CIRTL Class Meeting 5: Active Learning

What the best college teachers do[1]
Active learning - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu1
“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.”

The College Classroom – Spring 2015
Class Meeting 5: Active Learning
Dave Gross
dgross@
biochem.umass.edu
Thursday, February 26, 2015
1:00-2:30p ET, 12:00-1:30p CT, 11:00a-12:30p MT, 10:00-11:30a PT
Peter Newbury
pnewbury@ucsd.edu
@polarisdotca

Objectives for Today
By the end of today’s session you will be able to
 explain to a colleague what “active” in active learning
achieves
 summarize different types of active learning activities
and identify how they support effective teaching and
learning
 create classroom activities that enhance student
learning

Constructivist theory of learning
Students need to construct their own understanding of the
concepts, where
 each student assimilates new material into his/her own
framework of initial understanding and preconception
 each student confronts his/her (mis)understanding of
the concepts

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]
try
fail
receive
feedback

www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/20/professors-year-named

Active learning increases student performance
in science, engineering and mathematics[2]
Meta-analysis of 225 research studies that explored the
impact of active learning:
Active learning engages students in the process of learning
through activities and/or discussions in class,as opposed to
passively listening to an expert.It emphasizes higher-order
thinking and often involves group work.
(Freeman et al., pp 8413-8414)
What do you feel is the most important finding in Bhatia’s
Wired post[3],Wieman’s commentary[4] or Freeman et al.[2]?
Write it in the chat window.

Researchers compared
assessment scores of
students in active
classes and traditional
classes.This is roughly
how many standard
deviations the average
of the active learning
grades are above the
traditional grades.
Figure 2

Figure 2

Conclusion:
Active learning
increases student
performance
Figure 2
Wieman (2014) [4]

This is like a histogram showing
how many active classes and how
many traditional classes have
failure rates of 0-10%, 10-20%...
Instead of showing how many in
each category, graph shows
fraction in each category of total
number of classes.
Figure 1

Figure 1

Conclusion:
Failure rates in
active classes drop
significantly.
Figure 1

Conclusion:
Failure rates in
active classes drop
significantly.
Figure 1
Bigger Conclusion:
Under-represented
minorities and
women make up a
disproportionate
number of students who fail STEM classes. Fewer
failures means enhanced success for URM and women.

Active learning techniques
 Peer instruction (“clickers”)
 think-pair-share (TPS)
 concept map
 interactive lecture demo
 using students’ data
 games
 showing video
 1-minute papers

(Question: Sujatha Raghu from Braincandy via LearningCatalytics)
(Image: CIM9926 by number657 on flickr CC)
Discussion (peer instruction)
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.

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…

Imagine… misconception?

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 “peer instruction”, 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.
Watch for an upcoming class meeting on
cooperative learning and peer instruction

In effective peer instruction
 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

In effective peer instruction
 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(n’t) know
 the instructor finds out what the students know (and
don’t know) and reacts, building on their initial
understanding and preconceptions.
students practice
how to think,
communicate
like experts

Think – Pair – Share (TPS)
(ancestor of peer instruction)
1. instructor poses interesting question or thought prompt
2. invites each student to think
[option: students record thoughts on index cards]
3. instructor asks students to pair with a neighbor to
discuss their thinking
4. instructor moderates class-wide discussion where
students share their thinking with the entire class

Chemistry Day 4 by pennstatenews on flickr CC-BY-NC

In-class demonstrations
1. Instructor (meticulously) sets up the equipment, flicks
a switch,“Taa-daaah!
2. Students
 don’t know where to look
 don’t know when to look, miss “the moment”
 don’t recognize the significance of the event
amongst too many distractions
To engage students and focus their attention on the key
event, get students to make a prediction (using
clickers, for example)

Prediction
Ice cubes are floating in a glass of water
that is filled to the brim.

Prediction
Ice cubes are floating in a glass of water
that is filled to the brim.
As the ice cubes melt, what happens to
the water level?
A) it stays the same
B) it rises and spills water over the brim
C) it falls to a level below the brim.

Interactive Lecture Demos (ILD) [5]
By making a prediction, each student
 cares about the outcome (“Did I get it right?”)
 knows when to look (can anticipate phenomenon)
 knows where to look (sees phenomenon occur)
 gets immediate feedback about his/her understanding
of the concept
 is prepared for your explanation

Concept maps
Active Learning–The College Classroom30
A concept map graphically connects conceptual elements
by actions.
Electricity Concept Map from NASA via Wikimedia Commons
Concept map creation
provides students with
a framework for their
own learning

Concept maps
A concept map graphically connects conceptual elements
by actions.
Electricity Concept Map from NASA via Wikimedia Commons
Concept map creation
provides students with
a framework for their
own learning

What do you see?
A) old lady
B) young woman

What do you see?
A) old lady
B) young woman
Let your students contribute
authentic data.
(For sensitive issues, clickers
can be set to “anonymous.”)

