Teaching Students High-Performance Learning

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Teaching Students High-Performance Learning

• Linda B. Nilson, Ph.D.
• Director Emerita
• Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation
• Clemson University
• 864-261-9200 nilson_at_clemson.edu
  lindabnilson

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Outcomes for You

• To teach your students research-backed,
  high-performance strategies for strong
  comprehension, deep learning, long-term
  retention, easy retrieval, and overall improved
  performance.
• To ensure they actually implement some of these
  strategies.
• To help them along with other strategies.

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Areas

• 1. Be mentally fit.
• 2. Focus.
• 3. Time and space study sessions.
• 4. Problem solve effectively.
• 5. Take good class notes.

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• 6. Read for comprehension and recall.
• 7. Draw visual representations.
• 8. Prepare intelligently for tests.
• 9. Learn lessons from tests.
• 10. Study websites on studying.

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1. Be mentally fit.

• No/low anxiety, fear, stress.
• To , breath deeply, slowly count to10,
  visualize success also just before tests.
• Do aerobic exercise or meditate before studying (
  fear/anxiety).
• Do light aerobic exercise while studying.

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• Get enough sleep.
• Learners need more sleep 9 hrs/ night.
• Sleep consolidates new material and experiences.
  You effortlessly learn while you sleep!

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2. Focus

• For you to do Foster attention and sustained
  focus.
• novelty, high contrast, interest, goal,
  personal relevance, positive emotions about
  material and learning it. Sell your material!
• Know that learners differ in ability to focus
  (block distractions).

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• Test Your Focus and How Fast You Juggle Tasks
• http//www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/06/07/tec
  hnology/20100607-distraction-filtering-demo.html

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Discourage multitasking

• No such thing mind rotates among tasks
  rapidly, which performance
• informational bottleneck inefficient
  cognitive tasks take longer, have more errors.
• Okay to do 2 things at once only if using
  different parts of the brain.

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For doubting students Exercise from Dave
Crenshaw, The Myth of Multitasking

• Recite the letters A through J as quickly as you
  can (__ secs.).
• Recite the numbers 1 through 10 as quickly as you
  can (__ secs.).
• Interweave the 2 recitations as quickly as you
  can (___ secs.) Typically 15-20 sec. with errors.
• http//davecrenshaw.com/tag/multitasking-exercise/

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Distractions

• Interfere with attention, rehearsal, encoding,
  storage, retrieval every learning process.
• cognitive load monopolizes mental resources
  needed for learning encoding central
  processing, visual, auditory, verbal
• If constant, can cause craving for novelty
  shorten attention span.

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Main in-class distraction today

• 90-92 of students use cell phones in class for
  non-class purposes (texting, Fb, tweeting, games,
  surfing, etc.) (McCoy, 2013 Tindell Bohlander,
  2012).
• These distractions their learning, focus,
  academic engagement, and grades (Clayson Haley,
  2013 Duncan, Hoekstra, Wilcox, 2012 Foerde,
  Knowlton, Poldrack, 2006 Junco, 2012a, 2012b,
  2012c Junco Cotton, 2012 Kuznekoff
  Titsworth, 2013 Lepp, Barkley, Karpinski,
  2014 McCoy, 2013 Ophir, Nass, Wagner, 2009
  Parry, 2013 Rosen, Carrier, Cheever, 2013
  Tindell Bohlander, 2012).

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Beware of mobile learning!

• If students do not resist their preferred cell
  phone usage when they are not supposed to be
  using their device, why would they resist it when
  the device is sanctioned for class purposes and
  in their hands?
• Cell phones can interfere with doing HW.

