Specific Learning and Teaching Strategies That Work, and Why They Do So

Specific Learning and Teaching Strategies That Work, and Why They Do So Roald Hoffmann Cornell University, Baker Lab., USA Saundra Y. McGuire Louisiana State University, USA Abstract Learning and teaching science challenges many students and instructors. From four decades of helping students learn, ourselves teaching, and aiding educators teach chemistry, we have formulated some strategies that prove effective in improving learning and teaching. Specific teaching tactics such as establishing a contract for grading, and using humor and demonstrations in the classroom, work very well. Learning strategies include taking notes by hand, using homework to develop independent problem solving skills, and creating practice exams. Studies of cognition provide the rationale for the success of such strategies. We also discuss potential pitfalls of each. Finding your learning style, using metacognition, and the mentor/apprentice bond make for optimal learning and teaching. The two of us have been teaching and helping others to teach chemistry at every level – from high school teachers to undergraduate and graduate students to university faculty – for over four decades. From that experience have come a number of teaching and learning tactics that we find effective in facilitating student learning. Initially improvised, these strategies are more than gimmicks, for they have proven themselves in practice. Here we share some of them. Since we are inclined to be reflective as well as pragmatic, we’ve also sought out in recent advances in cognitive psychology, and in the scholarship of teaching and learning, insight into why these approaches work. We think through why they are of use in those most magical and mystical processes of learning and teaching any subject, not just chemistry. And we also spell out potential problems. Caring deeply for student learning entails keeping an eye out for what works for others. Perforce, this means borrowing and adapting. Thus a potential injustice in our account is that credit may not be given to the real innovators. Frankly, we do not know where some of the strategies we suggest originated – in examples by others, or out of our own improvisations as we struggled to become better teachers. Many people have independently come to similar practices. Some of what we write is addressed to teachers, some to students. This is deliberate. Cognizance of learning strategies benefits teachers, and awareness of teaching strategies can help learners understand the motives of teachers. Teaching and learning are a double flame. Six learning strategies 1. Take notes by hand, rework them the same night: Take notes by hand, even if the class notes are being provided by the instructor or a for-profit service. Even if they are web-cast. Preferably not later than the evening of the class day, rewrite your notes, by hand, amplifying their content. International Journal for Talent Development and Creativity – 4(1), August, 2016; and 4(2), December, 2016. 25 ICIE/LPI Notice that this process involves two stages – taking the original notes and then rewriting/reworking them. There are various note-taking systems 2, including the Cornell Note Taking System 3, the mapping method, the outline method, etc. that students can learn. During the rewriting stage, it is important that you not just recopy your notes, but rather both condense and extend them where appropriate, paraphrasing them “in your own write.” So that you make the meaning your own. The question of whether taking notes on a laptop or by hand is more effective is a contentious one4. We think taking notes by hand works best, but our preference may be due to our age and educational experience. A real concern, however, is that much of the information in science courses is graphical and based on mathematical equations. Students find it difficult, if not impossible, to jump from words to chemical structures, graphs, and equations if they are taking notes on a computer. We see that students who take computer notes waste extraordinary amounts of time in the frustrating task of making sure formulas and structures are drawn correctly by digital methods. Why this works: It is now well established that active engagement in the process is imperative for learning to occur 5. When students take their own notes, they are engaged, in real time, and their minds focus on the task. For kinesthetic learners, the movement involved in taking notes facilitates learning. The process of paraphrasing and rewriting the notes shortly after lecture helps to transfer the information from short-term to long-term memory 2,6. If the rewriting is delayed longer than twenty- four hours, much of the information needed to flesh out the notes taken in class will have disappeared from memory. And… it is so much better that gaps in understanding surface in the engaged rewriting of notes, rather than the night before an exam. Potential Problems: Students may feel that they do not need to rewrite their notes if they understood the material in class. And it takes time to do so. However, the review that comes with the rewriting deepens learning and facilitates long-term retention of the information 7. 2. Missed a lecture? Get your notes from a live person: If you must miss a class, rather than simply download the notes from a webpage, get the notes from a fellow student. Aside from being a great way for men and women to meet (in every combination), this strategy is another way into group discussion and learning. It is important to develop relationships with other class members and to form study groups (see below) early in the course. Why this works: During discussion of class notes, much learning takes place. A typical scenario: Student A (the one who missed lecture and is borrowing the notes) says “I don’t understand this part of what you wrote,” to student B, the note taker. Because B is a fellow student, A is comfortable asking her the question, while A might be reluctant to ask it of the course instructor. B explains, and is, of course, ipso facto engaged in the most salutary of learning actions, teaching. Potential problems: The note taker may not understand, or may propagate a misconception. Additionally, some people are just too shy to ask another human being. 2. http://sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl/notetaking.systems.html 3. W. Pauk, How to study in college (Houghton Mifflin, New York, 2000). 4. http://www.thefulcrum.ca/node/580 5. J. D. Bransford, A. L. Brown, R. R. Cocking, Eds., How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school (National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 2000). 6. K. A. Kiewra, Educ. Psychol. 20, 23-32 (1985) 7. A. King, Am. Educ. Res. J. 29, 303-323 (1992). 26 International Journal for Talent Development and Creativity – 4(1), August, 2016; and 4(2), December, 2016. 3. Optimize learning from homework and text examples: Most students do their homework in solitude (or as much of that as a residence hall room allows) by trying to follow text examples of similar problems. But often the text examples are not exploited for the learning opportunities they provide. Here is a simple and effective strategy for approaching text examples and assigned homework: Do the obvious: study the text and lecture information relevant to the problems; Treat the examples in the text and in lecture notes as homework problems. Read the problem statement in the example, but do not look at the answer, cover it up. Now work the text example; Compare your approach to the text’s, not just your answer. Is the example problem solved by a method identical or close to yours? If not, yet your answer is correct, don’t be afraid to continue using your method. But try to understand the text’s. There are often several ways to do a problem; and Answers to homework, provided by the instructors, of course, should not only be numbers – answers should always include ways of working each problem. If they do not, the instructor and teaching assistant should be encouraged (that’s putting it mildly) to provide complete solutions, even alternatives. A problem set solution (and examination solutions, the most carefully read information in the entire course) is a teaching opportunity. Why this works: Students develop the essential skill tested by all exams – the ability to work a problem without using a model of how it should be worked. This approach to homework focuses on methods rather than final answers. Furthermore, alternative methods are explored so that students learn to be agile, flexible thinkers. This method also affirms a student’s intellectual intuition. Potential problems: Students may be tempted to peek at the examples, a solution manual or a website rather than spend the time to figure out how to work the problems themselves. 4. Study first by yourself, then in a group, then by yourself: The idea here is simple: First, you should try to do a homework problem or prepare for an exam on your own. Then, the collective wisdom of a group is enlisted. Three to six fellow students who have each done their best to digest and absorb difficult material are powerful resources for each other. Finally, you must return to solving the problem set or facing the exam on your own. The sequence here is important. Why this works: Not all instructors are comfortable with homework done in groups, but our experience is that groups are very effective, both for problem set solutions and studying for exams. Do-it-yourself is the primary principle of active learning. But groups can help resolve the occasional blind spot -- usually, someone in the group will know how to do the problem. Social constructivist learning theorists have shown that meaningful learning results from small study groups with two crucial features: discussion and problem solving activities 8,9,10.

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