Background Surface Learning versus Deep Learning Kun Miao SC 297C, Eberly College of Science, Penn State University For past decades, plenty of research has been conducted on what factors contribute to the success of students by sychologists. Surprisingly, research showed that teachers as a factor have less impact on students’ study rocesses than we expect. The way student thinks and learns is much more crucial than what instructor does to prepare them for the knowledge. Surface and deep learning approaches are the words used by psychologist to define the process that student put effort on learning a subject material. These are the examples of deep and surface learnings. Research Results Surface learning Memorizing information in order to pass the exam Having hard time mess up between principles and example Take a narrow view and focus on details Stick too closely to the class notes, textbook examples Care about the course requirements and motivated by fear or failure Deep Learning Active learning come up with question toward the topic for further advance understanding Read and study beyond the course requirements. Tend to relate course content to real world examples or personal experiences Take broad view of knowledge and build up connections between ideas and understanding of concept vs We are not saying that instructors can do nothing to help students become success. Instructors can play a important role when help students to change their learning method(surface to deep learning). One deep approach is most often used when assessments are used to reward understanding of concepts instead of rote learning. (Lublin, 2003)Teaching with an intent to actively involve students and high order learning goals can lead students to take a deep approach to learning. Something small like a gesture for visual aid may also help. Research shows gestures made by teachers or facilitators can actually help improve the learning of students. These type of gestures such as when the teacher is trying to describe a large surface or the motion of an object, or even just doing something like using the right hand rule when does cross products can help facilitate the learning of students. This idea mainly comes from the studies which have shown that students on average understand concepts better when given some sort of visual aid. What makes the gesture lead to deeper learning is that it converted the abstract physics rule into accessible personal gesture related the physics idea and personal experience. The experiment conducted in this article consisted of a group of students majoring in psychology, split of into two groups studying similar material. The material was a play whereby an actor was acting out a fictional drama or discourse over the length of several minutes. One group was given an audio recording on the material described, while the other group was given a video tape where the actor physically acted out the discourse. In both situations the students were asked to recall as much as they could remember from the video recording or audio tape. The results showed that the students who watched the video tape recalled more than the students who merely heard an audio recording. The research result was shown in Table 1.1(McCrudden, Gregory, and Kendall, 2006) Teaching with Gesture Reference Correct recollectionsDiscourse-Based InterferenceElaborative InterferencesErrors w/ Gestures (n=19) Mean Standard Deviation no Gesture (n=19) Mean Standard Deviation Table 1.1: research result for teaching with Gesture Organization of Knowledge and Memorization Two groups of people were asked to recite sequence of numbers above. 1. First group: a. memorized in groups of 3 numbers, but consider as series of isolated numbers b. able to recite the sequence at that time c. couldn’t recall the series one week later d. thought it unfair as they were not told they’d be asked to recall the series later on 2. Second group: a. realized that the series could be memorized by the following rule 5, 8, 12, 15, 19, 22, 26 Difference between one another: b. able to recite one week later c. able to recite four weeks later d. Even though one of them forgot the leading number, he could still remember it after receiving hints. This study show that to be successful in university learning, students should try to understand the material and look for trends and patterns instead of just memorizing. The subjects in the first group were instructed to take a shallow approach to learning and while they were successful in the short term, the information did not stick with them, while those that looked for patterns and connections in the series, employing a deep learning strategy had no problem remembering the series even several weeks later. What the students have learned today is crucial in their future lives because they are going to become the experts and authority in respected majors and fields. At that time, even they shall be embarrassed to tell others that “I learned this information before, but unfortunately I have since forgotten it” (Svensson, 1997). Differences in the Process of Learning Reading relevance instructions before actually reading course material can help facilitate deep learning. This can include reading a set of course objectives as outlined by a professor on a syllabus. This material asks the student to think about certain questions to answer based on the course material. Upon reading these relevance instructions the students can read the material with the instructions in mind. The students now actually have a goal when reading and look for answers to these questions instead of just merely reading the material and absorbing little to nothing (surface learning). In a particular experiment the researchers divided students into two groups each studying similar material. One group was given the relevance questions before reading the material and the other was not. The results showed that the students who read relevance material beforehand recalled more information. It is good to note that the reading times were the same in each case, but the students who read relevance material beforehand, recalled more information. The detail results of the experiment are found in the essay cited in reference (McCrudden, Gregory, and Kendall, 2006). Discussion Lublin, J. (2003). Deep, surface, and strategic approaches to learning [PDF document]. Retrieved from _to_learning.pdf _to_learning.pdf McCrudden, M. T., Gregory, S., & Kendall H. (2006). The effect of general relevance instructions on shallow and deeper learning and reading time. The Journal of Experimental Education, 74(4), Retrieved from Svensson, L. (1997). Skill in learning and organising knowledge. In F. Marton, D. Hounsell, and N. Entwistle (Eds.), The experience of learning: Implications for teaching and studying in higher education (2nd ed., chapter 4, pp ). Base on the research, deep learning has been the much more effective way to “learn” something so that it is crucial for LAs to help fellow students build up their deep learning strategies. The first time you learn a topic you may remember some information or characteristics of the topic nothing else. Learning is a stepwise process since we are facilitating course environment, we should guide student not only to remember the formula which is the typical shallow learning, but also to understand the concept and build up the knowledge framework of the course. Initially, it would be helpful to relate ideas with personal experience or daily life, gestures, as mentioned. After fellow students have a basic understandings, it is a better way to connect the new ideas with old concepts. The connection provides students a new perspective of understanding and a deeper learning experiences. Especially during the LA session we have, we should avoid directly giving instructions to students, but provide hint and let them solve the problems.