How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching

Book Discussion

How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching 1st Edition by Susan A. Ambrose (Author),‎ Michael W. Bridges (Author),‎ Michele DiPietro (Author),‎ Marsha C. Lovett (Author),‎ Marie K. Norman  (Author),‎ Richard E. Mayer (Foreword)

Link to Amazon

pdf version

Other resources related to this book.

• Dr. Mary Jo Carnot presents "How Learning Works: Seven Research Based Principles of Learning," part of the Graves Lecture Series at Chadron State College.
• How Learning Works:7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching with Dr. Susan Ambrose Women in Engr ProActive Network

Part 1: View a pre-recorded webinar by Dr. Ambrose discussing the book she and colleagues published: "How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching."
Part 2: Q&A with Dr. Ambrose in which she discusses how to apply the information presented in Part 1 to specific teaching contexts.
This webinar is a product of the Engineering Inclusive Teaching series funded under grant 1203164 by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

• Eberly Center Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation. Carnegi Mellon University
• Slides by Dr. Michele DiPietro, Executive Director Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Kennesaw State University
• Book review by Julie G. Nyquist & Rima Jubran for The Journal of Chiropractic Education
• Goodreads

Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning

Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning by James M. Lang

I just started reading this book. My plan is to capture at least one idea from each chapter and incorporate immediately into my teaching.

Part 1: Knowledge
1. Retrieving. The idea here is that retrieval practice will help learners retain foundational material. Frequency matters, align practice and assessments and require thinking. The opening and closing of class are good places to add retrieval activities. 
I could close the training event with a short quiz or  solve a problem. I could also close the class by asking learners to write down the most important concept from today. 
Example of a problem. Your student needs to work online for 60 minutes during the week. How might you weave that time into your weekly schedule?

2. Predicting. Predictive activities prepare your mind for learning by driving you to make connections. Predictive exercises may also reveal gaps in our knowledge. Stay conceptual, provide fast feedback. Induce reflection. Curiosity.
Ideas. Begin the session with a pretest. When presenting a case or a problem, stop before the conclusion and ask the learner to predict the outcome.
Example: after reviewing the action tabs, ask participants how long they think it will take to check this information. After reviewing auto placement information ask participants to predict how long a 1st grader placed in level 2 will be asked to work online each week.

3. Interleaving. Spacing out learning sessions over time and mixing up your practice of skills you are seeking to develop.
If we used spaced learning to allow some time for forgetting to set in, we are forced to draw from our long-term memory when we return to it. A little forgetting has the effect of retriggering consolidation, further strengthening memory.
The time that intervenes between spaced learning sessions allows our mind to better organize and solidify what we are studying.


More to come.....

Story – A Strategy for Generating Ideas

We know that stories make information come alive and are a great way to connect learners to new information and concepts.  Meaning and involvement become more personal for the learner when stories are involved. This is an example of how story was used during an advisory committee meeting as a way to generate ideas from members.  In this case advisory committee members were asked to individually create their own story.  This story would be rich in detail  and would depict someone in the community that would benefit from completing an associate degree in the Business Management program.  They were given five minutes to write their stories.  Each member shared their story while someone outlined the important details on an individual flip chart page.  Next, the group was paired up with an advisory committee member and a college representative.  The pairs reviewed the various pages and brainstormed ways to connect with the person in the story. Ideas were captured on post-it notes.  What resulted from this activity were new ideas and very rich information.  The advisory committee members reported enjoying the experience.

