Tips and tricks for active learning
15
Tips and tricks for active learning
Jorun Nyléhn
Tips and tricks
for active learning
Tips and tricks
"Learning by doing and reflection" (Dewey)
"Memory is the residual of thought" (Willingham)
Variation!
Retrieval practice
Use the knowledge!
Retrieval practice
Interleaving
Interleaved practice increases learning
Interleaving
Anchoring: field course example
Quiz time!
Web and smartphones
- Kahoot
- Socrative
- Learningcatalytics
Quiz time!
Analog versions
- Coloured cards
- Raising hands
Games
Fun facts
Concept maps
Digital: coggle.it
Paper based:
Concept maps
The students
- Active listening and reading!
- Parsel out information
- Raise questions
- Think through critically
- Be able to explain for others
Work outside of class
- Prepare presentations
- Prepare teaching
- Prepare repetition
- Prepare practical activities
- Make brochures and present them
Work outside of class
Show-off of preparations!
Freedom and frames
Some free choice:
- Choose example
- Choose teaching method
Freedom and frames
Experience:
- Usually not surprising choices
- Getting used to apply
- Motivating
- Students take charge
- Get involved
Prediction
"Making predictions about material increases your ability to understand that material and retrieve it later"
Prediction
Ask students to predict
(Some student do this by themselves)
Hypothesis testing
Think and work
Remember: recognize, recall
Understand: interpret, explain
Think and work
Apply: use the knowledge!
Analyze: organize, attributing
Evaluate: check, critique
Create: plan, produce
"Blooms taxonomy"
Making a phylogeny
Research based teaching
Further reading
- James M. Lang, 2016. Small teaching. Jossey-Bass.
- Dennis Sale, 2015. Creative Teaching. An Evidence-Based Approach. Springer.
- Daniel T. Willingham, 2009. Why Don’t Students Like School? A cognitive scientist answers questions about how the mind works and what it means for the classroom. Jossey-Bass.
A few favourite journals
- Evolution: Education and Outreach
- Journal of Biological Education
- Science Education
- Science & Education
- Bioscience Explained
- The American Biology Teacher
- Mind, Brain, and Education
- Nordic Studies in Science Education
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Evolution and Human Behavior
- Nature
- Applied Cognitive Psychology
- Current Directions in Psychological Science
- Educational Psychology Review
- Educational Psychologist
- Instructional Science
- Learning and Individual Differences
- Learning and Instruction
- Personality and Individual Differences
- Trends in Cognitive Sciences
- Trends in Neuroscience and Education
Practical examples
On web:
- naturfag.no
Books:
- Engasjerende realfag
- Engasjerende naturfag
Brain basics
Unlimited longterm memory
Limited working memory
Unconscious, automatic
Consciousness, attention
Brain basics
Adaptive memory: remember the useful
Humans are social animals