Review of Chapter 1&2

6 types of objectives

Primary• Create (build, design, draw, compose, synthesize, author, pen, conceive, form, formulate,

invent)

• Decide (choose, pick, select, rate, rank, prioritize, vote, resolve, judge, conclude, differentiate, discriminate, filter)

• Do (perform, operate, act, construct, build, carry out, accomplish, arrange, complete)

Secondary• Know (understand, recall, remember, appreciate, be informed, comprehend, recite, cite)

• Believe (have faith that, trust, rely on, accept, affirm, think that, be convinced, expect, deem, maintain, presume, assume)

• Feel (sense, suffer, experience emotions)

3 Types learning activities

To accomplish learning objectives, we typically require 3 types of learning activities:• Absorb• Do • Connect

You may use an ABSORB activity to achieve a DO objective activity

Chapter 3

Do-type activities

Do activities

Learners discover, parse, decode, analyze, verify, combine, discuss, debate, evaluate, condense, refine, elaborate, and most importantly, apply knowledge.

Types of Do activities

A. Practice activitiesB. Discovery activitiesC. Games and simulations

A- Practice activities

Use practice activities to:• Prepare learners to apply their knowledge and skills• Teach learners use abstract concepts in concrete

situations• Automate skills so the application is faster and

more fluent• Build confidence • Verify the ability to apply low-level skills or

knowledge before moving up.

Types of practice activities

1. Drill and practice (repeated application of similar simple tasks)

2. Hands-on activities (allow learner to follow steps perform tasks in real or simulated environment on their own)

3. Guided analysis activities (guides learners through the process of analyzing a complex situation)

1- Drill and practice is useful

Wrong: don’t use this method whatsoever

Very helpful in in helping people memorize facts that they must be able to recall reliably without hesitation.

You don’t want a doctor or an engineer or a consultant who has to check the manual, glossary, or Google each time you ask a question. You don’t want to pause a conversation to go and search for info.

Types of drill and practice

• Auto-generated problems (http://iteslj.org/v/ei/adjectives2.html )

• Increasing challenge (www.ixl.com)• Database of problems (test banks)

2- Hands on activities

Give learners a small piece of real work or simulated work to perform.Example

Best practices for hands-on activities

• Control advancement to the next step by asking questions (don’t let them proceed before proving they have learned the current step)

• Let students print out the instructions• Require evidence of the results (read 20 abstracts)

3- Guided analysis activities

• Guided analysis helps leaners to separate useful from useless information and to infer general principles and conclusions from separate, confusing, concrete instances.

• The learners observe and collect data to see and verify (not to discover) the principles and theories. (calculate and compare the speed of 2 robocars)

Another example

Ways to guide analysis

• Compare and contrast• Classify items (drag & drop- select the

category)• Outline items (create a hierarchical

organization – Concept maps)• Re-create famous examples (paintings, music,

experiment, writings,…etc.)

Best practices for guided analysis

• Focus on techniques or principles (decide which one is your goal)

• Spend more time analyzing, not collecting data

• Specify a format for answer (make list, table, pros/cons, rate,…etc.)

• Label and size of the field (use prompts, use a little larger text field, use hints such as KG, CM,…etc.)

• Prompt higher-level thinking (“it sucks”, “excellent”…etc.). See page 143

B- Discovery Activities

• Discovery activities don’t present ideas, but lead learners to discover ideas on their own. • They transform trial-and-error into

trial-and-aha learning

Types of discovery activities

1. Virtual laboratories2. Case studies

Virtual laboratories• A virtual laboratory provides an on-screen simulator

or calculator that learners can use to test ideas and observe results.

When to use virtual laboratories

• Instead of real laboratories (never crowded, never closed, never broken, never blow up)

• To prepare learners to use real laboratories (be more efficient in real lab)

• For abstract experiments (remove gravity, crossbreed a panda, control confounding variables)

Best practices for virtual laboratories

• Focus on what you are teaching – If the goal is preparation for real lab (add details)– If the goal is discovering principles (remove extra lab equipment)

• Challenge learners’ assumptions and misconceptions• Prescribe experiments (ask specific questions to be

answered)• Allow independent experiments too• Reuse your virtual laboratories (simulations and virtual labs are

reusable in other courses)

2- Case Studies

Also known as student projects or student researchCase studies teach students to develop abstract, general principles from specific, concrete particulars.

Types of case studies

• Instructor-led case studies• Virtual field trips• Observe-and-comment activities• Mini-case studies• Reaction (reflection) papers

Best Practices for case studies

1. Provide a rich mixture of case materials (traditionally it has been paper memos) Now you may include

Best Practices for case studies

2- Guide students in study of the case. Tell learners:• What the case study shows• What to notice• Questions to answer• What to think about

Best practices for discovery activities

• Resist the urge to lecture• Provoke experiments and interaction (by

asking a question)• Include synthesizing activity (absorbing information is not

enough ask students to summarize and make conclusions)

• Balance realism and complexity. (Don’t become obsessed with realism)

C- Games and Simulations

• Could be the best type of Do activities.

1- Base the game on a single objective

Trajectory simulation

IAT stereotypes

2- Clarify the purpose

Games serve 2 purposes• Provide practice of skill• Provoke discovery of knowledge

3- Make the game easy and quick

• Use just a few simple rules• Use a familiar models (Jeopardy – Drag & Drop)

• Use the same type of game throughout the entire course.

4- limit the scope or use segments of a larger game

5- keep game activities consistent

• Using too many types of games can confuse learners.

• Good games are hard to make and hard to find• Use games that can be played over and over

(e.g., quiz-shows, word games, task simulations)

6- Use the same type of game for testing