Energize Your Classroom: Innovative Teaching Techniques

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Energize Your ClassroomInnovative Teaching
Techniques

• Dr. Scott D. Lipscomb
• UTSA Division of Music
• Summer Teaching Institute (May 1998)
• sponsored by the
• UTSA Teaching Learning Center

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Excerpting Shamelessly from

• Larry Michaelson - Designing Productive and
  Involving Team-Learning Tasks
• Dee Fink - Developing and Assessing Learning
  Objectives
• Marilla Svinicki - Teaching Abstract Concepts to
  Diverse Learners
• Susan Nummedal - Using Classroom Assessment
  Techniques to Improve Student Learning
• Barbary L. McCombs Patricia A Lauer - Impact
  of Learner-Centered Instruction on Student
  Motivation and Academic Performance and
  Defining and Assessing Learner-Centeredness in
  Your Classroom

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Blooms Taxonomy of Educational Objectives in
the Cognitive Domain (1956)

• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation

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Specific Teaching Techniques

• Develop Clear Learning Objectives
• methods of assessment
• Motivate Students
• Incorporate Team-Learning Tasks to Engage
  Students
• assignment to groups
• Readiness Assessment Tests (RATs)
• not everything must be covered in class

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Teacher Beliefs Survey

• Where Do You Stand?

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Statement of Objectives ...Higher Levels of
Learning

• Coming to KNOW
• How to THINK about
• How to DO something
• How to KEEP ON LEARNING about ...
• Working with ones SELF on
• Interacting with OTHERS

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Diverse LearnersLearning Abstract Concepts
Involves

• studying one or more prototypical examples of a
  concept, getting a definition
• poor learners stop here memorize the prototype
• examining the features of multiple examples (and
  non-examples)
• average learners stop here and use the categories
  they see to classify new examples

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Good Learners

• Generate hypothesis about the concept
• Test the hypothesis with new examples and
  non-examples, getting feedback
• Reconsider (or re-examine) examples in light of
  this feedback

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The Scientific Method

• Ask a question of the Real World
• Review research literature
• Design study
• Collect Data
• Analyze Interpret Data
• Propose or reassess model
• Submit model to further tests

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Characteristics of LearnersThat Affect Learning

• Content Issues
• Cognitive Issues
• Motivation Issues

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Characteristics of LearnersContent Issues

• Prior knowledge and experience
• Structural knowledge
• concept map of how discipline is put together
• Language deficits
• Technical skills

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Characteristics of LearnersCognitive Issues

• Level of formal reasoning
• Level of epistemology
• Processing preferences
• Learning strategies
• Metacognitive awareness

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Characteristics of LearnersMotivation Issues

• Goal orientation
• Mastery goals vs. Performance goals
• Level of task-specific motivation
• Self-efficacy for area
• Self-concept as student

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Understanding Motivation to Learn

• Learning motivation to learn are natural human
  capacities in social contexts that are supportive
  of the learner and in content domains perceived
  as personally relevant and meaningful.
• What how much is learned is a function of each
  learners view of him or herself and the learning
  process, including self-concepts of ability,
  personal goals, expectations, and interpretations
  of task requirements.
• Insecurities and other forms of negative
  cognitive conditioning interfere with or block
  the emergence of learners natural motivation to
  learn.
• Handout - How Schools Stifle Motivation

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Motivational Outcomes Associated with
Learner-Centered Practices

• engage in independent learning activities
• seek out further information about topics of
  interest
• want to learn more about a range of topics and
  interests
• continue to refine skills in chosen area
• go beyond minimal assignments

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Motivational Outcomes Associated with
Learner-Centered Practices

• are willing to persist in the face of learning
  challenges
• take responsibility for their own learning
• engage in learning for understanding vs. grades
• are involved with learning and school governance
  decisions
• achieve high academic personal standards

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What is Learner-Centered?

• a research-based framework
• focused on well-defined content standards and
  defined learning objectives
• focused on human needs related to motivation and
  learning
• a balance of teacher and student control
• a balance of learner and learning needs
• concerned with high levels of learning and
  motivation
• rigorous and challenging
• shared teacher and student responsibility for
  learning and achievement

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Learner-Centered Instruction

• 14 Learner-Centered Psychological Principles
• Cognitive Metacognitive Factors
• Motivational Affective Factors
• Developmental Factors
• Individual Differences Factors

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Learner-Centered Psychological Principles
Cognitive Metacognitive Factors

• Nature of the Learning Process
• Goals of the Learning Process
• Construction of Knowledge
• Strategic Thinking
• Thinking about Thinking
• Context of Learning

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Learner-Centered Psychological PrinciplesMotivat
ional Affective Factors

• Motivational Emotional Influences on Learning
• Intrinsic Motivation to Learn
• Effects of Motivation on Effort

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Learner-Centered Psychological PrinciplesDevelop
mental Factors

• Developmental Influences on Learning
• Social Influences on Learning

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Learner-Centered Psychological PrinciplesIndivid
ual Differences Factors

• Individual Differences in Learning
• Learning Diversity
• Standards Assessment

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Team-Learning

• Assignment to Groups

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Activity 1 What Characteristics Make Concepts
Difficult?

• List several concepts from your own area that you
  have found are difficult for students
• List several general conceptsnot from any
  particular fieldthat are difficult to understand
  (e.g., truth, beauty, etc.)
• Working with several colleagues, compile a list
  of your general concepts. Then examine them for
  what they have in common that caused you to add
  them to the list. Are there characteristics that
  difficult concepts have in common?

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Traditional Teachingvs. Team Learning
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Team Learning the Developmentof Higher-Level
Cognitive Skills
Effect of Small Group Discussion on Sources of
Information for Learning
Complex Concepts and Applications
Basic Concepts
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Readiness Assessment Tests

• An Example

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AssessmentThe RSQC2 Technique

• Recall List the most interesting, useful, and/or
  significant points you can recall from the
  previous session
• Summarize Summarize the important points you can
  recall in one meaningful, grammatically correct
  sentence
• Question Raise any remaining questions you have
  about that session
• Comment Write down a word or phrase describing
  how you felt about that session while you were in
  it
• Connect Connect what you learned in that session
  with what came before, what comes next, or with
  your own experience, with professional
  experience, or with information from another
  course ...

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Report from the Front Lines

• Dr. Jim Balentine

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Learner-Centered InstructionStages of Change

• Phase I - Developing Awareness, Will to Change,
  and Ownership of Need to Change
• showing change is possible, inspiring hope
• Phase II - Observing Models Building
  Understanding of Personal Domain Practices
• seeing models, discussing what and how
• Phase III - Adapting Strategies, Building Skills,
  and Developing Personal Responsibility for
  Continuous Learning Change
• tailoring strategies, coaching, trying out,
  revising
• Phase IV - Adopting Sustaining Attitudes and
  Practices that Contribute to Continuous Learning
  and Self Development
• on-going self-assessment, networking, support

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Effective Course DesignIntegrating These
Teaching Techniques

• What do you want students to be able to do when
  they have completed your course?
• What will students have to know to do 1?
• How can you identify the concepts students have
  successfully mastered through individual study or
  group activities?
• How can you tell if students will be able to use
  their knowledge?