Slides about Peer Instruction Dr. Stephanie V. Chasteen Physics Department & Science Ed. Initiative University of Colorado – Boulder Co-presenters have included Steven Pollock, Jenny Knight, Trish Loeblein, and Kathy Perkins. Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Scince Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder This Powerpoint provides our workshop slides organized by topic

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About these slides We have created a variety of workshops on clickers and Peer Instruction for faculty and K12 teachers. These slides represent the presentations and activities that we have produced through this work. You are free to use this material with proper attribution (see previous slide). Not all slides or activities were used in every workshop. Activities are designated with a peach background to the slide You can find the full handouts and activity descriptions under Workshop Materials at do.edu

Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder These meta-slides provide a little bit of information for you about our presenter and what we are trying to do with our professional development workshops. Overview

Introducing Me 5 Applying scientific principles to improve science education – What are students learning, and which instructional approaches improve learning? Science Education Initiative Physics Education Research Group One of largest PER groups in nation, studying technology, attitudes, classroom practice, & institutional change. Blogger & Consultant Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder

U. Colorado clicker resources… 6 Videos of effective use of clickers Clicker resource page mins long Instructor’s Guide Question banks Workshops Literature / Articles Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder

“Clickers” are really just a focal point We aim to help instructors: Use student-centered, interactive teaching techniques By the use of a tool (clickers) which makes a transition to that pedagogy easier Our talks are “how people learn” talks in disguise. Bransford, Brown, Cocking (1999), How People Learn Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder 7

The typical pattern of professional development for faculty… (we) Tell them how to do it (they) Try it (they) Fail or fade (we) Repeat (louder!) In physics, half of faculty only use Peer Instruction for a single semester What’s missing? We need to help faculty anticipate challenges and difficulties with implementing peer instruction. Lose the rose-colored glasses! We also need to provide less prescriptive “do this, don’t do that” recommendations, which are hard to remember, and instead provide a pedagogical strategy which will naturally lead to those “best practices” These workshop materials are intended to help overcome some of the challenges to sustainable improvements in teaching, as based on the research on instructional change. Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder 8

How we try to accomplish goals: Give a clear introduction to peer instruction. What does it really look like? Give experience in peer instruction. How does it feel as a student? As an instructor? Provide disciplinary experience. Give examples from multiple disciplines; have instructors sit next to others who teach in their subject area Why does it work? The research. Respect their experience. Answer their questions/challenges, rather than being gung-ho salesman. Provide opportunity for practice and feedback. Especially in writing questions and facilitation. Practice what we preach. Do all this in a student-centered, interactive environment. Don’t lecture about how not to lecture. Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder 9

These slides outline how a clicker works, what the benefits are of using clickers, and explain peer instruction (the pedagogical technique using clickers for in-class questioning). It seems important to show example questions early in the workshop, though this can also be done later when discussing features of good questions. Seeing lots of examples seems to broaden participants’ thinking about clicker questions, and gives them some concrete examples to refer to as you discuss the abstract pedagogy. We also have them participate in a model peer instruction question. About clickers and peer instruction

What is special about clicker questions? Similar goals as other types of questioning techniques Multiple choice Anonymous (to peers) Every student has a voice – the loud ones and the shy ones Forced wait time You can withhold the answer until everyone has had time to think (choose when to show the histogram) 11 What does this tool help us to do?

12 But not a magic bullet! Clickers are a tool for questioning Don’t equate the pedagogy with the technology. So what IS the pedagogy?

Browsing Questions Activity Three different activities follow which allow the participants to browse a variety of questions This serves to expose participants to a wide variety of types of clicker questions, and to open participants’ eyes to the wide variety of possible uses of clicker/peer instruction questions, so that they may be able to gain a broad vision of how this tool might be used in their classroom. These activities also help ground the abstract pedagogy in concrete examples.

