Active Learning and Remembering

The Verbal Lecture is one where the instructor talks and talks and talks and students are passive recorders. I also call this the "Verbal Textbook" as this type of instructor often spends much of the classtime reciting definitions and "textbook examples"... that students can actually get themselves from the textbook... This type of course requires that the students must make themselves active learners outside of classtime -- or they will remember very, very little from these courses.

The Standard Lecture is one where the instructor intersperses the verbal discourse with occasional visual aids such as transparencies, slides, videos, films, etc. Most instructors do try to incorporate some sorts of visual aids into their lectures. Very similar to the Verbal Lecture, the Standard Lecture often emphasizes vocabulary and definitions that the students can get for themselves from the textbook.....How much the Standard Lecture differs from the Verbal Lecture depends on the quality and amount of the visual aids incorporated.

The Interactive Presentation is one that incorporates explanation of concepts (rather than recitation of definitions) with visual aids, demos and student activities. The Interactive Presentation results in the highest level of student retention of course material from in-class-time. This is the type of class that I try to run in my Geology and Oceanography courses. I am attempting to maximize the quality and effectiveness of numerous visuals (such as slides, video-clips, CD-ROM animations, etc.) with demonstrations and active-learning. As I spend classtime explaining concepts and presenting visuals and demos, I do not waste classtime with recitation of every definition of every vocabulary word -- students can easily get vocabulary definitions from the textbook, from dictionaries and from the resources available on the Internet. All students must become familiar with using the textbook glossary, the textbook index and good search Internet search engines.

As my lectures generally have 50+ students, group activities or small-lab activities are generally not feasible; consequently, I implement a Modified Socratic Method in order to incite active student participation.

The Original Socratic Method is where the professor asks the student questions and the student verbalizes possible answers and solutions and, eventually (hopefully) the student converges on a solution -- without the instructor providing the answers. Many Law School programs use an Adversarial Socratic Method where the seemingly-all-knowing-professor poses questions to individual students who have to answer and justify their answers in front of the entire class. The Socratic Method requires active student learning and is highly effective; however, many students resent having to present their ignorance in front of others. Don't worry, I do not employ this type of Socratic Method in my courses... keep reading...

In my courses, my Modified Socratic Method is one where I ask the entire class questions before I have explained or demonstrated the topic. Students write their guesses for the answers on a sheet of paper. I do not care if the students' answers are correct or wildly incorrect -- what counts is that the student thinks about the question and guesses an answer BEFORE I explain the answer... At the end of class, I collect the students' papers and these papers are filed by date but do not count towards course grades. Students who actively and honestly write their guesses down before I explain the topics - these students retain significantly more from the lecture than students who wait for my answers. Students who retain more from the in-class time... these students do not have to spend as much time studying outside of class... and these students generally get higher exam scores....hmmmm......active vs. passive....? Actively learning students write down their guesses BEFORE I have explained the answer. Passive, lethargic students wait for the answer to be given to them and these students will retain very little and will have to study much harder for exams....or simply get lower grades....grrrrrrrrrrrr.......

Lab Courses require that the student figures out what to do, tests this and then formulates a new course of action based on the results of each test... and eventually, the student converges on the answer. This is active, experiential learning and is highly effective - and most students already know that they will learn better if they do it themselves.... However, I have found that most students do not actually want to figure out how to do a lab experiment on their own... it takes too much time and effort, is too frustrating and makes them feel stupid....its sort of like trying to jog when you are out-of-shape... Most of my students are non-science majors taking their one and only science course for general breadth requirements...Most of my students have had innumerable, countless numbers of classes that fit into the Standard Lecture categories - and even though they complain about these classes, and the students are forever voicing their opinions on how the instructors could make the classes better - the truth is, that because students have had so many of the Standard Lectures, that most students have gotten pretty good at dealing with them in order to pass the courses and even to get A's in most of these courses. So, here these students are... taking a Lab Course... where they know that they should be learning better because they will be doing it themselves and they will not have to sit and listen to a boring verbal lecture.... And, what do these students immediately demand from the lab professor? Instructions, guidelines, examples.... which turns the beginning of the lab into a standard lecture explanation and then turns the students into monkeys who ape the professors instructions and demos... and how much do these students retain? Very, very little! These types of labs are also known as "Cookbook Labs" where all the student has to do is follow the instructions -- its passive learning in a lab setting... and is very sad.

