Four Things That Can Make A Difference In Adult Learning

Dan Pratt University of British Columbia

Research-based

Domain-independent

Experience-independent

Context-independent

Four Things That Can Make A Difference In Adult Learning

Prior Knowledge

Emotions Testing

Feedback

Learner Engagement

What helps/hinders engagement?

Assumption: Learners want to be engaged.

Teach to their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).

Prior Knowledge

Emotions Testing

Feedback Prior Skill/ Knowledge

Critical Educational Strategy

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): ü  There are things learners can do

by themselves; - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ü  There are things learners cannot do,

even with your assistance;

In between, there are a number of things learners can do with assistance.

This is the ZPD … this is where you teach

In between, there are a number of things learners can do with guidance and deliberate practice.

This is the ZPD … targeted teaching

What if they bring deeply held beliefs or assumptions that are wrong?

Prior Knowledge

Emotions Testing

Feedback Prior Skill/ Knowledge

When they come to you with deeply held assumptions or beliefs that are wrong …

Why can’t you just tell them?

Consider this:

Explained basics of sound

Showed class a violin and explained:

The strings cannot move enough air to make sound

Pointed inside to show strings are attached to the sound post

Strings cause back of violin to move; that makes the sound

What you hear actually comes from the back of violin

Introductory physics course to non-science majors

Carl Wieman

The sound you hear from a violin comes:

a.  Mostly from the strings b.  Mostly from wood in back of violin c.  Equally from both wood and strings d.  None of the above

15 minutes later asked class…

The sound you hear from a violin comes:

a.  Mostly from the strings b.  Mostly from wood in back of violin c.  Equally from both wood and strings d.  None of the above

What % of students got it right?

Raise your hand: 0% 10% 30% 50% 80%

The sound you hear from a violin comes:

Results

84% 10

% 3% 3%

a.  Mostly from the strings b.  Mostly from wood in back of violin c.  Equally from both wood and strings d.  None of the above

Unlikely to counter deeply held beliefs or assumptions … no matter how credible the source

What’s the problem here?

Explanation or correction is “passive engagement” of prior knowledge

“Explain to the person next to you why the back of the violin (box), rather than the strings, is primarily responsible for the sound you hear?”

What might he have done here?

‘Why’ questions require active engagement of prior knowledge. Needs to be actively engaged, especially when it is wrong

Prior knowledge...

Emotions Testing

Feedback

Four things that influence engagement

Prior Knowledge Prior Skill/ Knowledge

Emotions

Ac#ve  &  Spare  Cogni#ve  Capacity  

0%  

10%  

20%  

30%  

40%  

50%  

60%  

70%  

80%  

90%  

100%  

EXPERT   NOVICE  

Spare Cognitive Capacity

Primary Task Cognition

What we remember also depends on the emotional significance of an event.

Think back to an emotional experience as a learner.

How long ago? What happened? What stands out in your memory?

Relationship between Learning & Emotions

High

Low

Info

rmat

ion

Proc

essi

ng

Low - - - - Level of Emotion - - - - High

Boredom

Productive Learning

Zone

Threat or Embarrassment

Positive

Negative

Vale

nce

High Low

Emotions vary along two dimensions

Intensity

Positive

Negative

Vale

nce

High Low

Emotions and cognitive engagement

Intensity

Quadrant A

Quadrant B

Positive

Negative

Vale

nce

High Low

Emotions and cognitive engagement

Intensity

Big Picture Focus & Recall

Specific Focus & Recall

Positive

Negative

Vale

nce

High Low

Emotions and cognitive engagement

Intensity

Global awareness of the situation

Better Transfer

Limited Transfer (Anchoring Bias) Focusing on one aspect or piece of information at the expense of understanding the larger picture

Positive

Negative

Vale

nce

High Low

Emotions and cognitive engagement

Intensity

Cognitive Flexibility

Cognitive Inflexibility Rely on established problem solving strategies until given corrective feedback

More creative problem solving, e.g., number of potential solutions

Positive

Negative

High Low

Emotions and cognitive engagement

Positive

Negative

High Low

Emotions and cognitive engagement

They may forget what you said,

but they will never forget how you made them feel.

