WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT STUDENT LEARNING ACTIVE LEARNING Why it is Important Will Koolsbergen and Phyllis van Slyck

SKILLS AND DISPOSITIONS NEEDED TODAY  Capacity for critical thinking and complex problem solving  Respect for people different from oneself  Principled ethical behavior  Lifelong learning  Effective interpersonal interaction and teamwork Source: Lion F. Gardiner, Redesigning Higher Education

TYPICAL UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION  Lack of core curriculum; 90% is distributional menu of courses  General education requirements lack coherence, connection, and depth  Faculty teach facts and concepts, not critical thinking skills  70-90% of professors use traditional lecture as their primary instructional strategy; retention from lectures is low  Better able students derive more from lectures than less experienced students

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT HOW STUDENT LEARN  Active involvement essential: to understand something you have to construct it for yourself  All knowledge has to be connected to prior knowledge (trees don’t grow branches in the middle of the air)  “Let me figure it out is the mating call of the brain” Rita Smilkstein, How the Brain Learns

CONNECTING TO GOALS  Faculty say that developing effective thinking is primary purpose but most submit goals related to teaching concepts rather than intellectual skills  Studies show that college experience for most involves loosely organized, unfocused curriculum with undefined outcomes  Students have difficulty engaging in metacognition—thinking about their thinking—an essential skill for effective learning

EPISTEMOLOGY  Most students hold assumptions that prevent them from engaging in critical thinking  Many are, as William Perry argues, epistemological Dualists  Knowledge is black and white; passively received from “Authorities”  They need to understand that knowledge is constructed by active, personal making of meaning  Principled ethical reasoning occurs at stages 5-6 of Perry’s scale; students are at levels 3- 4

SUMMARY OF GOALS—we should be helping students:  Develop critical thinking through application of concepts  Examine knowledge from multiple perspectives  Work cooperatively in teams with people different from themselves  Construct and revise their knowledge  Engage in principled ethical reasoning  Reflect on their learning

MODELING ACTIVE INTEGRATED LEARNING: SOME QUESTIONS  How much do we reflect on how to foster key abilities?  Do we check in with students to find out if they are getting it? (How often? In each class?)  Do we think about the kind of understanding we want students to demonstrate? (When we grade assignments for example)  What percentage of our classwork/homework involves active learning situations?

ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES: SOME EXAMPLES  Improvisation, role play, theatre games  TTYP  Dramatization/resolution of conflict  Debates, mock trials, game shows  Muddiest point  Peer critique  Student teams teach a unit, actively: treasure hunt, crossword puzzle, rap performance  One minute paper: what did you learn?

BENEFITS OF IMPROVISATION, THEATRE GAMES  Fun, non threatening  Simple structure, time limit  Conflict and resolution  Focus is on behavior (verbal, non-verbal)  Room for new ideas, unexpected outcomes  Flexible: two people to whole group  Develops group spirit, trust  Teacher as facilitator, observer  Low stakes, low pressure—don’t grade immediately

STUDENTS IN LEARNING COMMUNITIES SHOULD BE LEARNING TO (LaGuardia’s Goals):  Explore and evaluate multiple perspectives  Understand contrasting methodologies of disciplines  Recognize interdisciplinary nature of knowledge  Integrate knowledge with personal experience  Make informed ethical judgments  Critically interpret evidence  Communicate effectively, orally, in writing, in teams

RESOURCES  Survey information cited here may be found in “Why we Must Change: The Research Evidence,” Lion F. Gardiner and “Redesigning Higher Education:Producing Dramatic Gains in Student Learning.”  For more information about William Perry’s stages of intellectual development, see attached handout.  Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach  Stephen J. Brookfield, Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher