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Best Teaching and Learning Practices

King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals

Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Saadiasaadi@kfupm.edu.sa

Chemistry Department

6 February, 2013

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Why Do I Care?

• It is my duty and responsibility!• A good opportunity to gain experience.• Building a good reputation.• Paving the road for future.

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Learning Pyramid Average Learning Retention Rates (after two weeks)

Lecture

ReadingAudio- Visual

Demonstration

Discussion Group

Practice by Doing

Teach Others

5%

10%

20%

30%

50%

75%

90%

Pass

ive

Lear

ning

Activ

e Le

arni

ng

Immediate Use of Learning

Dale’s Cone from “Audio-Visual Methods in Technology” by Edgar Dale

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Let’s Share Experience

• When you were in school what particular lesson do you remember? How was it taught?

• What is your favorite learning style?

Visual

AuditoryKinesth

eticRead-Write

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Seven Principles in Good Teaching

Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate EducationArthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson

Sponsored by:• American Association of Higher Education.• The Education Commission of the States.• The Johnson Foundation.

AAHE Bulletin 39: 3-7, March 1987

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Practicing Good Teaching.. Why?

• Deeper Impact• Longer Retention• Enhance independent learning• Improve student concentration• Student ownership of their learning• Development of interpersonal skills• More fun, less Boring

(both to student and instructor)

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Student ExpectationsTeaching method Percent

Most Valuable Lecture + Discussion 38%

Lecture 20%

Jigsaw 19%

Case Study 13%

Team Project 10%

Least Valuable Jigsaw 31%

Lecture 30%

Team Project 21%

Case Study 18%

Lecture + Discussion 0%

Effective Teaching Methods for Large Classes, J. Carpenter, U. South Carolina, 2006

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Practicing Good Teaching.. Why?

Improving learning outcomes

If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve

always got

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1. Good Practice Encourages Faculty-Student Contact

Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of classes is the most important factor in student motivation and involvement.

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2. Good Practice Encourages Cooperation among Students

Learning is enhanced when it is more like a team effort than a solo race. Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated.

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3. Good Practice Encourages Active Learning

Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just sitting in classes listening to teachers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives.

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4. Good Practice Gives Prompt Feedback

Students need appropriate feedback on performance to benefit from courses. In getting started, students need help in assessing existing knowledge and competence.

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5. Good Practice Emphasizes Time on Task

Students need help in learning the impact of time and be trained how to manage it effectively.

TIME + ENERGY LEARNING=

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6. Good Practice Communicates High Expectations

Expect more and you will get it. High Expectations are important for everyone - for the poorly prepared, for those unwilling to exert themselves, and for the bright and well motivated.

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7. Good Practice Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning

Students bring different talents and styles of learning to college. As much as possible, all these styles should be considered.

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Good Practice Means MORE

• Hands on learning• Active Learning• Choice for students• Attention to learning styles• Cooperative activity• Emphasis on higher order thinking skills• Responsibility transferred to student• Heterogeneously grouped classrooms

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Good Practice Means LESS• Teacher directed• Student Passivity• One way transmission of information• Rewarding of silence• Teacher covering large amounts of material• memorization of facts• Emphasis on completion• Use of standardized tests• Tracking

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Different Good Practice MethodsTicket in the doorParking lotThink/ Pair/ Share (TPS)Stand and deliverResident expert – “Jigsaw”Talking circle Brainstorming Check-out activityDiscussion-stimulating questions1-Minute paper

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Parking Lots

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Parking Lot

I don’t understand!!

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Parking Lot

• Materials needed: Post-it notes A pencil A parking lot.

The parking lot is a teacher-created board that has parking spaces for each subject or class you teach

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Parking Lot

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Why is a Parking Lot Useful?• Good for shy, reluctant students.• Effective tool when time is tight.• You can get to all students’

questions.• Student feels more attentive.• You will know where common

difficulties in the topic are.• Guiding your instructions the

next day.

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Discussion-Stimulating Questions

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1-Minute Paper!

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Why Do We Ask Questions?

• Review of material• Assess student understanding.• Draw students attention• Transitioning • Arousing/initiating interest• Maintain discipline • Stimulate class participation

– convert lectures to dialogues.

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Some Facts!!

• 2/3 of questions asked in a classroom required only recitation of a memorized text as a satisfactory answer.

• In college classrooms of fewer than 40 students, 10-15% of students do 70-75% of the talking. (20-80 principle)

• Overwhelming proportion of questions asked by college professors were on the memory level.

