Teaching Students High-Performance Learning

1. Teaching Students High-Performance Learning Linda B. Nilson, Ph.D., Director Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation 445 Brackett Hall, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634 USA Tel: (864) 656-4542 * Fax: (864) 656-0750 nilson@clemson.edu * www.clemson.edu/OTEI

2. Participant Outcomes By the end of this workshop, you will be able to teach students research-backed, high-performance strategies for: • readingacademic material for conceptual understanding • studying for tests and long-term retention • taking tests more effectively and efficiently.

3. Most of these strategies will involve developing students’ metacognitive skills –that is, their ability to plan, monitor, control, evaluate their learning. • Many studies tell us that, when students acquire these skills, they improve their reading comprehension, study skills, problem-solving skills, and test performance (also written or designed work). They also become less over-confident.

4. MetacognitiveAwareness/Skills ≈ • Self-regulated learning • Self-assessment of learning • Self-directed learning • Self-monitoring of learning • Reflection on learning plus • Attributing success/failure to own study habits & efforts

5. Regulatory Checklist(Schraw, 1998, p121) • Planning 1. What is the nature of the task? 2. What is my goal? 3. What kind of information and strategies do I need? 4. How much time and resources will I need? • Monitoring 1. Do I have a clear understanding of what I am doing? 2. Does the task make sense? 3. Am I reaching my goals? 4. Do I need to make changes? • Evaluating 1. Have I reached my goal? 2. What worked? 3. What didn’t work? 4. Would I do things differently next time?

6. Instruments to Self-Assess Metacognitive Skills • For Problem Solving: Cooper & Sandi-Urena, 2009. Available at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed086p240 • Any Discipline: Schraw & Dennison, 1994. (Put in scholar.google.com)

7. Reading

8. Typical Case Scenario “…they just don't read well enough to handle the amount and difficulty of reading assignments in college. They often read and reread the same page in a textbook, without understanding or remembering what they have read. Eventually, they give up in despair.…Most students are…likely to manage maybe three sessions per hour, and to set aside only two hours to get their reading assignments from one class done for the next day. And most are lucky to get even one page, not two, properly read in each five-minute session. So…such a student will read about six or ten [pages]. Each time he tries to do his homework, he will fall even further behind, until finally he surrenders to hopelessness and starts looking for ways to weasel a higher grade than he deserves….” (Blue, 2003).

9. Besides, Why Read? • Many college students never did the readings in middle & high school—and did very well. • 2/3 of entering U.S. college students in fall 2003 spent < 6 hrs/wk on homework in HS senior year, and almost half graduated with an A-average(Higher Education Research Institute, 2004). • 70% of these students rated their academic ability above average or within the top 10% of their cohort(Higher Education Research Institute, 2004).

10. 1. Explain Why They Must Read NOW • What are you going to tell students?

11. 2. Explain What Reading Is and Isn’t • Not an eye exercise • All about focus, concentration

12. 3. Teach Students How to Read Academic Material: 3 Methods • Wise highlighting or underlining– but demands the least engagement • Marginalia of summary or reaction–good for decent readers • 5-step process for reading a textbook or point-of-view nonfiction – best for most students; primarily homework

13. Problems with Highlighting • Too much text highlighted • Doesn’t improve overall recall • When studying later, students who highlight: • recall highlighted text better than other students, but recall non-highlighted text less well. • recall highlighted text as unrelated pieces of info; lose overall meaning & interrelationships. Kiewra. K.A. (2005). Learn how to study and SOAR to success. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

14. 5 Steps to Read a Textbook or Point-of-View Nonfiction • Pre-read with them for reflection • Preview readings • Review purpose for reading: study questions orproblems • Readwith purpose for answers, solutions – written homework • Review readings - written homework

15. Generic Questions for Point-of-View Non-Fiction • What is the author’s position or claim? • What are the main arguments given in support of this position or claim? • What evidence or data does the author furnish to support his/her position or claim? • Evaluate the author’s case, identifying any questionable evidence or data, missing information, or flaws in logic or analysis.

16. 4. Teach Students Logical Transitions and Signal Words • Addition • Cause-and-Effect • Comparison • Contrast • Emphasis • Illustration

17. Studying for Tests and Long-Term Retention

18. Study timing and spacing • Visual study tools • Review strategies • Problem-solving practice • Study groups – formalized • Student-created review sheets

19. 1. Study Timing and Spacing • Leave time (days or weeks) after first reading before reviewing or studying again. (Rohrer & Pashler, 2010) • Study early; leave time (days) between studying and the test. (Rohrer & Pashler, 2010)

20. 2. Visual Study Tools • Help students identify important ideas • Help them make the abstract + concrete • Enhance their reading comprehension • Makes them integrate and structure knowledge • Encourage their higher-order thinking • Foster their conceptual understanding • Enhance their long-term retention

21. Research on Visuals Deeper learning, conceptual understanding Show BOTH structure of knowledge and integration of its elements Better, longer retention + easier retrieval Require less working memory, fewer cognitive transformations Dual coded in semantic and episodic memories Cognitive operations easier Easier to locate and extract information Easier to draw inferences Cross-cultural

22. Mind Map (Web)

25. Teach Students How to Mind Map Write down central idea in center. Think of (free-assoc) up to 6-7 related ideas and write them down as radiating out from the center (with arrows). Think of (free-assoc) ideas related to these ideas and show them radiating out from previous ideas. Look for cross relationships and draw lines (with arrows) between related ideas.

