CIRTL Class Meeting 7: Jigsaw and Peer Instruction

The College Classroom – Spring 2015

Class Meeting 7: Jigsaw & Peer Instruction

Dave Gross dgross@ biochem.umass.edu

Thursday, March 12, 2015

1:00-2:30p ET, 12:00-1:30p CT, 11:00a-12:30p MT, 10:00-11:30a PT

Peter Newbury

[email protected]

@polarisdotca

Objectives for Today

Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu 2

By the end of today’s session you will be able to

explain to a colleague the “choreography” of jigsaw activities and peer instruction

identify how jigsaw activities and peer instruction support active, collaborative/cooperative learning

evaluate the quality of a peer instruction question

“flip” a traditional lecture to create time for peer instruction in class

The “Jigsaw”

3 Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

With permanent teams, it can be useful to alter the

team dynamic from time to time

A technique to do that while providing a learning

activity is the jigsaw

In essence, the teams rearrange themselves to become

expert in one area, and then reform to bring their

expertise together

The “Jigsaw”


With permanent teams, it can be useful to alter the

team dynamic from time to time

A technique to do that while providing a learning

activity is the jigsaw

In essence, the teams rearrange themselves to become

expert in one area, and then reform to bring their

expertise together

The “Jigsaw”


1

2

4

3 1

2

3

2

4

3

4

1

3

4

1

4

1

2

3

The “Jigsaw”


1

2

4

3 1

2

3

2

4

3

4

1 3

4

1

4

1

2

3

Let’s do a jigsaw


Go to your home team rooms

Start counting with the team room number

Next person adds one

And so on until you get to 7. Start over at 1.

Then we’ll reassemble and you will go to the team

room that you have counted.

Come back here when you have your Jigsaw room

number.

This should take only 30 sec or so.

Course: “The National Parks”


Go to your Jigsaw rooms and become experts on different

national parks (below). Some things you might search are given

at right. Your Jigsaw team might want to divide up the task and

then reserve 3 minutes to share data (and write it down).

Room 1: Gates of the Arctic

Room 2: Isle Royal

Room 3: Great Sand Dunes

Room 4: Mammoth Cave

Room 5: Wind Cave

Room 6: Dry Tortugas

o What state?

o When created?

o Who created?

o Size?

o How many visitors annually?

o Primary attraction?

o Average temperature?

Spend 7 minutes to gather your data, then we’ll return to the main room at t = 8 min

Course: “The National Parks”


Now go to your home team rooms and write a question

that our class on “The National Parks” might have on its

next exam. Your question should exploit the newly gained

expertise of the current team members.

Aim high, Bloom’s-wise.

We’ll come back to the main room to report out at t = 8 min

Peer

Instruction

Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu 10 Illustration by Peter Newbury adapted from “Tree Roots

Logo” ©Embe2006 on dreamstime.com (Royalty Free)


active learning

cooperative

learning

peer

instruction

What the best college teachers do[1]


More than anything else, the best teachers try to create a

natural critical learning environment: natural

because students encounter skills, habits, attitudes, and

information they are trying to learn embedded in questions

and tasks they find fascinating – authentic tasks that arouse

curiosity and become intrinsically interesting, critical

because students learn to think critically, to reason from

evidence, to examine the quality of their reasoning using a

variety of intellectual standards, to make improvements

while thinking, and to ask probing and insightful questions

about the thinking of other people.

In natural critical learning environments


students encounter safe yet challenging conditions in

which they can try, fail, receive feedback, and try again

without facing a summative evaluation.[1]

fail receive

feedback

try

Illustration by Peter Newbury. Based on “What the

best college teachers do” (Bain, 2004). CC-BY-AS


Four Seasons – Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-AS

Reasons for Seasons (“Astro 101”)


How many of these are reasons for the seasons?

the height of the Sun in the sky during the day

Earth’s distance from the Sun

how many hours the Sun is up each day

A) only one

B) two

C) all three

Typical Episode of Peer Instruction


1. Instructor poses a conceptually-challenging

multiple-choice question.

2. Students think about question on their own and vote

using clickers, colored ABCD cards, smartphones,…

3. The instructor asks students to turn to their neighbors

and “convince them you’re right.”

4. After that conversation, students may vote again.

5. The instructor leads a class-wide discussion concluding

with why the right answer(s) is right and the wrong

answers are wrong.

Peer instruction is successful when


students teach each other while

they may still hold or remember

their novice preconceptions

students discuss the concepts in their

own (novice) language








students practice

how to think,

communicate

like experts








each student finds out what s/he does (not) know

the instructor finds out what the students (do not)

know and reacts, building on their initial understanding

and preconceptions.

students practice

how to think,

communicate

like experts

Peer

Instruction



Effective peer instruction requires


students be prepared to engage in conceptually-

challenging discussions

TIME! 5 minutes of student-centered

activity every 10 – 15 minutes

means 25% of class time is

not lecturing.








not lecturing.

But I’ve got

material to fill

(more than)

100% of my

lecture!








not lecturing.

Where does that time come from?

But I’ve got

material to fill

(more than)

100% of my

lecture!

reduce course content by 25%?

A Traditional Class

24

The first time you see a concept is during class. If you

don’t grasp a concept, there is very little opportunity for

feedback from experts or peers (before it’s too late.)

