The document provides an overview of cognitive science principles and evidence-based teaching methods. It discusses: - Constructivism, schema formation, deliberate practice, limited working memory, retrieval practice, metacognition, spacing and interleaving as important cognitive concepts. - Specific techniques like "just in time teaching", clicker questions, quizzes and team-based learning that incorporate these concepts into classroom instruction. - Research evidence showing techniques like retrieval practice and spaced learning improve student learning compared to traditional lectures. - Challenges but also benefits of implementing active learning methods, and tips for gaining student buy-in for these approaches.

1. Cognitive Science and Tested
Teaching Methods
Part I: Foundations
Bill Goffe
bill.goffe@psu.edu
Department of Economics
Penn State

2. Goals
Add to what you know about teaching
Principles behind “evidence-based” methods
Why “flipped” or “active learning”
Part II: Methods
Links to relevant literature
Thanks
Scott Simkins, Mark Maier, KimMarie
McGoldrick, & Carl Wieman
My Story
Questions – please!

3. Result from Physics Education Research: 1
Richard R. Hake, "Interactive-Engagement Versus Traditional Methods:
A Six-Thousand-Student Survey of Mechanics Test Data for
Introductory Physics Courses," American Journal of Physics, (1998)
4,600 cites in Google Scholar
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100 − <pretest>

4. Result from Physics Education Research: 1
Force Concept Inventory (one question):
A large truck collides head-on with a small compact car.
During the collision:
A) the truck exerts a greater amount of force on the car
than the car exerts on the truck.
B) the car exerts a greater amount of force on the truck
than the truck exerts on the car.
C) neither exerts a force on the other, the car gets smashed
simply because it gets in the way of the truck.
D) the truck exerts a force on the car but the car does not
exert a force on the truck.
E) the truck exerts the same amount of force on the car as
the car exerts on the truck.

5. Result from Physics Education Research: 1
Hestenes, Wells, and Swackhamer, “Force Concept
Inventory,” (1992)*:
“The implications could not be more serious. Since
the students have evidently not learned the most
basic Newtonian concepts, they must have failed to
comprehend most of the material in the course.
They have been forced to cope with the subject by
rote memorization of isolated fragments and by
carrying out meaningless tasks.”
*3,300 cites in Google Scholar

6. Result from Physics Education Research: 1
Implications
Students are not blank slates
Some misconceptions are very strongly held
Constructivism
Schema
How Learning Works, Ambrose et al.

7. Schema Extension
Curse of knowledge

8. Result from Physics Education Research: 2
Deslauriers, Schelew, and Wieman, “Improved Learning in a
Large-Enrollment Physics Class,” Science 332.6031, 2011.*
*750 cites in Google Scholar

9. Result from Physics Education Research: 2
Deliberate practice
• Attempting tasks just beyond current abilities
• Using one's full attention
• Timely and accurate feedback
• Development and elaboration of “effective
mental representations” (schema)
Ericsson, Krampe, and
Tesch-Römer, “The Role
of Deliberate Practice in
the Acquisition of Expert
Performance,” (1993)*
* 7,700 cites in Google Scholar

10. Working Memory
X C N
N P H
D F B
I C I
A N C
A A X
X
C N N
P H D
F B I
C I A
N C A A
X

11. Environment Working Memory
- awareness
- thinking
Long-Term Memory
- factual knowledge
- procedural knowledge
Working Memory: Simplest Model of the Mind
Working memory
very limited
- ~5 “chunks”
- chunks much
smaller for
novices
Limited working memory

12. Working Memory – Simplest Model of the Mind
Also: Curse of
knowledge

13. Testing
Roediger and Karpicke, “Test-Enhanced Learning:
Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term
Retention,” Psychological Science, (2006)
Retrieval practice
– Not Just for Assessment
Caveat: students often
feel they know less
with retrieval practice
than rereading

14. Metacognition
Thinking about thinking
Experts vs. novices
How to encourage metacognition by students?
Aids schema formation
Dunning–Kruger Effect (1999)
corollary…
Metacognition

15. Spacing and Interleaving
Spacing learning over time aids retention
Interleaving problem types aids learning
No “blocking” of question types
Butler et al., “Integrating Cognitive Science and
Technology Improves Learning in a STEM
Classroom,” Educational Psychology Review,
(2014)
Spacing
Interleaving

16. Learning Styles
Visual
Verbal
Spatial
Kinesthetic
…
Evidence?
Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer, & Bjork,
“Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence,”
Psychological Science in the Public Interest,
(2009)
Still: different representations
are helpful for schema formation

17. Use of These Principles in Higher Ed

18. Summary
Constructivism
Schema
Curse of Knowledge
Deliberate Practice
Limited Working Memory
Retrieval Practice
Metacognition
Spacing
Interleaving
Learning Styles

19. Methods Used Today (1st Mentioned Here)
Reduced cognitive load
Outline
Connections to your prior knowledge &
prior elements of the talk
Line by line animation slides & little extra detail
Didn’t talk over quotes
Color-coded key terms
Posed puzzles – to interest you
Hopefully built a bit of rapport
My story – revealed a bit
Shared connections
Smile and humor (?)
Talk by Ken Bain

20. The End
(of Part I)

21. Willingham: Why Don’t Students Like School?
1. People are naturally curious, but
but not good thinkers; unless the
cognitive conditions are right, we
avoid thinking.
2. Factual knowledge must precede skill.
3.Memory is the residue of thought.
4. We understand most things in the context of
things we already know, and most of what we
know is concrete.
5.It is virtually impossible to become proficient at
a task without extended practice.
6.Cognition early is training is fundamentally
different from cognition late in training.