This example comes to us from Karen Barr, Beth Kost and Dianne Lazear.  October 2011

Creating a Story from a Picture

Story can be used in every phase of the learning cycle.  This is an example of how story is used in the “generalizing” phase. It comes to us from Sherry Nazer, a student in Dianne Lazear’s Business Management class.  Dianne was teaching a unit on ethics.  The students were asked to create a learning activity around the concepts they had been studying and then facilitate the activity in the class. If they created a game they needed to supply the answer key to the game. While studying this unit, Dianne displayed various ethical principles on posters around the classroom.  Sherry gave each student a different picture and asked them to create a story from the picture that pulled in one of the ethical principles. Dianne reported a high level of intense engagement as the students developed their stories which were then individually shared. The photos combined with the stories made the information come alive in a personal way. You can see how various aspects of the brain were engaged. The pictures evoked emotion and triggered memories.  Both the right and left sides of the brain were involved with the right brain looking for the big picture and meaning while the left brain fills in the details. 

Play and learning

I have been mulling over comments made about games and learning at a recent meeting.  Games were laughed at as being a waste of time, not professional and certainly not connected with learning. This has left me scratching my head because it flies in the face of what I know about the brain and learning.  In the monograph I wrote on creating deep learning experiences, I contrasted surface and deep learning.  One of the contrasts was this. Deep learners "are mindful; play and create with new ideas, relate theory to everyday life. Learners enjoy learning, the process flows "  Surface learners "take a mindless approach; entrapped in old ideas, the content is devoid of significance. Learners find learning to be unpleasant."

I plan to do more thinking and research on this perspective.  Maybe it is merely a semantic issue. I have recently listened to some great presentations from TEDD on this topic.

1. Tim Brown on Creativity and Playhttp://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/tim_brown_on_creativity_and_play.html
   At the 2008 Serious Play conference, designer Tim Brown talks about the powerful relationship between creative thinking and play -- with many examples you can try at home (and one that maybe you shouldn't).
   

2. Steve Keil: A manifesto for play, for Bulgaria and beyond

   http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_keil_a_manifesto_for_play_for_bulgaria_and_beyond.htmlAt TEDxBG in Sofia, Steve Keil fights the "serious meme" that has infected his home of Bulgaria -- and calls for a return to play to revitalize the economy, education and society. A sparkling talk with a universal message for people everywhere who are reinventing their workplaces, schools, lives.
   

3. Stuart Brown says play is more than fun

   http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/stuart_brown_says_play_is_more_than_fun_it_s_vital.htmlA pioneer in research on play, Dr. Stuart Brown says humor, games, roughhousing, flirtation and fantasy are more than just fun. Plenty of play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults -- and keeping it up can make us smarter at any age.
   
   
   

Accelements - Elements of Accelerative Learning and Teaching

I just completed a great webinar series with Paul Scheele from Learning Strategies Corporation, Accelements - Elements of Accelerative Learning and Teaching." Not only did I learn some cool things about accelerated learning but I came away with some cool ideas to improve my WebEx design and delivery. Here is what I have so far:

Creating Significant Deep Learning Experiences

February 27th is the end of the journey.  I will be sharing some ideas from the work I have been doing on creating significant deep learning experiences as a part of the Cross Paper Fellowship.  Cross Paper, Number 14 is complete.

Thank you all for supporting me along the way. I have learned so much throughout this project. Now to put all I have learned into practice. I recently viewed a Ted talk that inspired me. It is titled "Lewis Pugh's mind-shifting Everest swim." He ends his talk with this question related to the environment.  I think you can apply the question to our work as teachers.  He asks us to think of one radical tactile shift that we think we can make and then commit 100% to doing it. The journey continues. I hope you enjoy http://www.ted.com/talks/lewis_pugh_s_mind_shifting_mt_everest_swim.html

The Joy of Learning

Interesting Podcast from Educause

Gardner Campbell and Jim Groom Discuss Faculty Attitudes and the Joy of Learning-FULL LENGTH VERSION: http://tinyurl.com/2we4bxu

When Gardner Campbell and Jim Groom get together to discuss the current state of higher ed, it's always an insightful and lively conversation. Gardner is Director of the Academy for Teaching and Learning at Baylor University and Jim Groom is an Instructional Technology Specialist at the University of Mary Washington. A couple years ago we caught the two on video debating EDUPUNK. This year we got them talking about the current state of higher ed faculty attitudes about teaching and the internet.