Another follow-up to the 2016 TLC — this year’s keynote address was delivered by Eddie Watson, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Georgia. He devoted part of his address to what the cognitive scientists and psychologists know about learning, and how we can put that knowledge to use in the classroom:
- Identify what your students already know and teach accordingly. Use knowledge probes, pre-semester surveys, and pre-test/post-test instruments.
- Performance followed by immediate feedback increases learning. The feedback doesn’t have to come from you — it can be just as effective if it comes from peers. [Perhaps this points to a reason why some simulations and games are pedagogically valuable.]
- Learning is often facilitated by social interaction. [See above.]
- Frequent testing promotes learning; it is more powerful than passive “studying.”
- Being able to actively process information — for example, by applying it in a particular context — tends to result in greater learning.
For additional details, read Daniel Willingham’s work, which is linked to this post and to the blogroll on the ALPS homepage.