Emotions & Learning Brand S, Reimer T, Opwis K. How do we learn in a negative mood? Effects of a

negative mood on transfer and learning, Learn Instr. 2007, 17:1–16. Fredrickson BL, Branigan C. Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention

and thought-action repertoires. Cogn Emot. 2005,19:313–332. Gasper K. Do you see what I see? Affect and visual information processing.

Cogn Emot. 2004, 18:405-421. Gasper K, Clore GL. Attending to the big picture: Mood and global vs. local

processing of visual information. Psych Sci 2002, 13:34-40. McConnell MM & Eva KW. The role of emotion in the learning of clinical skills

and knowledge, Academic Medicine, 2012, 87:1316-1322.

My Recommendation …

McConnell  &  Eva.  The  role  of  emotion  in  the  learning  of  clinical  skills  and  knowledge,  

Academic  Medicine,  2012,  87:1316-­‐1322.  

Emotions Testing

Feedback

Four things that influence engagement

Prior Knowledge Prior Skill/ Knowledge

Emotions Testing

1.  (SSSS) Four study sessions of 5 minutes each;

A Question: If your students had only 20 minutes to learn important dietetics concepts that had to be recalled accurately a week from now, which of the following would produce the best results?

2. (SSST) Three study sessions of 5 minutes each, plus one 5 minute test of free recall, writing down as much as they can remember;

3. (STTT) One study session of 5 minutes, followed by three consecutive 5 min. tests of free recall, writing down as much as they can remember;

NOTE: No feedback given in any of these options.

One Study (of many):

Each group spent a total of 20 minutes with no feedback.

Three groups of university students studied a descriptive passage on general scientific concepts:

Roediger HL III, Karpicke JD, Test-enhanced learning: taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psych Sci 2006; 17:249-55.

1.  (SSSS) Four study sessions of 5 minutes each;

2. (SSST) Three study sessions of 5 minutes each, plus one 5 minute test of free recall, writing down as much as they can remember;

3. (STTT) One study session of 5 minutes, followed by three consecutive 5 min. tests of free recall, writing down as much as they can remember;

Roediger HL III, Karpicke JD, Test-enhanced learning: taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psych Sci 2006; 17:249-55.

83% 78%

71%

5 minutes

Prop

ortio

n of

Idea

Uni

ts R

ecal

led

SSSS

SSST

STTT

Study Results

Roediger HL III, Karpicke JD, Test-enhanced learning: taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psych Sci 2006; 17:249-55.

40%

56% 61%

1 week

Prop

ortio

n of

Idea

Uni

ts R

ecal

led

SSSS

SSST

STTT

Study Results

Study Results

Roediger HL III, Karpicke JD, Test-enhanced learning: taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psych Sci 2006; 17:249-55.

83%

40%

78%

56%

71% 61%

5 minutes 1 week

Prop

ortio

n of

Idea

Uni

ts R

ecal

led

SSSS SSST STTT

vs.

SSSS SSST STTT

What happens when studying more?

Fluency illusion: Belief that because something is easy to remember right now, it will remain that way tomorrow or next week.

Highlighting, underlining, using notes provided by an instructor

Fluency illusions render us poor judges of what we need to study or practice again.

Best way to avoid fluency illusion is through testing

Testing: A Form of Active Engagement

Implications

Further studying = passive engagement resulting in a ‘fluency illusion’

Testing = active engagement

Feedback: Corrections are especially important for low performance

Testing with feedback: Equivalent to studying 16 times

Getting it wrong improves learning compared to

Studying without pre-testing/guessing

Even if they don’t know, encourage them to guess

Helps identify their: ‘Zone of Proximal Development’, and

Scientific American, Oct. 20, 2009 Productive Failure: Manu Kapur, 2008, 2012

Pre-testing & Guessing as Active Engagement

Ask them questions before telling them something

Basic Sciences

Kapur M (2008). Productive failure, Cog and Instrn, 26(3), 379-424.

