Tag: neuroscience

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Interleaving

Tonight, my students are working on math. I’m working on interleaving.

It makes sense as a strategy, I buy the research.

And, it’s sometimes hard to actually do. (For me and my students)

So, I’m teaching my students about it tonight, for the sake of accountability.  (And, so that they are less inclined to grumble when I mix topics, because interleaving is hard)

 

The plan:

Warm up: We’re reading about interleaving as a strategy they can do  (It’s an excerpt from this guide on retrievalpractice.org)

(edited to add: The general consensus on reading this one was “My head would hurt…“)

Activity: Converting with Celsius/Fahrenheit temperature formulas. We’ve been working on formulas and expressions, so this feels continuous….until the activity slips in some graphs.

Follow Up: Instead of more temperature formulas, their practice and homework options are more temperatures (Negative numbers on a thermometer, using charts to calculate windchills) Or, more graphs. Or some different formulas. Or a review from last week.  Also, reminders that interleaving helps their brains.

(Independent practice always has options in my class. It’s my favorite way to differentiate.)

 

I like the lesson. I think it will be good for everyone’s brains/learning.

(Also, the previously-planned negative temperatures and wind chills feel a a little too appropriate for the first SUPER COLD night of the year)

 

But, truth: it’s one night. 

And, things don’t really change in my practice until I find ways to systematize them.  :\

I do spiral reviews  so that’s a start.

And, I have a set of milk crates full of review materials, so the stuff is available. That helps.

And, I have plans, a first-steps goals (read: will you be my accountability buddy?)  Once a unit, in each class, for the rest of this year, their homework options will include one random review topic from a previous unit.

But, I’m going to need a spreadsheet or something if I’m going to scale that (I love charts, they fix so many things).

But also, I could use some more ideas.

My more conscientious students said they couldn’t imagine leaving a worksheet half done to switch to something else, so they were going to need some mixed up worksheets if I wanted them to try this. (Oof, more materials to design.)

 

 

 

 

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Back. Also, Lesson Sketch: Learning Strategies

So, that happened.

If, we define ‘that’ to mean life, a slight case of overwhelm, and an unplanned 5 month break.

 

But, it’s summer. I’ve been to the ocean, I’m off from teaching, and I now have the bandwidth to come back to this.

And, with my newly cleared head, I’m thinking about one of my favorite lessons.

 

Lesson Sketch: Learning Strategies

Why: 

I preach and plead for my adult students to study outside of class (see , por ejemplo: homework, more homework and planning for homework)

But —  I know the research: most students don’t use particularly efficient strategies to study. I think this doubly applies to my adults who didn’t have great success in the school the first time. And, they have even less time to waste on inefficient studying, this time around.

So, I’ve added preaching and pleading to study effectively. 

Also, this is one of a set of first class of the term exercises I use to ease people into doing math and being a student again. (Other examples: Stuck Strategies, Retrieval Practice)

 

What: Introducing research-backed strategies for effective learning + simple data and analysis.

The Learning Scientists have summarized lots of cognitive research to highlight 6 strategies. I rarely have enough students or time that it makes sense to do all 6, but they’re there if you do. For my class, I generally prioritize: Spaced Practice,  Interleaving, Retrieval Practice and Elaboration. 

 

How: 

I introduce the topic. I might talk about how scientists do experiments to see what works (I might add that if I had known you could do experiments about learning, not just chemistry or physics, I might have liked science better in high school)  I might talk about making the best use of our time, or about shaking things up/experimenting with new techniques, I might remind them how frustrating it is to forget what they’ve learned.

 

Then, I split the class into groups, and assign each group a strategy. One time I gave out these posters, more recently it’s been the bookmarks, because less is more. If tech wasn’t a headache, I’d try the videos. The group is in charge of working together until everyone understands the strategy.  (This can take some coaching) Then we jigsaw, and they teach it to their peers. (More coaching)

 

Once everyone understands the strategies, we take a poll:

Do you already do this?

