Effective Instruction for STEM Disciplines E-Book

Edward J. Mastascusa

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 385

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Praise for Effective Instruction for STEM Disciplines "The world of today's learners is a multimode, information-intensive universe of interactive bursts and virtual exchanges, yet our teaching methods retain the outdated characteristics of last generation's study-and-drill approach. New pedagogical methods, detailed and justified in this groundbreaking work, are essential to prepare students to confront the concerns of the future. The book challenges our traditional assumptions and informs the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) community of the latest research on how the brain learns and retains information, how enhanced student engagement with subject material and its context is essential to deep learning, and how to use this knowledge to structure STEM education approaches that work." --DAVID V. KERNS, JR., Franklin and Mary Olin Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and founding provost, Olin College "Every STEM faculty member should have this book. It provides a handy introduction to the 'why and how' of engaging students in the learning process." --DAVID VOLTMER, professor emeritus, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and American Society for Engineering Education Fellow "The poor quality of math and science education and the shortage of well-qualified graduates are acknowledged almost daily in the U.S. press. Here the authors provide much-needed insights for educators seeking to improve the quality of STEM education as well as to better prepare students to solve the problems they will confront in our increasingly technology-driven world." --KEITH BUFFINTON, interim dean of engineering, Bucknell University

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title

Copyright

Series

Dedication

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

1 Is There a Problem?

Some Evidence for the Problem

What Do Others Think?

Summary

What’s Coming Up

2 Learning and Memory

What Happens in a Typical Class Period?

Models of the Learning Process

A Historical Note

The Process of Constructing Knowledge

The Overall Model

What Happens to Material in Working Memory?

Working Memory Has Limited Capacity

What Is Long-Term Memory?

How Is Material Stored in Long-Term Memory?

What Happens as Students Learn?

An Analogy Between Schemata and Web Pages

Perception, Processing, and Schemata

Building Schemata

What Is the Present State?

Visualizing Schemata Using Concept Maps

Summary

What’s Coming Up

3 Perception

What Do We Want Students to Get from the Perception Stage?

The Presentation

Some Further Points

Summary

What’s Coming Up

4 Processing and Active Learning

Integrating Perceptions into Long-Term Memory—Processing

What Could Happen as Learners Process Material?

Getting to the Evidence

The Evidence for Active Learning

Reflections on the Evidence for the Effectiveness of Active Learning

Questions About the Meaning of the Evidence

Summary

What’s Coming Up

5 Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives

Do We Understand What’s Wrong?

Getting to Know Bloom’s Taxonomy

Summary

What’s Coming Up

6 Interactive Engagement and Active Learning

The Testing Phenomenon

What Is a Retrieval Event?

Testing Phenomenon Active Learning Techniques

Desirable Difficulties

Some Active Learning Techniques—Ways to Practice Retrieval

Summary

What’s Coming Up

7 Some Active Learning Techniques

Reciprocal Teaching

The Method of Contrasting Cases

Making Lecturing Interactive

Contextual Interference

What Kinds of Text Materials Are Good?

Summary

What’s Coming Up

8 Problem-Based Learning

A Historical Note

What Is the Problem?

The Problem Is the Problems

What Makes a Good Problem?

Putting It All together

Collaborative and Cooperative Learning

Summary

What’s Coming Up

9 Transfer

Robust Learning

Working Toward Transfer

Summary

What’s Coming Up

10 Teaching for Transfer

Long-Term Retention

Decontextualization

Some Other Observations

Hugging and Bridging

Using Analogies

Summary

What’s Coming Up

11 Applications

Some Reflections

Some Things to Consider

Working Through the Learning Sequence

Addressing Misconceptions

Perception

Processing

And Then There’s Transfer

Collaborative Learning

Our Final Reflections

Some Final Words

Appendix  Bloom’s Taxonomy and Educational Outcomes

Course Outcomes

Knowledge Representations Depend on the Level in Bloom’s Taxonomy

Glossary

References

Index

End User License Agreement

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cover

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Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

List of Illustrations

2 Learning and Memory

Figure 2.1 The Simplified Atkinson–Shiffren Memory Model (1968)

Figure 2.2 A More Complete Memory Model

Figure 2.3 Simple Expression of Kirchhoff’s Current Law

Figure 2.4 Complex Structure of Kirchhoff’s Current Law

Figure 2.5 Concept Map

Figure 2.6 Initial Concept Map for Chemical Reaction Engineering

Figure 2.7 Final Concept Map for Chemical Reaction Engineering

4 Processing and Active Learning

Figure 4.1. Two Channel Model of the Memory System

8 Problem-Based Learning

Figure 8.1 A Simple Operational Amplifier Circuit

Figure 8.2 An Operational Amplifier Weighted Summation Circuit

9 Transfer

Figure 9.1 Abstract Schema Linked to Several Applications

List of Tables

6 Interactive Engagement and Active Learning

Table 6.1 Some Experiments Comparing Studying and Testing

7 Some Active Learning Techniques

Table 7.1 Levels Attained in Bloom’s Taxonomy

Effective Instruction for STEM Disciplines

From Learning Theory to College Teaching

Edward J. Mastascusa

William J. Snyder

Brian S. Hoyt

Maryellen Weimer

Consulting Editor

Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mastascusa, E. J.

