Engaged Learning: Bringing Students Into Lessons With Technology and Games

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Engaged Learning Bringing Students Into Lessons
With Technology and Games

• Or How to Teach Critical Thinking Using
  Experiential Learning
• Noah Levin, PhD
• Golden West College

2
Have you ever used clickers?

1. Yes
2. No

3
Clickers

• Wonderful tools for a variety of reasons
• Survey/quiz throughout class
• Automatically recorded
• Get immediate feedback
• Use as basis for discussions
• Easily do more in-depth analyses on data
• More importantly keep students awake, attending,
  and paying (some) attention

4
Do you know what engaged learning is?

1. Yes
2. No

5
Engaged Learning

• Any type of learning that drags the student in to
  intimately engage the lesson
• Often leads to quick internalization of the
  learning outcomes
• Examples
• Games (give immediate and good feedback)
• Puzzles (implementing key points)
• Activities (active involvement)
• Clickers (not passive)
• Lectures and discussions (when done right)

6
Do you know what experiential learning is?

1. Yes
2. No

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Experiential Learning

• Slightly different then engaged, and most
  experiential methodologies will also engage
• But experiential learning can be a subcategory of
  engaged learning
• Have the experience of applying the lesson points
  while learning about them
• Games
• Internships
• Other examples?

8
Lets play a game

• Round 1 rules
• If none of the options are exceeded in terms of
  the maximum number of people, then you all get
  what you asked for
• If any single option is exceeded, then no one
  gets THAT prize

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How many candies would you like?

1. 3 (1 person max!)
2. 2 (2 person max!)
3. 1 (2 person max!)
4. 0 (30 person max)

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Lets play a game

• Round 2 rules
• If none of the options are exceeded in terms of
  the maximum number of people, then you all get
  what you asked for
• If any single option is exceeded, then NO ONE
  gets ANYTHING

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How many candies would you like?

1. 3 (1 person max!)
2. 2 (2 person max!)
3. 1 (3 person max!)
4. 0 (20 person max)
5. 0 (20 person max)

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Tragedy of the Commons

• Theres a field with 4 farmers, and they each
  have a dairy cow
• The field feeds the dairy cows just fine year
  after year and they all succeed
• One farmer then decides, I can have another
  cow!
• And he gets one, and does even better, and the
  field survives just fine
• So the others get extra cowsand they all die
• Why would they get an extra cow?
• How could this problem have been avoided?
• Real-life examples?
• International fishing, others?

13
How many candies would you like?

1. 4 (1 person max!)
2. 3 (2 person max!)
3. 2 (3 person max!)
4. 1 (4 person max)
5. 0 (30 person max)

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So whats the key to all of this?

• Discuss and agree!
• But these things only work if we are predictable
  and reliable
• So if you say, Well never win because people
  are greedy then youre giving in a little to a
  deterministic view of human decisions
• At least people must be predictable in some way
  for you to win this game

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Nonograms Rules

• Each square is either shaded or not

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Nonograms Rules

• Numbers are used in order and commas are spaces

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Nonograms Rules

• Lets try one!

puzzle-nonograms.com shadypuzzle.com or the iOS
app
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Deductive analysis

• Start from a point of certainty
• Solve piece-by-piece
• Negative information can be useful
• Generate options eliminate contradictions
• Mistakes are good
• If you learn from them!

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Disjunctive syllogism

• Either a cell is Shaded or it is Blank
• It is not Shaded
• Thereforewhat?
• It is Blank
• Can you put this in standard argument form?
• S v B
• S  
• ? B