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Bottlenecks, Thresholds, and Transformers: New Ways to Look at Old Content

Bottlenecks, Thresholds, and Transformers: New Ways to Look at Old Content. Jane S. Halonen University of West Florida. Wellsprings of this Approach. Ray Land, originator of “threshold concepts”. Ray Land. Wellsprings of this Approach. Ray Land, originator of “threshold concepts”

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Bottlenecks, Thresholds, and Transformers: New Ways to Look at Old Content

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  1. Bottlenecks, Thresholds, and Transformers: New Ways to Lookat Old Content Jane S. Halonen University of West Florida

  2. Wellsprings of this Approach • Ray Land, originator of “threshold concepts” Ray Land

  3. Wellsprings of this Approach • Ray Land, originator of “threshold concepts” • Rob McEntarffer, proposer of single index assessment items at last year’s BEST PRACTICE CONFERENCE Rob McEntarffer

  4. Wellsprings of this Approach • Ray Land, originator of “threshold concepts” • Rob McEntarffer, proposer of single index assessment items at last year’s BEST PRACTICE CONFERENCE • J. William Hepler, my introductory teacher at Butler University (Go, Bulldogs!) A reasonable facsimile

  5. Proceed from these assumptions.. • Psychology is not just built from concepts; it has now run amok. • Not all psychology concepts are • Easy to learn • Easy to teach • Equally valuable • We must make judicious selections.

  6. What is a bottleneck concept? Concepts that produce a reliable struggle to understand. [Sometimes they are also threshold concepts.]

  7. Bottleneck Exemplar What student in his or her right mind would understand functionalismvs. structuralism onfirst exposure ?

  8. What is a threshold concept? • Threshold concepts have extra impact in imparting the nature of the DISCIPLINE. • Students stand on one side; teachers, through skilled teaching, stand on the other and pull students across to the enlightened side.

  9. Threshold Exemplar “the power of controlled comparison” • Students don’t easily get correlational vs. experimental design • Consequently, isolated terms are difficult to understand and apply

  10. What’s wrong with this picture?

  11. What is a transformative concept? • A concept that fundamentally changes who you are and how you think. The impact is PERSONAL. • Some bottleneck and threshold concepts can become transformers.

  12. Transformers • Involve an “a ha” moment when your new understanding had profound effects on you • May or may not be in the classroom • May or may not have been instrumental in declaring a major

  13. Transformer Exemplar Defense Mechanisms • Everybody does it • It distorts the truth • It makes your anxiety go away • People can’t realize they are doing it or it doesn’t work • …I do it, too!

  14. What are the conceptsin introductory psychologywith the highest impact?

  15. Let the data sharing begin! • Take a moment and see if you can identify a psychology concept that was “high impact” for you when you were starting out and explain it to your neighbor. • Propose the category into which you think it fits best: • Bottleneck • Threshold • Transformer

  16. Pilot Study I asked my honors students to identify the most transformative concepts • Taint of pandering • Confusion between content area and concept

  17. 2nd Attempt:Dr. Awesome’s Intro Class • Inquired about hard CONTENT/chapter area followed by CONCEPT • Inquired about easy CONTENT/chapter area followed by CONCEPT • Followed up by asking about Transformative CONCEPT • Executed through extra credit opportunity at the end of exam while everything is FRESH Dr. Tom Westcott

  18. What content is hard? • “Stuff on the brain” = 23 % • Emotions = 10% • Cognition = 7% • Abnormal = 5% • Language = 4%

  19. Memorable comments • “Remembering the names of the ‘state the obvious’ theorists” • “Too many theories” • “The lecture” • “Theories I don’t agree with” • “I’m very thickheaded and that was too much information to learn”

  20. Hardest Concept • Hormone release and function • Sleep phases • Neurotransmitters • Self-awareness • Schachter • Decay theory • Evolutionary theory • Arousal • Erickson’s theory • Negative reinforcement • Piaget’s theories (3) • Peripheral nervous system • Language acquisition • Personality disorders (2) • IQ • Yerkes Dodson • Emotional intelligence • Phoneme • Creativity • Darwin

  21. Hardest Concept • US = UR, CS = CR • “Endrocrent” system • Learning theories • Latent and manifest content • Probability • Negative/positive correlation • Dream cycles • Natural and artificial concepts • Push pull theory • Neurological reaction stimulus • Experimental theories And my personal favorite • Internal “focus” on control

