THE BROKEN SPOON
HOW TO USE HIGH-IMPACT,
INTERACTIVE PRACTICES TO
DEVELOP HIGHER ORDER
THINKING
M.E. McWilliams, AARC Director
Stephen F. Austin State University
•Told the tutors
•Demonstrated to the tutors
•Answered questions for tutors
•Delivered information to tutors
How did our learning center significantly
improve its contribution to persistence
and academic success ?
1980
WE STARTED USING HIGH-IMPACT
PRACTICES !
I was once you
M.E. McWilliams, mmcwilliams@sfasu.edu
AARC Director
McWilliams, 2011
EXPECTATIONS
What do you hope to change about your
interaction with students?
McWilliams, 2011
WHAT ARE HIGH-IMPACT PRACTICES ?
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demands that students devote considerable amounts of time
and effort to purposeful tasks.
puts students in circumstances that essentially demand they
interact with faculty and peers about substantive matters.
increases the likelihood that students will experience diversity
through contact with people who are different than themselves.
gives students frequent feedback about their performance.
provides opportunities for students to see how what they are
learning works in different settings, on and off the campus.
students connect personally and professionally to others
through opportunities for active, collaborative learning.
George Kuh, 2008
McWilliams, 2011
WHAT DOES GEORGE KUH KNOW ?
Chancellor's Professor Emeritus of Higher Education
at Indiana University
Founding director of the Center for Postsecondary
Research and the National Survey of Student
Engagement (NSSE)
Director of the National Institute for Learning
Outcomes Assessment
Author of more than 300 publications and several hundred presentations on
topics related to institutional improvement, college student engagement,
assessment strategies, and campus cultures.
Recipient of awards from the American Educational Research Association,
Association for Institutional Research, Association for the Study of Higher
Education (ASHE)
McWilliams, 2011
HOW ARE HIGH-IMPACT
PRACTICES LIKE A BROKEN SPOON ?
SPOONFEEDING
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Long lectures
Multiple choice
PowerPoint shows
“Watch Me” training
Telling
Solving
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HIGH-IMPACT
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Interactive discussions
Essay questions
Construction of notes
Engaging student
Asking
Encouraging
collaboration
WHY DO BOTH STUDENTS AND
STAFF/FACULTY PREFER SPOONFEEDING ?
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Students:
It makes the work
easier!
Staff/Faculty:
It also makes the work
easier!
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More prep
Reversing
Research
Give me
the
notes!
Just show
me what to
do!
McWilliams, 2011
Work the
problem for
me!
So why implement high-impact
practices ?
Do you need to do more
than watch football to be
able to play football?
McWilliams, 2011
HIGH-IMPACT PRACTICES LEAD
TO HIGHER ORDER THINKING
This is the
GOAL of
college!
CRITICAL
THINKING=
45% CAN’T
study of 2,300 sophomores from 24
different schools (Arum, 2011)
META-COGNITION:
thinking about one’s own
thinking.
KNOWLEDGE
ACQUISITION=
HIGH SCHOOL
Bloom’s Taxonomy
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SUCCESS DEPENDS ON A
CULTURE OF HIGH-IMPACT
HIGHER-ORDER
THINKING
ACADEMIC
SUPPORT
ENGAGEMENT
EXTRACURRICULAR
CLASSES
HIGHIMPACT
REAL WORLD
SKILLS
PERSISTENCE
ACADEMIC
SUCCESS
McWilliams, 2011
THIS IS HOW TO BREAK THE
SPOON!
HIGH- IMPACT
PRACTICES
GUIDE-ONTHE-SIDE
PROMPTS
MAGICAL
NUMBER 7
SECOND
WAIT
FALSE LIGHT
BULB
QUERIES
HIGHER ORDER
THINKING
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COLLABORATION
ANSWERING
QUESTIONS
WITH
QUESTIONS
GUIDE-ON-THE-SIDE PROMPTS
THE-SAGE-ON-THE-STAGE TEST
PROMPT SUGGESTIONS
MOTIVATION FOR STEPPING DOWN
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SAGE-ON-THE-STAGE TEST
Sometimes you have to
choose between being a
superstar or being a
super-facilitator!
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McWilliams, 2011
Do you do most of the
talking?
Do you enjoy hearing
yourself talk?
Do you feel you have
a lot to say and little
time to say it?
How often do you hear
the students speaking
to you?
PROMPT SUGGESTIONS
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GUIDE-ON-THE-SIDE
Tell me
more.
Where can you
find that in
your
notes/text?
Talk to me about what we
have learned so far and I’ll
see if I have forgotten
anything (Boiles).
Give me
an
example.
McWilliams, 2011
MOTIVATION FOR STEPPING
DOWN
The one doing all the work, is the one
doing all the learning!
(Wong & Wong, 2004)
If you remain the sage-on-the sage,
who gets smarter?
McWilliams, 2011
HOW DO PROMPTS
CONTRIBUTE TO HIGH-IMPACT?
Six
attributes
of highimpact
learning

