Warm-up Think of an assignment you give where significant numbers of students who are doing the work have difficulty. or Think of an error your students who are doing the work persistently make. Discuss this with your neighbors.

Getting Through Student “Bottlenecks” with “Decoding the Disciplines” Leah Shopkow is a co-director of the History Learning Project (HLP) with Arlene Díaz, David Pace and Joan Middendorf. The HLP has been funded by the Teagle and Spencer Foundations, and the Office of the Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Affairs, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the History Department of Indiana University Leah Shopkow

I.Approaches to understanding “stuck” places Threshold Concepts Troublesome knowledge and theories of difficulty (Naïve) misconceptions

I.Approaches to understanding “stuck” places Methodology Bottom-up and faculty initiated Begins with work students already are assigned to do Outgrowth of Freshman Learning Project (Joan Middendorf and David Pace)

II. DtD Step 1: Identifying the bottleneck

III. DtD Step 2: Determining the Steps

Interview Process: Two interviewers, one subject One interviewer not a specialist in the discipline Clarifies the steps students need to be guided through

III. DtD Step 2: Determining the Steps

Question: What steps would your students have to take to negotiate your bottleneck?

IV. DtD Step 3: Modeling

Question: How could you model for your students how to negotiate the bottleneck in your class?

V. DtD Step 4: Practice and Feedback

V. DtD Step 4: Modeling and Practice Question: How can you give your students opportunities to practice the skills they need? What kind of feedback do they need?

VI. DtD Step 5: Motivation

Team-Based Learning Public production (eliminating throwaway assignments)

VII. DtD Step 6: Evaluation

VII. DtD Step 6: Evaluation (Assessment) Question: What kinds of assessments will show you whether your students have successfully negotiated your bottleneck?