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• Levy gave his students the technology to observe
  their own computer use. Results
• When students play back the Camtasia recording,
  they see what was happening on their screens with
  their own faces displayed in a corner. They watch
  themselves flit among Words With Friends, e-mail,
  Words With Friends, Spotify, Words With Friends,
  and that goofy video of a cat rolling up against
  a sake bottle. Some are disturbed to observe that
  they got so distracted they forgot to work on the
  main task they had set out to accomplish, like
  reading an article.Parry, 2013
  http//chronicle.com/article/Youre-Distracted-This
  /138079/

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Students dont know

• Reading is all about sustained focus.
• Distractions like cell phones just make reading
  take longer and reduce comprehension.
• Must put cell phones far away!
• Trying to multitask can be dangerous.

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• Summary of research on effects of multitasking
  inefficiency and stress
• http//knowledge.emory.edu/article.cfm?articleid8
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• Multitasking when flying costs lives.
• http//flightsafety.org/asw/aug09/asw_aug09_p18-23
  .pdf
• Not to mention texting and driving

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What about laptops in class?

• Same digital distractions as cell phones
• But failure rates and students
  problem-solving skills, conceptual understanding,
  good attitudes, and engagement .

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• Size matters! You can control usage.
• Course policies on use (e.g., specific times
  only)
• 3 students to one laptop
• Tight time frame, student accountability
• You circulate.

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3. Time and space study sessions.

• Study 2 hrs. or so, then do physical or sensory
  activity for 10-15 mins.
• During study session, break every 20-30 mins. to
  get up and stretch, walk around, etc. (30 secs.-2
  mins.).

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• Review new material (readings, lecture notes)
  within 24 hrs. to move it into long-term memory.
• Review again several days later and again a
  couple of weeks later. Then studying for test
  will be easy, stress-free.
• Leave time (e.g., good nights sleep) betw
  studying and the test (Rohrer Pashler, 2010).

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You can help.

• Interleave practice Have students repeat
  (review) tasks in an interleaved pattern
  abcbcacab rather than a blocked pattern
  aaabbbccc.
• Have them solve old problems along with new
  ones.
• True for any skill, cognitive or physical.

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4. Problem solve effectively.

• Follow the steps (require it!).
• You can help.
• Show partially worked problems.
• Have students start HW problems in class in
  Think Aloud pairs.
• Interleave old with new problems.
• Have them re-solve incorrect problems.

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5. Take good class notes.

• Not all students take notes in class 78 of ?,
  51 of ?. UCLA Higher Ed Research Institute,
  2008 cited in Chronicle of Higher Education
  (2009, September 4).
• Students who look like they are taking notes may
  or may not be.
• Average notetakers record only 40 of important
  ideas. Kiewra, K.A. (2005). Learn how to succeed
  and SOAR to success. Upper Saddle River, NJ
  Pearson Prentice Hall.

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• Most freq inaccuracies copying diagrams,
  equations, numerical figures.
• Most freqly missing your corrections, demos,
  applications, examples, structure/sequence of
  arguments. Johnston, A.H. Su, W.Y.
  (1994). LecturesA learning experience? Education
  in Chemistry (May), 70-76.
• Why dont students take good notes, or take notes
  at all?

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You can help Motivate students to take good
notes.

• Tell students benefits of taking notes
• 45age-pt diff on tests betw best worst
• Greater attention, focus
• Better selection of most important content
• Increased understanding, esp if students study
  from reorg notes
• Better short- (w/review) longer-term recall
  Johnston Su (1994) Potts, B. (1993). Improving
  the quality of student notes. ERIC Document
  Reproduction Services ED366645 Bligh, D.A.
  (2000). Whats the use of lecture? San Francisco
  Jossey-Bass Cornelius, T.L. Owen-Schryver, J.
  (2008). Differential effects of full and partial
  note on learning outcomes and attendance.
  Teaching of Psychology, 35(1), 6-12.

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• Tell students to take notes.
• Provide skeletal notes in Word, not PP.
  Improve students recall of content better than
  their own or instrs notes (key organization).
  Cornelius Owen-Schryver, 2008. Hartley, J.
  (1977). Lecture handouts and student
  note-taking. Programmed Learning Educational
  Technology 13, 58-64. Hartley, J. Davies, I.K.
  (1978). Note-taking A critical review.
  Programmed Learning Educational Technology 15,
  207-224. Howe, M.J.A. (1977). Learning and
  acquisition of knowledge by students Some
  experimental investigations. In M.J.A. Howe
  (ed.), Adult learning Psychological research and
  applications. London Wiley.
• Give open-note (but not open-book) tests.

