Comprehensive Unified Learning Theory

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Comprehensive UnifiedLearning Theory
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Comprehensive

• Prior Learning
• Ability
• Motivation

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Unified

• Neural basis
• Computer modeling
• Incorporates essentially all known data

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Eileen Brooks

• January 15, 2006

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Acknowledgements

• Kent Crippen
• David Fowler
• David Moshman
• Doug Phelps
• Gregg Schraw
• Duane Shell
• Guy Trainin
• Kathy Wilson

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Talk Strategy

• 1. Review numerous steps along the way that put
  the pieces on the table (20-30 m)
• 2. Refocus on the ICML (5 m)
• 3. Reformulate (10 m)
• 4. Contextualize the revised model with other
  ideas
• 5. Project advantages
• 6. Questions welcomed throughout may defer but
  wont duck.

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Biochemical Training

• Tyrosinase, a copper protein responsible for most
  natural mammalian pigmentation (skin, hair, eye
  color).
• If its not pink, its probably due to
  tyrosinase.
• Biochemists accept less specificity than do
  chemists.

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Working Memory

• Some time before 1990 I read about working memory
  (Baddely Hitch, 1974).
• General notion is that one can only keep track of
  a limited amount of inputs stored content at
  once.
• Working memory is one of the most widely accepted
  notions in cognitive science.
• WM popped up in the chemistry education
  literature through such people as Alex Johnstone.

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Connectionism

• David Fowler introduced me to connectionism.
  Connectionists model the neural basis of
  learning.
• Fowler, D., Brooks, D. W. (1991).
  Connectionism. J. Chem. Educ., 68, 748-752.
• Elman, J. L., Bates, E. A., et al. (1996).
  Rethinking innateness A connectionist
  perspective on development. Cambridge, MA MIT
  Press. (Used as a TEAC 960 text.)

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Neural Changes

• Fletcher recently described measured brain
  changes resulting from instructional
  interventions.

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Aplysia

• Model neural system studied by Eric R. Kandel
  (2000 Nobel Prize in Medicine)
• In Search of Memory
• (Norton, New York, 2006)

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The Road From Beatrice (1990)

• First videodisc biotechnology training materials
• Pond water many organisms seeming random motion
• One (of interest) died
• ALL seemed to return to a feast
• BUT Not ONE neuron in evidence

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The Napkin

• 1998, Teaching Self-Regulation in College
  Science and Mathematics The Will to Study, and
  the Skills to Succeed, Gregory J. Schraw and
  David W. Brooks, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
• The first (?) Web-based NSF Chautauqua. Reviewing
  student work over lunch pizza in 123A Henz.

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Interactive Compensatory Model of Learning ICML
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Cognitive Load Theory 1999

• Kendall Hartley (under Fowler) defended a
  dissertation in 1999 in which he made use of the
  notion of cognitive load theory, something he
  picked up from Schraw in EDPS 854. I got copies
  of all of the CLT references in that dissertation
  and started incorporating them and others into in
  TEAC 859.

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Srinivasan Thesis

• A study in Electrical Engineering led to a
  remarkable discovery there is a pervasive,
  negative attitude on the part of advanced
  students toward simulation.
• We were unable to publish this as a one-page
  article -- and had to imbed this discovery in a
  theory. This led to extensive reading about
  motivation, frequent forays into Kathy Wilsons
  library, and discussions with Kathy.

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Colom et al.

• Doug Phelps (late 2004)
• Colom, R., Rebollo, I., Palacios, A.,
  Juan-Espinosa, M., Kyllonen, P. C. (2004).
  Working memory is (almost) perfectly predicted
  by g. Intelligence, 32, 277-296.

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Teaching (Especially TEAC 859)

• Many ideas come from teaching. TEAC 859 is kept
  very current floods of ideas come from both
  readings and students.
• For example, we started teaching about cognitive
  load theory and used a jigsaw model to try to put
  out ideas from numerous papers.

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January 25, 2005

• My last seminar to the iTech group was entitled
  Issues on Motivation. About four days AFTER
  that seminar,

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And Then

• The year following was spent working on the many
  details of elaborating what is currently being
  called comprehensive unified learning theory.
• Duane Shell has provided numerous key
  discussions. The key idea has been published
• "Working Memory, Motivation, and
  Teacher-Initiated Learning," Brooks, D. W.,
  Shell, D. F. J. Sci. Educ. Technology, 2006,
  15(1), 17-30.

