Learning:

From Speculation to Science

Learning, Collaboration &
Creativity

Cognitive psychology
Developmental research
Learning and transfer
Social psychology, cognitive psychology,
and anthropology
Neuroscience
Collaborative studies
Emerging technologies

Learning
Acquisition of skill: simple reading, writing,
and calculating
Think & read critically, express clearly and
persuasively, solve complex problem
Remember knowledge => use knowledge
in new settings

Education
Helping people develop the intellectual
tools and learning strategies need to
acquire the knowledge that allow people to
think productively

Behaviorism
From subject human consciousness to
precise analysis
Connections between stimuli and response
Motivation strengthen the connections:
hunger, external force, reward, punishment

Cognitive Science
Understanding, reasoning and thinking
Multi-approach: anthropology, linguistics,
philosophy, psychology, computer science,
neuroscience.

Learning with understanding

Memorizing understanding & making
sense
Disconnected facts understanding and
transferring

Social Constructivism
Transferring/receiving knowledge to
construction
Learning in a social and cultural context
Zone of proximal development
Community of practice

Active learning
People take control of their owning learning
Meta-cognition: Peoples ability to predict their
performance on various tasks.
Self-assessment, reflection on process
Transferring learning to new settings

How do CS students learn

programming language?

Key findings (1)

Students come to classroom with
preconceptions about how the world work. If
their initial understanding is not engaged.
They may fail to grasp the new concepts and
information that are taught,
They may learn them for purposes of a test but
revert to their preconceptions outside the
classroom.

Fish is Fish
People construct new knowledge and
understanding based on what they already
know and believe
Misconception:
The earth is flat?
Constructivism?
Seasons?

Key finding (2)

To develop competence in an area of inquiry,
students must:
(a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge
(b) understand facts and idea in the context of a
conceptual framework, and
(c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate
retrieval and application

Geography
Learning the boundary of countries
Good memory is sufficient ?
Organize information into a conceptual
framework greater transfer
Mississippi river Nile

Key findings (3)

A meta-cognitive approach to instruction
can help students learn to take control of
their own learning by defining learning
goals and monitoring their progress in
achieving them.

Meta-cognition
Peoples ability to predict their
performance on various tasks.
Ability to predict task outcome,
Explain to oneself to improve understanding,
Note failure to comprehend,
Plan ahead,
Apportion time and memories

These abilities can be improved

by instructional approach.
Reciprocal teaching (Palincsar &
Brown, 1984)

The strategies to improve metacognition are not generic across

subjects.

Implications for teaching (1)

Teachers must draw out and work with
pre-understanding s that students bring
with them
Formative Assessment

Implications for teaching (2)

Teachers must teach SOME subject
matter in depth, providing many examples
in which the same concept is at work and
providing a firm foundation of factual
knowledge.
Assessment
Curriculum design (across school years)
Progress of inquiry

Implications for teaching (3)

The teaching of meta-cognitive skills
should be integrated into the curriculum in
a variety subject areas.

Classroom environment (1)

Classrooms must be Learner centered
Cultural difference regarding collaboration,
Students theory of what it means to be
intelligent, performance oriented or learning
oriented

Classroom environment (2)

Classrooms must be knowledge centered
Learning with understanding
Mile wide but inch deep
Knowledge for new learning

Classroom environment (3)

Classrooms must be formative
assessment centered
Visualizing student pre-conception
From informal to formal thinking

Classroom environment (4)

Classrooms must be community centered
Building sense of community
build knowledge on each others knowledge
Questioning, argumentation, contribution,
ownership of ideas

Discussion
What is the main message of this article?

Discussion
Describe your prior experience of learning
(arithmetic, problem solving, etc.). How do
you valuate these experience? Do you
apply the knowledge in the new learning
setting?

Group creative work