An Overview of Selected Learning Theories about Student

An Overview of Selected Learning Theories about Student Learning Sanjay Goel www. goelsan. wordpress. com Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida, India sanjay. goel@jiit. ac. in, goelsan@yahoo. com Sanjay Goel, www. goelsan. wordpress. com

Computing Education • Weakest contribution of engineering education in computing related disciplines is in (58 professionals) – Decision making ability – Thinking ability – Procedural knowledge – Conceptual Knowledge – Learning ability Sanjay Goel, www. goelsan. wordpress. com 41% 24% 15% 3%

1. Soloway’s 1983 study at Yale: “The Rainfall Problem”: Write a program that repeatedly reads in positive integers, until it reads the integer 99999. After seeing 99999, it should print out the average. Only 14% of students CS 1 could solve this problem correctly. 2. Hestenes’ 1985 study: 80% students could state Newton’s Third Law at the beginning of the course… <15% of them fully understood it at the end. 3. Mc. Cracken’s 2001 MIMN study wrt CS 1: WAP to evaluate arithmetic expressions in a text file. The average score of 215 students was 21%. Many of the participants never got past the design part of the problem to write any code at all. 4. Tew’s 2010 Ph. D thesis 3 universities wrt CS 1: Majority of her 952 test-takers failed both pseudo-code and native language exams, based on a small subset of what anyone teaches in CS 1. Mark Guzdia, Education - From Science. Sanjay to Engineering: Exploring the dual nature of Goel, www. goelsan. wordpress. computing education research, CACM Feb 2011

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Sanjay Goel, www. goelsan. wordpress. com

Stages of Intellectual Development, W. G. Perry, 1970 • Two Central interwoven dynamics: – Confronting and coping with diversity and multiples: • Multiple opinions about a given subject or issue (1 -3); • Multiple contexts/perspectives from which to understand or analyze issues or arguments (4 - 6); • Multiple Commitments through which one defines his or her values and identity (7 - 9). – Evolution of meaning making about learning and self • Knowledge is seen as increasingly conjectural and uncertain, open to (and requiring) interpretation • Role of the student -- moving from a passive receptor of facts to an active agent in defining arguments and creating new knowledge. • Role of the teacher -- moving from an Authority as the source of "Truth" to an authority as a resource with specific expertise to share. Sanjay Goel, www. goelsan. wordpress. com

Stages of Intellectual Development, W. G. Perry, 1970 Sanjay Goel, www. goelsan. wordpress. com

Sanjay Goel, www. goelsan. wordpress. com

What kind of learning experiences caused the forward movement? • • • Unexpected results. Questions regarding evidence and choice. Variety of Observation. Absence of satisfactory answers from authority. Assignment at Bloom’s higher level, application in new context. • Engagement in Reasoning. Sanjay Goel, www. goelsan. wordpress. com

Learning retention rates: Some results Sources: Bruce Nyland, 1950’s Wiman and Mierhenry, 1960, 1969 Standard Oil of NY Socony-Vacuum Oil Company Dale and Nyland, 1985 Nyland/Dole, 1972 NTL Institute James Stice, 1984 Seminar Gustafson, 1985 Brady, 1989 Glasser, 1990 Bruce Nyland, 2000 • 5% Lecture • 10% What we read • 15% What we see • 20% Audio-Visual • 20% What we see and hear • 20% What we hear • 26% What we hear • 30% What we see • 30% Passive Verbal • 30% Demonstration • 40% What we discuss • 50% Visual Receiving • 50% See and hear • 50% Discussion Group • 70% Discuss with others • 70% Active Receiving and Participating • 70% Say and Write • 70% Say or Write • 70% Say as they talk • 75% Practice by Doing • 80% Experience Personally • 80% What we experience directly or practice doing • 90% Say as they do a thing • 90% Say and perform a task • 90% Teach to others/Immediate Use Sanjay Goel, • 90% What we attempt to teach others www. goelsan. wordpress. com • 95% of what we teach someone else

Androgogy Knowles, 1970 • Learners need to know why they need to learn something. • Adults need to learn experientially. • Adults approach learning as problem-solving. • Adults learn best when the topic is of immediate value. Sanjay Goel, www. goelsan. wordpress. com

What working IT engineers think about Teaching Methods? , SPINE based Study, 2004 -05 No (j) Teaching Method Normalised Figure of Merit (Max. = 10) Category 1 Group Projects 10. 0 Pivotal 2 Project 9. 8 Pivotal 3 Practical Training 9. 2 Pivotal 4 Industrial Training /Internship 6. 5 Obligatory 5 Lecture 6. 5 Obligatory 6 Seminars 6. 3 Obligatory 7 Written projects/studies 6. 2 Obligatory 8 Home work/Out of class 3. 8 Sanjay Goel, assignment www. goelsan. wordpress. com Complementary

Effective lecturing in engineering and computing courses, 2005 -06? • Documentation: 250 Anecdotes of most effective lecture – 110 anecdotes of as recalled by computing students – 99 anecdotes of as recalled by faculty from their student days – 43 anecdotes of as recalled by faculty as teachers. • Observations • Most effective lectures were found to have at least one form of active and collaborative learning strategies e. g. , problem solving, group work, discussions, critique and so on: – 90% anecdotes by final year students – 55% anecdotes by second year students – 80% anecdotes by faculty members (as students) – 94% anecdotes by faculty members (as teachers) Sanjay Goel, www. goelsan. wordpress. com