22. Willingham: Why Don’t Students Like School?
7. Children are more alike than different in how
they think and learn.
8. Children do differ in intelligence, but it can be
changed through sustained hard work.
9. Teaching, like any complex cognitive skill, must
be practiced to be improved.

23. Cognitive Science and Tested
Teaching Methods
Part II: Implementation
Bill Goffe
Department of Economics
Penn State

24. Goals
Ways to implement concepts from Part I
Extend how you now teach
Outline
1. Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the
Science of Learning by James Lang
– easy to implement interventions
2. “STEM Standard” – JITTs & Clicker Questions
– more effort on your part; more feedback
3. Team-Based Learning™
– great fun to teach this way, but more work
by the instructor to learn new skills
– started at a business school (Mgnt. at OU)

25. Small Teaching: Everyday
Lessons from the Science of
Learning

26. Small Teaching*: Making Connections
Schema
Minute thesis
end of semester activity – 1 minute connections
between major course topics
Commonplace book – scrapbook / diary
ask students to make connections in & outside
the course
Social media
Agenda / outline of the day
*Also excerpted in The Chronicle of Higher Ed.

27. Small Teaching: Spacing It Out
“How could students have forgotten that?”
What is the last thing you mastered that you
learned at one sitting?
Spacing & retrieval practice
All assessments have (some)
previous material
Comprehensive final
Butler et al.
Frequent assessments (feedback a plus)
Perhaps benefits not apparent to you but should
be to the next instructor.
Hanawalt (1937)

28. Small Teaching: Giving Them a Say
not mentioned
Performance orientation – pass test / earn an A
Mastery orientation – learn for own sake
Which would you like to see in your students?
More of the latter if one has a say
Select from a set of assignments
Student generated exam questions
Set class rules / policies
Me: Please list one thing you think that
students in here should or should
not do so that class runs smoothly.
TBL: grading scheme

29. Small Teaching: First Five Minutes of Class
not mentioned
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad,
Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that
distant afternoon when his father took him to
discover ice.”
One Hundred Years of Solitude, García Márquez
30 million copies and a Nobel Prize in Literature
Capture student interest for the day
Start with a question or a puzzle

30. Small Teaching: First Five Minutes of Class
“The material I want students to learn is actually
the answer to a question. On its own, the answer
is almost never interesting. But if you know the
question, the answer may be quite interesting.”
Dan Willingham, Why Don’t Students Like
School?
Two of mine:

31. Part G: Harm from Inflation
Here’s some prices from 1913 (Grand Central
Station):
5¢ small coffee
10¢ for a side of fries
$2 for 100% silk scarf
Question: Have we been harmed by rising prices?

32. Part C: The Role of Capital (K)
& Technology in Growth
Question: How did GDP/person* in the U.S. rise
from $20,675 in 1963 to $57,300 today and change
everyone’s lives?
* I.e., the income of the average person.

33. Small Teaching: First Five Minutes of Class
Ask students what about previous topics
(retrieval practice)
Ask students what they already know
(constructivism)
Can do with a bit of writing

34. Small Teaching: Five Minutes Before Class
Schema
Chat with students
Outline / agenda for the day
Build wonder

35. Small Teaching: Last Five Minutes of Class
Retrieval practice & constructivism
Clear stamp on the day?
Minute paper
Key point today?
What is still unclear to you?

36. “STEM Standard”

37. STEM Standard: Intro
“This is great fun. My worst day using clickers is
about as good as my best day using standard
lectures [in the past].”
– Clicker Resource Guide
More effort on the instructor’s part
But more use of cognitive science concepts (all)
Basic elements
Pre-class preparation (e.g., JiTTs or perusall.com)
In-class clicker questions w/ Peer Instruction
“Clicker Resources”
(link in handout)
“Just in Time Teaching”
(link in handout)

38. STEM Standard: Example

39. STEM Standard: Example with Principles Illustrated
Constructivism
Schema
Curse of Knowledge
Deliberate Practice
Limited Working Memory
Retrieval Practice
Metacognition
Spacing
Interleaving

40. STEM Standard: Why This Way
Ability to do calculations ≠ student understanding
Mazur student when given the FCI:
“How should I answer these questions?
According to what you taught me or according
to the way I usually think about these things?”
Constructivism

