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Are you wasting your students’ time?

Do you tell students to highlight or underline material in order to learn it better? Do you provide them with keyword mnemonics to help with memory? Do you ask them to visualize concepts in order to better understand them? Do you have them summarize what they have learned?

In the article Improving Students’ Learning with Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions from Cognitive and Educational Psychology, published by the Association for Psychological Science, the authors point out that these commonly used techniques offer very low payback for students.

The paper looked at learning techniques that teachers teach students to do on their own to see which ones are useful strategies for learning, and which ones are just wastes of time.

A drawing of a left hand illustrating Fleming's left hand rule (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Which techniques are effective?

1. Practice tests: when they self-test or take practice tests in order to learn and assess their laerning
2. Distributed practice: when they spread out their study activities over time instead of cramming them all into one timeframe
3. Elaborative interrogation: when they stop and ask themselves why a fact or concept is true
4. Self-explanation: when they reflect on how new information Is related to what they already know, or when they explain the steps involved in solving a problem
5. Interleaved practice: when they mix different kinds of problems within a study session

Note that three of the techniques involve practice. The very process of answering questions improves knowledge and retention. By distributing the practice over time, and by varying the content practiced (as opposed to block practice, where a particular skill is practiced repeatedly, and then the next skill, etc.), the practice time can be maximized to produce the most learning in the least amount of time.

The other two techniques involve reflection. While learning or reading, students reflect on how this material relates to what they already know or do, or they stop and ask themselves why the specific passage or content is true.

As we teach students to become self-directed learners. We should focus on these five techniques that are proven to work

You can read the full 50+ page study here. I should also point out that this article was brought to my attention by Steve Peha at Teaching That Makes Sense.

Finally, there has been a lot of Cognitive Psychology research into the most effective ways to use practice to enhance memory and learning. Two young companies with products based on that research are Foundations in Learning in reading and Insight Learning in Math. These products are focused the most efficient ways, based on the most current research, to get students to proficiency and fluency.

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Sorry , Dilbert, You're Just Too Much of A Distraction

Are they having fun or are they learning?

Lucas Gillispie (above) works with teachers in his district to offer semester, full-year, and after school programs to Middle School students using games, or, more precisely Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). He co-authored a full one-year ELA curriculum using World of Warcraft (WoW), maintains a website on courses using Minecraft, and runs a third website to start showcasing curriculum that can be followed using practically any game. This is his fourth year teaching with games.

I recently got a chance to talk to Lucas about using MMORPGs for learning.

Do you incorporate the learning into the games, or do you offer the games as a reward?

Students play, and they learn, and then they learn some more. For example, students might get together in World of Warcraft to form a player guild. This could be across classes or schools. They look at what a guild can do. They come up with what they want this guild to do. They discuss and research what they want their reputation to be, and then they write a mission statement for the guild. They research mission statements to figure out what a good one is, and then they write one. They decide on norms of behavior and rules. And they compare what they’ve done in WoW to what they experience in real life. This lesson combines digital citizenship and writing.

Are there other types of writing, other than mission statements?

Here is an example of creative writing. Students study riddle poems and look at examples. Using what they have learned about World of Warcraft, they create their own riddle poems for that world. They get feedback about the poems from friends before going public with them. They then go into a crowded area in that world to challenge other players to answer their riddle poems and give prizes. In this process they have researched, written, given constructive feedback, and performed for a real virtual audience. Then they reflect on the experience.

In another type of exercise, students look at characters and how they impact the storyline of the world. They are learning to consider characterization and point of view. We’ve had them tweet in character as they were acting in WoW. We have quests where they use argumentative writing. They write fan fiction, writing from their character’s point of view.

We’ve had them write reports on books like The Hobbit, relating their quests in WoW to the hero journey, and then relate those to their real world experiences as well.

All these lessons are available on our website.

Do you recommend World of Warcraft to other schools?

We’ve had about 20 schools use our curriculum, and I am often asked to speak. The problem with WoW is the cost. It costs $15 per month per student.

That’s one of the reasons we tried Minecraft. Minecraft is like a virtual world made of an infinite supply of Legos. Just think of the lessons you could create out of that!

Students can design buildings. They can design roller coasters and study forces in motion, like determining where the potential or kinetic energy would be highest. They can recreate scenes from literature. We’ve had students recreate the arena from the Hunger Games, replay some of the scenes, and then reflect on what they created and what happened.