  22. What about transformation? • Of 216 responses • 64 (30%) said none occurred • 24 (11%) discussed an idea too vaguely to count • 128 (59%) offered at least one specific concept • 136 concepts were identified in total

  23. Why no transformation? • “I’ve had the class before.” • “Interesting stuff but just another gen ed class.” • “Learned a lot but not life changing.” • “Not really transformation, but my thought processes on human behavior have been altered.” • “Psych is interesting but all just based on common sense.” • “..but I’m keeping the book”

  24. Attitude and Self-Control (25) • Attitude is key to 90% of situations • You can choose to be mad • I’m trying to be more patient and think things through • After a bad shot, I don’t dwell on it. I just move on. • There isn’t any such thing as a bad day • You decide to let things bother you

  25. Memory & Study Strategies (29) • How to remember 100 things • How to remember multiple things clearly • Best to study in 20 minute blocks for optimal retention • “Awesome”

  26. Life Skills (13) • Ask open ended questions when people are upset • How to talk to others • How to look at people and the world • Reading people • I am more observant • I better understand people. In fact, I changed my major because of this course.

  27. Sleep & Dreaming (11) • 1/3 of our lives sleeping! • I focus more on dreams than before • Titling your dreams will help you remember them

  28. Motivation & Emotion (11) • Different reasons behind peoples’ actions • How a person deals with stress and its effects on the body • Stress because I’m a very busy, stressful person

  29. Sensation & Perception (11) • Made me want to go to medical school to study more about the human body • Everything we see around us is actually a figment of imagination • How the brain works and can be tricked • I had no idea images were upside down and our brain fixes them to be upright

  30. Pathology (9) • Mental disorders opened my eyes to suffering and we don’t take the time to care • Throughout the course I was getting free counseling to deal with my wife and kids just be attending the class • I have cancer. Anxiety and depression made me realize a lot of people suffer • Better able to understand my friend’s schizophrenia

  31. Deception (6) • I can tell if someone is being deceitful or not • Learning how to predict deception in others

  32. Learning (5) • You can learn new things or ideas as you get older in life • The marshmallow effect • The idea that mental “fortacies” can contribute to learning barriers • I am not sure what it is called but the story where the rat wants food and he has the shocker in front of him and he turns around multiple times. I can relate this to peoples’ relationships around me.

  33. Others • Social (5): territorial space, persuasion, love and distance • Personality (4) • Child behavior (3) • Creativity (1) • Research (1): how correlations work and what it really means to have a relationship between two things

  34. What’s Wrong with This Picture? • Context didn’t produce solid reflection. • “Concepts” is an expert, not a novice, organizer. • Is it expecting to much for an introductory psychology course to be transformative? • Hit rate for transformation is likely to improve with declaration of major. • Can this generation own transformation or is it just not “cool?”

  35. Challenge: Create the High Impact Roster • What is your best “bottleneck?” • Operational definition: A concept that is really difficult to teach/understand. • What is your best “threshold?” • Operational definition: A concept that most effectively introduces the nature of psychology. • What is your best “transformer?” • A concept that produces the strongest personal impact.

  36. Bottleneck Roster • Action potential • Heritability • Split brain • Culture • Top-down bottom-up • Natural selection/evolution • Critical periods • Classical conditioning • Negative reinforcement • Color dynamics • Emotion

  37. Threshold Roster • Correlation vs. causation • Neurotransmitter influence • Research methods as a whole • Personality theory • Not all psychologists are clinicians • Basic vs. applied research • Multicausality

  38. Transformer Roster • Alternative personality theory (different set of eyes) • Unreliability of personality tests • Brain change • Psychology = biology • Compassion and reduced stigma • Bystander effect • Attraction/liking • Power of the situation • Disorders • Cognitive dissonance • Groupthink/critical thinking • Classical conditioning

  39. What does it all mean? • What would happen if we organize what we do to maximize high impact learning in introductory psychology? • What teaching strategies would follow those decisions? • What assessment ideas would work?

  40. What is your take-away? Does this framework influence how you think about • Content scope? • Content depth? • Students?

  41. Questions/Comments • jhalonen@uwf.edu Thanks for having me!

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