Tutorials To enhance Critical Thinking

1. Tutorials To enhance Critical Thinking Student Tutor Training

2. Session Objectives • Reflect on current tutorial practices • Explore the problem issues in tutorial teaching • Understand the different tutorial teaching strategies • Explore the method of problem based learning in small group teaching • Reflect on the implications for future practices

3. Session Content • Why Students fail to think? • Specific tutorial strategies • Problem Based Learning • Problem Design • Working on a problem

4. List below some of the activities that your students engage in during tutorial classes

5. Discussion Question • Individually, discuss the THREE major reasons why students fail to think in tutorials. •  1. • 2.  • 3. Check out your answer with your group member

6. Why Students Fail to Think? • Students are used to spoon-feeding in the secondary school days, and are reluctant to take up an active role in tutorials • Students consider tutorials as an alternative form of mini-lectures • Students expect tutors to give them direct answers to assignments or problems in the tutorials • Students are uncomfortable speaking before the whole class. They are afraid of making mistakes

7. Why Students Fail to Think? • Tutors always think that tutorials are an alternative form of mini-lectures • Tutors have the tendency of repeating what the lecturers say in the tutorials or answering questions relating to specific points of the lecture • Tutors write down solutions without much explanation • Many tutors are reluctant to go beyond the prepared topics

8. Discussion Question • Individually, think about three solutions that could help you handle the ‘non-thinking’ syndrome of your students • 1. • 2.  • 3. Check out your answer with your group member

9. Solutions • Create a non-threatening environment for students to voice out their opinions • Create group response sheets and ask students to put down their answers to be handed in • Show your empathy to students’ answers by providing immediate verbal and written feedback • Feedback to students’ answer focus on the process of solving the problems rather than on the right answers • Always start with simple questions and problems

10. Solutions • Include group participation skills as one of the criteria in the continuous assessment • Involve students to teach each other and encourage more group activities

11. Solutions • Do your homework! • Have a well-planned tutorial. Always remind yourself that you have to set a real-life problem, use an open-ended tutorial method, involve the students, emphasize the process rather than the answers • Tell the students right from day one that you won’t give direct answer to them in tutorials. Set guiding questions to problems to help students think. Involve students in mini-groups to work on the problem.

12. Solutions • Show the students that tutors sometimes will always get stuck. This is the time when tutors could open up the tutorial as a mutual learning exercise to involve students. You change your role as a story-teller to a facilitator • If you feel insecure about the content and need to present rather than facilitate, try the MODELS and MIMICS strategy

13. What do you think are the key skills that students should acquire through learning in tutorials?

14. What are the different approaches in tutorial teaching?

15. Advice on Using Quickstarts • This method is used at the start of the tutorial to motivate students into active participation • Put up an easy problem on the overhead or your powerpoint slide and get students solve it individually at first • Allow the students to compare answers with their peers – first in pairs and then in groups of four • The problem should be directly related to concepts and issues dealt with in the previous lectures so that tutors can find out how much students know beforehand

16. Advice on Using Quickstarts • The problem can be related to concepts and issues to be dealt with later in the tutorial • Problems to check concepts can be either in structured form while problems to lead to later tutorial issues can be more open-ended • The tutorial could be open up to whatever type of activity after the quickstart exercise, except you don’t show the students how to do the problem • Make sure that this activity does not take up the entire tutorial period

17. A Sample Case Frank You are a medical student observing one evening in The Emergency Department. A 20 year old man is brought into the emergency room by paramedics. He had driven his sports car into a tree. He is conscious. He is gasping for air. He has an intravenous line and is receiving oxygen via a mask. The ER physician points out to you that the right chest moves less than the left with inspiration

18. Guiding Questions • In groups discuss the possible guiding questions you could set for this tutorial case

19. A Sample Case What do you know from the case OR what are the important words/phrases? What are the problem / hypothesis identified and state a rationale for each? What will be the further information that could help you to understand the situation?

20. Working through the case • Given these guiding questions, how could you work through the case? • Logistics • The journey

21. Advice on using TAPS • This method involves two students in a pair to be involved in the problem solving process • The process allows the students to take up the role of a problem solver or a listener / recorder • The problem solver has to go through every step of the problem solving process and make it clear to the recorder

22. Advice on using TAPS • The recorder has to work with the problem solver closely by making sure that • The problem solver is expressing well • Every points made by the problem solver is documented • Following this TAPS method, an open class discussion is followed mainly to find out the responses from different pairs

23. Advice on using Models and Mimics • Modeling as a strategy involves the expert showing the novice how to do the problem • The expert could be the instructor or the peer tutor • The novices are the students (imitator or mimics)

24. Advice on using Models and Mimics • Tutor to work out the problem, provide sufficient explanation • Ask a student to repeat before the whole class after you have finished • Within a particular time limit, the student can delegate the duty of imitation to another student. The time limit set ensures that the tutorial will not over-run

25. Advice on using Models and Mimics • The student can also delegate the duty to another student if he/she is stuck • If the student gets stuck, tutor is always welcome to model the problem again, then go back to step 2 and proceed again

26. A Sample Case Frank You are a medical student observing one evening in the Emergency Department. A 20 year old man is brought into the emergency room by paramedics. He had driven his sports car into a tree. He is conscious. He is gasping for air. He has an intravenous line and is receiving oxygen via a mask. The ER physician points out to you that the right chest moves less than the left with inspiration

27. A Sample Case What are Frank’s problems? Car accident; Gasping for air; Receiving oxygen Right chest moves less than left with inspiration Generate a list of hypotheses and state a rationale for each Drunk driving – lead to car accident; High speed driving Lung puncture – maybe by a broken rib – can’t get enough air Cracked rib; Internal breeding in lungs – can’t oxygenate blood

28. A Sample Case List the learning issues that you will need to deal with this case and set priorities What causes gasping for air? How does a lung puncture affect respiration? What are the mechanics of normal respiration? How does a decrease in oxygen lead to gasping? How is blood alcohol measured? Does the patient have to give consent to have this done?

29. Problem Based Learning Return to the problem • Ill-structured Problem 8. Reporting PBL 2. Clarifying concept 7. Self study 3. Defining the problem 6. Formulating learning objectives 4. Analysing the problem/brainstorming 5. Problem analysis

30. Developing an ill-structured problem • Does the scenario • Require the learner to adopt a role? • Provide a context of time and place? • Provide the learner with information about the situation? • Require the learner to make a decision or take an action? • Provide the learner with a sequence of questions which require a response? • PROBLARC 2000

31. Case Writing • With reference to the checklist, show how the case of Frank fulfill the requirements for writing a good case

32. Reflecting on Teaching • Exercise • Individually spend about 6-8 minutes in writing down some ideas/techniques discussed in this session that will help students learn in tutorials • In pairs, explain to each other what you have written down – and begin to think about some directions for development

33. References • Mayer-Smith J.A. & Griffiths, A.J. (1995). Teaching and learning in genetics tutorials: A handbook of teaching and learning strategies for Biology 334 and Biology 335. Unpublished Monograph. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • University of British Columbia, Faculty of Medicine (1996). A guide to week and case development. Vancouver, Canada. • University of Newcastle, Problem Based Learning Assessment and Research Centre (2000). Case Based Learning or Problem Based Learning: A Checklist. Newcastle, Australia • Van Til C., & van der Heijden, F. (1998). PBL study skills: an overview. Maastricht, Vakgroep O & O.