First Exposure

Lecture Textbook

Read Hard Stuff

Homework

See if You Know Hard Stuff

Exam

Show Knowledge Mastery

Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

The Flipped Classroom

25

You learn the basics before class so when you get there,

your instructor can work on the hard stuff. You’re prepared

to engage and learn. You can give expert feedback to your

peers.

Pre-Class Preparation

First Exposure: With resources and

Feedback

Exam

Show Knowledge Mastery

Q

U

I

Z

Active Learning

Learn Hard Stuff: With teacher and

discussion

Homework

Practice Knowledge

Mastery


How do you decide what’s “easy” and

what’s “hard”?

Easy stuff Hard stuff


the textbook describes

it as good as, or better

than, you can

review

introductory example,

problem, or case in

textbook used to

introduce definitions,

notation, etc.

concepts that make

you stop and think

concepts you remember

struggling with

the great material that

you’re excited to share

with the class

developing reasoning,

sense-making skills

PowerPoint slides from last year…


1 2 3



easy hard



material students will cover in pre-class

tasks: text, video, sample problems,…

material you’ll explore together in class

Pre-class tasks


Your students may not know how to read a textbook in

your discipline. Give them some guidance.

“ Please read pages 28 thru 40. Here are the kinds of questions

you should be able to answer: [sample reading quiz questions]”

Pre-class tasks


Your students may not know how to read a textbook in

your discipline. Give them some guidance.

“ Please read pages 28 to 40. Pay particular attention to the

definitions in Sec 2.1. Work through Example 4. Look closely at

the graph in Fig 5 and, if necessary, remind yourself about

logarithmic scaling. Skip Sec. 1.4 – we won’t cover it.”

Reading quiz


Begin the next class with a reading quiz based on the pre-

reading: what concepts MUST they know to be prepared

for today’s class?

Reading quiz


Begin the next class with a reading quiz based on the pre-

reading: what concepts MUST they know to be prepared

for today’s class?

Even better, run the quiz online • close quiz at midnight (or at least 2 hours before class)

• include text box for “What did you find most confusing?”

• look at students’ responses before class

• adjust your opening slides if students missed concepts or

have common confusion (just-in-time teaching JITT)

Where are the “hard” slides hard?


concepts that make you stop and think

concepts you remember struggling with

the great material that you’re excited to share with the class

developing reasoning, sense-making skills

Where are the “hard” slides hard?


Use PI to spark expert-like thinking

36

PI PI

PI

PI

Insert a peer instruction question

before a difficult concept, to refresh the concepts in the

students’ minds, activate misconceptions

in the middle of a difficult section, to check if students are

following, can anticipate next steps

after a hard concept to assess if the students got it


Peer

Instruction



Peer

Instruction


technology

talk to your local

education tech staff

Illustration by Peter Newbury adapted from “Tree Roots


clarity Students waste no effort trying to figure out what’s

being asked.

context Is this topic currently being covered in class?

learning

outcome

Does the question make students do the right things

to demonstrate they grasp the concept?

distractors What do the “wrong” answers tell you about

students’ thinking?

difficulty Is the question too easy? too hard?

stimulates

thoughtful

discussion

Will the question engage the students and spark

thoughtful discussions? Are there openings for you

to continue the discussion?

What makes a good question?

Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu 39 (Adapted from Stephanie Chasteen, CU Boulder)


clarity context learning outcome distractors

difficulty stimulates thoughtful discussion

Sample Questions


Breakout rooms have sample peer instruction questions, often one good one and one not-so-good one.

When you enter a breakout room,

find the differences between the questions,

decide which one is better, and

identify which characteristics make the question better.

Please go to a breakout room in a subject you’re familiar with.

(5 minute discussion)






















Peer

Instruction



Getting student buy-in


you must tell students why you’re using peer

instruction and how they should to participate

http://youtu.be/NGx7EzDQ-lY (CU Boulder)

use participation points (“you’ll receive full credit if

you answer 80% of the questions”)

don’t assign points for getting the right answer (this

inhibits students from thinking on their own, removes

goal of low-stakes practice)

make peer instruction valuable (for example, practice

for homework/exam questions.)

Peer

Instruction


in-class protocol for

running peer instruction

look for resources on

the class blog

Illustration by Peter Newbury adapted from “Tree Roots


Next week:

“They’re not dumb, they’re different”

Being aware of the diversity of your students

what issues could arise in class

what you should do to design your course to be inclusive,

supportive, and welcoming to all students

Watch for email about what you’ll need to do to prepare.


References


1. Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University

Press.


1. identifying key concepts, misconceptions

2. creating multiple-choice questions that

require deeper thinking and learning

before

class






3. facilitating episodes of peer instruction that

spark and support expert-like discussion

4. leading a class-wide discussion to clarify

the concept, resolve the misconception

before

class

during

class






3. facilitating episodes of peer instruction that

spark and support expert-like discussion

4. leading a class-wide discussion to clarify

the concept, resolve the misconception

5. reflecting on the question: note curious

things you overheard, how they voted, etc. so

next year’s peer instruction will be better

before

class

during

class

after

class


Education

CIRTL Class Meeting 7: Jigsaw and Peer Instruction