1. Improving Student Achievement: Identifying Similarities and Differences Sioux Falls, SD March 4-5, 2009

2. Goals for Today Participants will evaluate the research regarding the impact identifying similarities and differences has on student achievement. Participants will complete practice activities in comparing, classifying, analogies, and metaphors.

3. Instructional strategies that increase student achievement Identifying similarities and differences (1.61) Summarizing and note taking (1.00) Reinforcing effort and providing recognition (.80) Homework and practice (.77) Nonlinguistic representations (.75) Cooperative learning (.73) Setting objectives and providing feedback (.61) Generating and testing hypotheses (.61) Questions, cues and advance organizers (.59)

4. What is effect size? The unit of measurement used to express the increase or decrease in achievement of the experimental group (the group of students who are exposed to a specific instructional technique). –Effect size of.20 considered small. –Effect size of.50 considered medium. –Effect size of.80 considered large.

5. What does that mean? Effect size of 1.0 = –34 percentile point gain –2-4 grade equivalent increase –100 points on an SAT score –5 ACT composite points

6. Identifying similarities and differences These mental operations are basic to human thought and can be considered the core of all learning (Marzano, 2001).

7. The brain’s role in similarities and differences Needs of the brain: 1.Survival 2.Familiarity and context “The pursuit of familiarity is so powerful that the brain will not move anything to long-term memory unless it is connected to something already there” (Wormeli, 2002, p.3).

8. The brain’s role in similarities and differences “What students already know about the content is one of the strongest indicators of how well they will learn new information relative to the content” (Marzano, 2004, p.1).

9. The brain’s role in similarities and differences “Researchers tell us that the ability to remember something accurately and thoroughly has more to do with how the information entered out minds that how we review it. The brain seeks wholeness. When we fail to adequately learn something the first time, our memories become piecemeal. The brain fills the holes with other information regardless of its accuracy, and worse becomes convinced that whatever filled those holes is the original truth” (Wormeli, 2002, p.2).

10. The brain’s role in similarities and differences “We store information by similarities, but we retrieve it by differences,” (Wormeli, 2002, p.3).

11. The brain’s role in similarities and differences Teachers can take advantage of the brain’s affinity for familiarity and mechanisms for retrieval by identifying similarities and differences when teaching new content and reviewing prior knowledge.

12. Generalizations from research on similarities and differences 1.Presenting students with explicit guidance in identifying similarities and differences enhances students’ understanding of and ability to use knowledge. 2.Asking students to independently identify similarities and differences enhances students’ understanding of and ability to use knowledge.

13. Generalizations from research on similarities and differences 3. Representing similarities and differences in graphic or symbolic form enhances students’ understanding of and ability to use knowledge.

14. Generalizations from research on similarities and differences 4. Identification of similarities and differences can be accomplished in a variety of ways. *comparing *classifying *metaphors *analogies

15. Comparing

16. Model for Comparing 1.Select the items you want to compare. 2.Select the characteristics of the items on which you want to base your comparison. 3.Explain how the items are similar and different with respect to the characteristics.

17. Identifying Similarities and Differences Comparing Writing Activity: Either/Or Directions: Pose an either/or content- based question. Student expectations: Students will respond to the question with a predetermined number of sentences or reasons. Example: Is it more important to know how to convert fractions to decimals or to add fractions? (4 sentences)

18. Comparing with graphic organizers CITWELL wiki –Comparison matrix pdf –Comparing terms pdf

19. Classifying

20. Model for classifying 1.Select items to classify. 2.Select what seems to be an important item, describe its key attributes, and identify other items that have the same attributes. 3.Create the category by specifying the attributes that the items must have for membership in the category… 7. If necessary, combine or split categories.

21. Classifying with graphic organizers CITWELL wiki –Classify dump and clump pdf –Who has, I have sites

22. Classifying Writing Activity: Quad Cluster Directions: Create a list of 4 content area words. Student expectations: Explain how one word in a cluster of 4 words is different from the other 3 words. Then, explain how the other 3 words are alike. Example: white blood cells, red blood cells, plasma, platelets

23. Analogies

24. Similarities and differences (as told by high school students) “The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife’s infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.” Full list of funny analogies on CITWELL wiki

25. Review of similarities and differences “Talk a mile a minute...” –Research of similarities and differences –Classifying and comparing –Incorporating similarities and differences in the classroom

26. Similarities and differences (as told by high school students) “The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.”

27. Things associated with analogies Relationships Comparisons Word pairs or groups Synonyms Antonyms Parts of a whole/whole to part Degree Category to example/example to category description

28. Similarities and differences (as told by high school students) “Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.”

29. Analogies Analogies can help explain an unfamiliar concept by making a comparison to something that we already understand.

30. Creating Analogies 1.Identify how the two elements in the first pair are related. 2. State their relationship in a general way. 3. Identify another pair of elements that share a similar relationship.

31. Similarities and differences (as told by high school students) “The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 instead of 7:30.”

32. Analogies in the classroom Graphic organizers on CITWELL wiki –Marzano pdf, ASCD pdf (2) Online games-links on wiki Classroom created analogies –Teacher creates part or all of the analogy. –Matching word pairs (teacher or student created) –Student creates part or all of the analogy. –Manipulatives (partner, group, or solo)

33. Analogies game Spring is to season, as August is to... Large is to big, as triumph is to... Bat is to hitter, as stick is to... Heavy is to light, as frigid is to... Star is to superstar, as tired is to... Isosceles is to obtuse, as sweet is to... Practice is to succeed, as diet is to...

34. Metaphors The term metaphor in Greek meant “carry something across” or “transfer.” Metaphors are made by identifying a general pattern in a topic and then finding another topic that seems quite different on the literal level but that has the same general pattern.

35. Metaphors according to Aristotle “The act of giving a thing a name that belongs to something else.” “The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor. It is a sign of genius, since good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity of dissimilars.”

36. Metaphors in the classroom Graphic organizer on CITWELL wiki –5 senses pdf

37. Instructional strategies that increase student achievement Identifying similarities and differences (1.61) Summarizing and note taking (1.00) Reinforcing effort and providing recognition (.80) Homework and practice (.77) Nonlinguistic representations (.75) Cooperative learning (.73) Setting objectives and providing feedback (.61) Generating and testing hypotheses (.61) Questions, cues and advance organizers (.59)

38. Wrap Up Share one thing you learned about identifying similarities and differences and how it affects what you do in the classroom. Thank you!