Economic Education and How People Learn

1. Economic Education andHow People Learn Scott Simkins, Interim Director Academy for Teaching and Learning (ATL) North Carolina A&T State University Acknowledgements: Mark Maier, Glendale Community College, Glendale, CA, USA

2. Learning and the Brain • What do we know about learners and how people learn? • Brain research, neurons, • and synapses … • Learning is a biological process… • - Robert Leamnson

3. Learning Sciences Research • What do we know about learners and how people learn? • … learning sciences research and implications for teaching … How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (2000) Bransford, Brown, and Cocking, National Academies Press

4. Learning Sciences Research • What do we know about learners and how people learn? • … learning sciences research and implications for teaching … How Students Learn: History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom (2005) Committee on How People Learn, A Targeted Report for Teachers, Center for Studies on Behavior and Development, National Research Council

5. A Focus on Learning • The Goal: Better Learning • How can we apply and extend new knowledge about how people learn? • How can we create learning environments that provide more opportunities for learning?

6. Three Significant Learning Principles • Engaging Students’ Prior Understandings • Building Factual Knowledge and Conceptual Frameworks • Developing Self-Monitoring Students

7. Engaging Prior Understandings

8. Engaging Prior Understandings • Preconceptions developed from everyday experiences … impose serious constraints on understanding formal disciplines. • - How Students Learn History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom • Students have their own mental models already in place. • Learning new ideas often requires “unlearning” prior understandings. • Find out students’ prior understandings and help them challenge those preconceptions.

9. Building Conceptual Frameworks • Learning with understanding affects our ability to apply what is learned. - How Students Learn History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom • Developing “expert” (vs. novice) learners, deep vs. surface learning • Help students use concepts to organize information. • To improve transfer of knowledge, encourage effort and practice, requesting multiple representations, and introduce “desirable difficulties.” • Build upon mental models that are already in place.

10. Building Conceptual Frameworks Facts are important, but will be quickly forgotten if not developed in a conceptual framework. • Depth matters more than breadth • Give students lots of practice using concepts and theories – applying them to real-world tasks.

11. Developing Self-Monitoring Students • “You are the owners and operators of your own brain, but it came without an instruction book. We need to learn how we learn.” - How Students Learn History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom • Help students become aware of their learning processes. • Encourage students to ask questions – What information is needed? What do I know about this problem? How did I solve this? • Encourage student reflection about the learning process.

12. Developing Self-Monitoring Students • Understanding how we • know things matters, • not just the things • we know. • Help students reflect on the thought process of “knowing,” not just the content.

13. From Theory to Practice • Potential Pedagogies to Promote Learning • Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) • Problem-based learning • Collaborative learning techniques (CoLTs) • Context-rich problems • Peer Instruction • Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) • + others…

14. Designing Learning Environments • Assessment-centered • Formative assessment and feedback • Self-assessment • Community-centered • Knowledge is socially constructed • Creating an environment for intentional learning • Knowledge-centered • Experts vs. novices • Transfer of knowledge • Learner-centered • Pre-conceptions • Metacognition How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (2000) Bransford, Brown, and Cocking, National Academies Press.