Types of Learners

1. Types of Learners SELECT: attend to relevant information? NON-LEARNING Poor retention poor transfer NO YES ORGANIZE: build internal connections? NON-UNDERSTANDING good retention poor transfer NO YES INTEGRATE: build external connections? NON-UNDERSTANDING good retention poor transfer NO YES UNDERSTANDING good retention good transfer

2. THE ANT STORY A thirsty ant went to a river. He became carried away by the rush of the stream and was about to drown. A dove was sitting in a tree overhanging the water. The dove plucked a leaf and let it fall. The leaf fell into the stream close to an ant and the ant climbed onto it. The ant floated safely to the bank. Shortly afterwards, a birdcatcher came and laid a trap in the tree. The ant saw his plan and stung him on the foot. In pain the birdcatcher threw down his trap. The noise made the bird fly away. Why was the ant about to drown? How did the dove pluck the leaf? Why did the dove pluck the leaf? Why did the ant sting the birdcatcher?

3. THE SALLY STORY Sally let loose a team of gophers. The plan backfired when a dog chased them away. She then threw a party but the guests failed to bring their motorcycles. Furthermore, her stereo system was not loud enough. Sally spent the next day looking for a “Peeping Tom” but was unable to find one in the yellow pages. Obscene phone calls gave her some hope until the number was changed. It was the installation of blinking neon lights across the street that finally did the trick. Sally framed the ad from the classified section and now has it hanging on her wall.

4. THE SALLY STORY 1. Where did Sally put the gophers? 2. Why did Sally want the guests to bring motorcycles? 3. Whose number was changed? 4. Who probably made the calls? 5. What did the advertisement say? Can you provide an explanation for Sally’s actions? Sally is trying to get rid of a troublesome neighbor.

5. TWO WAYS OF ORGANIZING 1. List of Facts e.g., for the “Weather Star” Passage (handed out in class) - there is a new kind of star - the star shines - the star is over New York - the star is atop of a tall steel tower

6. TWO WAYS OF ORGANIZING 2. Hierarchical Outline weather star location color predicts sources of weather weather info green orange flashing flashing orange white

7. TWO WAYS OF ORGANIZING 2. Hierarchical Outline

8. TYPES OF STRUCTURE TRAINING Knowledge Mapping : involves breaking a passage into its parts (i.e., ideas) and then identifying the linking relations among the parts. Top-level Structures: outlining passages based on certain basic outline forms called top-level structures (covariance, comparison, collection, description, and response) Top-level structures for science texts are: generalization, enumeration, sequence, classification, and compare/contrast.

9. KEY FINDINGS IN STRUCTURE TRAINING • Structure training enhances the recall of main ideas. No effect on the recall of details. • Structure training transfers to other materials after the training experience is over. • The effects of structure training are particularly pronounced with students with low GPAs, little effect with students with high GPAs. • Poor readers are less likely to note the top-level structure of a passage compared to good readers. More likely to benefit from training experience.

10. IMPLICATIONS OF STRUCTURE STRATEGIES • Students can be taught to use effective strategies for organizing expository material. • Two key features to the training: • 1) emphasize specific types of structures commonly found in expository text. • 2) give extensive practice in recognizing and applying these structures when actually reading textbooks. • Less-skilled readers are more likely to benefit from structure training.

11. TYPES OF NOTE-TAKING WRITING DOWN VERBATIM PHRASES OUTLINING: HEADINGS & SUBHEADINGS SUMMARIZING: PUT INTO YOUR OWN WORDS RELATE TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE

12. DEFINITION OF GENERATIVE STRATEGIES • Generative strategies: • are intended to promote deep understanding in the • learner • prompt the learner to put the materials in his/her own • words • prompt the learner to abstract the main ideas of the • material • prompt the learner to relate the materials to other • knowledge

13. KEY FINDINGS ON NOTE-TAKING • note taking typically improves recall of conceptual • principles, not specific details • note taking improves knowledge transfer to new types • of problems • note taking techniques that encourage students to • summarize the main ideas in their own words • have the greatest impact • elaborative note taking has a greater impact on low • ability students

14. HELPING STUDENTS BE GOOD NOTE-TAKERS Ask Students to: 1) use their notes to summarize the lecture Why does this work? 1) they must select the main points to organize their summary 2) then they link the main ideas to one another, identifying the main points and the secondary points 3) by using their own words, they are encouraged to relate the material to prior knowledge

15. KEY FINDINGS ON SELF-EXPLANATIONS • more successful students are more likely to engage in • self-explanations as they read (talk-aloud studies) • students prompted to engage in self-explanation show • better performance on transfer questions (inference- • based) • students prompted to engage in self-explanation are • more likely to construct accurate mental models of • what they read (e.g., the human circulatory system) • a key process of self-explanation involves posing • questions and then answering them

16. HELPING STUDENTS ENGAGE IN SELF-QUESTIONING 1) give students a list of general questions that guide the processing of the material 2) model how to use the general questions to generate specific questions based on material being read/ listened to. 3) model how to answer the specific questions based on the material read/listened to 4) give students an opportunity to practice the self- questioning techniques