Browsing Questions 1: Gallery Walk With a partner, look at the “example questions” trios on the wall. What do you think an instructor would be trying to accomplish with such questions? Jot down any ideas next to the question 5 minutes Aihofanz2010 on Wikimedia

Browsing Questions #2: Treasure Hunt Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder Question Rating Sheet Browse the questions on the handout. In your groups, rate them on a 4-point scale, with “1” being “terrible” and “4” being “terrific.” Question Rating Sheet Browse the questions on the handout. In your groups, rate them on a 4-point scale, with “1” being “terrible” and “4” being “terrific.” 15

Browsing Questions 3: Powerpoint Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder Powerpoint Show a series of questions via Powerpoint and discuss. Powerpoint Show a series of questions via Powerpoint and discuss. 16

Why use peer instruction? 17 Here we show one of two videos from  Anatomy of a Clicker Question (for audiences that are already bought-in to using clickers)  Students and Teachers Speak (for audiences that could benefit from some persuasion), first few minutes Each shows the process of teaching using peer instruction, from which we can extract the “anatomy of peer instruction” on the next slide

Anatomy of a clicker question 18 Ask Question Peer Discussion Vote Debrief …Lecture… (May vote individually) * See also: Peer Instruction, A User’s Manual. E. Mazur. 18

19 1. Asking Question Best practices Ask several times during lecture Ask challenging, meaningful questions Questioning is integral to lecture Best practices Ask several times during lecture Ask challenging, meaningful questions Questioning is integral to lecture Why do it? Students can learn by considering a question Breaks up lecture Learning is in the application of knowledge Why do it? Students can learn by considering a question Breaks up lecture Learning is in the application of knowledge

Example question: Biology 20 A small acorn over time can grow into a huge oak tree. The tree can weigh many tons. Where does most of the mass come from as the tree grows? A) Minerals in the soil B) Organic matter in the soil C) Gases in the air D) Sunlight Common misconception leads to answers (A) and (B). Correct answer: C Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder 20

2. Peer Discussion 21 Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder Why do it? Students learn more deeply by teaching each other Makes them articulate answer Lets you see inside their heads Why do it? Students learn more deeply by teaching each other Makes them articulate answer Lets you see inside their heads Best Practices: Make it clear why you’re doing this Circulate and ask questions / model Use questions they want to discuss Allow enough time (2-5 mins) Focus on reasoning in wrap-up Show students you value their ideas Best Practices: Make it clear why you’re doing this Circulate and ask questions / model Use questions they want to discuss Allow enough time (2-5 mins) Focus on reasoning in wrap-up Show students you value their ideas

3. Wrap-Up Discussion. 22 Best practices: Establish culture of respect Don’t always show the histogram immediately Ask multiple students to defend their answers Emphasize reasoning: Why are wrong answers wrong and why right answer is right Best practices: Establish culture of respect Don’t always show the histogram immediately Ask multiple students to defend their answers Emphasize reasoning: Why are wrong answers wrong and why right answer is right Why do it? Student ideas are important Instructor feedback is important So students know answer and reasoning by the end Why do it? Student ideas are important Instructor feedback is important So students know answer and reasoning by the end

23 Ask Question Peer Discussion Vote Debrief …Lecture… (May vote individually Question break Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder

The Practice Question Following are a series of practice questions that you can use to demonstrate Peer Instruction. Choose one. A practice question provides the experience of engaging in PI as a participant, which serves to outline a model PI cycle and highlight the value of the technique Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder 24

25 Practice question #1: Superpowers Which superpower would you rather have? The ability to… A. Change the mass of things B. Change the charge of things C. Change the magnetization of things D. Change the boiling point of things Question: Ian Beatty, UNC GreensboroImage: Thibault fr on Wikimedia 25

Practice Question #2: Twins 26 Your sister in law calls to say that she’s having twins. Which of the following is the most likely? (Assume she’s having fraternal, not identical, twins) A) Twin boys B) Twin girls C) One girl and one boy D) All are equally likely Courtesy Derek Bruff, Vanderbilt 26

Practice Question #3: Tennis Anyone? A tennis racket and can of balls together costs $110. The tennis racket alone costs $100 more than the can of balls. How much does the can of balls alone cost? A. $5 B. $10 C. $11 D. $100 E. None of these Courtesy Steven Pollock, CU-Boulder 27

Practice Question #4: Clicker Challenges A. Writing good questions B. Getting students to really think about the questions C. Getting students to share their reasoning with the whole class D. Getting students to discuss the questions with each other (peer discussion) E. It takes too long / I have a lot of content to cover I think the toughest thing about using clickers and peer instruction in class is / will be: 28