Interactive Learning in the Classroom:
Building on a Base
Steven.Pollock@colorado.edu
Physics Department
http://per.colorado.edu
With support from:
FTEP, Pew/Carnegie CASTL
NSF CCLI
NSF STEM-TP
APS PhysTEC
Mike Dubson, Noah Finkelstein,
& the CU PER group
Have you (personally) used
clickers in your classroom?
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•
•
•
•
A) Yes I have, with some success
B) Yes I have, but with lots of problems
C) No, but I'm thinking about it
D) No, I really don't know enough about it
E) (None of the above really reflects what I
want to say here!)
What is your field of primary
interest?
•
•
•
•
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A) Physical Science, math, engineering
B) Social Science
C) Humanities
D) Education
E) Something else!
Which of the following statements do
you "resonate" with?
• A) Good teachers are born, not made
• B) Teaching is an art, not a science
• C) Teaching is a way to get the lecture notes
of the prof into the notebook of the student
(without passing through the mind of either)
• D) more than one of the above
• E) None of the above
Feynman
QuickTime™ and a
Photo - JPE G decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
I don't think you can teach
physics very well anyway to
people in that manner, by
giving lectures on a big scale.
I think it's hopeless.
Richard Feynman, 1918-1988
Overview
• This is not a "lecture on teaching"
focus on student learning
• Build on a base (Education Research)
• Why clickers?
Interactive Engagement
(Just a bit on how/what/when clickers)
Building on a base
Classroom practice
Curricular reforms
Data
Student concepts and engagement
Theoretical frames
What’s my goal in Phys 1110?
Expert
Novice
Pieces
structure
Formulas &
“plug ‘n chug”
content
By Authority
learning
Coherence
Concepts &
Problem Solving
Independent
(experiment)
think about science like a scientist
What's your goal?
Which of the following is the
best reason for you to use
clickers?
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•
•
•
•
A) Keep attendance (automatically)
B) Quizzes/practice for exams
C) Encourage/support peer instruction
D) Feedback to instructor
E) Feedback to students
Which of the following is the
best reason for you to use
clickers?
•
•
•
•
•
A) Keep attendance (automatically)
B) Quizzes/practice for exams
C) Encourage/support peer instruction
D) Feedback to instructor
E) Feedback to students
Peer instruction* (used locally)
1. Question
2. Talk (2-3 min)
3. Vote
4. Discuss (Class)
* http://galileo.harvard.edu/
Modes of Use of Clickers
1 quiz on the reading
2 elicit/reveal prior
ideas
3 test conceptual
understanding
4 require prediction of
demo, expt, sim.
5 require recall of
lecture point
6 transfer/implication
7 relate different
representations
8 do a calculation
9 survey students
10 draw on intuition from
everyday life
Advantages of Clickers
• interactive
• feedback
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–
–
–
to student on how she is doing
to students on the class performance
to instructor on class
to instructor on students
• lower threat of public presentation
• role of social dynamics (talk, groups, consensus)
What are some goals today?
think about teaching like a scholar
Learning:
Students construct knowledge
Teaching:
Research based methods
Context:
Peer instruction
Bottom line goals for clickers:
• Facilitate interaction ("peer instruction")
Increase learning!
– For significant and lasting learning, students minds
must be active.
– If they are passive, learning is usually less than you
think.
– The success of even an exemplary lecture is
limited by the way students learn.
ANY QUESTIONS?
Use for recall: Large intro Lecture
• Explain about sound & violin.
• Show class a violin
• Tell them that the strings cannot move enough air
• Point inside violin to show a sound post
• Tell them strings causes back of violin move
& back makes sound.
15 minutes later in the lecture
Question to Class: The sound they hear from a violin is
produced by
a) mostly by strings, b) mostly by wood in back,
c) both equally, d) none of the above.
What fraction gave the correct answer?
a. 10%, b. 30 %, c. 50%, d. 70%, e. 90%
b. 10%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
+++++++++++++++
+++
How do lightening rods work?
a) attract lightening to tip, prevent from
hitting rest of building.
b) prevent lightening from occurring.
c) make it strike somewhere else.
d) don’t actually do anything, are
superstition.
After Lecture: first asked 10% correct
class discussion ensues
2 days later, asked again 88% correct
(consistent with 100%)
+ + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Role of talk*
Mazur, Peer Instruction
Take a step back:
Data on student conceptions
Interviews/open questions
(Arons, McDermott, ...)
• Prior knowledge
• Basis for surveys and curriculum reform
CLASS
CURRIC
DATA
STUDENT
THEORY
A possible “tilting”
development in physics
• Force Concept Inventory (Hestenes, Wells,
Swackhamer, Physics Teacher 20, (92) 141, Halloun and Hestenes)
• Multiple choice survey, (pre/post)
• Experts (especially skeptics!) =>
necessary (not sufficient) indicator of
conceptual understanding.