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No Cross-fertilization

• There is essentially no cross fertilization
  between the studies of motivation in educational
  psychology and those in psychology.
• For example, NO references to Schraw. One paper
  (Shell, Bruning) cited by 3. This is out of
  5,000 citations!

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Working Memory

• Working memory is a theoretical framework that
  refers to structures and processes used for
  temporarily storing and manipulating information.
  (from Wikipedia)
• There are about a dozen models of working memory.

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Cowan

• Three components
• long term memory,
• the currently activated subset of long term
  memory, and
• that subset of activated memory that is in the
  focus of awareness and attention.
• Cowan, N. (2005). Working memory capacity. New
  York, Psychology Press.

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Chunks

• WM is usually thought of in terms of activated
  chunks.
• The number of chunks one can activate is fixed --
  and varies from person to person. While early
  estimates were for 7 Miller, current thinking
  puts this at 3-5 for most people.

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Chunks Grow

• Chunks can grow through experience.
• WM often measured by reading a list of digits at
  a rate of one per second and seeing how many can
  be read back without error.
• Typical might be 7-10. With small amount of
  practice, say 15-20.
• Record is just under 80. Took scores of trials
  and about two years. That is, it took a
  significant amount of deliberate practice.

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Fluid vs. Crystallized

• Fluid intelligence -- fixed general intelligence,
  not easily changed by experience.
• Crystallized intelligence -- expandable based
  upon experience.
• Thus, when one examines a large pool of experts
  in a particular area, there is not a strong
  relationship between ability (say as measured by
  IQ) and performance (say as measured by passing
  boards for a medical specialty.)

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Colom et al.

• Colom, R., I. Rebollo, et al. (2004)
• "Working memory is (almost) perfectly predicted
  by g."
• Intelligence 32 277-296.

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Back to the Napkin
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WM for Ability
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Learning Inside Knowledge
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What is Motivation?

• Pintrich Schunk
• A process by which goal directed activity is
  instigated and sustained.

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Engagement

• Pressley in book on primary grade motivation
  assesses engagement and claims high motivation to
  result in high engagement

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Total Engagement (Flow)

• Csikszentmihalyi, M., S. Abuhamdeh, et al.
  (2005). Flow. Handbook of Competence and
  Motivation. A. J. Elliott and C. S. Dweck. New
  York, The Guilford Press 598-608.
• Athletes refer to this as being in the zone.

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Turn Motivation Around

• Motivation is the conscious or subconscious
  allocation of working memory resources.
• Working memory determines what you have to give.
  Motivation determines how much of it you are
  giving.

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Again to the Napkin
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The Cloth Napkin
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Unification

• At this point, the big box on the right looks a
  lot like a model for chunks crystallized
  intelligence.
• The box on the left might be one way of
  illustrating Cowans model for working memory.
• To get to this point
• Colom et al.
• Brooks Shell

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Shells Rules

1. If something in WM is attended to, store it in
   LTM (attention effect).
2. If something is in WM for multiple cycles, store
   it in LTM (rehearsal effect).
3. If something in WM is processed, store it in LTM
   (the levels of processing effect, e.g.,
   summarizing, paraphrasing)
4. Things that are in WM together are stored
   together in LTM (the association effect --
   accounts for schema/prior knowledge effect and
   synthesis/knowledge construction)

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Connect to ALL Prior Models

• Piagetian stages (chunking)
• Vygotskian zone (chunking sort of early CLT)
• Vygotskian social (rate of feedback)

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Gardner

• Found in writings but not detected in
  quantitative studies.
• BUT learned styles emerge and can be cultivated.

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Savants (Trainin)

• The question really is whether savant knowledge
  is pre-programmed or learned.
• There is convincing evidence that savant skills
  are learned -- in essentially all of the ways
  suggested by Ericsson.

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Empiricism Prevails

• What works for teaching?
• What works for motivation?

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Teaching as Working Memory Management

• I used to give a talk -- about 15 years ago --
  entitled Teaching as Neuron Modification. It
  still is!

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Dozens of Take-away Messages

• Probably the most important one regards chunk
  building.
• To succeed in life, you need to be able to load
  up BIG chunks! The less WM capacity one has, the
  more important this is. Also, the more difficult
  it is to build the chunks because many learners
  find the cognitive load from traditional methods
  to be too great.

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Big Message

• The BIG message continues to be that effort pays.
  Ultimately effort builds prior knowledge, and
  thats always the BIG factor when determining
  successful learning (except maybe at the very
  outset of learning new knowledge).

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Bottom-line

• It ALL fits into one box! Almost
• That box is in the cerebral cortex,

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Questions

• Questions
• Challenges
• Discussion