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Experiments in Learning Theory and practice in teaching cognitive science Tom Stafford University of Greenwich, 31st January 2017
Experiments in LearningTheory and practice in teaching cognitive science
Tom StaffordUniversity of Greenwich, 31st January 2017
Cognitive Science of Learning
Image: wikimedia commons CC-SA-3.0
Intrinsically MotivatedCumulative LearningVersatile Robots
Jiuguang Wang, flickr.com, CC-SA-3.0
Baldassarre, G., Stafford, T., Mirolli, M., Redgrave, P., Ryan, R. M., & Barto, A. (2014). Intrinsic motivations and open-ended development in animals, humans, and robots: an overview. Frontiers in Psychology, 5(985). doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00985
Stafford, T., Thirkettle, M., Walton, T., Vautrelle, N., Hetherington, L., Port, M., Gurney, K.N., Redgrave, P. (2012), A Novel Task for the Investigation of Action Acquisition, PLoS One, 7(6), e37749.
Rats and humans refine their movements over multiple trials
The Learning of Cognitive Science
My teaching
Active learning
Theory
Action essential to learningExploration and variability as engines of
discovery
Practice: flipped classrooms
PSY243 a large enrollment (200+) cognitive psychology course. Strategy1. Pre-lecture material
Practice: flipped classrooms
PSY243 a large enrollment (200+) cognitive psychology course. Strategy1. Pre-lecture material2. Transparent purpose
Practice: flipped classrooms
PSY243 a large enrollment (200+) cognitive psychology course. Strategy1. Pre-lecture material2. Transparent purpose3. Shared objects
https://prezi.com/01qlxokv3cg-/
Practice: flipped classrooms
PSY243 a large enrollment (200+) cognitive psychology course. Strategy1. Pre-lecture material2. Transparent purpose3. Shared objects4. Cheap tricks
Cheap tricks for starting discussions in lectureshttps://medium.com/@tomstafford/cheap-tricks-for-starting-discussions-in-lectures-c6baecd4a6c8#.rahqp04wd
1. Paired discussions2. No straight questions3. Positivity4. Technological fixes
Jupyter notebooks
Feedback
Theory
Errorful learningRadical uncertainty & specificity of training
+ curse of knowledgeAvoidance learning / confirmation bias
Practice
Individualised feedback emails
http://www.tomstafford.staff.shef.ac.uk/?p=372
Feedback on engagement
Feedback on assessment
Restate purposeNotes on assessmentModel answer (only on answered question)Individual feedback
Jupyter notebooks
Evidence from education
Teaching the teachers, The Economist, Jun 11th 2016
Peer support
Theory
All of cognition is socialGroup reasoning
Practice
SeminarsPeer tutoring - 3rd yearPeer review collegeWriting for others
http://psy241.group.shef.ac.uk/psy241wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Stafford, T., Elgueta, H., Cameron, H. (2014). Students’ engagement with a collaborative wiki tool predicts enhanced written exam performance. Research in Learning Technology, 22, 22797. doi:10.3402/rlt.v22.22797
Evidence-basedEducation?
The evidence is against student led learning
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/
Do students know what’s good for em’?
Effectiveness can anti-correlate with evaluationsKornell, N., & Hausman, H. (2016). Do the Best Teachers Get the Best Ratings? Frontiers in psychology, 7.
See also: Arthur Poropat Students don’t know what’s best for their own learning and Jules Holroyd & Jenny Saul Will the Teaching Excellence Framework be sexist?
Evidence and generalisation
‘Causal density’Evidence-based vs Evidence-informed
Open science model
Classrooms as models of scholarly communityPeer supportAccessible debatesCommon procedures/toolsTransparent outcomes
Open syllabus opensyllabusproject.org/
@tomstafford
http://www.tomstafford.staff.shef.ac.uk/
ENDDon’t show these slides
Don’t show these slides
Intrinsically MotivatedCumulative LearningVersatile Robots
Jiuguang Wang, flickr.com, CC-SA-3.0
Baldassarre, G., Stafford, T., Mirolli, M., Redgrave, P., Ryan, R. M., & Barto, A. (2014). Intrinsic motivations and open-ended development in animals, humans, and robots: an overview. Frontiers in Psychology, 5(985). doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00985
Practice: spacing
How to learn: Spaced vs blocked practice
Dempster, F. N. (1989). Spacing effects and their implications for theory and practice. Educational Psychology Review, 1, 309-330. doi:10.1007/BF01320097
The hard way
Better
Easier
Theory
Decision making
Learning
selectexperience
update representations
Reinforcement Learning
Sutton, R. S., & Barto, A. G. (1998). Reinforcement learning: An introduction. Cambridge: MIT press.
Computation BehaviourMechanism
Decision making Bayes, Cost functions, evidence accumulation [1]
Representation in LIP,Switching in BG
Speed-accuracy trade-offs, discounting, prospect theory
Learning Reinforcement learning, hebb rule
cortical plasticity, RPEs in BG,
Learning curve, spacing, decay, consolidation, exploration-exploitation
Exploration - exploitation trade-off
risky
exploit explore
safe
envi
ronm
ent
strategy
Suboptimal discovery
Costly discovery
Example consequence:
Eiser, J. R., Fazio, R. H., Stafford, T. & Prescott, T. J. (2003), Connectionist simulation of attitude learning: Asymmetries in the acquisition of positive and negative evaluations, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29:1221-1235.
Confirmation bias in negative evaluations © Evan-Amos /
Wikimedia Commons /CC-BY-SA-3.0 /
Other
Stafford, T., & Bell, V. (2012). Brain network: social media and the cognitive scientist. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(10), 489–490. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2012.08.001
