated, but _____ is most important.6. Brains can’t NOT learn – capacity is

essentially infinite. There’s always hope!After Terry Doyle, http://learnercenteredteaching.wordpress.com/

Key findings about learning The person who does the work (questing) does

the learning. The brain is social – groups of brains almost

always learn better than individual brains. Each brain is unique and elastic. Making memories requires repetition,

feedback, elaboration, and sleep. Human brains work best when multiple senses

are activated, but vision is most important. Brains can’t NOT learn – capacity is essentially

infinite. There’s always hope!After Terry Doyle, http://learnercenteredteaching.wordpress.com/

ALA rubric Is the student doing the work? Are students working together & exchanging

information, ideas, skills? Does the activity engage multiple brains? Are

students each learning in a meaningful way? Does the activity offer multiple opportunities for

repetition/practice, feedback, elaboration, and sleep?

Does the activity involve multiple senses? Brains can’t NOT learn – capacity is essentially

infinite. There’s always hope!

After Terry Doyle, http://learnercenteredteaching.wordpress.com/

What does active learning look like?Active Learning Activity (ALA) Rubric The person who does the work does the learning. The brain is social – groups of brains almost

always learn better than individual brains. Brains are different. Making memories requires repetition,

elaboration, and sleep. Human brains work best when multiple senses

are activated, but vision is most important. Brains can’t NOT learn – capacity is essentially

infinite. There’s always hope!

After Terry Doyle, http://learnercenteredteaching.wordpress.com/

ALA example: invoke humanity

continuum

Alex Deford From Alex, the Life of a Child By Frank Deford (1983, 1997) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/

1558535527/102-0946512-0637757?v=glance&n=283155

Another key finding about learning

Emotion can promote or interfere with learning.

After Terry Doyle, http://learnercenteredteaching.wordpress.com/

GAINS

LOSSES