considerable amounts
of time and effort

interact with faculty and
peers

experience diversity

frequent feedback

different settings

active, collaborative
learning
McWilliams, 2011
MAGICAL NUMBER 7 SECOND
WAIT
WRESTLING
WAIT
WHY 7
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WRESTLING

THE
THING
TO
LEARN
Only by WRESTLING
with the conditions of
the problem at first
hand, seeking and
finding his own way out,
does he [the student]
think.
(Dewey, 1916, p.159-160)
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WAIT
WAIT FOR AN ANSWER
ASK QUESTION
WAIT 7 SECONDS
SILENCE
TRAIN STUDENTS TO TAKE THEIR TIME
REFLECTING
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METACOGNITION
WHY 7 SECONDS
Pythagoreas called it
the perfect number!
days of the week
wonders of the world
deadly sins
seas
days to create the
world
There really isn’t anything
magical about the
number 7.
It’s a random number for
counting inside your head to
be sure you allow enough
time for a student to think
first for himself.
But time and time again—
after six long seconds of
silence—a student will
say something cogent on
the 7th second!
McWilliams, 2011
HOW DOES WAITING
CONTRIBUTE TO HIGH-IMPACT?
Six
attributes
of highimpact
learning

considerable amounts
of time and effort

interact with faculty and
peers

experience diversity

frequent feedback

different settings

active, collaborative
learning
McWilliams, 2011
FALSE LIGHT BULB QUERIES
WHAT CAUSES FALSE LIGHT BULBS?
ASK QUESTIONS FROM BLOOM’S
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WHAT CAUSES FALSE LIGHT BULBS?
Did you
get that?
FALSE
“illusion of comprehension” (Druckman & Bjork in
Svinicki, 2004, p. 117) (loosely related to
MacDonald’s fake light bulb, 1994)
Students can often
provide correct
answers, repeat
definitions, and apply
formulae while yet not
understanding those
questions, definitions,
and formulae
(Pintrich, 1995)
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ASK QUESTIONS FROM BLOOM’S
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EVALUATE whether you
think Goldilocks was good
or bad.
CREATE a celebrity casting
for this story as a movie.
ANALYZE WHY Goldilocks
was so choosy.
APPLY Goldilocks' story
to that of three fish.
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ASK QUESTIONS FROM BLOOM’S
APPLY
these
writing
tips.
CREATE a
diagram of
this
procedure.
WHY do
we flip the
fraction?
EVALUATE
our services.
The development of
effective study skills
depends crucially on
the learner being able
to assess what they
know and do not
know.
National Center for Education
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HOW DO BLOOM’S QUESTIONS
CONTRIBUTE TO HIGH-IMPACT?
Six
attributes
of highimpact
learning

