Learning to Learn:

Why Not Be Explicit In The Classroom?

Karl Wirth

Changing Landscape of Teaching & Learning

• Research on the Brain • Research on Learning • New Students & Learning Styles • Technology • Globalization

Research on Learning

• Active & Learner-Centered • Teamwork & Collaborative • Roles of Transfer & Metacognition • Importance of Community & Civic Engagement • Multi-dimensional

How People Learn (NRC, 2000) Significant Learning (Fink, 2003)

New Students & Learning Styles

GI Silent Boomer Gen X Millennial 1924 1942 1960 1982

• Faculty are mostly Boomers and Gen Xers • Millennial Preference for Sensing Styles Active Learning Teamwork Civic Engagement Use of Technology

Technology & Globalization

• Age of Communication & Multimedia • New Definition of “ Educated ” • Adaptability & Lifelong Learning

Friedman (2005) Tapscott (1998)

Critical Competencies

1. Personal responsibility, 2. Ability to act in principled, ethical fashion, 3. Skill in oral and written communication, 4. Interpersonal and team skills, 5. Skills in critical thinking and problem-solving, 6. Respect for people different from oneself, 7. Ability to change, 8. Ability and desire for lifelong learning

.

(from Gardiner, 1994)

Educating

“

Intentional Learners

” “ to help college students become

Intentional Learners

who can adapt to new environments, integrate knowledge from different sources, and continue learning throughout their lives.

” Intentional Learners Are: • Empowered • Informed • Responsible

Greater Expectations

(2002 AACU Report)

Intentional Learners

Becoming an intentional learner means: developing self-awareness about the reason for study, the learning process itself, and how education is used Intentional learners are integrative thinkers who see connections in seemingly disparate information to inform their decisions.

Greater Expectations

(2002 AACU Report)

Self-Directed Learners

Self-directed learners are highly motivated, independent, and strive toward self direction and autonomy. They take the initiative to diagnose their learning needs, formulate learning goals, identify resources for learning, select an implement learning strategies, and evaluate learning outcomes.

Greater Expectations

(2002 AACU Report)

2006 Panel Report Commission on Further of Higher Education

“ we are disturbed by evidence that the quality of student learning at U.S. colleges and universities is inadequate and, in some cases, declining ” “ employers report repeatedly that many new graduates they hire are not prepared to work, lacking the critical thinking, writing and problem solving skills needed in today ’ s workplaces ” “ business and government leaders have repeatedly and urgently called for workers at all stages of life to continually upgrade their academic and practical skills ”

Learning to Learn

How will you get there… …if you don ’ t know where you are going ?

Learning Co-Curriculum

• Outgrowth of Faculty Teaching Seminar • Search for “ Overview of Learning ” For Students • Preparation of Learning Document • Students & Faculty

The

“

Language

”

of Learning

• Definition of Learning • Levels of Understanding • Significant Learning • Critical Thinking • Research on The Brain • Learning Styles • Metacognition • Affective Domain • Intellectual Development • Behavioral Dimensions of Grades

An OED Definition of Learning

• To acquire knowledge of a subject or a skill through education or experience, • To gain information about somebody or something, or • To memorize something, for example facts, a poem, or music.

Shift from “ recall ” to “ use ”

Simon (1996)

Levels of Understanding

• Beyond Memorization • Bloom ’ s Taxonomy (1956)

Revised Taxonomy

Revised by Anderson & Krathwohl (2001)

Significant Learning

Learning that will be “ significant to the learner ” • Foundational Knowledge • Application • Integration • Human Dimension • Caring • Learning How to Learn

Relational & Interactive Fink (2003)

Significant Learning

Critical Thinking

“ … is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action ”

National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking

Elements of Reasoning

Purpose & Motivation Question or Problem Assumptions Point of View Data, Information, Evidence Concepts & Ideas Inferences & Conclusions Implications & Consequences

The Brain as a Dynamic Organ

• Learning Changes Physical Structure of the Brain • Synapse Addition, Experience, and Environment • Structural Changes Alter Functional Organization • Learning Literally Involves “ Re-Wiring the Brain ” • “ Novices ” and “ Experts ”

