teaching

teaching
UCSB TA DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Contact:
Shirley Ronkoswki, Ph.D.
TA Development Program
Kerr Hall 1120 Q
Phone: 893-3341
Email: shirley@id.ucsb.edu
Website: http://www.id.ucsb.edu/ic/ta/ta.html
How to Help Students Remember and Understand
“Werenʼt they listening?”
Has this happened to you? –
�� You tell the students the information they need to know, but five minutes later theyʼre asking questions that make you think they never heard what you just said.
�� Students can recite back parts of what you told them or what they read, but donʼt seem to be able to apply it to solve problems or answer discussion questions.
This handout explains why this might happen and what you, as a TA, can do about it.
Three Key Processes that Lead to Meaningful Understanding
According to the generative theory of learning (Mayer, 1997), in order for meaningful learning to take place (as opposed to rote learning), students need to successfully engage in the following three processes:
1) Selecting – knowing what to pay attention to; being able to distinguish relevant
from irrelevant material; identifying the most important ideas.
2) Organizing – being able to organize the material into a coherent representation;
seeing how concepts relate to each other (e.g. cause and effect, etc.)
3) Integrating – connecting these new ideas with their existing knowledge.
�� Students, especially those unfamiliar with the material, often need guidance to help them process and make sense of what was said.
So, what can you, as the TA, do to help them?
�� Use SIGNALING when you explain material or lead discussions
Signals are explicit cues that:
• Emphasize what content is most relevant
• Emphasize how ideas, concepts, terms are organized and how they relate to each other Suggestions for how to apply signaling in discussion and lab sections:
1) Start with a “Title” that indicates the main purpose or themes of that dayʼs section.
Example: Write it down on the board, or if thatʼs not possible, state it clearly before class starts
Rationale: Titles and headings label the dominant theme of the section providing a framework to help students select and focus on the main point; it gets them “ready to learn.” (Lorch, 1989; Meyer, 1975).
UCSB TA DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
2) Do a brief preview at the beginning, and/or a summary near the end of discussion.
Examples: �� write an outline on the board with some of that sectionʼs main points
�� before starting, give examples, ask general questions, and tell them that these
are the topics that youʼll be addressing today
�� before finishing, ask students to generate the main points of the discussion
while you summarize them on the board.
Rationale: It helps students see how main concepts or themes might be related. It repeats the
central points and helps them keep them organized in their minds.
3) Use enumeration signals to help students keep track of main points
Example: Create short lists: “There are three main points you need to keep in mind…,” “First…
.. Second … Finally…” “What are the three main reasons we discussed…,”
Rationale: These devices make the topic structure more explicit. They help students see how the
points are related, help them notice sequencing, and help them retrieve the information
later on.
4) Use explicit connecting phrases to emphasize how main points are related.
Example: Insert phrases like, “Because of this…” “As a result…” “Therefore…” in your
explanations
Rationale: Phrases like these help make connections between concepts more explicit thereby
reducing ambiguity about how two ideas may be related. They generally point out
cause-effect relationship and help students make appropriate inferences. This is
especially important when students may not have adequate priorknowledge of the
subject to know how two concepts might relate.
5) Use relevance indicators to emphasize the importance of certain points.
Example: Say things like, “Itʼs important to note” or “This is a major reason why…”
Rationale: These devices identify which information is relevant to the topic, and therefore, which
information may be important for students to to remember
6) Use vocal emphasis and pausing
Example: When making a key point, slow down your speech and use a different intonation to
emphasize the significance of the point. This is the equivalent of bolding or italicizing in text.
Rationale: This makes the key points stand out more, and gives students time to process what
was said.
Summary
�� Signaling helps student engage in the processes of selecting, organizing, and integrating information – processes which are key to constructing meaningful understanding.
�� If you are explicit about whatʼs important, how concepts are related, and where it all fits into the big picture, then students will not only be more likely to remember the information, but they are also more likely to be able apply it to solve problems and to relate it to other concepts in the future.
UCSB TA DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Contact:
Shirley Ronkoswki, Ph.D.
TA Development Program
Kerr Hall 1120 Q
Phone: 893-3341
Email: shirley@id.ucsb.edu
Website: http://www.id.ucsb.edu/ic/ta/ta.html
Research Evidence
In a recent study on campus, experimenters gave two groups of college students a short text on how airplanes achieve lift. The passages that each group received were identical except that one had a few signaling devices added, including a couple of headings, a brief overview paragraph (“There are three main points you need to focus on…”), and a few connecting phrases (“because of that” and “as a result”). No additional content was added, just these few signals. The students were then tested on how well they could remember and apply the information to solving problems. Those who received signaling did significantly better on the problem-solving tests. This was especially evident in a second study in which the students just heard a recording of the passage, rather than read it. This supported numerous other studies that demonstrated that adding a few signals really pays off in helping students understand and remember unfamiliar material. (Mautone & Mayer, 2001, Loman & Mayer, 1993: Lorch, 1989;, Meyer, 1975).
References
Loman, N.L. & Mayer, R.E. (1983). Signaling techniques that increase the understandability of expository prose. Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 402-412.
Lorch, R.F., Jr. (1989). Text signaling devices and their effects on reading and memory processes. Educational Psychology Review, 1, 209-234.
Meyer, B.J.F. (1975). The organization of prose and its effects on memory. New York: American Elsevier Publishing Company, Inc.
Mautone, P. D. & Mayer, R. E. (2001). Signaling as a cognitive guide in multimedia learning, Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 377-389.
Rickards, J.P., Fajen, B.R., Sullivan, J.F., & Gillespie, G. (1997). Signaling, notetaking, and field independence-dependence in text comprehension and recall. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 508-517.
Prepared by P. Mautone, Ph..D. Candidate in Cognitive Psychology, for the TA Development Program, UCSB 1/2004