Teaching students to think like experts using peer instruction - CSUgrit

Thinking like experts 1

“Cows,” said the

frog. “Cows! They

have four legs,

horns, eat grass

and carry pink bags

of milk.”

From “Fish is Fish” by Leo Lionni (1970)

How to teach your students

to think like experts

How to Teach Your Students

to Think Like Experts

Peter Newbury

Center for Teaching Development, UC San Diego

Unless otherwise noted, content is licensed under

a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 3.0 License.

[email protected] peternewbury.org

@polarisdotca #CSUgrit

March 13, 2015

My goals for you

3

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to

illustrate with examples how effective peer instruction

builds on the key findings of how people learn, in

particular, how it help to develop expertise

recount the “choreography” of peer instruction

critique peer instruction questions, identifying their

strengths and weaknesses

show excitement, not anxiety, when someone suggests

you use “clickers” in your class

walk out with a collection of questions you can adapt to

your own discipline

Why are we here?


What do you think students are doing in a typical

university class?

A) listening

B) absorbing

C) learning

D) note-taking

E) distracted

How People Learn


3 Key Findings

3 Implications for Teaching

3 Designs for Classroom Environment

Key Finding 1


Students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or they may learn them for the purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside of the classroom. (How People Learn, p. 14)

Implications for Teaching 1


Teachers must draw out and work with the preexisting understandings that their students bring with them.

(How People Learn, p. 19)

Schools and classrooms must be learner centered.


Classroom Environments 1

Key Finding 2


To develop competence in an area, students must:

a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge,

b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and

c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application.


9 Thinking like experts



Teachers must teach some subject matter in depth, providing many examples in which the same concept is at work and providing a firm foundation of factual knowledge.

Classroom Environments 2

To provide a knowledge-centered environment, attention must be given to what is taught (information, subject matter), why it is taught (understanding), and what competence or mastery looks like.


(How People Learn, p 24.)

Key Finding 3


A “metacognitive” approach to instruction can help students learn to take control of their own learning by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving them.


Aside: metacognition


Metacognition refers to one’s knowledge concerning one’s

own cognitive processes or anything related to them. For

example, I am engaging in metacognition if I notice that I am

having more trouble learning A than B.

([2], [3])

cognition meta

Key Finding 3


A “metacognitive” approach to instruction can help students learn to take control of their own learning by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving them.




The teaching of metacognitive skills should be integrated into the curriculum in a variety of subject areas.

Classroom Environments 3 Formative assessments — ongoing assessments designed to make students’ thinking visible to both teachers and students — are essential.



What the best college teachers do


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. (Bain, p. 99)

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.

fail receive

feedback

(Bain, p. 108)

try

Peer

Instruction


Introductory Chemistry


Today, we’ll be learning about changes of state. Remember,

there are 3 states (also called “phases”) of matter:

solid

liquid

gas


Melt chocolate over low heat. Remove the chocolate

from the heat. What will happen to the chocolate?

A) It will condense.

B) It will evaporate.

C) It will freeze.

(Question: Sujatha Raghu from Braincandy via LearningCatalytics)

(Image: CIM9926 by number657 on flickr CC)

Chemistry learning outcomes


Students will be able to

name all 6 changes of state

translate back and forth between technical (“melt”) and

plain English (“solid into liquid”)

Imagine… misconception?

PI promotes expert-like thinking


students teach each other while

they may still hold or remember

their novice preconceptions

students discuss the concepts in

their own (novice) language

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 and

communicate

like experts

Typical Episode of Peer Instruction


1. Instructor poses a conceptually-challenging,

multiple-choice question.

2. Students think on their own and vote using clickers,

ABCD cards, PollEverywhere,…

3. The instructor asks students to “turn to your neighbors

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 answers are right and the wrong

answers are wrong.

Peer

Instruction


Think-Pair-Share

2-minute pause

with

thought-prompt

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?

Thinking like experts 24 (Adapted from Stephanie Chasteen, CU Boulder)


clarity context learning outcome distractors

difficulty stimulates thoughtful discussion

Try it yourself…


1. Please form groups of 2 or 3 by discipline (look for

colored cards)

2. Critique questions in the collection closest to your

discipline

for pairs of questions, which one is better? Why?

for single questions, is it good or bad? Can you

write a better one?







































t h e l e a r n i n g c y c l e

Peer instruction helps students learn...


BEFORE DURING AFTER

setting up

instruction

developing

knowledge

assessing

learning

Adapted from Rosie Piller, Ian Beatty, Stephanie Chasteen




BEFORE DURING AFTER

setting up

instruction

developing

knowledge

assessing

learning


The students have not

resolved Concept X.

But Concept X has been

activated and they know

why it is interesting.




BEFORE DURING AFTER

setting up

instruction

developing

knowledge

assessing

learning





BEFORE DURING AFTER

setting up

instruction

developing

knowledge

assessing

learning


Peer

Instruction


Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu 44

1. identifying key concepts, misconceptions

2. creating multiple-choice questions that

require deeper thinking and learning

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

Effective peer instruction requires

reduce course content by 25%

Effective peer instruction requires

How (you can help) People Learn (using peer instruction) 45

students come to class 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.

Where does that time come from?

But I’ve got

material to fill

(more than)

100% of my

lecture!

Traditional classroom


first exposure to material is in class, content is

transmitted from instructor to student

learning occurs later when student struggles alone to

complete homework, essay, project

learn easy stuff

together

learn hard

stuff alone

transfer assimilate

Flipped classroom


student learns easy content at home: definitions, basic

skills, simple examples. Frees up class time for...

students are prepared to tackle challenging concepts in

class, with immediate feedback from peers, instructor

learn hard

stuff together

learn easy stuff

alone

transfer assimilate


References

Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu 49

1. National Research Council (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School:

Expanded Edition. J.D. Bransford, A.L Brown & R.R. Cocking (Eds.),Washington, DC:

The National Academies Press.

2. Flavell, J. H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.),

The nature of intelligence (pp.231-236). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

3. Brame, C. (2013). Thinking about metacognition. [blog] January, 2013, Available at:

http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/2013/01/thinking-about-metacognition/ [Accessed: 14

Jan 2013].

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

Press.

How to Teach Your Students

to Think Like Experts

Peter Newbury

Center for Teaching Development, UC San Diego

Unless otherwise noted, content is licensed under

a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 3.0 License.

[email protected] peternewbury.org

@polarisdotca #CSUgrit

March 13, 2015

effective #peerinstruction gives students opps to try,

fail, receive feedback, try again, says @polarisdotca.

Develops expertise. #CSUgrit

Education

Teaching students to think like experts using peer instruction - CSUgrit