Effective instruction for STEM disciplines: from learning theory to college teaching / Edward J. Mastascusa, William J. Snyder, Brian S. Hoyt.

p. cm. -- (The Jossey-Bass higher and adult education series)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-47445-7 (hardback)

9781118025925 (ebk)

9781118025932 (ebk)

9781118025949 (ebk)

 1. College teaching. 2. Effective teaching. 3. Learning. I. Snyder, William J., 1941- II. Hoyt, Brian S., 1963- III. Title.

LB2331.E41 2011

378.1'25--dc22

2011002096

The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series

We dedicate this book to our parents, families, and all our students.

Foreword

When I first read this book as a manuscript, I was impressed. Here was a group of engineers willing to say that teachers in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines ought to be looking at the research on learning and implementing it in their classrooms. They deliver this message clearly, unequivocally, and with compelling logic.

They aren’t the first or only ones to point out the need for change. In a review of the research on active learning, Joel Michael (2006) of the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Physiology at Rush Medical College writes

As scientists, we would never think of writing a grant proposal without a thorough knowledge of the relevant literature, nor would we go into the laboratory to actually do an experiment without knowing about the most current methodologies being employed in the field. Yet, all too often, when we go into the classroom to teach, we assume that nothing more than our expert knowledge of the discipline and our accumulated experiences as students and teachers are required to be a competent teacher. But this makes no more sense in the classroom than it would in the laboratory. The time has come for all of us to practice ‘evidence-based’ teaching. (p. 165)

Engineers are precise and systematic, and these authors are no exception. They move through the research carefully, explaining in readable prose what has been documented and what those who teach in these disciplines ought to do about it. The changes they advocate are sensible and doable. The authors write cognizant of the realities of higher education—increasing class sizes, students not as well prepared as they once were, and students beset with pressures that often diminish the time and energy they can devote to study. They write knowing about those aspects of instruction teachers can control (like when and how to use PowerPoint) and those beyond their control (like the configuration of the rooms and labs where they teach). They also write with the voice of experience. They have tried the changes they recommend, and they are willing to admit that some of their first attempts were not as successful as subsequent ones.

It is unusual, but highly appropriate, in books on teaching and learning to hear the voice of experience coupled with careful study of the literature. The book then becomes what Michael calls for in his quote—a description of what “evidence-based teaching” looks like in the STEM disciplines. The description of teaching laid out in this book is encouraging because, although it calls for change, many of the changes are not all that radical. For example, these authors point to research documenting that taking an exam can be a significant learning experience. That requires faculty to reconsider the design of exam experiences and help students see their learning potential beyond how many points exams are worth. In another chapter, based on research, they recommend against telling stories when presenting concepts. Anecdotes may interest the students, but stories can distract and muddle the mental models students need to be creating. They offer sanguine advice illustrated with examples showing how problems currently assigned can be reformulated and used in problem-based learning activities. After reading the book, it’s hard to understand why more faculty aren’t making the changes consistent with research findings.

You will find this an eminently readable book. It makes educational research understandable—no small accomplishment, given that educational research, like research in so many of our fields, is written to inform research more often than practice. The authors write with voice—you can hear them talking, you can tell that they’re college teachers themselves. They make their way through the topics in a conversational style with an occasional interjection of humor.

It is a book written by engineers who imagine that learning can be built much like the structures and circuits they construct. Even though learning construction may not be quite as definitive as electrical engineering, teaching can be designed so that it more directly and systematically promotes learning. This book shows how that happens and how to make changes in your teaching to better facilitate learning for students.

Maryellen WeimerProfessor Emeritus, Penn State University

Reference

Michael, J. “Where’s the Evidence That Active Learning Works?” Advances in Physiology Education, 30, 159–167, 2006

Preface

Think back to when you were a new college professor—or ahead to that time if you are just starting. You have just finished your PhD, have accepted a teaching position at a college, and are about to face your first class. What do you do?