We’ve had elementary students research landmarks and attractions, recreate them, create virtual tours, and then post them on Youtube.

We’ve had students look at the human impact on ecology, like what happens to wildlife when you deforest an area, or how could they build environments that supported wildlife by counting the animals after making structures. Then they related what they learned to events that happened in the real world.

What about other games?

We are building the Story and Game Academy website to show that if you have access to any gaming platform, you have access to learning.

What kind of results do you see?

There have been lots of comments from other teachers and parents. All of the students showed growth, although we have an admittedly small sample size.

A lot of what students learn doesn’t fit into standardized testing. In addition to math, ELA, science, or other academic subjects, students are also learning soft skills like solving fuzzy problems where the issues are not clearly defined, leadership, conflict resolution, and working as part of a team to accomplish a group goal.

Teachers play along with the students, and you always have to be ready with teachable moments when they happen.

How would a school or teacher get started?

I have posted a good overview of games and learning in the classroom on SlideShare.

On the Minecraft in School Wiki, we have instructions on setting up Minecraft for a school, with Math, Science, and ELA lessons and ideas, and we have links to other good resources to get started.

We are also working on creating PD, and I am often asked to speak at conferences.

Endnotes

Students having fun while learning? What a concept.

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Review of EDventures 2013

This article is written by Farimah Schuerman.

Last week I attended the Edventures 2013 event of the Education Industry Association.  Two presentations on Friday, one of which was a joint presentation with Charlene Blohm of C. Blohm & Associates, but, like every such gathering, as much was learned if not more, than was shared in our presentations.  Intimate sessions, plenty of networking, made this a really valuable two days. I was particularly intrigued to see how the SES (Supplemental Education Services) companies are reinventing themselves into services that collaborate with local school districts, often taking on roles that the districts can’t always provide internally. 

Three hot topics in the sessions included are summarized briefly here. 

EIA is an association with roots in much of the for-profit world of education, so it was entirely fitting that the initial presentation was by Michael B. Horn of the Christensen Institute, whose new book, Private Enterprise and Public Education with Frederick M. Hess, on this topic is one I’ll be taking on my summer read.  Some of the questions he posed and answered:

• Are there incentives to encourage student centered learning in the for profit sector?
• What are the taxonomies of technology-enabling for student centered learning?
  • Rotation: computer lab use
  • Flex: small group of computers which students use during free time
  • A la carte: a variety of applications to be used as any student needs
  • Enriched virtual school: complete integration of applications and systems in blended learning scenario
• How does innovation take hold? 
• How do you think about identifying ways to enter a market?
  • Solve old traditional problems,
  • Sell to educators in sustaining innovation models
  • Sell to educators in highly disruptive models

He thinks we are in a hybrid phase, not in true innovative mode, but that may come in time.  "Hybrid innovation combines old and new processes and serves existing users, “says Horn. Disruptive innovation seeks to reach new users who have not yet participated in that market. 

Much more to learn, but read the book, it was an enormously engaging talk. 

Another hot topic, Presented by Steve Ross of the Johns Hopkins Graduate School of Education, was evaluation, and how it might be done more efficiently, and also, how to differentiate the types:

• Valued: primarily quantitative, based on data, but not necessarily with a control group and not necessarily randomized
• Mixed methods which include both qualitative and quantitative data, done with 2 control and two samples. It is considered medium rigor and medium cost research, which might be done as qualitative with a single control group. This can be good in a portfolio, but is not valued in the What Works Clearinghouse. 
• Highly Valued would be: Mixed methods randomized control trial.  10 schools, student level score evaluations.  An example is one that NYC is currently doing in math program, being evaluated by the Johns Hopkins Graduate School of Education. 

Kerry Briggs of the Bush Institute also shared their goals and foci:

1. Economic growth to raise living standard
2. Women's health globally
3. Human freedom, advancing democracy
4. Veterans affairs
5. Women in general around civil society
6. Education reform, school leadership, middle school, accountability,

Check out how the US districts compare with nations around the world at: Globalreportcard.org

A very motivating speaker, Briggs also announced that Margaret Spelling would be joining the Institute.  

This is indeed an exciting time to be involved in education.

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Anthony Salcito's Daily EDventures [featured teacher] #PilGF

daily edventures | Our Future Demands STEM!