Transcript How Learning Works - Texas Tech University

Learning in the Classroom:
Implications for Middle School Math Teachers
Key Questions
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What is the relationship between learning and
instruction?
How can the research on student learning influence
teachers’ instructional practices?
What role do math teachers play in the teachinglearning process?
Educational Psychology is
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The application of psychology to the study of:
Learning
Assessment
Instruction
Development
Motivation
What is learning?
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Definition
 Critical
components to this definition
 Learning
is a process, not a product
 Learning involves change in knowledge, beliefs, behaviors,
and attitudes
 Learning is not something done to students, but rather
something students do themselves
What do we know about learning?
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Research has found:
 The
brain plays a role
 Learning is based on associations
 The learning environment makes a difference
 Learning occurs in cultural and social contexts
 People learn in different ways
 People think about their own learning, and their
feelings matter
Educational Practitioners’ Common Questions About
Learning
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Why can’t students apply what they have learned?
Why do students cling so tightly to misconceptions?
Why are students not more engaged by material I find so
interesting?
Why do students claim to know so much more than they
actually know?
What is instruction?
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Definition
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Critical components to this definition
 Manipulating what the learner experiences
 Intention on changing the learner’s knowledge
Things You Should Know
About Your Students and How They Learn
Prior knowledge and beliefs affect learning, usually for
the better, but sometimes for the worse.
Background
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Instructional Implications
Activating prior knowledge
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Accurate, but insufficient prior
knowledge
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Inaccurate prior knowledge
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Administer a diagnostic
assessment
Look for patterns of error in
student work
Explicitly link new material to
knowledge from the present and
previous course(s)
Use analogies and examples
taken from students’ everyday
experiences
Ask students to justify their
reasoning
As information processers, learners can only process a
limited amount of information at once.
Background
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Cognitive Overload
 Intrinsic, extraneous, and
germane cognitive load
Instructional Implications
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Manage intrinsic load, minimize
extraneous load, and promote
germane load
Using worked examples in teaching can have positive
academic and cognitive outcomes.
Background
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Enactive vs. vicarious learning
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Scaffolding
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Worked examples
Instructional Implications
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Replace some practice problems
with worked examples
Sequence worked out examples
by backward fading
Provide explanations of each
step in a worked example
Ask learners to generate
explanations of each step in a
worked out example
As information processers, learners need time to process
incoming and outgoing information.
Background
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Think-Time and wait-time
 Definition
 Benefits
 Categories of silence
Instructional Implications
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Provide students time to process
information and complete
cognitive tasks
Deliberately and consistently
wait in silence for 3 to 5 seconds
Ensure that students also
preserve the disturbance-free
silence
To develop mastery, students must acquire component
skills, practice integrating them, and know when to
apply what they have learned.
Background
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Mastery learning
 Definition and assumptions
Development of mastery
 Component skill development
 Integration
 Application
Instructional Implications
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Diagnose, weak or missing skills
and provide practice
Encourage practice to increase
fluency
Discuss conditions of applicability
Provide opportunities to apply
skills
Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted feedback
is critical to learning.
Background
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Deliberate, goal-directed
practice
Effective feedback
 Content
 Timing
Instructional Implications
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Build in multiple opportunities for
practice
Set expectations about practice
Look for patterns of errors in
students’ work
Prioritize and balance your
feedback
Provide feedback at the group
level
Require students to specify how
the feedback was used
Learners are more likely to devote time to activities that
have value for them.
Background
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Attainment value
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Intrinsic interest value
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Extrinsic utility value
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Cost
Instructional Implications
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Link academic tasks to students’
espoused interests or everyday
activities
Establish the relevance of
academic tasks to students’ shortterm and long-term goals
Don’t take the value of the
academic task for granted
Provide authentic, real-world
tasks
Learners’ achievement goals influence their cognitive
processes and behavior.
Background
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Performance goals
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Learning goals
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Work-avoidant goals
Instructional Implications
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Avoid focusing students’
attention on how they appear to
others
Acknowledge that learning
requires exerting effort and
making mistakes
Use a variety of motivational
strategies to get students truly
engaged
To engage voluntarily in activities, learners want their
chances of success to be reasonably good.
Background
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Self-efficacy
 Sources of self-efficacy
information
Instructional Implications
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Provide opportunities for students
to be successful
Engage in effective modeling
practices
Set proximal rather than distal
goals
Challenge underconfidence
Foster competence and
confidence
When learners think their chances of success are slim,
they may behave in ways that make success even less
likely.
Background
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Self-handicapping
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Indicators of self-handicapping
Instructional Implications
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Attribute success to effort and
ability, failure to controllable
conditions
Demonstrate the effect of effort
Break tasks into more
manageable parts
Provide explicit strategy training
To be motivated to pursue specific goals, students must
hold positive outcome expectations.
Background
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Outcome expectations
 Positive and negative outcome
expectations
 Expectancies are shaped by
our experiences
Instructional Implications
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Provide early success
opportunities
Educate students about the ways
we explain success and failure
Summary
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Learning is a process, not a product.
Instruction is the deliberate arrangement of learning
conditions designed to support the internal processes of
learning.
Planning instruction is a strategic, thoughtful process
The learner should always be considered when designing
instruction.
For more information:
Kamau Oginga Siwatu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology
College of Education, Box 41071
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX 79409-1071
Office telephone: 806/742-1998 ext 431
Office facsimile: 806/742-2179
Email: [email protected]
Webpage: http://www.webpages.ttu.edu/ksiwatu