Doing the Right Thing Right:

1
Doing the Right Thing Right

• Reconfiguring Learning Communities at the
• University of Alabama at Birmingham

2
Introduction

• Purpose of Session
• To describe an ongoing three-stage best practices
  learning community initiative at UAB

3
Our Goals

• Statistically significant gains in retention
• Statistically significant gains on critical
  thinking assignments.

4
The Three Stages

• Learning Community I (Conditional Admits/2
  Courses)
• Learning Community II (Regular Admits/3 Courses)
• Learning Community III (Conditional and Regular
  Admits/3 Courses

5
BestPracticesComponents

• Close Interaction with Advisors
• Emphasis on Critical Thinking

6
Assessment Data

• Advising Component Very Effective (Subjective
  Student/Faculty Evaluations)
• Critical Thinking Component Less Effective
  (Objective Pre-test/
• Post-test measurements)

7
Closing In On the Problem

• Critical Reading Skills a Weakness in All Three
  Learning Community Assessment Results

8
Significance?

• Learning Communities Work at UAB and Nationwide
• Learning Communities Enhance Academic Performance
• Learning Community Gains Could Possibly Be
  Enhanced by Targeting Critical Reading Skills.

9
Next Steps

• Interdisciplinary Instruction and Exercises Using
  a Variety of Best-Practices Approaches
• Bloom/Chaffee
• ACT EPAS Pathway Skills
• SQ3R/Jason

10
Reading Models

• Chaffee
• ACT
• SQ3R
• JASON

11
ChaffeeCritical Thinking

• Fact
• Interpretation
• Analysis

12
Chaffees Definitions

• Fact
• Declarative Statement
• Falsifiable
• Interpretation
• Relationships of Facts
• (temporal, causal, process)
• Analysis
• Conclusions about Facts

13
Applying Chaffee ModelIdentifying Facts

• According to Chaffee, critical thinkers
• A.  Support point of view with evidence and
  reason
• B.  Rely on past experience to understand current
  events
• C.  Trust their instincts to know what is true
• D.  Follow their friends and familys judgment
  about what is true

14
Applying Chaffee ModelIdentifying Facts

• In Hawaiian ceremonies, who was subject to be
  the target of cannibalism?
• A. Priests of the heiau
• B. Chiefs captured in war
• C. Ku, the God of war
• D.  Kanoloa who was cast into the underworld

15
Applying Chaffee ModelInterpretation

• Benjamin Blooms Taxonomy of Intellectual
  Development suggests that
• A.  Fact recognition is more complex than
  analysis B.  Interpretation is less complex than
  fact recognition
• C.  Analysis is more complex than either fact
  recognition or interpretation
• D.  Fact recognition, interpretation, and
  analysis are equally difficult

16
Applying Chaffee ModelInterpretation

• Which of the Hawaiian Gods most closely
  parallels Lucifer, the fallen angel in Christian
  mythology?
• A.                Ku
• B.                 Kane
• C.                Lono
• D.                Kanaloa

17
Applying Chaffee ModelAnalysis

• Which statement is most likely?
• A. The UFO model discovered in the Walters house
  is evidence of their lying.
• B. The UFO model discovered in the Walters house
  is irrelevant in deciding whether are lying.
• C. The UFO model discovered in the Walters house
  is evidence that they are telling the truth.

18
Applying Chaffee ModelAnalysis

• In Hawaiian myth, men and women were banished
  from Mokapu because
• A. Kanaloa seduced Ke-aka-huli-lani
• B. Ku accepted human sacrifices
• C. Lono was honored at celebrations
• D. Kane had an affair with Kus wife

19
ACT Pathway SkillsFrom 16-19 to 20-23

• Draw simple conclusions using details that
  support the main points of more challenging
  passages
• Locate important details in uncomplicated
  passages
• Order simple sequences of events in uncomplicated
  literary narratives
• Identify comparative relationships between ideas
  and people in uncomplicated passages

20
ACT Pathway SkillsFrom 16-19 to 20-23, cont.

• Identify clearly stated cause-effect
  relationships in uncomplicated passages
• Use context clues to define some words and
  interpret some figurative language in
  uncomplicated passages

21
Application of ACT Pathway SkillsIdentifying
Facts

• Text The Spirit Catches You, and You Fall Down
• According to legend, the Hmong live on high
  ground due to
• Tribal preference
• Conflict over territory
• Decrees of the gods
• Natural disaster

22
Application of ACT Pathway SkillsIdentifying
Facts, Cont,

• Text The Spirit Catches You, and You Fall Down
• The main source of income in pre-war Laos was
• Industry
• Tourism
• Exports
• Farming

23
Application of ACT Pathway SkillsInitiatives/Cor
relations

• Item 1simple conclusions
• Item 2simple details
• Item 3sequences
• Item 4comparison contrast
• Item 5causal relationships
• Item 6meanings of words.

24
SQ3R

• Survey
• Question
• Read
• Recite
• Review

25
SQ3R Survey

• Survey the chapter before you read
• Read the chapter title, introduction, all
  section headings and subheadings, and chapter
  summary
• Look at all illustrations, charts, maps, etc. and
  read captions

26
As you survey, create Questions

• Turn the title, headings, and subheadings into
  questions
• Read any questions that are included with the
  sections or end of the chapter
• Ask yourself, What do I already know about this
  topic?