A Great Analogy: The Goal is to get to the top of a mountain. Active experiential lab-type learning entails that the students formulate a plan and a route to the top and start hiking. Along the way, the students find that they have to backtrack and, perhaps, even start over several times. Eventually, however, after a tough hike and many mistakes, they make it to the top and the view is spectacular and breathtaking and the students have a sense of pride and accomplishment. These students can tackle that hill over and over again and they can make it to the top on their own -- they know the way.

In contrast, the "Cookbook Labs" that are requested by passive students result in the instructor piling students into a van and driving them to the top. When the students drag themselves out of their seats to see the view, they are not impressed... they complain about the drive up and the cold and wind on the top. After the instructor drives the students back down to the bottom, the very next day these students could not climb to the top of that mountain. They don't know the route because they didn't figure out the route and drive it themselves. They have no clue as to how to plan for the effort that the hike will require. These students whine and complain and are always full of pointed suggestions of what others should do -- especially of what others should do for them.... These passive learners must change their perspective and expectations of college or they are going to make the unlucky people around them miserable!

Here are some recommendations for Active Learning Tips
from Brown University's Geology Professors

Study actively, not passively. Do not try to memorize ‘answers’, but seek to understand how geological processes work, the reasons for geological phenomena, the evidence for various hypotheses or conclusions. In the words of T. S. Elliot (below), strive for knowledge and wisdom, not just facts.

Do not just memorize phrases from the text; try to put everything in your own words, as though you were teaching the material to someone. Discussing the material in small groups, including making drawings and diagrams, can be very effective.

Practice writing out full answers to at least some of the study questions and some of the questions from last year’s final exam.

There is a big difference between passive and active knowledge; you should aim for the latter! You really do not know whether you understand something until you try to write it in your own words, or draw a diagram to illustrate it, or describe it to someone else.

¨ Thus, we strongly advise that you study together with a friend. Take turns asking one another to say ‘why’ such and such is the way it is, or to draw a diagram illustrating the relation between A and B; in part you might use the text study questions.

¨ Another suggestion is to try writing down in your own words the several major ideas or points concerning each topic, and then check these against your class notes and the textbook. An additional benefit is that writing out explanations of geologic processes in full sentences can help you to find the gaps in your understanding; identifying what you don’t know is a very important step.

¨ Make sure to practise drawing diagrams of important relations that have been discussed in class, before the exam. Some questions may require you to draw a diagram, and for other questions it may help (and save time) to use a simple diagram as part of your answer. Make sure that you label the important parts of any diagram, especially if you are not sure you have gotten the proportions or relations clearly or correctly drawn.

¨ When you are reading the text, or reading over your class notes, do it in an ‘active’ mode. For the text, do not just underline, because that encourages passive memorization. Frequently ask yourself ‘How do geologists know this? What is the evidence? How does this process work? Why is it important?’ For your notes, re-copy portions that were messy or incomplete when you first wrote them. With a colored pen fill in the ‘logic’, and note questions or relevant text sections in the margins.

The recommendations in this box come from the
Brown University Geology 22 website at http://www.geo.brown.edu/courses/ge_0022/study.html and http://www.geo.brown.edu/courses/ge_0022/final_study.html

You remember:	Active vs. Passive	Example
10% of what you hear	Very Passive	Verbal lecture	Most "Standard" Lectures
30% of what you see	Passive	with Visual Aids	Most "Standard" Lectures
50% of what you watch, see and hear	Beginning to get active	Interactive Presentation	the most you can get during a "lecture" class
70% of what you figure out and do	Active	Lab Courses	experiential learning
90% of what you figure out and verbalize	Very Active	The student explains	Study Groups and Tutoring The beginning of Mastery

Active vs. Passive

Example