Kapur M and Bielaczyc K (2012). Designing for productive failure, Journal of the Learning Sciences, 21(1), 45-83.

Kapur M (2012). Productive failure in learning the concept of variance, Instructional Sci, 40: 651-672.

Karpicke JD and Roediger HL (2008). The critical importance of retrieval for learning. Science vol. 319, 966-968.

Klionsky DJ (2004). Talking biology: teaching outside the textbook and the lecture. Cell Bio. Educ. vol. 3, 204-211.

Klionsky DJ (2008). The quiz factor. CBE – Life Sci Educ. 7:265-266.

Wood WB (2009). Innovations in teaching undergraduate biology and why we need them. Annual Rev Cell Dev Biology. 25: 93-112.

A Final Question…

If you wanted to improve your student’s learning, what one thing would make the most difference?

And why?

Emotions Testing

Feedback

Four things that influence engagement

Prior Knowledge Prior Skill/ Knowledge

Emotions Testing

Feedback

But first … ‘Deliberate Practice’

1.  Establish a relationship

2.  Set expectations

3.  Observe practice

4.  Provide feedback

5.  Repetitive practice

But most of all …

Ericsson, KA. Deliberate Practice and Acquisition of Expert Performance: A General Overview.

Academic Emergency Medicine. 2008; 15: 988-994.

Feedback that is:

Frequent  

Focused   Low-stakes  

In advance of high stakes accountability

Bain 2004 Hattie J & Timperley 2007

Medical Education 45(9) 2011

What do you now know that you didn’t know when we started?

Prior Skill/ Knowledge

Emotions Testing

Feedback

Learner Engagement

Where to from here?

Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, Lovett, & Norman (2010). How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles For Smart Teaching Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Engaging the Mind

Palmer, P.J. (1997). The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Engaging the Heart

References Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, Lovett, Norman (2010). How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for

Smart Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Brand S, Reimer T, Opwis K. How do we learn in a negative mood? Effects of a negative mood on transfer and

learning, Learn Instr. 2007, 17:1–16. Ericsson KA, Krampe RT, Tesch-Romer C (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert

performance. Psych Review, 100(3): 363-406. Ericsson, KA. Deliberate Practice and Acquisition of Expert Performance: A General Overview.

Academic Emergency Medicine. 2008; 15: 988-994. Fredrickson BL, Branigan C. Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires.

Cogn Emot. 2005,19:313–332. Gasper K. Do you see what I see? Affect and visual information processing. Cog Emot. 2004, 18:405-421. Gasper K, Clore GL. Attending to the big picture: Mood and global vs. local processing of visual information.

Psychol Sci 2002, 13:34-40. Hattie J and Timperley H, The Power of Feedback, Rev of Educ Research, 77:1, 81-112, March 2007. Kapur M (2008). Productive failure, Cognition and Instruction, 26(3), 379-424. Kapur M and Bielaczyc K (2012). Designing for productive failure, J. of the Learning Sciences, 21(1), 45-83. Kapur M (2012). Productive failure in learning the concept of variance, Instructional Sci, 40: 651-672. Karpicke JD and Roediger HL (2008). The critical importance of retrieval for learning. Sci. 319, 966-968. Klionsky DJ (2004). Talking biology: teach outside the textbook and the lecture. Cell Bio. Ed. 3, 204-211. Klionsky DJ (2008). The quiz factor. CBE – Life Sci Educ. 7:265-266. McConnell MM & Eva KW. The role of emotion in the learning of clinical skills and knowledge, Academic Medicine,

2012, 87:1316-1322. Wood WB (2009). Innovations in teaching undergraduate biology and why we need

them. Annual Rev Cell Dev Biology. 25: 93-112.