Transcript Slide 1

Why we MUST teach using student-student
interaction
Alan Slavin, Trent University
Outline
1. Pedagogical reasons for using student-student interaction.
2. Research evidence for its teaching effectiveness.
3. Examples of interactive teaching methods:
Peer Instruction (no. at Mac?) and Just-in-time teaching (JiTT)
4. Challenge from “free” massive open online courses, MOOCs.
How can brick-and-mortar universities compete?
McMaster University, Feb. 13, 2013
Why I'm NOT going to use interactive techniques in this talk.
• Standard lectures work well for transmitting factual knowledge to an
audience that has not had the opportunity to review the material in
advance.
• Lectures are ineffective in developing conceptual or analytical
understanding of a subject. If the goal of this seminar were to develop
methods appropriate to the specific subjects you teach, then an
interactive approach would be necessary.
PROBLEMS WITH CONVENTIONAL LECTURE APPROACH
Research over the last 30 years has shown that the traditional
lecture is not very successful in facilitating learning of physics.
This is well summarized by Lillian McDermott, Conf. on the
Introductory Physics Course, 1997:
The main points are
• Students must be actively involved in the process of
constructing their mental models of how the world works if they
are to have more than a superficial understanding.
• The ability to solve standard end-of-chapter numerical problems
is insufficient to develop a deep understanding. Qualitative and
verbal facility with the concepts are required as well.
• Most students do not develop analytical reasoning through
traditional instruction. (Physics faculty are not “most students”.)
Evidence of effectiveness
R.R. Hake,
Am. J. Phys, 1998
Intro mechanics, tested
with the Force Concept
Inventory
Gain
Traditional: 23%
Interactive: 48%
6542 students in introductory physics courses.
Normalized gain = 100 x (T2-T1)/(Max-T1) e.g. 100(75-50)/(100-50)=50%
UBC study, 2011
“Improved Learning in a Large-Enrollment Physics Class”
Science : 332, 862-864 (2011)
L.Deslauriers, E. Schelew, and C. Wieman,
Two separate sections of about 260 students were taught
1st-year E&M for 1 week, either by a highly rated faculty
lecturer or by an MSc student who had had some
instruction in interactive methods.
At the end of the week, the students taught interactively
performed nearly twice as well on a test of conceptual
understanding, as did the students who were lectured.
Approaches used at Trent for ~ 15 years
Peer Instruction (Eric Mazur, Prentice Hall 1997)
•
There are no formal lectures. Students are given pre-class reading
assignments = what was previously covered in the lecture.
•
Class starts with a ~10-min. review of main points of the reading
(a) to remind what was read, and
(b) to emphasize what are the main points.
•
Rest of class time is used for
(a) usual apparatus demonstrations, to connect theory and the physical
world,
(b) Peer Instruction: small-group discussion of qualitative conceptual
problems, or simple analytical problems requiring strong conceptual
understanding. All students are involved!
For the small group discussion,
- PowerPoint to present a short, multiple-choice question,
designed to develop understanding.
- Students try individually to answer the question (~1 min),
then discuss with their neighbours for ~5 min.
- During this time, instructor addresses individual concerns
1-on-1.
- After ~ 5 minutes, the class votes for the answer.
Sample question and vote
a
b
c
d
e
A “teaching moment”
 
 rF

: force and radial distance, cross product, visual meaning of vectors.
Building understanding

ds2
Biot - Savart law


ds  r
dB  k m I
r2

ds1

r2
I
P

r1
The magnetic field at P due to the current I in
1. ds1
2. ds2
3. ds3
4. ds4
Is directed
(a) into the screen
(b) out of the screen
(c) up
(d) down
(e) zero

r3

ds3

ds4

r4

ds
I


r
I
P


ds  r
Biot - Savart law: dB  k m I
r2
The magnitude of the magnetic field contribution from the current

element ds is
ds  1 sin 90o
a ) dB  km I
r2
ds  r  cos 90o
b) dB  km I
r2
ds  1 sin 
c) dB  km I
r2
d ) none of the above