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High-Level Thinking

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Describe, List, Define, name, state

Associate, compare, distinguish, differentiate, interpret, order

Apply, demonstrate, modify, prove, construct, develop, establish, use information in new situations.

Analyze, arrange, connect, divide, infer, classify, explain, correlate

Assess, convince, conclude, judge, support, criticize, defend.

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Useful Tips for Good Questions

Formulating a good question is not a straightforward task.Top tips of a good question:• Relevant.• Manageable.• Substantial and with original dimensions.• Consistent with the requirements of the

assessment.• Clear and simple.• Interesting.

BRYMAN, A. (2004). Social Research Methods. 2nd ed., Oxford, Oxford University Press, chapter 2

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Useful Tips for Good Questions• Designed for higher level of thinking.• Not YES/NO questions.• Those who “do not know” can participate.• Phrase your question Clearly.

– What did we say about FS ? !

• Ask one thing at a time:– What are the disadvantages of X, can we remove them all,

how and at what cost ?!

• Consider language barrier.• Write Down Your Questions.

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Student-to Student Questions• Let students answer each other.• Encourage students to ask review questions to their

peers.– We learn by asking questions more than we do by

answering them.– What is harder for us, setting exams or solving

them?– “It is better to ask some of the questions than

know all the answers”.

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Response Time• When teachers ask questions they typically

look for immediate response from students.• Allowing few seconds for the response …

– Promotes higher levels of participation and longer responses.

– Keeps all students on board.– The frequency of “I don’t know”

decreases.– Improves language use, attitudes and

teacher expectations.(Gambrell, 1983; McTighe,1988; Stahl, 1994)

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Feedback• Be always encouraging.• Reinforce good responses.• Praise the student in a strong positive way

– “Absolutely correct”. “I like that”.• Make comments pertinent to the student

response– You were so careful to include all the

conditions.• Build on Students responses now and

then.• Never despise or intimidate.

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Think – Pair – Share

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T P SQ

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Think

• The instructor should NOT allow quick answers. He should ask students to think silently for a longer time.

• “Wait-time” or “think-time”It can range from 10 seconds up to few minutes depending on the order of thinking that the question requires.

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Pair

Think

Think

Share

SharePair

Why…

and not …

??

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Pair

• Everyone is involved!

• Guaranteeing that everyone would think in the previous stage.

• Refining their thinking as well as the language used to express their perceptions in a non-threatening environment.

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Pair

• Realizing the benefits of sharing ideas with peers.

• Students in many instances learn better from each other than from their instructor.

• The language will be improved.

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Pair

• Less confident students have the opportunity to rehearse their ideas and be encouraged to present them in front of the class.

• To Improve the communication skills with colleagues of the same level.

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Share

• When you pose a question to your students, why are most of the students reluctant to share their answers with the whole class?

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Share

• Students who would never speak up in class are now: – required, – enabled and – encouraged to participate.

• The classroom is no longer dominated by a few students, but is open for contribution of all students.

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Management of TPS

• TPS should be managed well to be a useful technique.– Plan it in advance– Time– Pairs distribution and roles– Monitor the discussion– Seek feedback

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Jigsaw

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Student Performance

Effective Teaching Methods for Large Classes, J. Carpenter, U. South Carolina, 2006

Improvement from Pre-test to Post-test

Teaching Method Mean Diff Rank

Jigsaw 2.97 1

Case Study 1.88 2

Lecture 1.624 3

Lecture + Discussion 1.156 4

Team Project 0.78 5

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How Does Jigsaw Work?

3

11

15

710 6

2 14

812

4 16

59

1 133

11 157

1062 14

8 124 16

5 91

13Home Groups

ExpertGroups

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How Does Jigsaw Work?

Home Groups

ExpertGroups

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Steps of Jigsaw

Set of Problems

Home Group

Expert Group

Home Group

Assessment (Quiz, Practice, …)

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Advantages of Jigsaw

• Every student learns from his peers.

• Every student teaches his peers.

• Cooperation by Design.• Typical for problem solving

sessions.

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Remarks about Jigsaw

• It is usually done for subjects but can be also applied for problem solving sessions.

• The class layout needs little adjustment• The instructor goes around to facilitate the

work of the groups when needed.• Some groups may complete the task early.

Prepare some time filling.• A comprehensive quiz may be given at the end

of the session to students on individual basis

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THANK YOU!