HOW PEOPLE LEARN: Proceedings from Two MSP Workshops from the National Research Council
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
NATIONAL SCIENCE RESOURCES CENTER
MATH/SCIENCE PARTNERSHIPS WORKSHOP
How People Learn
PLENARY AND BREAK-OUT SESSIONS
March 7-9, 2004
June 27-29, 2004
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COMBINED AGENDA OF THE MARCH AND JUNE WORKSHOPS
ARRANGED BY TOPIC
Opening Remarks by Workshop Date and Day
Bridging Research and Practice: An Examination of a Teaching and Learning Model
Participants will work in groups to examine a teaching and learning model based on a "floating and sinking" inquiry.
Sally Goetz Shuler, Executive Director, National Science Resources Center
Christos Zahopoulos, Director of Projects SEED & RE-SEED, Northeastern University
This presentation will provide participants with the opportunity to examine and discuss the characteristics of a research-based model of teaching and learning. The design of the session will be based on a learning cycle that begins with participants sharing their perspectives about the current and desired state of teaching and learning. Following the discussion, participants will be engaged in a hands-on investigation and review two videotapes of classrooms at the middle school level. Participants will be asked to reflection these experiences and to compare the ways in which they are or are not representative of effective teaching and learning.
Powerpoint Presentation for March Workshop
Keynote Address and Discussion: Research on Human Learning: Understanding and Applications
Jose Mestre, Professor of Physics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
A committee convened by the National Research Council released a report in 1999 titled How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, which not only synthesizes learning research from the past 25 years, but also presents exemplars of how this research can be applied to teach mathematics, science, and history. In this talk I will begin by summarizing the salient findings from that report as they apply to science learning. I will then, through an audience participation activity focusing on some simple physics concepts, model how learning research can be applied to teach science in a way that actively engages the learner. I will conclude by summarizing the implications of learning research to instruction.
Discussion of Principles of Learning as Applied to Higher Education
Bonnie Brunkhorst, Professor, Geological Sciences and Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, California State University, San Bernardino
This session will focus on the need to consider how to help our students develop conceptual understandings for applicability to further connections and usefulness in science and to real-world situations. Using student understandings of photosynthesis, we will discuss ways to identify and build fundamental understandings. One set of experiences in geological sciences and science and technology courses may assist consideration and transfer to each participant's areas of expertise, K-16.
How Students Reflect on Their Learning - Presentation and Interactive Discussion
Michael Martinez, Associate Professor, Department of Education, University of California, Irvine
The discovery of metacognition, and its theoretical elaboration, is a major breakthrough in recent decades of cognitive research. My goals are, first, to clarify the concept of metacognition and, second, to present some ideas about how metacognition can be taught. In addition to presenting these ideas, I hope to enter into discussion with you to advance our collective understanding of the interesting and important construct of metacognition.
Implications for MSPs (March 9, 2004)
Nancy Shapiro, Director, K-16 Initiatives, University System of Maryland and PI, Vertically Integrated Partnerships K-16
Implications for MSPs (June 29, 2004)
Dava Coleman, PRISM P-12 Coordinator, NE Georgia Region
Breakout Sessions (March 8, June 28)
Human Learning
Jose Mestre, Professor of Physics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
This session provides the opportunity for participants to ask additional questions about How People Learn, specifically, or research issues in science learning in general. Dr. Mestre will be available to expound on his earlier presentation and field questions. He can also discuss additional research findings related to the activity that he will do with you during the keynote address.
Transcript not availableHigher Education Applications
Bonnie Brunkhorst, Professor, Geological Science and Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, California State University, San Bernardino
Herbert Brunkhorst, Professor, Science Education and Biology, California State University, San Bernardino, and Steering Committee Member
Improving Teaching and Learning in Our Own Classrooms. Exploring the attributes of learning environments that need cultivation as outlined in How People Learn (p. 23-27).
Transcript not available
Handouts for breakout sessionK-12 Science and Mathematics Applications (March 8)
Mary Colvard, Consultant, New York State Education Department, and Steering Committee Member
Handouts for breakout session
Laura Maitland, Science Department Chair, W.C. Mepham High School, Bellmore, NY
Handouts for breakout session
Mary Kosky, retired, Department of Mathematics, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School, Burnt Hills, NY
Handouts for breakout session
By working through a series of activities focusing on cognition (learning, memory, and thinking), participants will gain a better understanding of metacognitive processes. Take-home activities will model how to engage students in recognizing what it means to "pay attention," how we put information into working memory, move it to long-term memory, and meaningfully connect it to prior knowledge in order to retrieve it later. Examples using science and mathematics concepts will be used to illustrate the importance of schema as they relate to reading and understanding.
Transcript not availableK-12 Science and Mathematics Applications (June 28, 2004)
Laura Maitland, Science Department Chair, W.C. Mepham High School, Bellmore, NY
Robert Walsh, Teacher of Mathematics and Computer Science, W.C. Mepham High School, Bellmore, NY
Transcript not available
Breakout Sessions (March 9, June 29)
Human Learning
Michael Martinez, Associate Professor, Department of Education, University of California, Irvine
Dr. Martinez will be available to expand on his earlier presentation and field questions.
Transcript not availableK-12 Science and Mathematics Applications (March 9)
Mary Colvard, Consultant, New York State Education Department, and Steering Committee Member
Laura Maitland, Science Instructor, W.C. Mepham High School, Bellmore, NY
Mary Kosky, retired, Department of Mathematics, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School, Burnt Hills, NYThis session will be divided into two segments. During the first, we will share
- activities that enhance the ability of students to read and conceptualize,
- student-designed laboratory investigations,
- formative and summative assessment strategies and why they are critical,
- methods for uncovering misconceptions,
- metacognitive strategies that foster thinking about thinking.
The second segment of this session will focus on mathematical applications. It will move from the conceptual to the concrete. By practicing what was learned earlier, participants will discuss how to construct and launch a hot air balloon. Mathematics and physics skills will be used to estimate the height and distance a balloon will actually fly.
Transcript not availableK-12 Science and Mathematics Applications
Laura Maitland, Science Department Chair, W.C. Mepham High School, Bellmore, NY
Robert Walsh, Teacher of Mathematics and Computer Science, W.C. Mepham High School, Bellmore, NYThis session will examine
Transcript not available
- activities that enhance the ability of students to read and conceptualize,
- formative and summative assessment strategies and why they are critical,
- methods for uncovering misconceptions,
- metacognitive strategies that foster thinking about thinking.