26. Guidelines Large piece of paper, landscape style (or board or monitor) Key words only Add color, icons, and symbols

27. Topic Main Idea Topic Sub Topic Topic Sub Topic Sub Topic Sub Topic Concept Map

29. ME 404: Manufacturing Processes and Their Application, Professor Laine Mears DESIGN INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURING Integration Interpretation Quality Time • QFD • GD & T • Metrology • SPC • Push / Pull • Lean Mfg. Design for X Process Planning PROCESSES Material Removal Material Transformation Material Addition Machining Processes Sheet Metal Casting Processes Bulk Deform. Polymer Processes Joining Adhesion Rapid Prototyping • Turning • Milling • Drilling • other • Bending • Stamping • Blanking • Punching • Sand casting • Diecast • Investment • other • Forging • Rolling • Extrusion • Drawing • Inj. Molding • Blow molding • Rotomold • other • Welding • Brazing • SLA • SLS • 3D Printing • other

30. Concept = human-defined pattern in objects, events, or properties ―e.g., Objects: “force” “light” “food” “population” “weather” “pressure” “energy” Events: “rain” “photosynthesis” “marriage” Properties: “taste” “density” “life-giving” “volume” “texture”

31. Hierarchical Organization of Knowledge from most inclusive/general/broad/abstract (superordinate) concept to most exclusive/specific/narrow/concrete (subordinate) concepts

32. Weather such as Rain Population described by Density Rite-of-passage e.g. Marriage

33. Photosynthesis requires requires Light CO2

34. Energy one form is Light which has this property Life-giving which describes Photosynthesis

35. Teach Students How to Concept Map ID & list 12-15 concepts from reading, classes, etc. (KISS). Write each concept on a post-it note or small index card. ID main topic/concept (superordinate) and place at top center.

36. 4. Rank-order or cluster remaining concepts (subordinate) from most inclusive/general/broad/abstract (higher up) to most exclusive/specific/narrow/concrete (lower down) 5. Arrange concepts in a linkable hierarchy. 6. Draw whole hierarchy on piece of paper (graph?) with enclosures around concepts and labeled linking lines (to specify relationship). 7. Look for cross-links (across branches), draw in as dotted lines, and label links.

37. Guidelines Avoid crossing linking lines. No arrows needed because down is assumed. Linked concepts + label = “proposition”

38. 3. Review Strategies Read * Recall * Review 1. Read; put away book and notes. 2. Recall all you can. 3. Recite aloud or write it down. • Better immediate & delayed free recall of fact-based passages than rereading & equal to note-taking • Less time than note taking, more under learner's control • Gives learner “deliberate practice,” “retrieval practice,” “retrieval rehearsal,” & immediate feedback McDaniel, M.A., Howard, D.C., & Einstein, G.O.(2009). The Read-Recite-Review study strategy: Effective and portable. Psychological Science, 20(4), 516-522. Roediger, H.L. III, & Karpicke, J.D. (2006). The power of testing memory: Basic research and implications of the educational practice. Perspective on Psychological Science, 1(3), 181-210.

39. Similar Schema • SQ3R = survey-question-read-recall-review • PQR3 = preview-question-read-recite-review

40. Web Sites on Studying • www.aw-bc.com/etips/usahome/index.html • www.educationatlas.com/study-skills.html • www.studygs.net/murder.htm • www.how-to-study.com/pqr.htm • www.mindtools.com/rdstratg.html • www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/stdyhlp.html • www.studygs.net

41. 4. Problem-Solving Practice • Interleaved practice (abcbcacab) produces better learning than blocked (aaabbbccc). • Have students solve “old” problems in addition to “new” ones. • Related to study timing & spacing. • True for any skill, cognitive or physical.

42. 5. Study Groups • Must be formally organized so members have responsibilities to the group. • Best managed by a learning center or first-year course program. • Mixed results about effectiveness of studying in a group v. alone (Arum, R., & Roska, J. (2010). Academically adrift: Limited learning on college campuses. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.

43. 6. Student-Created Review Sheet • List major content areas. • Designate relative importance. • Within each content area, write down what you should be able to do or demonstrate, avoiding internal-states verbs like “know” and “understand.” Use “recognize,” “identify,” “reproduce,” “apply,” “analyze,” “draw relationships between,” “evaluate,” “create.” • Prepare to do or demonstrate these outcomes.

44. Test-Takingand Debriefing

45. Reducing Test Anxiety • Students write about their worries for 10 mins. right before the test. • Unloads anxiety that uses up working memory • Raises test scores by almost one grade point. • Relaxation techniques: deep breathing, slowly counting to 10, visualizing successful test session

46. Metacognitive Activities on Quizzes & Tests • Problems: Re-solve incorrect problems & write out the correct strategy. • “Post-exam reflection” after graded test is returned (one-stage): • Diff betw expected and actual performance • Hours spent studying – enough? • How you spent exam-prep time • Reasons why you lost points • What you will do differently to prep for next exam

47. 2-stage “post-test analysis” questionnaire on prep strategies (see Teach Prof, 12/09) • End of test • When graded test is returned • “Test Autopsy” – error analysis (form) • Before test #2, write “study game plan” based on test #1 experience & results; assess and, if necessary, revise plan after test #2 is returned.