The College Classroom Week 7: They're not dumb, they're different

The College Classroom

November 12 and 14, 2013

Week 7: They’re not dumb, they’re different.

Today… 2

collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu #tccucsd

Discussion procedure 3

1. The person with the ball will give the first comment.

(Hang onto the ball until the next slide.)

2. After that, everyone is welcome to comment.

3. When we advance to the next slide, pass the ball to

your right.

Today, you are instructors, not students.

Start your comments with

“When I’m the instructor…”

“If this was *my* class…” collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu #tccucsd

The Eric Experiment [1]

4

I still get the feeling that unlike a humanities course, here

the professor is the keeper of the information, the one

who knows all the answers. This does little to propagate

discussion or dissent.

(p. 21)


Assessment, Expertise Development, How People Learn,

Learning Outcomes, Cooperative Learning, Fixed/Growth Mindset *

The Eric Experiment [1] 5

There was a Hispanic woman who sits next to me who is

already having trouble with the material. She tells me she

spends seven hours a night on homework and needs to get

an “A” to receive an ROTC scholarship next year.

(p. 22)

collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu #tccucsd *


Learning Outcomes, Cooperative Learning, Fixed/Growth Mindset


… students in a science class try to identify people who

score well and then constantly compare their scores (or

time studying or answers on homework) to their own. I

have never been in a class before where my grade had

any effect, real or perceived, on anyone else.

(p. 23)





The best classes I had were classes in which I was

constantly engaged, constantly questioning and pushing

the limits of the subject and myself.

(p. 25)





If you find you do not understand something from the last

chapter, you must wait until after class to see wither the

professor or the teaching assistant. The professor’s office

hour is busy and there is not much time for in-depth help.

The teaching assistant, while well-meaning, has problems

communicating in English, and is only around on certain

days of the week.

(p. 26)





What is not as well understood are the various ways in

which this already hard subject is made even harder and

more frustrating by the pedagogy itself.

(p. 29)





[My classmates] will have had no training in working

collectively. In fact, their experience will have taught them

to fear cooperation, and that another person’s intellectual

achievement will be detrimental their own.

(p. 24)





The lack of community, together with the lack of

interchange between the professor and the students

combines to produce a totally passive classroom

experience.

(p. 25)





“…the greatest stumbling block to understanding” was

the lack of identifiable goals and the absence of

linkage between concepts.

(p. 29)





[F]or the most part, “why” questions are neither asked

nor answered. The preference is for “how”

questions…[Eric’s] classmates didn’t appreciate his

interruptions, however. They seemed to “lose patience”

with his “silly ‘why’ questions.” These got in the way of

the mechanics of finding the right solution to their

assigned problems.

(p. 20-21)





If physicists learned to regard every one of those

250,000 introductory physics students – most of them

somewhat better than “ordinary” – as having something

valuable to contribute and much to gain from science,

there might be no science “crisis” at all.

(p. 32)




Eric’s physics professor: [1] 15

I assume the students in [introductory physics] are pre-

professionals who have already decided on a career in

science and are in class to lean problem-solving

techniques that will be required of them in their careers.

(p. 30)




Eric’s physics professor: [1] 16

Students not interested in the physical world have a

harder time, since they don’t know and usually don’t care,

how things, cars, bodies, weather, the heavens, work.

(p. 30)





17

Teaching the History of Women [2] 18

For the opportunity to introduce both the Middle East and

women’s history to a captive and diverse audience, I am

very grateful. But challenges abound, beginning with the

time-consuming obstacle of students’ ignorance of even

the region’s basic geography…




Teaching the History of Women [2]

19

[H]ow, in this tense climate, can we present our students

with honest, critical, and nuanced information about

contentious topics…




Teaching the History of Women [2]

20

My experience to date suggests that one of the most

effective teaching strategies is to address all topics in

comparative global perspective, drawing particular

parallels with the history of women in the United States

and Western Europe.




Peer Instruction 21

Before class:

students read the text, watch online lectures

complete a reading quiz, online assessment

During class: Periodically, between mini-lectures,

1. instructor poses a conceptually challenging question

2. students vote individually

3. students discuss the concept in groups of 2-3 and then vote

again

4. class-wide discussion led by instructor, confirming why the

correct choice(s) is correct, why the incorrect choices are

incorrect


Halving Fail Rates using Peer Instruction [3] 22

“Fail Rate” refers to the

number of students

earning a W (withdraw),

D, or F grade out of the

total number students

passing (A,B,C) and

failing (W, D, F).


Halving Fail Rates using Peer Instruction [3]

23

By designing a course to better support students in their attainment of learning goals, standards can be preserved while facilitating “easier” learning.

Also, peer instruction

builds on students’ knowledge

has a social constructivism component

gives students opportunities to practice talking like experts

timely, formative feedback

student-centered / engaging / active learning


Tobias’ conclusions: 24

But as least as important as content…will be changes in the “classroom culture”

more attention to an intellectual overview

more context (even history) in the presentation of physical models

less condescending pedagogy

differently challenging examinations

more discussion, more “dissent” (even if artificially constructed)

more community in the classroom

([1], p. 31)


Take away:


25

become aware of your own biases about who can

succeed in your classes

find ways for students to contribute to the class

Watch for Homework 8 post

Next week: Alternatives to Lecture

26


References


27

1. Tobias, S. (1990). They’re Not Dumb, They’re Different: Stalking the Second

Tier. Tuscon, AZ: Research Corporation.

2. Scalenghe, S. (November, 2012). Teaching the History of Women in the

Middle East and North America. Perspectives on History, 50, 8.

http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2012/1211/Teaching-

Womens-History-Forum_History-of-Women-in-the-Middle-East-and-North-

Africa.cfm

3. Porter, L., Bailey-Lee, C., & Simon, B. (2012). Halving fail rates using peer

instruction: a study of four computer science courses. Under review.

4. Kruger, J. & Dunning, D. (1999). Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties

in recognizing one’s own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 77, 1121-1134.

28


Unskilled and Unaware of it [4] 29

When people are incompetent in the strategies they adopt

to achieve success and satisfaction, they suffer a dual

burden: Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and

make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs

them of the ability to realize it.

(p. 1121)


Unskilled and Unaware… 30


Unskilled and Unaware Conclusions 33

in domains where they have no intuition at all

(“translating Slovenian proverbs”, “reconstructing an

8-cylinder engine”) people do not overestimate their

ability, rate themselves worse than their peers

when they have a “minimal threshold of knowledge,

theory or experience”, people poorly estimate their

own abilities and the abilities of their peers

(p. 1132)


The College Classroom Week 7: They're not dumb, they're different

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Transcript of The College Classroom Week 7: They're not dumb, they're different