4 ms·

> We have the "best" teachers already providing materials: they're in books The best teachers are those that can induce pro-learning behavior in others, and bo

by belorn 7y ago

> We have the "best" teachers already providing materials: they're in books The best teachers are those that can induce pro-learning behavior in others, and books are a good medium to learn from once induced but quite poor in inducing the necessary behavior by itself. Videos are usually better than books, but tend to fall behind compared to the best in-person teachers. That said, no school is actually teaching people how to trigger pro-learning behavior in themselves. It is always assumed that either students learn it as a side product from all the other classes, or it is the responsibility of the teacher. That in my view what is missing from the picture when we a transitioning away from in-person education system into a online system.

michaelt 7y ago
Plenty of schools and colleges include a 'study skills' class. It's just usually in a 'general studies' class and focuses on mnemonics and mind-maps.
- chosenbreed37 7y ago
  I wonder if the pro-learning behaviour previously mentioned is something qualitatively different from the study skills. I mean study skills offer the mechanics for studying better. But I guess what we're looking is for something that triggers a desire/willingness to learn. I imagine that most people who have completed high school or even undergraduate courses must have experienced this at some point at some level for some subject matters. Whatever we call it, once this has been activated it becomes easier for the student to successfully direct their own learning to some extent.
- swiley 7y ago
  Idk I’ve always felt like the “study skills” classes where just a way to extract money from freshmen without having to teach anything.
rsfern 7y ago
I took an evidence-based teaching course in grad school, and one of the things that really stuck with me was this idea that teaching should be continually framed around clear learning goals and a growth-oriented mindset. I think a clear value proposition is something that’s really lacking for students at all levels. I remember a lot of vague “you’ll need this later” sentiment from my time in school, which is just not motivating. That and counteracting the “I’m just not good at math (or whatever subject)” mentality would go a long way to addressing this self-learning issue
- cloudier 7y ago
  This is something I’m interested in. What did the course cover — things like active and passive learning, and constructionism? Does the book Ultralearning cover most of the same things? (Here is a summary: https://www.njlifehacks.com/ultralearning-by-scott-young-book-summary/ https://www.njlifehacks.com/ultralearning-by-scott-young-boo...)
  - rsfern 7y ago
    The course is CMU’s 38-801 (evidence based teaching in STEM). I don’t think there is a course website, but CMU’s course design page has a pretty good overview of the material covered [0]. It was a cool project-based course that covered a lot of different teaching methods (including active learning), assessment and feedback, and course design. A lot of this was motivated by primary teaching and learning literature. We also read through this book [1], which I found pretty interesting. The learning principles in the summary you linked are also major themes we covered in the course, but I think the emphasis is a bit different because the 38-801 audience is primarily future educators (who are of course also lifelong learners) 0: https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/index.html https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/index.html 1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3557656/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3557656/
derefr 7y ago
Proper teaching looks less like what most teachers do, and more like what (good) game designers do. • Hide the tutorial for the problem, in the "shape" of the problem, so the student won't even realize they're being taught something. (See e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH2wGpEZVgE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH2wGpEZVgE) • Make the student/player feel a need for a new tool, before the tool is introduced. Have them try (and perhaps fail) to solve the problem without the tool first. (See the "keys and doors" discussion in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouO1R6vFDBo&list=PLc38fcMFcV_ul4D6OChdWhsNsYY3NA5B2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouO1R6vFDBo&list=PLc38fcMFcV...) • For each new concept, present its lesson as a series of spaced-chunk challenges, where each chunk ramps the difficulty up to a climax and then down again to a gentle denouement. Give the learner's mind a chance to feel a sense of mastery over already-understood concepts, not just the continual stress of new challenges. (See https://boingboing.net/2015/09/14/super-mario-maker-levels.html https://boingboing.net/2015/09/14/super-mario-maker-levels.h... or http://gameshelf.jmac.org/2011/12/a-pleasant-journey-through-nightsky/ http://gameshelf.jmac.org/2011/12/a-pleasant-journey-through...) • Gate problems behind proof of mastery of previous micro-skills, not just in the form of obvious tests, but also in the form of multi-step problems for new knowledge which can't even be approached without also having another prerequisite skill. Ensure that it becomes impossible to "leave behind" a foundational skill—i.e. ensure that the learner will get stuck without the new tool, and so realize they need to backtrack to pick up that tool, rather than flailing uselessly at the next problem. • Meter and visualize progress. Map acquisition of micro-skills directly to some sort of measurement the student can look at (a level number; a tech tree; a skill grid), to feel that they're making progress. Ensure the system is designed such that this number goes up not just when they make progress on new skills, but also when they go back to shore up their knowledge of old skills. Etc.

