Maximizing Student Learning During Lectures

1. Maximizing Student Learning During Lectures Paula Leitz Jan Weiss Instructional Development and Leadership

2. Purposes of Lectures • To learn and remember information so that it can be accessed and applied

3. Knowledge is stored • Visually and • Linquistically

4. Brain-based education • An emerging field • Considers how brain learns best • Considers how to optimize opportunities for learning

5. How you teach impacts how well students learn….. • Learning physically changes the brain • How the brain changes is based on: * the relevance of the information provided * whether repetition is provided * emotional state at time of learning

6. Thus, the greater the relevancy and quantity of associations between learning and the way students can connect with the materials the stronger student understanding.

7. Important considerations for Lecturing • The amount of information your students can acquire, process and learn. • What you want students to acquire, process and retain. • Students’ engagement and attention at the beginning. Develop an emotional connection to lecture • Opportunities for students to do something with new information.

8. Identify similarities/differences Summarize/notetaking Non-linquistic representations Generate and test hypotheses Cues, questions and advanced organizers Cooperative learning Incorporating High Yield Instructional Strategies(Marzano, 2001)

9. Before a Lecture: Importance of beginnings • Grabbing students’ attention to signal brain • Sets tone for thinking • Helps to maintain interest

10. Rituals to handle start of class • Teacher spot • Signals • End of song, visual on D.C. • Trigger an emotion with something novel • Pose high level question about previously learned information • Create mind maps, venn diagrams of previous class’ learning • Generate hypotheses • Cues, questions and advanced organizers

11. Hold off on passing graded papers out or providing new information about upcoming classes until end!

12. Important Considerations During a Lecture • Brain needs support to retain information during an 1 hour our longer lecture.. • Brain does not work well if there is non stop information coming in.. • Learning is best when it is focused, diffused and then focused again.. • Brain needs time to process before moving on.. • Adults can manage 15-18 minutes of direct instruction • Tap into brain’s uppers - Amine activation - fuel for the attentional system • Commit information to long term memory • Repeat to remember, remember to repeat

13. Effective Strategies During Lecture • Physical breaks • Raise levels of amines - change, movement, excitement • Talk with the brain tasks • Create drawing of understanding (time lines, venn diagrams, visual representations, etc.) • Note taking using guides lecture notes, graphic organizers….stop and review during lecture • New information in small chunks….ask for predictions or write brief descriptions

14. Strategies continued….. • Stop and repeat--repetition strengthens connections in brain • Stop and make links • Stop and have students summarize • Stop to share with partner • Vary presentation tools (power point, video, etc.)….the brain seeks novelty • Use metaphors

15. Important Considerations After a Lecture: Commit to Long Term Memory • Build retrieval system--future reference to information • If you said something important at beginning, repeat at end • Repetition consolidates information, provide opportunities for this

16. Effective Strategies After Lecture • Use during lecture strategies to end • Summarize important aspects of lecture • Make personal connections to learning • Form visual representation • Respond to Whom, when, how and why • Create mind maps with a partner • Student created metaphors • Ask elaborating questions

17. Create your own metaphor • In groups of 3, come up with a metaphor that explains or describes the idea of maximizing student learning within a lecture format. • Try to “play out” the metaphor • Our example (?)