Improving Student Performance by
Addressing Student and Teacher
Misconceptions about Learning
Stephen L. Chew
Samford University
slchew@samford.edu Twitter: @SChewPsych
Cengage Business Educators Conference
February 26, 2015
Goals of the Presentation
1) Discuss teacher and student
misconceptions about learning
2) Discuss development of a program to
help students become more effective
learners based on cognitive principles
3) Discuss what faculty should know about
how people learn and what they can do to
help students learn more effectively
4) Discuss cognitive basis of effective
pedagogy
Teacher Beliefs about How People
Learn
• Teaching requires a mental model of how
people learn.
• Determines selection and implementation of
teaching methods, and how to adjust to
problems.
• If the model is accurate, the teacher will be
effective
• If it is flawed or simplistic, the teacher will be
less effective
Student Beliefs about How People
Learn
• Students also base their study behavior on
models of how people (specifically
themselves) learn
• Determines class attendance, assignment
completion, study strategies, test
preparation and so on
• The better the model, the better the
student learns
• If the model is flawed or simplistic, it will
undermine student learning
A typical college freshman is
• Inadequately prepared for college work
• Unaware of the fact because it is contrary
to their successful high school experience
• Likely overconfident in their preparation
and abilities for college-level work
How to help students make a
successful transition to college
• Remediation
• College transition courses
• First year programs, study skills centers,
and other resources
– Personal and social adjustment; study “tips”,
and time management
• Teach them how to be more effective
learners by correcting misconceptions and
teaching them cognitive principles of
learning
How to Study Long and Hard and Still
Fail… Or How to Get the Most Out of
Your Studying
I. Beliefs about Learning that Make You
Stupid (common misconceptions)
II. Metacognition and its consequences
III. So how accurate are your beliefs about
how people learn? (A quiz)
IV. A demonstration of Levels of Processing
V. Operationalizing Levels of Processing
VI. Applying Levels to studying, note taking,
and highlighting and reading
Beliefs about Learning that
Make You Stupid
• Learning is fast
• Being good at a subject is a matter of
inborn talent rather than hard work,
• Knowledge is composed of isolated
facts
• I’m really good at multi-tasking,
especially during class or studying
Metacognition
• A student’s awareness of his or her level
of understanding of a topic
• Metacognition distinguishes between
stronger and weaker students
• One of the major tasks for a freshman is
developing good metacognition
– In high school, students spent years
developing a metacognitive sense that is
likely inadequate or even counterproductive
for college.
Levels of Processing
• Shallow processing focuses on spelling,
appearance and sound.
– Rote memorization of facts
– Flashcards with isolated facts
• Deep processing focuses on subjective
meaning.
– Relating new information to prior
knowledge or other information
– Making information personally meaningful
Implications for Students
• Many students have highly practiced poor
learning strategies
– Studying more won’t help them
– Increase overconfidence without learning
• They need to unlearn highly practiced old
strategies and develop new, more effective
ones
• Consider study skills in terms of orienting
tasks and level or processing
• Studying, note taking, reading, writing, listening
Implications for Teachers
• Teaching skill matters, and matters greatly
• Pedagogy has a significant impact on
learning
• Consider pedagogy in terms of orienting
tasks and level of processing
– Design assignments, problem sets, questions,
examples to induce deep processing
Achieving Deep Processing while
Studying
As you study, follow these principles:
• Elaboration: How does this concept relate to
other concepts? Can I make a story?
• Distinctiveness: How is this concept
different from other concepts?
• Personal: Can I relate this information to my
personal experience?
• Appropriate to Retrieval and Application:
How am I expected to use or apply this
concept?
How to Get the Most Out of
Studying
• Video 1: Beliefs That Make You Fail…Or
Succeed
• Video 2: What Students Should
Understand About How People Learn
• Video 3: Cognitive Principles for
Optimizing Learning
• Video 4: Putting the Principles for
Optimizing Learning into Practice
• Video 5: I Blew the Exam, Now What?
Cognitive Load Theory
(e.g. van Merrienboer & Sweller, 2005)
• Mental effort is the amount of concentration that
a person has available to devote to tasks
– Always a limited resource
• Cognitive Load is the total amount of mental
effort a task requires to complete it
– A person can do multiple tasks as long as the total
cognitive load does not exceed available mental effort
• If cognitive load exceeds available mental
effort, then performance suffers
Take Home Message
• Described misconceptions that students and
faculty have that undermine their learning
• Described a live and video presentation for
making students more effective learners
based on cognitive research
• Attempted to give you a more sophisticated
understanding of how people learn
– Levels of Processing and orienting tasks
– Cognitive Load
• Regardless of teaching method, teachers
must understand cognitive processes to be
effective