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School NRC (2000)

Learning Styles

• Focus on different types of information • Operate on that information differently • Achieve understanding at different rates • No learning style is “ better ” • Instructors tend to teach to their learning style

Learning Styles

Kolb Learning Style Inventory

Sensing, Watching, Thinking, Doing

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Four Dichotomous Dimensions: Extroversion versus Introversion, Sensing versus Intuition, Thinking versus Feeling, Judging versus Perspective

VARK (Visual, Aural, Reading, Kinesthetic)

• Preferences for input and output of information • Strategies for enhancing learning

Metacognition

• How We Think • Strategies for Learning • How One ’ s Thinking is Changing • Assessing One ’ s Own Understanding • Progress on Learning Goals

Journaling on Metacognition

Describe the learning strategies that you are currently using in this course? How successful are they? How might they be modified for more effective learning?

Describe the methods you are using to monitor your understanding? How well are these working?

Affective Domain

• Attitudes • Motivation • Willingness to Participate • Valuing What is Being Learned • Incorporating Values Into Life

Journaling - Affective Domain

How have your attitudes about the significance and relevance of the course materials changed?

Describe how the content and skills you have learned in this course might be relevant to other courses you are currently taking. How about in your future education? In your career?

Intellectual Development

Perry ’ s (1968) Study of Harvard Students Nine Positions of Intellectual Development; Four Sub Categories

Stage I - Dualism (Positions 1 & 2)

Either-Or thinking; Authorities have all the answers

Stage II - Multiplicity (Positions 3 & 4)

Recognition of uncertainty; Everyone ’ s opinions equally legitimate

Stage III - Relativism (Positions 5 & 6)

Critical thinking; Knowledge is contextual and relativistic

Stage IV - Commitment to Knowing (Positions 7, 8 & 9)

Developing commitment and sense of being; Knowledge is the resolution between uncertainty and the need to act

Behavioral Dimensions of

• Commitment

Grades

• Preparation • Curiosity • Attitude • Talent • Retention • Effort • Communication Skills • Performance

from Williams (1993)

The Learning Co-Curriculum

• Reading at Beginning of Semester • In-Class Discussion & Activities • Learning Styles Surveys • Reflective Journaling • Frequent Reference Throughout Semester

“

Learning to Learn

”

Document

Available from: Macalester.edu/Geology/Wirth/CourseMaterials Send Your “ Top 10 ” Ideas to:

[email protected]

Opportunities for New Conversations About Learning . . .

Level

Bloom's Levels of Understanding

Activity

Evaluation Synthesis Analysis Application Comprehension Knowledge Appraise, assess, or critique on basis of standards or criteria Originate, integrate, or combine ideas into a new product or plan Distinguish, classify, or relate assumption, hypotheses or evidence Select, transfer, and use data or principles to complete new task Translate, comprehend, or interpret information Recall or recognition of information, ideas and principles appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose, defend, estimate, judge, predict, rate, select, evaluate arrange, assemble, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, organize, propose analyze, appraise, categorize, compare, distinguish, examine apply, choose, demonstrate, employ, illustrate, interpret, solve, use classify, describe, discuss, explain, indicate, restate, translate arrange, define, label, list, name, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce

Importance of Neural Networks

The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange things into different groups. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else, due to lack of facilities, that is the next step, otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do a few things at once than too many.

(from Bruer, 1993)

Importance of Neural Networks

“

Washing Clothes

” The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange things into different groups. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else, due to lack of facilities, that is the next step, otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do a few things at once than too many.

(from Bruer, 1993)

Teaching, Learning & Communication

1.

2.

3.

4.

Form Groups Select and assemble “ teachers ” Lesson plan Two-minute lecture; no illustrations Students take notes, no questions (from Duch et al. 2001)

Stand and Deliver Exercise

Teaching, Learning & Communication

1.

2.

3.

4.

Teacher conference Students draw figure; no discussion Groups work to refine representation Teachers return; distribute original Discussion & Reflection Did everyone draw the same picture?

Did discussion improve representation?

How would learning be improved?

Challenge of “ teaching ” mental images Importance of communication & feedback