Will you try it this term?

 

Then I have students analyze the data for the strategy they started with. Depending on the class and the time of year, they might find the percent, ratio and/or fraction of the class who gave each answer.  If I have more time, we might make graphs of the results. In a way less time pressured world, we might make a bulletin board display with the strategies and our data and study tips for other students at school.

 

Results:

Spaced practice is a hit. (at least in theory) Whether it happens or not, in the day to day of busy lives, they get this idea. In the great division between tortoises and hares, many of my students are tortoises. Slow and steady sounds good.

Interleaving, on the other hand,  is a hard sell. It just sounds so much harder and more confusing, and math is hard and confusing enough, thankyouverymuch.  (Although I make them do interleaved practice every week and they tell me it helps, so maybe someday…)

 

Next Steps:

Truth… this is the first class of the term and by the second we’re off and running, and it’s hard to get back to this. But, yeah, one-off’s are not all that helpful.

So, I’m currently pondering ways to fit a follow up in.  I’d love to collect a post- round of data later in the term to see if anyone is actually rying them out.

 

 

Free Resource: I fancied up my tally sheets a bit (ahem, data collection tools) and I’m making them available for free in my TPT Store

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Lesson Sketch: Retrieval Practice

Usually, we think of first days as starting from scratch. That’s never fully true – students are always bringing previous experiences with them. But it’s particularly not true for my classes this year.  Because, interesting things about adult ed: since students start at multiple times and progress at their own pace, I sometimes (this year) have a ‘new’ class, that’s composed almost entirely of returning students.

So, rather than spend most of the first day on syllabus-reviewing and class-explaining, or even on getting to know you’s (and my standard fist-day math move, of combining math with get to know you activities) we’re starting by remembering (retrieving, if you’re a neuroscientist) what we already know. And then doing math about that math (it’s very meta)

Why:

I start the year knowing what they know (more or less) without the anxiety of a pre-assessment (hello, formative assessment) (Also, they do the data analysis for me….)

They start the year knowing what they know (hello, confidence boost)

It brings some of what they already know to the top of mind (after a summer of probably not thinking about math) so, it’s a sort of global activation of prior knowledge.

Retrieval practice is good for the brain and the memories.

Talking about retrieval practice on the first day sets a tone for talking about metacognition and effective learning all year.

Working in pairs on the first day sets a tone for collaborative learning. (I’ll be strategically matching new and veteran students into pairs)

It passes my ‘points on the board’ test (Finding a percent should be a review for most returning students, but new or returning, we walk out knowing we know at least one piece of math)

Teaching percents the first day means they can start grading their own cumulative reviews on the second day.

I think doing math with real, it came from us data, helps math feel less like random torture they have to endure to get a credential, and more like a tool that tells us something about the world (ok, more of them still think it’s torture than a tool, but I try)

How:

Retrieval: An independent brainstorm then a pair-share to bring months old math memories to the surface.

I’m making sure to ask my students about both the math they remember (I remember how to do percents, I remember that y is the vertical axis) and what they remember about themselves as math learners (I remember that I like to work in groups, I remember that writing notes helps my memory).

This expands the discussion in metacognitive ways, and it gives anyone who is panicking about (not) remembering math a way to participate.

Data & Analysis: We’re posting memories as a gallery walk, making tally marks of agreements then calculating the percent of students who share our memories.

Follow up: We’ll practice finding percents, then have a chance to follow up on an independent goal (aka, pick something from my milk crates full of materials) to review a topic they feel they sort-of-but-not-really remember

Implementation

I’m implementing as a first-class activity, but I can see it working well after a shorter break too (Welcome back from winter/April/spring/whatever break! What do you remember from before?) or as a spiral review/comprehension check at a few strategic point during the year (We’re having a review day! But first, what do you remember already?)

Lesson plan and materials

(Actually, I was having fun – so I made variations to use with fractions or ratios, instead of percents, and included a bunch of extension ideas)