ds
The total magnetic field at P
I
I
from the current in the wire
P
shown on the right is:
Biot - Savart law: B  dB  k I ds  rˆ
m
2
Ir
BP  k m 2
r
Ir
BP  k m 2
r
I 2 r
BP  k m
r2
I ds sin 90o
BP  k m
r2
none of the above
2
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)


r
Ids sin90o
dB  km
r2
The vote:
•Students are assigned a 5% grade (participation + performance) on their
answers (10 marks for voting for >75% of answers, plus 0.5 mark each if
right.
• Instant feedback on comprehension, to instructor.
• Then instructor gives the correct reasoning (modelling the discipline),
addressing both right and wrong answers. Instant feedback to students.
• Often generates questions from students who voted incorrectly. A
group decision gives confidence to ask questions.
The Pre-Class Readings
Are from notes distributed in advance. Other instructors use a standard
textbook. Writing clear notes is much work and should be avoided if
possible. Students prefer the notes because less time to read them.
Amount of work for the instructor
Once the materials are developed, about the same as a normal lecture
approach: ~ 0.5 hr before class.
“Conceptests” available with many texts and on web.
Results
Good, as discussed earlier. Mazur showed an increase of 6.7% on a final exam
which was the same as one he used before going to Peer Instruction.
Problem with the approach
Often as little as 25% of the students did the reading prior to class. This
reduced the level of discussion and learning in the class.
Solved by Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT).
Just-In-Time Teaching
(Novak, Patterson, Garvin, Christian: Prentice Hall 1999)
Trent Version
• Students are assigned three questions on each reading, to be answered
prior to class, using Blackboard Learn, BL (previously WebCT).
•
The reading tests are posted at the start of term, and close about 2 hours
before the class.
•
Two questions are multiple-choice and are graded by BL. They can be
answered by a careful reading of the material and do NOT require a deep
conceptual understanding; eg, definitions. The mark (5%) increases preclass reading from ~ 25% to ~ 70% .
•
The third question is “What part of this reading requires clarification?” The
text reply is not graded.
WebCT output for pre-class reading quiz, Question 2

 
F  I L  B . Torque was covered
previously.

B
I
Pre-class reading quiz: “What part of this reading requires clarification?”

