INTRODUCTION TO
INSTRUCTIONAL
STRATEGIES
Activities
Metacognition
S ESSION L EARNING G OALS
After the session, participants will be able to . . .
• Explain some things that research tells us will
improve student learning in our classes
• Identify the six levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy
• Use Bloom’s Taxonomy to classify geoscience
learning activities
• Describe at least three strategies that can foster
metacognition among students
2
AVOID SHALLOW LEARNING!
The Montillation of Traxoline
Directions: Read the passage below and answer the questions
that follow.
It is very important that you learn about traxoline. Traxoline is a
new form of zionter. It is montilled in Ceristanna. The
Ceristannians gristerlate large amounts of fevon and then brachter
it to quasel traxoline. Traxoline may well be one of our most
lukized snezlaus in the future because of our zionter lescelidge.
1. What is traxoline?
2. Where is traxoline montilled?
3. Why is it important to know about traxoline?
(attributed to Judy Lanier)
WHAT RESEARCH TELLS US ABOUT STUDENT LEARNING
1. Students learn key concepts better when they have
opportunities to actively monitor their understanding in a
variety of activities during class.
2. Students become more successful learners when we
challenge them to answer questions that require the use of
higher order thinking skills.
3. Knowledge is socially constructed and people learn best in
supportive social settings (e.g., in small collaborative
groups).
Learning gains increase if we design lessons with these characteristics.
STRATEGIES THAT SUPPORT STUDENT LEARNING
Provide assessment and
feedback opportunities
during class:
• Think-Pair-Share
• ConcepTests
• Concept Sketches
• Concept Maps
• Venn Diagrams
• Lecture Tutorials
• Reading Quizzes
• Minute Papers
• Classroom Notebooks
1Based
Create an environment that fosters
learning to learn1
• Provide assessments that
encourage effort (e.g., allow for
revisions)
• Provide visual, graphic and
organizational structures to help
students “chunk” information (e.g.,
graphic organizers, concept maps,
reading reflections)
• Encourage self-comparison over
social comparison (e.g., reflective
prompts, exam wrappers)
on research findings from Zimmeran, B. J. (1989); Kaatje Kraft, pers. comm.
BLOOM’S TAXONOMY
EXERCISE
KNOWLEDGE SURVEY
Teaching and learning goals can be
ordered using Bloom’s Taxonomy
Before today:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
I had never heard of BT
I had heard of BT but couldn’t explain much about it.
I could have named the six categories of BT.
I could have classified exercises into the six BT categories.
I could have made up questions representative of the six
categories of BT.
ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING GOALS
Learning goals can be ordered using Bloom’s Taxonomy –
but how do you assess student work?
Remembering
Understanding
Applying
Analyzing
Evaluating
Creating
Right/Wrong
answers
Degrees of
correctness
Variation in
form/content of
answers
More
complex
questions call
for more
sophisticated
guides and
responses
Open-ended questions can be used for all categories.
BLOOM’S TAXONOMY INTRODUCTORY EXERCISE
Examine the six activities.
Rank the activities from easiest to most
challenging.
Rank the activities using Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Compare your interpretations with colleagues.
Apply Bloom’s Taxonomy to classify the assigned
tasks and compare your interpretations with
others.
Bloom’s Taxonomy Classification Activity
Complete the table below by circling the abbreviation of the appropriate
taxonomy level for your assigned exercises.
Exercise
Bloom’s Taxonomy Level
1.
Observing the Earthquake machine
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
2.
Introducing topographic maps
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
3.
Oil vs. Coal Venn Diagram
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
4.
Carbon Cycle Concept Map
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
5.
Groundwater Consulting Case
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
6.
Comparing Erosion Sources
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
7.
Economic Development & Resource Use
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
8.
Avoiding a Hurricane: Stay or Go?
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
9.
Groundwater Rubric
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
10. Global Warming Definitions
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
11. Who Cares about Phosphate?
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
12. Agricultural Fact Sheet
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
13. Climate of Change Reading Quiz
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
14. Greenland Ice Data
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
15. This Activity
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
Bloom’s Taxonomy Classification Activity
Exercise
Bloom’s Taxonomy Level
1.
Observing the Earthquake machine
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
2.
Introducing topographic maps
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
3.
Oil vs. Coal Venn Diagram
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
4.
Carbon Cycle Concept Map
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
5.
Groundwater Consulting Case
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
6.
Comparing Erosion Sources
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
7.
Economic Development & Resource Use
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
8.
Avoiding a Hurricane: Stay or Go?
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
9.
Groundwater Rubric
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
10. Global Warming Definitions
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
11. Who Cares about Phosphate?
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
12. Agricultural Fact Sheet
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
13. Climate of Change Reading Quiz
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
14. Greenland Ice Data
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
15. This Activity
R
U
Ap
An
E
C
KNOWLEDGE SURVEY
Teaching and learning goals can be
ordered using Bloom’s Taxonomy
At this moment:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
I have heard of BT
I have heard of BT but can’t explain much about it.
