Astro 101: Rethinking the goals

Some Astro 100 goals

What has been learned: Extracting the core

The Population Involved

A Model
of Learning
and Knowing

A Theoretical Frame

Key results from cognitive education research

1. Learning is productive / constructive.

Physical reasoning maps primitive elements onto specific situations

Example:

2. Knowledge is associative / linked

Organization of Long-Term Memory: Schemas

3. The cognitive response is context dependent.

Resources, Links,
and Context

"A set of four 3x5..."

"You are acting as bouncer..."

A small problem:
What is 3 ½ divided by ¼?

An example from astronomy

Goal analysis

Possible goals

Resource analysis

4. Most people require
some social interactions
in order to learn effectively.

Tying it all together: Expectations and Frames

Implications:
Expectations and Frames

Beyond Content: Expectations and Attitudes

Expectation barriers
to learning

The MPEX Survey

MPEX Clusters

Overall Results: Large Universities (M)

Items of
the Reality Cluster:

Reality Cluster: Large Universities

Available
Research-Based Instructional Methods

Some instructional implications

New Instructional Methods

Elements in Research-Based Curricula

An Example:
The UW Tutorial Model

Do they work?

Results

Slide 39

Teaching for growth:
Using student resources effectively

Learning to Learn*

Slide 42

Additional Elements

Results

Preliminary Results in a Large Class

Conceptual and attitudinal gains using “learning-to-learn” techniques

What about implementation?
What’s easy?

What about implementation?  What’s hard?

Building a community