What students think about lectures attributes? Lecture Format property Most Effective for learning Least Effective for learning Most Often used 1. careful listening and preparing notes 36. 36% 70. 45% 79. 55% 2. explain textbook 11. 36% 90. 91% 88. 64% 6. creative thinking 75. 00% 4. 55% 9. 09% 7. in-class-group-work 63. 64% 4. 55% 2. 27% 14. discover 63. 64% 2. 27% 0. 00% Correlation Most Effective for Learning Least Effective for Learning -0. 79 Most Often used Lecture Format -0. 69 Sanjay Goel, Least Effective for Learning 0. 99 Goel Sanjay (2006), Do Engineering Faculty Know What’s Broken? The National Teaching & www. goelsan. wordpress. com Learning Forum, Vol 15 Number 2, USA

Table A 10. 1: Effectiveness of educational experiences for competency enhancement of software developers 67 Software developers - (How) Did your college help you in your development? ” Pedagogical Engagements Rating Avg (0 -4) • Projects • Laboratory work 3. 40 2. 99 • Discussions with other students 2. 96 • Teaching peers/juniors 2. 84 • • 2. 76 2. 70 2. 60 2. 55 2. 39 1. 97 Thinking and work oriented Lectures Discussions with Faculty Industrial Training. Research Literature survey oriented assignments Discussions with others Homework and Tutorial Knowledge transmission oriented Lectures (explain and follow the textbooks) Sanjay Goel, • Written examinations and required preparation www. goelsan. wordpress. com 1. 91 1. 85

Two Core Principles Related to Learning Cognitive Dissonance Leon Festinger (1957) 1. Humans are sensitive to inconsistencies between actions and beliefs. 2. Recognition of an inconsistency results in cognitive dissonance, and motivates an individual to resolve the dissonance. 3. Dissonance can be resolved in one of three ways: • change in beliefs, • change actions, or • change perception of actions. Cognitive Flexibility Rand Spiro (1991) The ability to ‘transfer’ what learners have learned in a context, to different, even unique situations is referred to as ‘cognitive flexibility’ • In advanced knowledge domains, interconnectedness of ideas must be emphasized. • For deeper learning, Information must be presented in a variety of ways and contexts Sanjay Goel, www. goelsan. wordpress. com

Teaching Socrates Galileo Einstein Sanjay Goel, www. goelsan. wordpress. com

Teaching Socrates I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think. Galileo You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him to find it for himself. Einstein I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn. Sanjay Goel, www. goelsan. wordpress. com

Bloom’s Taxonomy: Levels of Cognition What students think they get to do? calculate, explain, prove (studied theorem, studied method), define (studied definitions), write, solve, compute, show (studied fact, studied method), evaluate(computation), derive, state, describe, determine, find, analyze, justify, … What students think works well for them wrt learning? design, analyze, understand, build, apply, adapt, implement, create, develop, demonstrate, validate, define (new things), show (unstudied fact in the direct context of studied material) , illustrate, compare, enjoy, correlate, argue, research, Correlation evaluate (the options), . . . What professional engineers recommend ? analyse, design, develop, implement, What students evaluate (the options), integrate, build, conclude, define (new things), acquire, get in exams? demonstrate, justify, assess, organize, formulate, estimate, summarize, categorize, validate, … 1. 2. What professional engineers recommend ? -0. 57 Goel Sanjay and Sharda Nalin (2004), What do engineers want? Examining engineering education through Bloom’s taxonomy, Conference of Australasian Association of Engineering Education, September, 2004, Australia. Sanjay Goel, : Examining Engineering Education Through Goel Sanjay (2004), What is high about higher education www. goelsan. wordpress. com Bloom’s Taxonomy, The National Teaching & Learning Forum, Vol. 13 Number 4, pp 1 -5, USA.

Rating Comparison What students think they get ? What students get in exams ? What students think works well for them ? What engineers recommend ? Knowledge 0. 24 0. 36 0. 04 0. 09 Comprehen -sion 0. 24 0. 16 0. 11 0. 10 Application 0. 22 0. 40 0. 13 0. 10 Analysis 0. 14 0. 04 0. 15 0. 19 Synthesis 0. 14 0. 05 0. 46 0. 38 Evaluation 0. 02 0. 11 0. 15 Bloom levels Sanjay 0. 00 Goel, www. goelsan. wordpress. com

Modifications to Bloom’s Taxonomy Florida Taxonomy of Cognitive Behavior (9 levels), 1967 • Knowledge – Knowledge of Specifics – Knowledge of ways and means to deal with specifics – Knowledge of universals and abstract • Comprehension – Translation – Interpretation • Compare, summarize, conclude, show cause and effect relationship, give analogy, perform a directed task Sanjay Goel, www. goelsan. wordpress. com

Active Engagement Levels: Extending Bloom’s Taxonomy Minger, 2000 Rowe & Boulgerides, 1992 Sternberg, 1999 Sanjay Goel, www. goelsan. wordpress. com Sanjay Goel, Ph. D Thesis, 2010

Four-dimensional Taxonomy of Pedagogic Engagements in Software Development Education Active Engagements Individual engagement problem solving activity Inclusion and integration of various ideas and diverse perspectives. Integrative Engagements Reflective Engagements Collaborative Engagements Think deeply to evaluate and refine/transform their own approach and views Collaborate with others to solve Sanjay Goel, problems www. goelsan. wordpress. com Sanjay Goel, Ph. D Thesis, 2010