I can name the six categories of BT.
I can classify exercises into the six BT categories.
I could make up questions representative of the six
categories of BT.
METACOGNITION
Knowledge surveys
Reading reflecti ons
Minute papers
Wrappers
Mastery Quizzes
K NOWLEDGE S URVEY #2
How confident are you that you could create an activity that
provides students an opportunity to assess their
metacognition?
Not
confident
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Very
confident
D UNNING -K RUGER E FFECT
Imagine that the
illustration represents a
curved tube lying
horizontally on a table.
Identify the trajectory a
ball would take after it had
traveled through the tube.
When looking only at the confidence of people getting
100% vs. 0% right, it was often impossible to tell who was
in which group.
Williams, Dunning, Kruger, 2013, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, v. 104(6), p.976-994
Pacific Standard Magazine, We are all confident idiots, David Dunning, October 27, 2014
IMPORTANCE OF STUDENT REFLECTION
Students completed a task (e.g., logical reasoning test) and
estimated how their score would compare with other students.
Weakest students
overestimated their
performance
Strongest
students
underestimated
their
performance
Low scoring students
• overestimated their own
skill level
• failed to recognize skill in
others
• failed to recognize the
degree of their insufficient
knowledge
• recognized their lack of
skill, only if they were
trained to improve
Dunning et al., 2003. Current directions in psychological science, v.12 #3, p.83-87
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE STUDENT LEARNING
Personal
Characteristics
of Student
Student
motivations
(things that drive
learning, e.g., task value,
self-efficacy)
(age, gender, academic
rank, experience)
Course Context
(tasks, grading policy,
pedagogy, instructional
resources)
(effort, interest,
performance)
Student selfregulation of
learning
(studying and/or learning
behaviors, e.g., planning,
monitoring, reflection)
Instructional
Design
Course
Outcomes
Learning
Process
Problem: We don’t
know much about the
student experience in
geoscience classes.
Mastery
Adapted from Pintrich, P. R., & Zusho, A. (2007).
SELF REGULATED LEARNING CYCLE
Students apply
specific
strategies and
tactics to learn
material.
Planning
Action
Regulation
Students determine
what they need to
learn, establish
goals, and decide
how they will study
(choosing strategies
and tactics).
Students continue
with strategies and
tactics they
decided worked
and change those
that didn’t.
Reflection
Students think about what they did
and determine why they did or did
not meet their goals.*
*Reflection includes monitoring (keeping track of thoughts, feelings, and behavior), evaluation (comparing results to
goals), and analysis (deciding if the approach used is effective and appropriate).
HOW DO INSTRUCTORS INFLUENCE STUDENT
MOTIVATION AND PREPARATION?
 Both HP and LP students rely on instructor provided
resources to define learning tasks and to use as tactic
tools
 Both HP and LP students look for and perceive instructor
cues
 HP students view instructor assignments as part of their
learning/studying process
 LP students rely on explicit instructor direction for study
strategies
W HAT
DOES IT ALL MEAN FOR INSTRUCTORS ?
Instructors may facilitate learning by providing:
 Clear learning objectives
 Learning objectives that are linked with assessments
 Regular assignments with feedback
 Opportunities to explicitly reflect on learning
processes
 Explicit directions on strategies for studying
STRATEGIES THAT SUPPORT STUDENT LEARNING
Create an environment that fosters learning to learn1
• Encourage self-comparison over social comparison
(e.g., reflective prompts, wrappers)
Provide opportunities for students to self-evaluate
their learning
•
•
•
•
•
Knowledge Surveys
Wrappers
Reading Reflections
Mastery Quizzes
Peer instruction/Think-Pair-Share
1Based
on research findings from Zimmerman, B. J. (1989)
K NOWLEDGE S URVEYS
Students complete a knowledge survey
before and after a lesson, module, or
part of a course
• Survey questions may focus on
content and/or tasks representing
different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy
K NOWLEDGE S URVEYS E XAMPLES
Continental drift
0. I don’t know what this is.
1. I have heard of this but I can’t describe it.
2. I can give a general description of this.
3. I can give a description of this and how it relates to Pangaea.
4. I can explain this and describe the observations used by Alfred
Wegener to describe the assembly of Pangaea.
K NOWLEDGE S URVEYS E XAMPLES
How confident are you that you can complete the following
learning objectives?
I can explain Wegener’s continental drift hypothesis and his supporting
observations. (Circle the number to indicate your level of confidence.)
Not
confident 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Very
10 confident
I can sketch the features and processes associated with a divergent plate
boundary. (Place a mark along the line to indicate your level of confidence.)
