HowLearningWorks:The

ImportanceofPrac9ce

Carpentries’PedagogicalModel

•  Favourprac%calandhands-on▪  Teach,prac9se,feedback,nextstep->loop

•  Developlearners’confidence•  Layfounda9onforfuturelearning

Cogni9veDevelopmentandMentalModels

•  Mentalmodel:concepts/facts+rela9onships•  Effec9velearninghappenswhenalearnercreatesamentalmodelofthedomain

•  Characterisetheskillleveltoknowhowbesttoteachthemtodevelopamentalmodel

HowtoCharacteriseSkill?

•  Differencesinskill–mentalmodel‘bigpicture’•  Dreyfusmodelofskillacquisi9onsimplified:

Doesn’t know what they don’t know – no mental model (key ideas) of domain Reason by analogy and guesswork Borrow from other mental models that seem similar

Good mental model for everyday purposes, e.g. driver and car Model perhaps not completely accurate Can do normal tasks with normal effort under normal circumstances

Can handle out of the ordinary situations Diagnose problem causes

Novice Competent Practitioner Expert

TutorialvsManual

•  Novices,competentprac99oners&expertsneedtobetaughtdifferently

vs

Tutorial Reference Manual

CarpentryLearnersareNovices

•  Helpthemdevelopaworkingmentalmodel•  Easytooverloadnoviceswithtoomanyfacts▪  Unixshelllesson–16commandsin3hours!

5-15% use GPU clusters to analyze petabytes

in the cloud

85-95% send each other spreadsheets

by email

TheImportanceofGoingSlowly

“Ifsomeonefeelsit’stooslow,they’llbebored.Iftheyfeelit’stoofast,they’llnevercomebacktoprogramming.”-aCarpentryinstructor

•  Meetlearnerswheretheyareat,whateverthestar9ngpointorcurrentskillset

•  Adjustourteachingtotheirskillleveltoaidlearning,withoutmakingthemfeelinferior

Exercise1:Mentalmodels

•  Writesomeaspectsofthementalmodelyouusetoframeandunderstandyourwork

•  Whatconcepts/factsareincluded?Whattypesofrela9onshipsareincluded?

How“Knowledge”GetsintheWay

“Itain’twhatyoudon’tknowthatgetsyouintotrouble,it’swhatyouknowforsurethatjustain’tso”–MarkTwain

•  Clearinguplearners’misconcep9ons:▪  Simplefactualerrors–easiesttocorrect▪  Brokenmodels–correctbyreasoning,addresscontradic9ons

▪  Fundamentalbeliefs–e.g.“worldisonlyafewthousandyearsold”,can’treallyaddressthese

Ourfocus!

Iden9fyingandCorrec9ngMisconcep9ons

•  Instructorsneedfeedback!•  Needaninsightinto/toassessmentalmodelofstudents

•  Shouldbedonefrequently!

Ourfocus!

AssessingMentalModels

•  Toexposeincomplete/brokenmentalmodels•  Repe99onvs.reflec9veprac9ce Summative Assessment Formative Assessment

Did desired learning take place? Can learner move on?

e.g. a driving test Pass or fail

Guide learning by informing instructor and learner what to focus on Takes place during teaching

No pass or fail

Mul9pleChoiceQues9ons

•  Forma9veassessmentneedstobequicktoadministerandevaluateandcomesinmanyforms–e.g.MCQs

Q:whatis27+15?a)  42b)  32c)  312d)  33

Exercise2:Iden9fyingMisconcep9ons

Q:whatis27+15?a)  42b)  32c)  312d)  33

Choose one wrong answer and write what the misconception is associated with it

ApplyingMCQs

1.  Teachsomestuff2.  PresentMCQprobingformisconcep9ons3.  StudentsvoteonMCQanswers▪  Mostlyallrightanswers,moveon▪  Mostlyallsamewronganswer,addressmisconcep9on▪  Mixofrightandwrong,rewindtopreviouspointwhereall

wereonthesamepage,orgetthemtodiscuss•  Doitfrequently-e.gevery15minsorso•  Preemp9vely!•  Break-upteachingandre-focusajen9on

NotesonMCQs

•  AgoodMCQtestsforconceptualmisunderstanding,notfactualknowledge

•  Fordistractors,thinkaboutproblemsfromprevioustrainingevents

•  MCQsareusefulevenifnotusedinclass!

Exercise3:DesignaMCQ

•  Createmul9plechoiceques9onrelatedtotopicyouintendtoteach

•  Explaindiagnos9cpowerofeachdistractor,i.e.whatmisconcep9oniseachdistractormeanttoiden9fy?

•  PairupwithyourneighbouranddiscussyourMCQs,providingfeedback

Summary

•  Ourgoalasexpertswhenteachingnovicesistohelpthembuildusefulmentalmodelsandcorrectmisconcep9ons

•  Usereflec%veprac%ce•  Forma%veassessmentprovidesfeedbackforbothinstructorsandlearners

•  Forma9veassessmentismostpowerfulwheninstructormodifiesherteaching(changepace,rewind,refocus)basedontheresult