Forces between wires
Torque on a coil in B

B
In-class Survey of Students on JiTT (Jonathan Swallow and Alan
Slavin, 2003-04)
The survey (40/59 students answered)
1. What has changed for you as a result of pre-class quizzes?
2. How large is this change?
3. What do you like/dislike about the pre-class quiz?
4. How should the quizzes be changed?
1&2. Positive aspects
!82% read the notes more before class, or come to class better prepared.
• 40% of respondents said both of the above
• 40% (of the 82%) said the change was significant
!18% other responses (7 students)
• 3 said nothing re amount of their reading or class preparation
• 3 said they don't read the materials (just search for the answers)
• 1 always did the readings, and resented the quizzes because others did not
do the readings
4 students asked that the quizzes have more questions, to cover more of the
reading.
Negative aspects
~29% had logistical difficulties: finding a computer, getting web access,
waiting for WebCT responses. (No longer a problem.)
- 15% said it increased their workload (only 1 said this was a significant
change)
3. What students liked
The most frequent response (~1/3 of students) regarded the question which asks
what part of the reading needs clarifying. They liked giving feedback, and
felt that class time was more focussed on their needs.
4. What students did not like
The most frequent complaint: (~1/3 of students) said they had difficulty
remembering to answer the quizzes!
Example, over 14 classes.
Class = 59 students
2010 evaluations #1
JiTT
2010 evaluations #4
2010 evaluations #5
Peer Instruction + JiTT, understanding.?
Do the effects of interactive teaching last?
S.Pollack, U. Colorado. PHYSICAL REVIEW SPECIAL TOPICS - PHYSICS EDUCATION
RESEARCH 5, 020110 2009.
“Juniors who had completed a non-Tutorial freshman course
scored significantly lower on the (conceptual test) than those who had
completed the reformed freshman course—indicating a long-term positive
impact of freshman Tutorials on conceptual understanding.”
Do these results apply in upper-year physics courses?
I have had similar positive evaluations, deeper questions.
and Pollock, Chasteen, Dubson, Perkins, U. Colorado
http://www.colorado.edu/physics/EducationIssues/papers/Pollock/201
0PER_invited_poster_thinkinglikephysicists_SJP_final.pdf
Do these results apply outside the sciences?
Making the Most of College: Students Speak their Minds by Richard
J. Light (Harvard University Press, 2001).
- Based on interviews with 1600 students, all disciplines.
- What event changed you profoundly? 80% said an event out of
class.
- Students learned the most from working with others.
Other evidence of the success of of Peer Instruction
Many cases of Peer-Instruction success are summarized at
http://cclarks.wordpress.com/category/peer-instruction/
For example;
Univ. of Washington: Introductory Biology
• Reduced failure rates
• Increased exam scores
• Increased attendance
• Students did better on clicker questions if they were graded for
correctness vs. for participation.
Other reasons for teaching using student-student interaction:
• it helps students develop collaborative skills required by much of
today's research
• it is a natural way of study for students with social-media skills
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
E.g., edX (Harvard, MIT, + 6), Coursera (Stanford-led, 33 universities),
Udacity (private)
Free online courses, with a certificate and a grade if passed
(not a university credit)
Courses include: lecture notes, on-line textbook, videos of the lectures,
regular labs & assignments, tests, final exam, study groups, moderated discussion.
e.g., MIT 6.002x, Circuits and Electronics, same content as the credit course.
• Trial course , May – June 2012
• 150,000 students enrolled from > 60 countries (~10%? completion rate of those
enrolled, but much higher for those who wrote the first test).
• As good as/better than many (80% of?) courses I had at university.
• Goals: to teach a billion students and learn how to deliver online effectively.
• Could be given for credit, cheaper to deliver/take than in a traditional university.
MITx 6.002x ONLINE LAB #1.
The bulb draws 0.5 A at 1.5 V.
Create a resistor network that gives vs = 1.5 V across the bulb
and vs= 2 V when remove the bulb.
vs
Moderated online discussion
edX offered ~ 23 courses offered in fall 2013.
These courses may soon be offered for credit for a much lower fee than at the
university. If a Canadian student can avoid a $30,000 debt, why not?
Our universities MUST provide the best learning possible.
The traditional lecture approach is no longer an option.
Online courses can be very good, and students can revisit
them at their own pace.
Applies to all disciplines, not just physics.
We must exploit the teaching advantages of face-to-face
interaction, including
- interactive classrooms (e.g. groups replying to a blog
question. As much posted after class as in it!)
- facilitating face-to-face student study groups
- plus online discussion forums, etc.
Jeff Selingo, Editor at large at the Chronicle of Higher
Education: “Why the College Campus Experience Still
Matters”
- A maturing experience
- Access to mentors
- Experiential learning
- Networking
Conclusions
• We MUST teach using student-student interaction:
- it provides a better learning experience than lectures
- it may be the best way to keep students coming
Thermal physics classroom exercise on a Fermi gas.
•
For an electron gas near T = 0 K, all the states below the Fermi energy
EF are fully occupied. Therefore, the only electrons that can be excited
thermally are those electrons lying within about kT of EF.
•
(a) If D(E) is the density of states, write an expression for the number
of electrons lying within kT of EF.
•
(b) What is the thermal energy of the electrons in (a)?
•
(c) Use the result in (b) to get an expression for the heat capacity CV
for the electron gas.
•
(d) Write out the exact (integral) expression for the energy of the
electron gas at temperature T.
•
2
k T D( E ) which should be very close to the result
This gives CV 
3
in (c).
2
Thermodynamics class exercise, Carnot cycle & heat pump
In a Carnot cycle, Qhigh
Thigh
high
high
Q
Qlow
c
heat you remove
energy you pay for

Tlow 
Qlow

T
Tlow
the augmented trader
About MOOC Completion Rates: The Importance of
Student Investment
Posted on January 6, 2013 by Tucker Balch
I just finished teaching a Massive Online Open Class (MOOC)
titled “Computational Investing, Part I” via coursera.org.
Completed the course:
4.8% of those who enrolled
18% of those who took a quiz.
39% of those who submitted the first project.