The V word and the N word

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The V word and the N word

• Computer Science Fellows
• Michael M. Grant, PhD
• August 1, 2006

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What is learning?
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What are your beliefs about learning?
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Characteristics of learning

• Persistent change in human performance or
  performance potential
• Caused by interaction and/or experience with the
  world

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Components of a Learning Theory

• Results
• Means
• Inputs

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An Evolution Learning
Behaviorism Observable Behaviors Stimulus gt
Response
Cognitivism Effective encoding for effective
retrieval
Constructivism Knowledge construction by
interactions with others the environment
Evolution here does not assume better.
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The V word

• Constructivism

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Constructivism

• Learners construct their own learning
• The dependence of new learning on students
  existing understanding
• The critical role of social interaction for
  personal knowledge construction
• The necessity of authentic learning tasks for
  meaningful learning

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Constructivist Learning Tasks

• Students are intentionally confronted with
  complex tasks that can only be performed with a
  teachers guidance and that create an immediate
  need to develop relevant skills. Students learn
  what they need to know in order to figure out how
  to accomplish authentic but difficult tasks
  beyond their current ability levels.

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Behaviorist Cognitivist Learning Tasks

• The more traditional approach involves isolating
  the basic skills, teaching these separately and
  building these incrementally before tackling
  higher order tasks.

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Myths about Constructivism

• There is no focus for learning, no clear goal.
• Constructivist based instruction is not
  thoughtfully planned careful preparation is less
  important than in traditional instruction.
• There is an absence of structure for learning.
• As long as learners are involved in discussion
  and other forms of social interaction, learning
  will take place.
• Since teachers are not primarily engaged in
  delivering instruction, their roles in the class
  are less important.

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Challenges for Constructivism

• Degree of structure in learning tasks
• Efficiency of learning
• Efficacy of learner struggle

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Rubber Meets the Road

• Learners should be encouraged to raise questions,
  generate hypotheses and test their validity.
• Learners should be challenged by ideas and
  experiences that generate inner cognitive
  conflict (disequilibrium).
• Students should be given time to engage in
  reflection through journal writing, drawing,
  modeling and discussion.

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Rubber Meets the Road contd

• The learning environment should provide ample
  opportunities for dialogue.
• It is the students themselves who must
  communicate their ideas to others, defend and
  justify them.
• Students should work with big ideas, central
  organizing principles that have the power to
  generalize across experiences and disciplines.

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The N Word

• Constructionism

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Constructionism

• Conceptualized by S. Papert at MIT
• Borne out of Constructivism
• High emphasis on hands-on and minds-on
• Personal knowledge construction

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Five Tenets

• Individuals learn best when constructing an
  external artifact
• The artifact can be reflected upon
• The artifact can be shared
• The artifact must be personally meaningful
• Constructionism encourages multiple learning
  modalities and multiple representations of
  knowledge.

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Whats teaching?

• What I didnt ask you

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Putting the V Word and N Word to Work

• Project-based Learning
• Problem-based Learning
• Goal-based Scenarios

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Project-based Learning

• An introduction
• Definition of the learning task
• Procedure for investigation
• Suggested resources

• Learning support mechanisms
• Collaborations
• Reflections and transfer activities

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Problem-based Learning

• A closing analysis of what has been learned from
  work with the problem and a discussion of what
  concepts and principles have been learned is
  essential.
• Self and peer assessment should be carried out at
  the completion of each problem and at the end of
  every curricular unit.
• The activities carried out in problem-based
  learning must be those valued in the real world.
• Student examinations must measure student
  progress towards the goals of problem-based
  learning.
• Problem-based learning must be the pedagogical
  base in the curriculum and not part of a didactic
  curriculum.

• Students must have the responsibility for their
  own learning.
• The problem simulations used in problem-based
  learning must be ill-structured and allow for
  free inquiry.
• Learning should be integrated from a wide range
  of disciplines or subjects.
• Collaboration is essential.
• What students learn during their self-directed
  learning must be applied back to the problem with
  reanalysis and resolution.

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Goal-based Scenarios

• Target skills have been identified for the
  learners.
• Mission refers to the primary goal that the
  learner pursues within the scenario.
• Mission focus determines the class of task the
  learner will accomplish (i.e., Design, Diagnosis,
  Discovery, Control).
• Cover story refers to the premise designed by the
  instructor under which the mission will be
  pursued.
• Operations are the specific activities (tasks)
  learners will go through to learn the target
  skills in the mission.

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Stimulate thinking in learners that results in
meaningful learning, deeper understanding and
transfer of learning to real world contexts.
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How do you define learning and teaching?

• How does that impact how your students learn?