Meeting The Challenge Learnings Not Memorizing

1
Meeting The ChallengeLearnings Not Memorizing??

• Helping Our Students Discover What Learning Is
• Carolyn Hopper

2

• Our concept of LEARNING is not the same concept
  most of our students have.

3
A Student Success Course is an ideal place to
help students discover what learning really is
4
Goals for Session

• Participates should be able to explain the
  learning process to their students.
• Participants will analyze how the learning
  process is modeled in student success courses.
• Participants will create models for processing
  learning for topics they teach and a sample model
  for a topic in a content area.

5
Modeling the Learning Process

• James Zull.The Art of Changing the Brain
  (Sterling, VA Stylus Publishing,2002)

6
4 Basic Functions of Brain

• Getting Information
• Making Meaning of Information
• Creating New Ideas
• Acting on Those Ideas

7
Learner Begins as

• Receiver of Knowledge

8
Gathering takes place in the sensory cortex
9
GatheringInformation Enters through Senses

• Four things that influence this gathering?
• Interest
• Intent
• Basic Background (prior knowledge)
• Understanding

10
This is where most of our students stop.

• They think their job is done
• And they are really proud.

11

• Learning originates in concrete experience.
• Learning depends on experience, but also requires
  reflection, developing abstractions, and actively
  testing abstractions.

James Zull. The Art of Changing the Brain
12
Most of our students think of learning as
synonymous with memorizing.

• We need to make our expectations clear and model
  in the classroom how to achieve the kind of
  learning we expect.

13
Learning is a Biological Change in the Brain

• Learning is not easy.
• Building new brain connections requires effort.

14
Brain-based or brain compatible learning is based
on how research in neuroscience suggests our
brain naturally learns best.
15
4 Basic Functions of Brain

• Getting Information
• Making Meaning of Information
• Creating New Ideas
• Acting on Those Ideas

16

• Reassemble
• Integrate
• Examine
• Look for Relevance and Meaning
• Search for Connections
• Make New Ones

17
Analyzing to Make MeaningREFLECTION

• Try to make personal
• Try to determine connection to past experiences
• Try to discover relevance and usefulness
• Try to discover what it's like that we already
  know.

18
Analyzing takes place in theBack Integrative
cortex
19
So what do we do to help students analyze?
Bloom Football example
20
Football

• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation

21
4 Basic Functions of Brain

• Getting Information
• Making Meaning of Information
• Creating New Ideas
• Acting on Those Ideas

22
CreatingConvert comprehension to

• Ideas
• Hypothesis
• Plans

23
Data is just data until the learner begins to
work with it

• Understanding is not ownership.
• When learners convert comprehension to ideas,
  hypotheses, plans, actions,
• Control shifts to learner.

.
24
Creating Takes Place in the front integrative
cortex
25
4 Basic Functions of Brain

• Getting Information
• Making Meaning of Information
• Creating New Ideas
• Acting on Those Ideas

26
Acting Test Ideas

• Writing
• Speaking
• Drawing
• Can you think of other ways?

27
Acting Takes Place in the Motor Cortex
28
Action completes the learning cycle

• Ideas need to be tested by writing, speaking or
  other means.
• Learner shifts from receiver to producer of
  knowledge.

29
Learner becomes

• Producer of Knowledge

30
As Student Success instructors we have a unique
opportunity.

• Most of the topics we teach already follow this
  model

31
We need to make students aware of the model
So that they can transfer it to content areas

• Gathering Information
• Analyzing Information
• Creating New information
• Acting on New information

32
Gathering Analyzing Creating Acting

• Time Management
• Critical Thinking
• Goal Setting
• Memory Principles
• Taking Notes
• Textbook Reading

• Managing Stress
• Learning Styles
• Taking Tests
• Using Resources
• Campus Safety
• Balancing Budget

33
Time Management

• Gather
• Benefits and principles of scheduling, how
  much time to allow for each class, ways to save
  time
• Analyze
• Analyze use of time with log
• Create
• Create a Master Schedule
• Act
• Follow Master Schedule
• Cycle begins again by making adjustment to Master
  Schedule

34
Critical Thinking

• Gather
• Information about Blooms Taxonomy
• Information about decision making
• Analyze
• Examples of each level of Blooms taxonomy
• Decisions you need to make
• Create
• Test questions at each level
• Plan for making decision
• Act
• Study using questions from higher order
  skills,find actual questions on tests you have
  taken
• Follow plan for decision

35
Goal Setting

• Gather
• Why set goals,elements of useful goals,
  guidelines to follow in setting goals
• Analyze
• Areas of your life themes that goals might take
• Where do you really want to be
• Create
• You tried to determine what you must do in order
  to reach your destination
• Act
• Write useful goals for different areas of your
  life
• Break goals into smaller shorter term goal Take
  first step Gather information necessary to reach
  goal.

36
We want to be sure that students can also apply
the process to content areas
37
Memory Principles

• Gather
• Analyze
• Create
• Act

38
Taking Notes

• Gather
• Analyze
• Create
• Act

39
Reading Textbooks

• Gather
• Analyze
• Create
• Act

40
Managing Stress

• Gather
• Analyze
• Create
• Act

41
Learning Styles

• Gather
• Analyze
• Create
• Act

42
Taking Tests

• Gather
• Analyze
• Create
• Act

43
Using Resources

• Gather
• Analyze
• Create
• Act

44
Campus Safety

• Gather
• Analyze
• Create
• Act

45
Balancing Budget

• Gather
• Analyze
• Create
• Act

46
Lesson in Content Area

• Gather
• Analyze
• Create
• Act

47
Contact information

• Dr. Carolyn Hopper
• Middle Tennessee State University
• chopper_at_mtsu.edu
• http//www.mtsu.edu/studskl/
• Practicing College Learning Strategies, 4th ed
  Houghton Mifflin,2007. (Cengage)
• (5th edition coming out in time for fall
  classes) To preorder a complimentary copy,
  request one at end of session.