considerable amounts
of time and effort

interact with faculty and
peers

experience diversity

frequent feedback

different settings

active, collaborative
learning
McWilliams, 2011
COLLABORATION
ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
COG’S LADDER
STUDENT REFLECTION
INSTRUCTOR JOURNAL
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Collaborative Engagement
Opportunities
Different from
cooperative
learning!
Team
Presentation
Group
Paper
Student
Committee
Members
Student
Management
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COG’S LADDER
Cog's Ladder: A Model of Group Development, George
Charrier, 1972
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STUDENT REFLECTION
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Fun--especially when groups complete assignments
successfully
Made me realize that sacrifices need to be made
sometimes to keep focus
Understood thought processes, think about every
situation, understanding data, analyzing it, take it
apart, use it and evaluate it
The process was really good even when the
product sometimes wasn't that good.
McWilliams, 2011
INSTRUCTOR JOURNAL
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Allow more time to get things done: slow, deliberate
explanations; 1 minute reflect and share.
Hold back! Step away! Facilitate more and instruct less.
It’s messy! Let groups figure it out for themselves, let them
make mistakes.
Create a system so that more than one person has a copy of
the assignment.
Shy, disengaged students were immediately exposed.
No schematas developed when challenge is too easy or too
hard.
McWilliams, 2011
HOW DOES COLLABORATION
CONTRIBUTE TO HIGH-IMPACT?
Six
attributes
of highimpact
learning

considerable amounts
of time and effort

interact with faculty and
peers

experience diversity

frequent feedback

different settings

active, collaborative
learning
McWilliams, 2011
ANSWER QUESTIONS WITH
QUESTIONS
SOCRATIC DIALOGUE
EXPLAIN THE TECHNIQUE
McWilliams, 2011
SOCRATIC DIALOGUE
How does
mitosis
happen?
How do I
enter this
information?
Student
Trainer/Teacher/
Tutor
Vygotsky’s
MKO
McWilliams, 2011
What
chapter in
your BOOK
discusses
that?
Do you have
something
about that in
your NOTES?
EXPLAIN THE TECHNIQUE
if a parent is lost on campus and he asks you,
“Where is the student center?” and you say,
“Where do YOU think it is?”
You look like a jerk!
This is why Socrates wound up dead!
Explain to the student that these questions help
students to process information and enhance
understanding for the task at hand.
McWilliams, 2011
HOW DOES SOCRATIC DIALOGUE
CONTRIBUTE TO HIGH-IMPACT?
Six
attributes
of highimpact
learning

considerable amounts
of time and effort

interact with faculty and
peers

experience diversity

frequent feedback

different settings

active, collaborative
learning
McWilliams, 2011
THIS IS HOW TO BREAK THE
SPOON!
HIGH- IMPACT
PRACTICES
GUIDE-ONTHE-SIDE
PROMPTS
MAGICAL
NUMBER 7
SECOND
WAIT
FALSE LIGHT
BULB
QUERIES
HIGHER ORDER
THINKING
McWilliams, 2011
COLLABORATION
ANSWERING
QUESTIONS
WITH
QUESTIONS
ACTION PLAN
STOP
START
McWilliams, 2011
CONTINUE
SOURCES
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Arum, R. (2011). Academically adrift: Limited learning on college campuses.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Boiles, M. (2001). Training session. Academic Assistance and Resource Center.
Charrier, G. (1972). Cog's ladder: A model of group development. Proctor and
Gamble Newsletter.
Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and Education: An introduction to the philosophy of
education.
Dzubak, C.M. The cognition gap: Sufficient skills for high school but not sufficient for
college. Synergy. Retrieved from: http://www.myatp.org/Synergy_1/Syn_12.pdf
Kuh, G. (2008). High-Impact educational Practices: What they are, who has access to
them, and why they matter. Washington, D.C.: AAC&U Publishing.
Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). “A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy: An Overview.” Theory into
Practice, 41 (4): pp. 212-18.
McWilliams, 2011
SOURCES
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MacDonald, R. (1994). The Master tutor. New York: Cambridge
Stratford Study Skills Institute.
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McWilliams, M.E. (2007). The Broken Spoon Video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWPzDXmTA34. New York:
Jossey-bass.
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Pintrich, P. (1995). Understanding self-regulated learning: New
Directions for Teaching and Learning
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Svinicki, M. (2004). Learning and motivation in the post-secondary classroom.
Bolten, MA: Anchor Publishing.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher
psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Press.
Wong, H.K and Wong, R.T. (2004). The first days of school: How to be an
effective teacher. New York: Harry K. Wong Publications.
McWilliams, copyright 2011
THANKYOU FOR BEING HERE!
mmcwilliams@sfasu.edu