CLASS
CURRIC
DATA
STUDENT
THEORY
Sample question
FCI I
Force Concept Inventory (FCI)
traditional lecture
<g> = post-pre
100-pre
R. Hake, ”…A six-thousand-student survey…” AJP 66, 64-74 (‘98).
CLASS
CURRIC
DATA
STUDENT
THEORY
Trad’l Model of Education
Individual
Instruction via
transmission
Content (E/M)
CLASS
CURRIC
DATA
STUDENT
THEORY
Think about our teaching environments
2000 years ago
Today
F
C
I
II
Force Concept Inventory (FCI)
red = trad, blue = interactive engagement
<g> = post-pre
100-pre
R. Hake, ”…A six-thousand-student survey…” AJP 66, 64-74 (‘98).
CLASS
CURRIC
DATA
STUDENT
THEORY
PER Theoretic Background
Individual
Individual
Prior knowledge
Instruction
via transmission
Construction
constructivist
Content (E/M)
Content (E/M)
Students: are active in the educational process
construct understanding based on prior knowledge
learn through individual development
CLASS
CURRIC
DATA
STUDENT
THEORY
F
C
I
at
C
U
Force Concept Inventory (FCI)
red = trad, blue = interactive engagement
<g> = post-pre
100-pre
Fa98
Fa03/Sp04
R. Hake, ”…A six-thousand-student survey…” AJP 66, 64-74 (‘98).
CLASS
CURRIC
DATA
STUDENT
THEORY
Summary
•
•
•
•
It's not about "teaching" (!)
power of peer instruction
make goals explicit
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:
beyond “reflective teaching”
CLASS
CURRIC
DATA
STUDENT
THEORY
Discussion!
• Starting ideas...
– What do we need, to change classroom culture?
– What are your concerns/needs?
– What sorts of practices occur in your department,
based on what sort of research/theoretical framing?
– What (assessment) tools are there?
– How well codified is the discipline / goals of
instruction?
Jump
to CT's
The end
See:
www.flaguide.org
per.colorado.edu
www2.physics.umd.edu/~redish/Book/
A thick metal ring has a circular hole
in the middle.
CT metal ring
If the ring is heated, the hole gets...
A: larger
B: smaller
C: stays the same
D: Not sure at all
Conceptual focus, generalization/transfer!
A heavy steel ball and a much lighter (hollow)
steel ball of similar size and shape are dropped
from a large height.
CT galileo
Which one hits the ground first?
A: The heavier one
B: The lighter one
C: They both hit at about the same time
D: I have no idea
Depends on timing - could be reading quiz, fact
recall - or concept/transfer/predict exp't…!
A heavy steel ball and a much lighter (hollow)
steel ball of identical size and shape are dropped
from a large height. Do not neglect air resistance.
CT galileo II
Which one hits the ground first?
A: The heavier one (barely)
B: The lighter one (barely)
C: They both hit at exactly the same time
D: Not enough information to decide
Could be concept/transfer/predict exp't, also
connect with personal experience…!
I launch a basketball (vertically!) from the cannon
as the cart moves steadily across the room
CT Cannon and basketball
Where does the basketball land?
A:
B:
C:
D:
E:
Way behind the cannon
Behind the cannon
Hits the hole
Ahead of the cannon
No idea/ it’s totally random
How many gas stations are there in the USA?
estimation
A:
B:
C:
D:
E:
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
10,000,000
There is no way to know this without
looking it up
Yet another kind of concept test - estimation,
(broad compilation of logical tools, connect with
personal experience)
Survey question
Survey question
Have you been accessing lecture notes online?
A) Yes, I look at them before class
B) Yes, after class
C) Sometimes
D) I wasn't aware they were available
E) No, and I probably won't.
What is your best hope for our energy future?
vague question
A) that the oil crisis is hype, and we'll continue merrily along
as we are now
B) that we transition to renewables (solar, wind, etc)
C) that we invent new technology (e.g. fusion)
D) that we scale down energy use to a sustainable level with
current fossil fuels
E) that we return to slaves, firewood, and animals for energy.
Meta-message - no right answer here (only ONE
is wrong)! Even with multiple choice, it's about the
discussion, not the answer.
Think fast!
Think fast!
You've just driven around a curve in a narrow, one-way
street at 25 mph when you no tice a car identical to your s
coming straight toward you a t 25 mph. You hav e only two
options: hitting the other car head on or swerving into a
massive concrete wall, also head on. In the split second
before the impact, you dec ide to
BLUE:
hit the other car
YELLOW
hit the wall
PINK:
hit either one- it makes no difference.
PURPLE:
consult your lecture no tes.
Meta: for goodness' sake, there could be
CHILDREN in the other car!
Concept Test (skiier)
A skier on frictionless snow (so common in Colorado) is cruising
gently along the flats, when she spots a symmetrical dip.
She can go down and back up the dip, or ski horizontally across a
bridge. Which path will get her to the far side faster?
PINK: Bridge is faster
BLUE: Dip is faster
GREEN: Same
PURPLE: Not sure
?
CT (eye)
A bundle of parallel rays approaches the eye and some of the rays
enter the eye's pupil, as shown below. No other rays enter the eye.
What does the eye see?
Eye
PINK: A single point of light, surrounded by blackness.
GREEN: A uniformly illuminated wall of light, like a white wall.
BLUE: Many scattered points of light, like stars in the night sky.
YELLOW: None of these.