Transcript The Importance of Active Learning Making Your Head Explode and Other Classroom Delights:

Making Your Head Explode
and Other Classroom Delights:
The Importance of
Active Learning
Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr.
Outline for My Presentation
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Why active learning is important
Why instructors don’t use active learning
Components of active learning
Types of active learning
Resources for active learning.
Classroom Realities
• Professors like to profess
• Regardless of class size, the dominant teaching
activity is the lecture
• Active learning often requires more work than
preparing a lecture.
Active Learning: A Definition
Active learning comprises an array of learning
situations in and out of the classroom in which
students enjoy hands on and “minds-on”
experiences.
Students learn through active participation in
simulations, demonstrations, discussions,
debates, games, problem solving, experiments,
and writing exercises.
Why Go To College?
College should change the individual
And that change should be positive.
Responsibilities Toward My Students
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Expose them to a world they do not know
Improve their thinking skills
Improve their ability to express themselves
Help them evaluate information quality
Convince them that learning is a life-long
activity.
“To Do List” for Each Day
1. Think
2. Think
3. Think...
Critical Thinking
• What is it that you are being asked to believe?
• What evidence are you given to support that
claim?
• What thoughts do you have about alternative
explanations for the claim?
• How would you seek to verify or refute your
alternative explanations?
Claim
I am a psychic.
Claim
There is no such thing as proof
in science.
Consider the Following Number
Sequence
2
4
6
The Nature of Proof
• Mathematical and logical proofs are final
• Scientific “truths” are provisional
• Scientific theories have some measure of
accepted validity until a better theory is
introduced
• No scientific knowledge is final.
Why Active Learning is Important
• Gets students out of their passive mode of
learning
• Increases student involvement in class
• Increases cognitive demands made on students
• Fosters elaboration of meaning, enhancement
of context, and the processing of information
at different levels
• Improves critical thinking skills.
And Other Reasons ...
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Improve communication skills
Increase intrinsic motivation
Promote lifelong learning
Allows faculty to monitor the process and
progress of learning more closely
• Can accommodate different learning
preferences
• Can improve student satisfaction with courses.
Activity
Divide the Class in Halves
In a moment I am going to read you
a list of words, but first I want to
give you some instructions.
Count or estimate the
number of vowels in each
word that I will read to you.
As I read each word, rate the
word on a 1-5 scale (with 5
being best) in terms of its
value to you if you were
stranded on a desert island.
Now, the words
Staying with Memory
for a Few Minutes
Alan Baddeley’s work on working memory
Two tasks
One More Memory Activity
All Purpose Memory
Demonstration
(primacy, recency, frequency, semantic
distinctiveness, chunking, constructive
memory)
And One Final Memory Demo
Does frequent exposure to something, that is,
repeated experiences with something, ensure
that we will remember it well?
I want to ask you some
questions about a U. S.
penny
Why Instructors Don’t Use
Active Learning
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They believe they are already using it
They are uncertain about how to do it
They fear that things will likely go wrong
They believe that active learning is gimmicky
Active learning activities take up too much
class time and too much time to prepare.
And Other Reasons...
• Activities are too expensive (equipment
intensive)
• Instructor control of the class is reduced
• Does not fit their teaching style
• The effort will not be sufficiently rewarded
• Lecturing is easier.
Components of Active Learning
• Active participation by the students
• Ideally involves all students in the class
• Students clearly understand the relevance of
the activity to the subject matter at hand
• Should stimulate learning at higher levels
• Activities vary in the time they require
• Involves clear feedback to the students
• Some activities should be student-generated.
Types of Active Learning
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Demonstrations
Writing Exercises
Laboratories
Student research
Simulations, games
Discussions
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Debates
Field experiences
Computer activities
Jigsaw groups
Problem-based activities
In-class experiments
A Simulation
Learning to Read
page 6
The Problems with Small Samples
M&M Plain Candies
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Brown
Red
Yellow
Blue
Green
Orange
30%
20%
20%
10%
10%
10%
And Another Example ...
Teaching your students about surveys:
CNN: Text one of the
following two numbers
to let us know how you
feel about the President’s
economic stimulus package.
And Another
The Hite Report (1976)
95% of American
women are unhappy in
their marriages.
“One hundred thousand
women, ages fourteen to
seventy-eight, were
asked...”
Shere Hite
Personality Testing:
Barnum Statements
Personality Adjective Checklist
Active
Cooperative Industrious Persistent
Adaptable Curious
Initiative
Planful
Aggressive Daring
Intelligent Praising
Ambitious Determined Loyal
Relaxed
Attractive Dominant
Mannerly
Resourceful
Assertive Efficient
Mature
Talkative
Capable
Enterprising Mischievous Trusting
Confident Forceful
Opportunistic Understanding
Considerate Good Natured Peaceable
Warm
Contented Independent Persevering Wholesome
Personality Type C
You have a great need for other people to like you. You have a
tendency to be critical of yourself. You have a great deal of
unused capacity which you have not turned to your advantage.
While you have personality weaknesses, you are generally able to
compensate for them. Your adjustment to the opposite sex has
presented some problems for you. More disciplines and selfcontrolled outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure inside.
At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the
right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount
of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in
by restrictions and limitations. You pride yourself as an
independent thinker and do not accept other’s statements without
satisfactory proof. You have found it unwise to be too frank in
revealing yourself to others.
How effective do you believe the
personality test was in revealing your
personality?
Circle one of the numbers below.
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1
2
3
4
5
no
correspondence
at all
perfect
correspondence
Resources for Active Learning
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Teaching journals
Teaching conferences
Active learning handbooks
Publisher (textbook) resources
On-line resources
Teaching Journals
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Research in the Teaching of English (1967)
Teaching Political Science (1973)
Teaching Sociology (1973)
Teaching English in the 2-Year College (1974)
Teaching of Psychology (1974)
Teaching Philosophy (1975)
Teaching History (1976)
Teaching Resources in Psychology
• More than 25 books of activities
• Other books: Teaching Intro, Multiculturalism,
Writing, Gender, History, Sexuality, etc.
• National and regional teaching conferences: NITOP,
Eastern, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Mountain States,
Western, Best Practices, and others by state
• APA and APS programming
• On-line aids from publishers, Society for the
Teaching of Psychology, APA (OPL).
The End