Communication in
teaching
• Feedback skill
• Speaking in class
• Handling conflict
Pic 1
Pic 1
”–It´s something with the moon, gravitation”.
”– If this plate is Earth and my coffee cup is the Moon, then…”
”–Isn´t there a 6hr cycle? Any ideas why?”
”–I think the Sun is involved too..”
”–I remember when I visited the coast of X, …”
”– Anders’ idea with centrifugal/centripetal slingshot forces, really?”
What is tide? Which
mechanisms are
Involved?
Identifying and handling
conflicts
-“ Well, that comes with some
extra work for me, and you
will not provide feedback to
your group peers; have you
considered that? Next peer
feedback occasion is in 9
months, so you will not be able
to finish the course until then”.
-”I figure I´ll be absent this
week, after all, the Lund
carneval is only once in 4yrs. I
guess it´s OK to catch up next
week?”
Parent Parent
Adult Adult
Child Child
Teacher
Berne (1978), transaction analysis
Student
-”..Right, time to load the ipod
for ..”
-”Be onboard the excursion
buss tomorrow 8 sharp! Boots
on! I´ll compare number of
signed out geo-hammers with
signed participants in the
quarry, so don´t try to cheat”.
Parent Parent
Adult Adult
Child Child
Lärare Student
Berne (1978), transaction analysis
Really nasty behaviour..
• Mobbing techniques
– To ignore
– To ridicule
– To withhold info
– ”Damn you if you do – damn you if you don´t”
– Insinuate guilt
From interview of Berit Ås
Speaking in front of class
Stress & anxiety
Perf
orm
an
ce
Stress level
Heavy swetting,
High pulse,
Shallow breathing
Escape behaviour,
etc..
Listeners attention depends on
• Recognition
• Experienced relevance
• Consequence
Leve
rl o
f at
ten
tio
n
20 minutes
The talk..
vs everything else..
(cf. Hemlin 1960, Bligh 2000)
Feedback–
all you need is to: 1. Create the opportunity (time/space)..
2. ..communicate feedback criteria early..
3. ..let feedback come from you & others..
4. .. in a astructured way..
5. ..express it so that it will not be rejected
1 Opportunity
• Schedule/negotiate time & space
• Make the students produce ”X”
– Dialogue, experiment, problem,, etc
? ?
? !
2 Criteria
• Make them explicit.
• ”A first class answer/lab report report/thesis/
includes.., a weak report is typically..”
3 Design feedback from..
• You, the teacher
– (but, risk of the socratic bottle-neck)
• Peer students
• The performing student him/her-self
• The lab gear, etc
Overall coherence
and focus
Logical flow of information
between and within section
Matching tables and graphs with text
Links between
paragraphs
Headings Links between
Sentences
Jargon Abstract words Grammar
Spelling Capitalization Page layout Punctuation
Most complex
tasks
Least complex
tasks
Suggested feedback
order
Från Handal & Lauvås (2008). Urspr. Brown (1994)
4 Structured
feedback,
example
Scenario:You have just got an envelope back from the editor of the high
impact journal, Journal of Your Own Research (JoYOR). Both reviewers
value the ms similarly (accepted after moderate revision), but expresses
their feedback quite differently. Here´s just a copied sentence from their
letters trying to state similar judgment;
Reviewer 1: “This text section on ABC is sloppy - not good enough –
change. Logic is unclear!”.
Reviewer 2: “Ideas A and B seem congruent to me, but I could not
follow how arguments A and B could lead to conclusion C. Could you
please clarify this?”
Case: reviewers feedback skills.
Find at least 4 principal differences
5 Feedback that triggers
performance change, not
rejection by the receiver
Efficient feedback is thus..
• me-message, i.e., represents your reaction
• Balanced, negative & positive
• Concrete for both –”-, not general
• Helpful, not judgmental
• Immediate, not “bottled up irritation”
• Questions, rather than statements
• You did great advances this yr!
• I see you already got three ms in press this
yr!
• You ran that research group meeting really
poorly; I´m disappointed.
• I found the meeting problematic. You
seemed to make Jan-Ingvar loose face
deliberately. Not typical for your normal
meeting style in my view.
• Those calibration mistakes 2yrs ago will
certainly be costly at your dissertation day.
• When I checked your data calibration last
week I found errors in the range of a
magnitude. If you don’t deal with this now I
guess there will be difficulties at your
dissertation.
• You are not convincing when you present
your research so hesitantly, with a weak
voice and unstable body language.
• I´ve noticed you tend to speak quietly and
move back to the wall. I suggest you move
3m closer to the audience and start from
there with your most compelling research
issue, and why it intrigues you!
Learning in lab/field
• Student
– Encounters problem/difficulty
– Gathers useful facts
– Estimates approximate direction of solution
– Erects a hypothesis based on the facts
– Sketches personal theory on how aspects relate to eachother
– Experiments to verifiery/deny hypotheses and theories
John Dewey (1859-1956)
Typical intentions of lab/field learning activities
• Illustrate/demonstrate theory
• Develop practical lab abilities
• Inspire and motivate
• Get feedback on currently developing knowledge
• Develop analytical critical thinking
• Facilitate the understanding of scientific work
• Develop collaborative skills
• Develop the language of the subject discipline (cf. Hult 1999)
”Observation X in the lab didn´t fit given theory Z from previous
lecture”
• Guess and discuss possible student
reactions and compare with your own
conclusion
”There´s nothing as practical as a good theory” (Lewin 1952)
Observation Theory
Observation Theory
P-E Ellström Integrating Learning and Work: Problems and Prospects
Adaptive and developmental
learning
Questionaire: Is there a gap between
lectures and labs?
Students:
”Yes, this is
typical”
TAs:
”Yes, this is
typical”
Lecturers:
”If students and
TAs say it is,
yes..”
Barri et al 2006: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice
on an Example of Chemical Laboratory (LTH course report, 20pp)
Lab/Field Lect
Lect
Lect
Lect
Lab/Field
Lab/Field
Lab/Field Lect
Lect
Lect
Lect
Lab/Field
Lab/Field
Lecturers view
Students’ view
OK, but is this gap a
significant problem?
Students:
”Yes, this is
typical”
TAs:
”Yes, this is
typical”
Lecturers:
”Yes, if students
and TAs say
so..”
”No, it´s ok,
it´s normal!”
”It is a
frustrating
problem!”
”I don´t think
this is a big
problem”
Barri et al 2006: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice
on an Example of Chemical Laboratory (LTH course report, 20pp)
Bridging the gap
lecture lab lecture
Barri et al 2006: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice
on an Example of Chemical Laboratory (LTH course report, 20pp)