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THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF TEACHING@SPS 4500

FEBRUARY 5TH, 2016

DR. JEFF LOATSDEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

WARM-UP: BORN VS. MADE"I've had great teachers and awful teachers... the whole spectrum. The ones that are great seem to have a natural knack for it while others seem to have been born clueless about how to teach. I'm not sure there will ever be teaching methods that will make a bad teacher into a good one.“What would be your honest response?

WARM-UP: BORN VS. MADE1/7 → Agree that teaching quality is

essentially innate (fixed).5/7 → Improvement is a matter of

desire, effort and time spent (growth).

~22% → Mismatch of learning styles

WARM-UP: BORN VS. MADE“While I do agree that some people truly are born with a knack for, and love of, teaching and watching others learn, I think that there are certain teaching methods that can improve the abilities of both good and bad teachers. I don't necessarily think a good or bad teacher just comes down to their methods either. The teachers who are more attentive, willing to assist, and enjoy interacting with the class are usually better in my opinion. Sometimes the best teachers are those with the least formal teaching experience, but the most willingness to guide the students as a peer as opposed to a superior.”

WARM-UP: BORN VS. MADE“I think that any (bad) teacher who works hard and puts their mind to something can change. The only problem is does the teacher know they are "bad?" I feel like step one would be them knowing they need to step it up and make changes. I also would like to know why they are a "bad" teacher. I would need more information to fully understand the issue. I still stand by what I said that anyone can change and improve with the right mind and tools.”

WARM-UP: BORN VS. MADE“Infants would make terrible teachers. We're not born knowing how to do anything. Excuse me for harping on semantics but your point is moot. Why are you in college if you don't think humans can be taught skills that make them successful at their chosen career path?”“Experience makes good teachers and unfortunately some are lacking and we all have to deal with that in some way in nearly any life situation.”

DWECK: FIXED VS. GROWTH MINDSET

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DWECK: FIXED VS. GROWTH MINDSET

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DWECK: FIXED VS. GROWTH MINDSET

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DWECK: FIXED VS. GROWTH MINDSET

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WARM-UP: LECTURE TIMEThink about the "average" college class you have had. What fraction of class time was spent on lecture-based delivery of content?

~0% → % - 19%~14% → 20% - 39%~29% → 40% - 59%~29% → 60% - 79%~29% → 80% - 100%

2%10%14%39%35%

(93 others)

WARM-UP: BIGGEST “TAKE AWAY”

What was the biggest "take away" idea that you got from the article?7/7 → Active engagement is key and

Lecture performs poorly2/7 → Students enjoy interactive

methods

WARM-UP: BIGGEST “TAKE AWAY”“The results of the experiment showed that the style of the learning and the student engagement were a larger factor on the student's learning than the skill or experience of the teacher. ”“I agreed with the articles study that the experimental teaching did better than the control study. I liked that in the experimental study students did better with hands on and problem solving with feedback. Personally I learn better this way as well. It not only makes learning more fun, it sticks in my mind better.”

WARM-UP: BIGGEST “TAKE AWAY”“It doesn't surprise me that students respond better to highly interactive teaching methods, but I was a little more surprised with it being dense subject matter. I thought students that voluntarily submitted themselves to calculus based physics would appreciate dense reading material and lecture-based teaching.”One meta-takeaway: We can research teaching!

THE EVIDENCE STANDARD16

Teachers can feel bombarded… I strive to be a scholarly teacher …• Apply the rigor we bring to the

discipline of physics to the discipline of teaching.

• Choose teaching methods that are strongly informed by the best empirical evidence available.

Contrast teaching your subject with treating diabetes

17PHYSICS EDUCATION REVOLUTIONEric Mazur, Physicist at Harvard:

18“ALL SIMILARLY (IN)EFFECTIVE…”

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University of Washington

University of Colorado

University of Illinois

at Urbana-Champaign

Have you used a classroom response system (“clickers”) in any of your college classes?A) NopeB) Yes, in one classC) Yes, in multiple classes

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Students have developed a robot dog and a robot cat, both of which can run at 8 mph and walk at 4 mph.A the end of the term, there is a race! The robot cat must run for half of its racing time, then walk. The robot dog must run for half the race distance, then walk.A) The cat wins B) The dog wins C)

They tie

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PEER INSTRUCTIONMultiple choice questions–Conceptual–Hard

1. Students answer Individually2. Discussion with peers3. Students answer post-discussion4. Class-wide discussion

YOUR SUMMARYFor yourself… or to share?What one “nugget” do you most want to keep from our discussion today?

Contact Jeff: Jeff.Loats@gmail.comSlides: www.slideshare.net/JeffLoats

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CLICKER REFERENCES & RESOURCES

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Banks, D. A. (Ed.). (2006). Audience response systems in higher education: Applications and cases. Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing.Hinde, K., & Hunt, A. (2006). Using the personal response system to enhance student learning: Some evidence from teaching economics. In Banks, D. A. (Ed.), Audience Response Systems in Higher Education: Applications and Cases. Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing.Martyn, M. (2007). Clickers in the classroom: An active learning approach. EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 30(2), 71-74.(http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM0729.pdf)Moreau, N. A. (2010). Do clickers open minds? Use of a questioning strategy in developmental mathematics, CAPELLA UNIVERSITY, 2010, 157 pages; 3389211Poirier, C. R., & Feldman, R. S. (2007). Promoting active learning using individual response technology in large introductory psychology classes. Teaching of Psychology, 34(3), 194-196.Mazur, E. 2004 ”Introduction to Peer Instruction” talk presented at New Physics & Astronomy Faculty Workshop, 2004, UMD.Hake, R.R. 1998a. “Interactive-engagement vs traditional methods: A six thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses,” Am. J. Phys. 66(1): 64-74; (www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/ajpv3i.pdf)

Anderson, L., Healy, A., Kole, J., & Bourne, L. (2011). Conserving time in the classroom: the clicker technique. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64(8): 1457-1462.Thought Questions: A New Approach to Using ClickersCU Science Education Initiative & UBC Science Education Initiative(http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/files/CU-SEI_Thought_Questions.pdf)Clicker Resource Guide from the CU Science Education Initiative & UBC Science Education Initiative (http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/files/Clicker_guide_CWSEI_CU-SEI_04-08.pdf)Duncan, D. (2009). Tips for Successful “Clicker” Use. Retrieved January 31, 2009.(http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/files/Tips_for_Successful_Clicker_Use_Duncan.pdf)Why Are Clicker Questions Hard To Create?Blog post by Ian Beatty, Science Education Researcher and Professor of Physics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro(http://ianbeatty.com/blog/archives/100)Good resource list at Carleton College’s website: http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/classresponse/index.html