27
As you Read

• Look for the answers to the title, headings, and
  subheadings questions
• Note underlined, boldfaced, or italicized words
• Reread difficult sections
• Reread the captions of illustrations and relate
  to associated text material
• Reduce reading speed to prevent skipping text
• Look up the definitions of words
• Read and study one section at a time

28
Recite after reading each section

• Summarize in your own words what you have read
• Highlight or underline important information
• Take notes from the text
• Try to understand the information in a topic
  before proceeding to the next
• Following a recitation of each section, briefly
  review your recitation notes from all previous
  sections

29
Review materials several times each week

• Review all questions to see if you remember the
  answers
• Reread sections for which you have difficulty
  answering questions
• Review all highlighted text and margin notes
• Review all illustrations
• Develop flashcards or mnemonic devices to help
  remember specific information

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JASON

• R Reminds me of
• ? Question
• V Visual Image
• I Inference
• Importance

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RMaking ConnectionsReminds me of

• T-S Text-to-Self
• T-T Text-to-Text
• T-M Text-to-Media
• T-W Text-to-Word

32
? Question

• A Question Answered in Text
• D Answered by further Discussion
• I Answer guessed from Text

33
? Question, cont.

• BK Answered from Background Knowledge
• R Question Requires Further Research
• ?? Conclusion

34
VVisual Image

• D Drawing or Representing
• IM Imaging or Imagining
• O Organizing Information

35
I Inference

• G Informed Guess
• P Prediction (Hypothesis or Conjecture)
• T Theme

36
Importance

• F Familiar Topic
• N New Topic
• M All Part of Main Idea
• Really Important

37
Results

• Summary Putting Main Points Together
• Synthesis Main Points plus Point of View

38
Reading ProtocolSQ3RJASON

• Model each strategy as a classroom exercise
• Group students to complete each model on new
  material
• Assign individuals to complete strategies on new
  material

39
SQ3R ApplicationSurvey

• Text Chapter 1, Thinking, Chaffee, 1-35
• Survey the chapter title and introduction on page
  
• Read all section headings, subheadings, and
  summary
• Look at illustrations, charts, maps, captions,
  etc.

40
Applying SQ3RQuestion

• Question your findings turn the title, headings,
  and subheadings into questions. For example, you
  might ask
• What is the definition of thinking?
• What is an examined life?
• What is a goal?

41
Applying SQ3RQuestion, cont.

• Read the Questions for Analysis on pages 14 and
  35. What sorts of information is the author
  asking you to answer?
• Does he ask for facts from the readings, for
  relationships between individuals, for
  conclusions based on the information he provides,
  or for a combination of all of these things?

42
Applying SQ3RQuestion, cont.

• Finally, ask yourself what you already know about
  the topics that will be discussed in this
  chapter.
• What do you need to learn more about?
• Are there terms the author uses that you need to
  check the meaning of?
• Does this subject interest you?
• How does this topic relate to your own
  experiences?

43
Applying SQ3RRead

• Read the material in the text in short segments,
  looking for answers to the questions that you
  asked in the previous exercise.
• As you read, note any text that is presented in
  text, font, or color changes, a visual clue that
  the author considers that material especially
  important.
• Read slowly, and reread any section that confuses
  you. Look up the definitions of any word you do
  not understand.

44
Applying SQ3RRecite

• Recite, or summarize each section you read in
  your own words and then write this information in
  a separate piece of paper.
• Highlight the most important ideas or terms in
  each section.
• Continue this process as you read additional
  sections of the text, ending each summary with a
  note of how the information relates to the
  previous section you read.

45
Applying SQ3RReview

• Review your questions and answers several times
  each week, reading any section that you do not
  understand.
• Also review your highlighted texts, margin and
  summary notes.
• This activity is an excellent study guide and
  will reinforce the information in the text and
  help you remember it as it moves from short-term
  to long-term memory. 

46
Applying JASONMaking Connections

• How does the text relate to you?
• Does the material remind you of other texts you
  have read?
• Has the topic appeared in different types of
  media?
• How does the information relate to issues in the
  larger world?

47
Applying JASONQuestioning

• Are questions answered in the text?
• Can answers be guessed from clues provided in the
  text?
• Do concepts need further discussion for answers?
• Can existing background knowledge provide
  answers?
• Do answers require research?
• What conclusions can be drawn?

48
Applying JASONVisualizing

• Study the drawings included.
• What sorts of images would you provide to explain
  text?
• Draw a chart or graph of the informations
  organization.

49
Applying JASONInferring

• Make an informed guess, inference, about the
  materials meaning.
• How would you interpret the facts?
• What sorts of speculation does the material lead
  to?
• What predictions do the facts lead to?
• Identify the theme of the material.

50
Applying JASONDetermining Importance

• Is the topic familiar or obscure?
• Are new topics presented in a clearly
  understandable way?
• How do details support the authors main idea?
• What visual changes indicate the relative
  importance of each piece of information?

51
Applying JASONComprehending Information

• Summarize the concepts included in the material.
• Synthesize this information within a larger body
  of knowledge about the topic.