How do you learn?

1. How do you learn? How do you know? Vanessa Svihla, Ph.D. November 1, 2010

2. Learning is fundamentally social. Context matters. A lot. Authenticity + Inquiry = Learning.

3. Unfortunately, not all participants are academically prepared to enter engineering college; they are interested in engineering.. but not adequately prepared for an engineering education. Zarske, M., Yowell, J. L., Sullivan, J. F., Knight, D., & Wiant, D. (2007, June 24-27). The TEAMS Program: A Study of a Grades 3-12 Engineering Continuum. Paper presented at the ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Honolulu, HI.

4. What can chinchillas tell us about learning? Learning is fundamentally social.

5. The procedure was quite simple. First he collected all the items into one group. He might have had to use another place due to lack of facilities. But the usual facility was going to be enough. He arranged the items into different groups. Of course one pile might have been sufficient depending on how much he had to do. It is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run this may not seem important but expensive complications can easily arise. Red problems are the worst. He combined each group with the usual brand. At first, the whole procedure had seemed complicated. However, it had become just another facet of his life. He cannot foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future. But then, one can never tell. After the first procedures were completed, he moved all the groups and used the usual setting. When he arranged the finished materials into new groups, he was careful. He did not want to put an extra wrinkle into his work. He would just have more work later on. Finally, he put them into their appropriate places. Eventually they will be used once more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is part of life. Context matters. A lot.

6. Could you learn to play the piano… without playing the piano? Dembo, M., & Howard, K. (2007). Advice about the use of learning styles: A major myth in education. Journal of College Reading and Learning, 37, 2. Stahl, S. (1999). Different Strokes for Different Folks? A Critique of Learning Styles. American Educator, 23(3), 27-31. Reynolds, M. (1997). Learning Styles: A Critique. Management Learning, 28(2), 115. How do you learn?

7. “I thought it was particularly fun as the mentees did not have a budget constraint, as opposed to the first challenge, so this meant, more materials, and more building….Glad to know they are learning.” Authenticity + Inquiry “The budget aspect definitely adds an intuitive challenge for the students that builds more excitement and discussion about design, while making them more conscious of real limitations of engineering projects.”

8. “Once again at the end of our lesson, I challenged the students to recall the design process and relate it to what they had just done.”

9. THE Design Processes THE Design Process

11. THE Scientific Methods THE Scientific Method

12. “That was fun!” But did they learn? Lava is really just baking soda! All volcanoes erupt like this one. How do you know what they know?

13. “it is hard enough to keep their focus on new projects”“It really helped to ask them initial questions before each activity to see what they thought would happen.”“It seemed like they learned the basics of what a chemical reaction is.”“They were all over the place and not paying attention or listening to any of us. I feel like next time we might need to put in a little more order when it comes to lesson plans that involve more talking/explaining rather than actively doing/constructing”

15. Authentic inquiry looks like the real thing, plus scaffolding

16. Designs for learning

17. Learning is fundamentally social, so go ahead and make a connection Assessment needs to be authentic Authentic inquiry, plus scaffolding