by belorn 7y ago

michaelt 7y ago

Plenty of schools and colleges include a 'study skills' class. It's just usually in a 'general studies' class and focuses on mnemonics and mind-maps.

chosenbreed37 7y ago
I wonder if the pro-learning behaviour previously mentioned is something qualitatively different from the study skills. I mean study skills offer the mechanics for studying better. But I guess what we're looking is for something that triggers a desire/willingness to learn. I imagine that most people who have completed high school or even undergraduate courses must have experienced this at some point at some level for some subject matters. Whatever we call it, once this has been activated it becomes easier for the student to successfully direct their own learning to some extent.
swiley 7y ago
Idk I’ve always felt like the “study skills” classes where just a way to extract money from freshmen without having to teach anything.

rsfern 7y ago

I took an evidence-based teaching course in grad school, and one of the things that really stuck with me was this idea that teaching should be continually framed around clear learning goals and a growth-oriented mindset. I think a clear value proposition is something that’s really lacking for students at all levels. I remember a lot of vague “you’ll need this later” sentiment from my time in school, which is just not motivating. That and counteracting the “I’m just not good at math (or whatever subject)” mentality would go a long way to addressing this self-learning issue

cloudier 7y ago
This is something I’m interested in. What did the course cover — things like active and passive learning, and constructionism? Does the book Ultralearning cover most of the same things? (Here is a summary: https://www.njlifehacks.com/ultralearning-by-scott-young-book-summary/ https://www.njlifehacks.com/ultralearning-by-scott-young-boo...)
- rsfern 7y ago
  The course is CMU’s 38-801 (evidence based teaching in STEM). I don’t think there is a course website, but CMU’s course design page has a pretty good overview of the material covered [0]. It was a cool project-based course that covered a lot of different teaching methods (including active learning), assessment and feedback, and course design. A lot of this was motivated by primary teaching and learning literature. We also read through this book [1], which I found pretty interesting. The learning principles in the summary you linked are also major themes we covered in the course, but I think the emphasis is a bit different because the 38-801 audience is primarily future educators (who are of course also lifelong learners) 0: https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/index.html https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/index.html 1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3557656/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3557656/

derefr 7y ago

Proper teaching looks less like what most teachers do, and more like what (good) game designers do. • Hide the tutorial for the problem, in the "shape" of the problem, so the student won't even realize they're being taught something. (See e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH2wGpEZVgE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH2wGpEZVgE) • Make the student/player feel a need for a new tool, before the tool is introduced. Have them try (and perhaps fail) to solve the problem without the tool first. (See the "keys and doors" discussion in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouO1R6vFDBo&list=PLc38fcMFcV_ul4D6OChdWhsNsYY3NA5B2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouO1R6vFDBo&list=PLc38fcMFcV...) • For each new concept, present its lesson as a series of spaced-chunk challenges, where each chunk ramps the difficulty up to a climax and then down again to a gentle denouement. Give the learner's mind a chance to feel a sense of mastery over already-understood concepts, not just the continual stress of new challenges. (See https://boingboing.net/2015/09/14/super-mario-maker-levels.html https://boingboing.net/2015/09/14/super-mario-maker-levels.h... or http://gameshelf.jmac.org/2011/12/a-pleasant-journey-through-nightsky/ http://gameshelf.jmac.org/2011/12/a-pleasant-journey-through...) • Gate problems behind proof of mastery of previous micro-skills, not just in the form of obvious tests, but also in the form of multi-step problems for new knowledge which can't even be approached without also having another prerequisite skill. Ensure that it becomes impossible to "leave behind" a foundational skill—i.e. ensure that the learner will get stuck without the new tool, and so realize they need to backtrack to pick up that tool, rather than flailing uselessly at the next problem. • Meter and visualize progress. Map acquisition of micro-skills directly to some sort of measurement the student can look at (a level number; a tech tree; a skill grid), to feel that they're making progress. Ensure the system is designed such that this number goes up not just when they make progress on new skills, but also when they go back to shore up their knowledge of old skills. Etc.