Teaching Devices for Increasing Student Learning from Lectures (Ch. 6) Remington Grajeda

Simply Slow Down Study by Hughes and Suritsky (1993) Students’ biggest complaint is that lecturers went too fast Fast= over 120 wpm Morpheme: a unit of meaning Maximum morphemes per sentences is 9 Otherwise, listeners lose meaning of the statement Low information density

Pause Procedure Important for ADD students After min of lecture, students stop listening (Tileston, 2000) Students are allowed to catch up with their notes Frustration is decreased Motivation is increased Perception is increased

Solicit Students’ Examples Research suggests that everyday examples are more meaningful than textbook examples (Baldwin & Baldwin, 1999) Students would examine their own schema to relate their life to the content being taught Motivation becomes stronger Attention is secured Confusion is avoided Memory is activated Aluminum in everyday life

Cue Critical Points Make main point explicit by cueing them Written cues are more effective than verbal cues Motivation is increased when students are able to write down important information Discrimination between important/unimportant information is no longer essential for students Frustration is decreased Attention is activated

Explicitly Teach the Big Ideas Crucial for students with disabilities In science, students are missing core concepts in favor of learning isolated facts (Olson, 2008) Example: Students would remember that butterflies come from larva instead of understanding the overall concept of a life cycle Motivation is ensured Attention is captured Discrimination of important ideas is enhanced Memory is strengthened

Provide an Advanced Organizer Developed by Ausubel (1968) Consists of a list of important information that will be discussed, questions to address throughout a lecture, short discussions, graphic organizers, or any other tool to help students stay organized Organization of thought is promoted Confusion is avoided

Provide a Plethora of Examples Jones and Wilson (1997) noted selecting and ordering examples is essential to direct student learning Four main factors: 1. Variations must be addressed 2. Nonessential attributes mistaken as essential 3. The complexity of the topic 4. The number of ways in which the concept may be applied

Provide Nonexamples Intuitive nonexamples: Examples that most people discount as an example (e.g. a toddler knows a hummingbird is not a dog) Nonintuitive nonexamples: members of a given class have very similar characteristics to another class (e.g. Since the habitat of the north and south polar regions are similar, people suspect that the same life forms exist throughout both regions. This information is false and both landmasses have their own distinct life forms)

Teach CSA/CRA Concrete examples (C) Semiconcrete examples (S) Abstract (A) CSA can be used in classrooms by pictures and videos as concrete and semiconcrete representation, followed by a discussion about the topic for the abstract

Role Play Difficult Content Although popular in social studies, role playing can be used in both math and sciences Encourages students that are normally quiet in class to speak up when they are assuming another role Motivation is increased when students are physically involved and having fun Attention is increased Perception is stronger Memory is activated Discrimination is more acute