Not
confident
Very
confident
R EADING R EFLECTION
After completing the reading assignment, write
brief responses (i.e., at least several sentences)
to 2 out of 3 questions:
1. What is the main point of this reading?
2. What information did you find surprising? Why?
3. What did you find confusing? Why?
K.Wirth, http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/metacognition/activities/27560.html
M INUTE PAPER /M UDDIEST POINT
A short informal writing assignment that typically occurs
at the end of a lecture. Write for one minute on the
following question:
What is the most important concept that we discussed today?
OR
What was the most confusing point presented in today’s lesson?
OR
What one idea that we talked about today in class most
interested you and why?
W HAT ARE WRAPPERS ?
A wrapper is an activity that surrounds
any pre-existing learning or
assessment task and encourages
students’ to think about their learning
• Exam Wrapper - short self-monitoring
activities that students complete
before and/or after an exam
M.C. Lovett, Carnegie Mellon; http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/teach/examwrappers/
EXAM WRAPPER QUESTION TOPICS
– BEFORE
1. What are the principal concepts that you expect to
see on this exam?
2. As you prepare for the exam, which of the following
study strategies do you plan to use?
• Reading the text book
• Reading lecture notes, handouts
• Comparing notes & readings to find
common topics
• Summarizing notes/book
• Creating outlines for topics
• Memorizing key terms
• Drawing labeled diagrams
• Making lists of important concepts
• Asking questions of instructor
• Studying with high-performing peers
3. How well do you think you will do on this exam?
Not at
all well
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Very
well
EXAM WRAPPER QUESTION TOPICS
– AFTER
Select some from the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
What score do you think you earned on the exam?
How much time did you spend in preparation?
Proportion of studying alone vs. w/partners
Relative time spent on different class materials (book,
lecture notes, homework, study guide, online quizzes)
5. Student self-assessment of performance (good/bad,
reasons for result)
6. Student identification of particular topics or skills they
did poorly on (provide list)
7. Potential changes in preparation for future exams
http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/teach/examwrappers/
MASTERY/PRACTICE QUIZZES
Low stakes or no stakes online quiz intended for
students to practice answering questions on key
concepts.
•
•
•
•
Uses a databank of questions that are selected by
random or semi-random process
Can be taken for no grade or can be taken multiple
times with only highest score to count
Allows students to become familiar with new
vocabulary and concepts
Students can identify challenging or easy concepts,
become more strategic in allotting study time, effort
CONCEPTESTS AND PEER INSTRUCTION
Examine the map and answer the question that
follows. How many plates are present?
a. 3 (26%)
c.
5 (44%)
b. 4 (19%)
d.
6 (11%)
McConnell et al., 2006, Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 54, #1, p.61-68.
CONCEPTESTS AND PEER INSTRUCTION
Examine the map and answer the question that
follows. How many plates are present?
a.
3 (26%; 0%)
c.
b.
4 (19%; 18%) d.
5 (44%; 75%)
6 (11%; 7%)
Individual
responses
Post-discussion
responses
McConnell et al., 2006, Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 54, #1, p.61-68.
K NOWLEDGE S URVEY #2
How confident are you that you could create an activity that
provides students an opportunity to assess their
metacognition?
Not
confident
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Very
confident
Any Questions?
Introductory Exercise
Higher order learning
Remember
Understand
Application
Analysis
Evaluation
Venn diagram
Concept maps
Performance tasks and rubrics
These types of exercises
• help students generate more complete answers
• target a range of higher reasoning skills
• provide instructors with alternative grading options.
Creation
What is a concept map?
A concept map organizes
(synthesizes) information
A concept map includes:
• core concepts usually enclosed in
circles or boxes
• arrows connecting
concepts and
propositions or
statements that
explain the relationship
between concepts
http://edmall.gsfc.nasa.gov/WebQuest/sysmapex.gif
ONE QUESTION STYLE, MANY USES
Concept Maps
• Comprehension – Provide a partially completed concept
•
•
•
map and a list of terms. Difficulty can vary with number of
nodes on map and number of blanks.
Analysis – Create an incorrect concept map. Ask
students how map could be improved.
Evaluation – Supply students with multiple concept
maps and have them rank them from best to worst and
justify choices.
Creation – Provide a concept and have students create
a concept map from scratch.
OPEN-ENDED QUESTION STEMS
Bloom’s Level
1. Remembering
Question Stems
What is . . . ? Who, what, when, where, ...?
Describe . . .
2. Understanding
What would happen if . . . ? What does . . .
illustrate about . . .? What is analogous to . . . ?
3. Applying
How could . . . be used to . . . ?
What is another example of . . . ?
5. Evaluating
How does . . . affect . . . ? What are the differences
(similarities) between . . . ? How does . . compare
or contrast with . .?
What is a solution for the problem of . . . ? How
would you plan a new . . ? How does X relate to Y?
6. Creating
Why is . . . important? What is the best . . . , and
why? Do you agree/disagree that . . . ?
4. Analyzing
King, A., 1995, Teaching of Psychology, v. 22, p. 13-17.