41. STEM Standard: Types of Clicker Questions
(Active Learning in General?)
Quiz on the reading assigned in preparation for the class
Test recall of lecture point
Do a calculation or choose next step in a complex calculation
Survey students to determine background or opinions
Elicit/reveal pre-existing thinking
Test conceptual understanding
Apply ideas in new context/explore implications
Predict results of lecture demo, experiment, or simulation,
video, etc.
Draw on knowledge from everyday life
Relate different representations (graphical, mathematical, …)
“Clicker Resource Guide”

42. Most Effective Clicker Use?
Smith et al., “Combining Peer Discussion with
Instructor Explanation Increases Student
Learning from In-Class Concept Questions,"
CBE-Life Sciences Education, 10.1, 2011

43. How Our Class is Taught
JiTTs (“Just in Time Teaching”)
- 3-4 essay questions on readings before
class (~every 2 weeks)
Clicker questions in class
- 4-8 per meeting
- why?
• anonymous
• you commit
• immediate feedback for you and me
Graded homeworks
Quizzes: every 2 weeks (no midterms)
Comprehensive final

44. Why This Way
You come to class prepared & I know what
you are unclear on
Immediate feedback – great way to learn
• clickers and quizzes
• drawback to quizzes

45. Why This Way
Key role of Learning Assistants
Help you when we discuss clicker
questions.
They and I wander around & discuss.
Helps shape our feedback to you.

46. Student Comments (Spring 2017 SRTEs):
“I like being able to vote on clicker questions
then take time to discuss the answer with my
friends, revote, and hear him explain the right
answer.”
“I think that the biggest thing that helped me
learn in this class was having bi-weekly
quizzes instead of having two big exams. It
forced to always be reviewing the material
and really helped my learn what we were
discussing.”

47. Student Comments (Spring 2017 SRTEs):
“I learned by attending lecture, doing the
homework, and the JITT's. The JITT's are a
huge help and they're super simple to do.”
“I loved the technology free classroom. I also
love the multiple quizzes instead of heavy
exams. The multiple clicker questions during
class and discussions with those around us
really helped me to understand the material.”
“The TA's that walk around during clicker
questions…”

48. STEM Standard: Student Buy-In & Questions
“How do I help students engage productively in
active learning classrooms?”
(link in handout)
Clicker question difficulty?
Hard – 50% correct is a reasonable target
Grade them?
Lightly, if at all
Where to get questions?
Recall best types
If on own, old exams and maybe “Bloomify.”

49. JiTT Example: GDP
1. As you read, GDP includes some items and it
excludes others. Do you agree or disagree with
the choices that were made? Why or why not?
2. How are real and nominal GDP different? How
are they similar?
3. What did you find confusing, interesting, or
surprising in this reading?
Lightly graded and reasonable responses:

50. JiTT responses
“I was surprised by how many terms were
introduced to the reader in just this first
section.”
“I found the circular flow diagram confusing. I
also didn't understand why the value of total
production is equal to the value of total
income.”
“I found the topics of real and nominal GDP to
be pretty confusing.”

51. Real GDP
Say just 2 things are produced: doctor
visits & cars
• 2014: 100M visits @ $50 each &
10M cars @ $20,000 each
• 2015: 103M visits @ $53 each &
11M cars @ $20,500 each
• base year: 2014
Question: Real GDP in 2015 would be ___.
A.100M • $50 + 10M • $20,000
B.100M • $53 + 10M • $20,500
C.103M • $50 + 11M • $20,000
D.103M • $53 + 11M • $20,500
62%  85%

52. Question: There was inflation over this period
(that is, the prices of all goods rose). Which is
real GDP?
A. red line B. I’m not sure C. blue line
p. 1
54%  80%

53. Inflation vs. the Price Level
Question: Say that inflation fell. Then the
price level (measured by the CPI or GDP
deflator) would be sure to fall as well.
A. true (I’m sure)
B. true (I think)
C. not sure
D. false (I think)
E. false (I’m sure)
ex: inflation: 4%  2%
CPI: 100  104  106
this is disinflation – less inflation
deflation: CPI declines (100  98)
30%  59%

54. 9.80  14.19 Mean gain: .22

55. 11.90  19.91 Mean gain: .44

56. Team-Based Learning™

57. TBL Summary
Constructivism
Schema
Curse of Knowledge
Deliberate Practice
Limited Working Memory
Retrieval Practice
Metacognition
Spacing
Interleaving

58. TBL: Positives
Students are in class, prepared for class,
and engaged
More learning
More fun for me (a lot)
Students enjoy
Less grading & more feedback for all
More “Time for Telling” situations
Others developed and refined with a
helpful online community
 Would be very leery of changing major
aspects if you adopt

59. TBL: Negatives
Instructors need to add some skills
Possible resistance from colleagues
(likely less resistance from students)
Really good application exercises are challenging
to develop

60. TBL: Application Exercises

61. TBL: Application Exercises

62. The End
(really!)