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You can help Teach students how to take good
notes and best learn from them.

• ? dictation putting down the most important
  content with least amount of ink, which requires
  deep processing.
• Model show YOUR notes once or twice.
• Ask Why do you think I wrote ____ down? If you
  didnt, why not?

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• Conduct active listening checks on your
  minilectures.
• Incr from 45 to 75 of students IDing the most
  important points in 3 sessions
• Teach students note-taking systems.
• Modified outlining (indenting)
• Cornell system, with 5 Rs
• Concept or mind mapping (for later)
• Abbreviations

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• 2-min break to revise notes Carter, J.F. Van
  Matre, N.H. (1975). Note taking versus note
  having. J Educ Psych, 67(6), 900-904. Bentley,
  D.A. Blount, H.P. (1980). Testing the spaced
  lecture for the college classroom. Paper
  presented at Georgia Psychology Assn meeting,
  Macon.
• 2-min pair review revision ODonnell, A.
  Dansereau, D.F. (1993). Learning from lecture
  Effects of cooperative review. J Experimental
  Ed, 61(2), 116-125. Kelly, A.E ODonnell, A.
  (1994). Hypertext and the study strategies of
  preservice teachers Issues in instructional
  hypertext design. J Educ Computing Research,
  10(4), 373-387.
• End class with a minute paper that makes students
  review notes.

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• Write emotional reactions in margin (for recall).
• Take notes longhand, not on laptop.
• Write or draw summary right after class.
• Review notes before going to sleep (tells brain
  not to delete).
• Review summary next day.

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6. Read for comprehension and recall.
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Do students do the readings?

• of college students who normally did the
  readings, estimated from pop-quiz performances
  (Burchfield Sappington, 2000)
• 1981 80
• 1997 only 20

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• of college students who normally did the
  readings, estimated from pop-quiz performances
  (Burchfield Sappington, 2000) and self-reports
  (Hoeft, 2012)
• 1981 80
• 1997 only 20
• 2012 50-60

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Student contributions to the problem

• Student culture Better things to do
• No perceived need to read
• No perceived payoff to reading
• Poor reading habits, abilities, and persistence

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Faculty contributions to the
problem

• We forget our own college experiences.
• We assign too much/too difficult reading for our
  students.
• We dont seem serious about the readings.

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How serious can we be if we

• Dont try to sell the readings?
• Lecture the readings in class?
• Dont hold students accountable for the readings
  when due (with sanctions and rewards)?

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• We act like we dont expect students to do the
  readings.
• ?? self-fulfilling
• prophecy

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Accountability tools

• Homework
• Daily quizzes
• In-class problem-solving or written exercises
• Cold-call recitation (
• discussion)

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To make these tools work

• Readings are only source of material because you
  dont lecture them in class.
• Daily accountability (when readings are due)
• Graded work, even if only worth 1/0 pts. for a
  good faith effort

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Even if students do read, do they comprehend?

• 99 of freshmen show obedient purposelessness
  (Harvard study).
• 55 of those who read demonstrate basic
  understanding (Hoeft, 2012).
• Lack of focus and reading strategies

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Students dont know how to read academic
material. Teach them.

1. Pre-read for reflection in-class or HW
2. Preview readings - HW
3. Review purpose for reading study questions or
   problems - HW
4. Read with purpose for answers or solutions
   written HW
5. Review readings - written HW

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• Give written HW to review and reflect on readings
  (self-regulated learning).
• most important concepts, principles, points, or
  arguments and what you dont understand clearly
• comparisons/connections to prior learning,
  existing mental model, or other courses
• affective reactions attitudes, values, beliefs,
  emotions

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• Teach students self-testing with Read, Recall,
  Review
• 1. Read, then put away book notes.
• 2. Recall all you can, and recite it aloud or
  write it down.
• 3. Review for what you forgot or misunderstood.