Wheel of Fortune
“Buy” letters to get the punch line:
Einstein, Newton and Pascal walk into a bar.
After a few drinks, Einstein says “Let’s play ‘it’. I’ll be ‘it’ first.
Einstein covers his eyes and starts counting down from 100. Pascal runs off to hide.
Newton stays at the bar, drinking.
When Einstein gets to 10, Newton gets up, steps to the side, pulls a pencil from his
vest, and draws a square 100 cm on a side on the floor. He steps into the square as
Einstein gets to 0.
Einstein looks up, sees Newton, and says “Newton, you are ‘it’.”
Newton says “No, Pascal is ‘it’ because
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

UNDERGRADUATE TEACHING FACULTY:
The 2013-2014 HERI faculty Survey[6]
Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA
November 12, 2014

Showing video in class
There are times when a video is the perfect resource.
Archimedes’ Principle
In today’s Physics class, we’re going to
study buoyancy and Archimedes’ Principle.
Open up a new tab in your browser, follow this
link, come back here in 3 minutes.
http://tinyurl.com/TCCdemo
(Image:Wikimedia Commons – public domain)

In your opinion, the Archimedes video
A) is engaging
B) is entertaining
C) is interactive
D) stimulates deep thinking

The students do not
 select the video
 check it contains key events
 anticipate key events
 recognize key events
 interpret key events
 relate key events to
class concepts

The students do not
class concepts
instructor does this
before class

The students do not
class concepts
before class
instructor does this unconsciously,
(expert blindness)

The students do not
class concepts
before class
instructor does this unconsciously,
(expert blindness)
This is what you want to do in class!
Anticipate and recognize are
necessary for rich discussion/analysis.

Videos: implications for instructors
 Coach the students how to watch the video like an
expert:
As you watch this video…
watch for when the A starts to B.
count how often the C does D.
watch the needles on the scales as water drains.
 Don’t “give away” the key event (Notice the buoyant force
is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced.) That’s what
the follow-up discussion is for: help the students get
prepared for that discussion.

1-minute papers
Give your students a 1 minute to stop, think, write, be
metacognitive!
To be effective,
 invest time making it easy for them to get writing
 give students a clear writing prompt
…so they don’t waste any time getting to the writing.

Is Lecture Dead?
No!There is still a time and place for lecture.You can
lecture (for 10-15 minutes) when the students are
prepared to learn:
 the activities have activated the concepts in their
memories
 they’ve tried, failed, received feedback, tried again and
are waiting for confirmation
 they’re prepared to intellectually appreciate the
expertise you’re about to share with them

Active learning techniques
 Peer instruction (“clickers”)
 think-pair-share (TPS)
 concept map
 interactive lecture demo
 using students’ data
 games
 showing video
 1-minute papers
To enhance
student learning
and retention, some
instruction must be
interactive and
student-centered.
That’s how people learn.

Next week: Cooperative learning
and peer instruction
Watch the blog for next meeting’s
readings and assignments
collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu
CIRTL Schedule
46 Active learning - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

One-minute paper
1. Follow the link in the chat window to a shared Google
document.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1s0V7CBkJ4b
CEbACnexRPSRVJowjSdgJkhd_8Gb1i81U/edit?usp=shar
ing
2. Find your row (alphabetical by first name)
3. Take a minute (or longer if you wish) to write about
one active learning technique you’ll use the next time
you teach.

References
1. Bain, K. (2004). What the Best CollegeTeachers Do. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
2. Freeman, S., Eddy, S.L. McDonough, M., Smith, M., Okoroafor, N., Jordt,. H. &Wenderoth, M.P.
(2014) Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics.
PNAS 111, 23, 8410–8415.
3. Bhatia,A. (05/12/2014) “Active Learning Leads to Higher Grades and Fewer Failing Students in
Science, Math, and Engineering” on blog “Empirical Zeal”.
http://www.wired.com/2014/05/empzeal-active-learning/
4. Wieman, C. (2014). Large-scale comparison of science teaching methods sends clear message.
PNAS 111, 23, 8319–8320.
5. Get the full story of ILDs at serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/demonstrations/index.html and
Miller, K. (2013). Use demonstrations to teach, not just entertain. The PhysicsTeacher 51, 570 – 571.
6. Eagan, M. K., Stolzenberg, E. B., Berdan Lozano, J.,Aragon, M. C., Suchard, M. R. & Hurtado, S.
(November, 2014). “UndergraduateTeaching Faculty:The 2013-2014 HERI Faculty Survey.”
http://heri.ucla.edu/pr-display.php?prQry=151

References
49
1. Handelsman, J., Miller, S. and Pfund, C., ScientificTeaching, Freeman, NewYork,
NY, (2007) ISBN 1-4292-0188-6.
Active learning - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

CIRTL Class Meeting 5: Active Learning

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