Economic Education and How People Learn

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Economic Education andHow People Learn

• Scott Simkins, Interim Director
• Academy for Teaching and Learning (ATL)
• North Carolina AT State University
• Acknowledgements Mark Maier, Glendale Community
  College, Glendale, CA, USA

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Learning and the Brain
What do we know about learners and how people
learn? Brain research, neurons, and synapses
Learning is a biological process - Robert
Leamnson
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Learning Sciences Research
What do we know about learners and how people
learn? learning sciences research and
implications for teaching
How People Learn Brain, Mind, Experience, and
School (2000) Bransford, Brown, and Cocking,
National Academies Press
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Learning Sciences Research
What do we know about learners and how people
learn? learning sciences research and
implications for teaching
How Students Learn History, Mathematics, and
Science in the Classroom (2005) Committee on How
People Learn, A Targeted Report for Teachers,
Center for Studies on Behavior and Development,
National Research Council
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A Focus on Learning

• The Goal Better Learning
• How can we apply and extend new knowledge about
  how people learn?
• How can we create learning environments that
  provide more opportunities for learning?

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Three Significant Learning Principles

• Engaging Students Prior Understandings
• Building Factual Knowledge and Conceptual
  Frameworks
• Developing Self-Monitoring Students

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Engaging Prior Understandings
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Engaging Prior Understandings
Preconceptions developed from everyday
experiences impose serious constraints on
understanding formal disciplines. - How Students
Learn History, Mathematics, and Science in the
Classroom

• Students have their own mental models already in
  place.
• Learning new ideas often requires unlearning
  prior understandings.
• Find out students prior understandings and help
  them challenge those preconceptions.

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Building Conceptual Frameworks

• Learning with understanding affects our ability
  to apply what is learned.
• - How Students Learn History, Mathematics, and
  Science in the Classroom
• Developing expert (vs. novice) learners, deep
  vs. surface learning
• Help students use concepts to organize
  information.
• To improve transfer of knowledge, encourage
  effort and practice, requesting multiple
  representations, and introduce desirable
  difficulties.
• Build upon mental models that are already in
  place.

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Building Conceptual Frameworks
Facts are important, but will be quickly
forgotten if not developed in a conceptual
framework.

• Depth matters more than breadth
• Give students lots of practice using concepts and
  theories applying them to real-world tasks.

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Developing Self-Monitoring Students

• You are the owners and operators of your own
  brain, but it came without an instruction book.
  We need to learn how we learn.
• - How Students Learn History, Mathematics, and
  Science in the Classroom
• Help students become aware of their learning
  processes.
• Encourage students to ask questions What
  information is needed? What do I know about this
  problem? How did I solve this?
• Encourage student reflection about the learning
  process.

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Developing Self-Monitoring Students

• Understanding how we
• know things matters,
• not just the things
• we know.
• Help students reflect on the thought process of
  knowing, not just the content.

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From Theory to Practice

• Potential Pedagogies to Promote Learning
• Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT)
• Problem-based learning
• Collaborative learning techniques (CoLTs)
• Context-rich problems
• Peer Instruction
• Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
• others

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Designing Learning Environments

• Knowledge-centered
• Experts vs. novices
• Transfer of knowledge
• Learner-centered
• Pre-conceptions
• Metacognition

• Assessment-centered
• Formative assessment and feedback
• Self-assessment
• Community-centered
• Knowledge is socially constructed
• Creating an environment for intentional learning

How People Learn Brain, Mind, Experience, and
School (2000) Bransford, Brown, and Cocking,
National Academies Press.