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• Better immediate delayed free recall of
  fact-based passages than rereading equal to
  note-taking
• Less time than note taking
• Gives learner deliberate practice and
  retrieval practice
• (McDaniel, Howard, Einstein, 2009 Roediger
  Karpicke, 2006)

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Similar Schema

• SQ3R survey-question-read-recall-review
• PQR3 preview-question-read-recite-review

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• Tell students to note logical transitions and
  signal words
• Addition
• Cause-and-Effect
• Comparison
• Contrast
• Emphasis
• Illustration
• Review reading w/in 24 hrs. to move into
  long-term memory.

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Other Reading Methods for Strong Readers

• Marginalia record emotional reactions and/or
  summarize paragraph usually with underlining.
  Also effective as a supplement to
  Read-Recall-Review.
• Highlighting/Underlining

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Problems with Highlighting

• Too much text highlighted
• Doesnt improve recall
• When studying later, students
• recall highlighted text better but
  non-highlighted text less well.
• recall highlighted text as unrelated pieces of
  info, losing overall meaning and
  interrelationships.
• Kiewra. K.A. (2005). Learn how to study and
  SOAR to success. Upper Saddle River, NJ
  Pearson Prentice Hall.

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7. Draw visual representationsof readings
class notes and to review

• Require integration, organization, structuring of
  knowledge how we remember long-term
• When reviewing, lower cognitive load require
  less working memory and fewer cognitive
  transformations than text
• Cue text and details
• better conceptual understanding, deeper
  learning, longer-term retention, easier retrieval
  

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Topic
Topic
Main Idea
Sub Topic
Sub Topic
Topic
Sub Topic
Sub Topic
Concept Map - hierarchical
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Mind Map free association or hierarchical
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Flowchart sequence of events or operations
causal or procedural process
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Cycle
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Duration (Years or Months) Causes How Started Positive Effects for U.S. Negative Effects for U.S.
World War I
World War II
Korean War
Vietnam War
Desert Storm
Iraq
Matrix classify or compare-and-contrast types
of X
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Concept Circle or Venn Diagrams show
relationships among concepts, categories,
equations, topics, principles
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8. Prepare intelligently for tests.

• List major content areas and designate their
  relative importance.
• Within content areas, what you should be able to
  do or demonstrate?
• No internal-states verbs like know,
  understand
• Use recognize, identify, reproduce,
  apply, analyze, relate X and Y, create,
  evaluate.
• Prepare to do/demonstrate these actions.

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Know what these verbs mean to your instructor.

• Analyze
• Devise
• Enumerate
• Generate
• Justify
• Synthesize
• Validate

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9. Learn lessons from tests. Post-Test
Self-Regulatory Activities

• Post-graded exam reflection
• Diff betw expected and actual performance
• Hours spent studying enough?
• How you spent exam-prep time
• Reasons why you lost points
• What you will do differently to prep for next
  exam

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• Problems Re-solve incorrect problems (or similar
  ones) and write out an error analysis or the
  correct strategy.
• Write study game plan based on test 1 results
  assess and revise plan after each successive test
  is returned.
• Test Autopsy error analysis (form)

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Question Profile Question Profile Question Profile Reason Answer Was Incorrect Reason Answer Was Incorrect Reason Answer Was Incorrect Reason Answer Was Incorrect
Question Missed Points Lost Type of Question Carelessness Unfamiliar Material Misinterpreted Question Did not finish







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Study websites on studying.

• www.aw-bc.com/etips/usahome/index.html
• www.educationatlas.com/study-skills.html
• www.studygs.net/murder.htm
• www.how-to-study.com/pqr.htm
• www.mindtools.com/rdstratg.html
• www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/stdyhlp.html
• www.studygs.net
• www.samford.edu/how-to-study - videos