The Science of learning
professional development workshop
______________________________________
Week #3
Learning objectives
![Smart Learning Objectives](/uploads/7/0/1/9/70199053/9669595.jpg?361)
Upon completion of this workshop, participants should be able to:
1. Name the two systems of knowing and define their meaning
2. Identify the three steps of dynamic testing
3. List eight ways reality of information can be distorted
4. Define Dynamic Testing
5. Apply these objectives using the Quizlet Speller tool
Weekly content summaries
![This is a painting of the word](/uploads/7/0/1/9/70199053/2647898.jpg?360)
Chapter Five Summary –
Avoid Illusions of Knowing
The topic of knowing information includes pitfalls one must be aware of and overcome to achieve true learning. These illusions of knowing include perceptions, cognitive biases, and distorted memories. However, there are techniques that help align judgement with reality. To understand how the mind knows information, we must first understand the construct of knowing.
There are two systems of knowing:
1. The automatic system is intuitive, unconscious, and immediate. It allows us to size up differences of visual information in the blink of an eye and draws on past experiences and deep emotions.
2. The controlled system is a slow process of analysis and reasoning allowing us to consider choices, make smart decisions, and engage self-control.
Reality of information can be distorted by several factors. They include:
1. Illusions and memory distortions: People interpret information based on their world knowledge and assign order to the missing pieces to make the information make sense.
2. Imagination inflation: This is the tendency of a person to remember an event when asked. If asked often enough, the memory becomes real even though it may not have actually occurred.
3. Suggestion: This is a memory illusion that occurs when a person suggests something that creates a false memory. An example of this is when a person is asked how fast they were driving a car when they “contacted” another car, versus when they “smashed” into another car. Respondents reply with a higher speed when the word smashed is suggested versus contacted.
4. The curse of knowledge: When a person is knowledgeable on a subject, they underestimate the time it takes for another person to learn something new about that subject. Teachers may be guilty of doing this when presenting a subject to their students.
5. The feeling of knowing: When a person hears something so often they actually begin to believe it. Political campaign advertisements are good examples of the feeling of knowing.
6. Fluency illusion: Mistaking fluency or knowledge of text within a book but not mastering the content.
7. Social influence: Allowing another person’s incorrect detail about a subject to influence your own memory.
8. False consensus effect: This occurs when people believe that others share their beliefs.
Our knowledge of a subject is bundled together like a smartphone app or packets of computer data. They are a set of perceptions and actions we use with little thought to respond to a situation or action. These bundles of information are referred to as mental models. Our mental models aren’t working properly when a situation that feels familiar isn’t and requires a different solution.
The good news is, there are tools and habits you can use to calibrate your own judgement to align it with reality:
1. Make frequent use of testing and retrieval practice through low-stakes quizzing and spaced testing.
2. Seek constructive feedback on weak subject areas.
3. Work with someone who has more experience and learn from them.
4. Train and simulate learning in real world settings.
By using these tools, you can avoid some of the pitfalls of distorted reality of information (Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. 2014).
Avoid Illusions of Knowing
The topic of knowing information includes pitfalls one must be aware of and overcome to achieve true learning. These illusions of knowing include perceptions, cognitive biases, and distorted memories. However, there are techniques that help align judgement with reality. To understand how the mind knows information, we must first understand the construct of knowing.
There are two systems of knowing:
1. The automatic system is intuitive, unconscious, and immediate. It allows us to size up differences of visual information in the blink of an eye and draws on past experiences and deep emotions.
2. The controlled system is a slow process of analysis and reasoning allowing us to consider choices, make smart decisions, and engage self-control.
Reality of information can be distorted by several factors. They include:
1. Illusions and memory distortions: People interpret information based on their world knowledge and assign order to the missing pieces to make the information make sense.
2. Imagination inflation: This is the tendency of a person to remember an event when asked. If asked often enough, the memory becomes real even though it may not have actually occurred.
3. Suggestion: This is a memory illusion that occurs when a person suggests something that creates a false memory. An example of this is when a person is asked how fast they were driving a car when they “contacted” another car, versus when they “smashed” into another car. Respondents reply with a higher speed when the word smashed is suggested versus contacted.
4. The curse of knowledge: When a person is knowledgeable on a subject, they underestimate the time it takes for another person to learn something new about that subject. Teachers may be guilty of doing this when presenting a subject to their students.
5. The feeling of knowing: When a person hears something so often they actually begin to believe it. Political campaign advertisements are good examples of the feeling of knowing.
6. Fluency illusion: Mistaking fluency or knowledge of text within a book but not mastering the content.
7. Social influence: Allowing another person’s incorrect detail about a subject to influence your own memory.
8. False consensus effect: This occurs when people believe that others share their beliefs.
Our knowledge of a subject is bundled together like a smartphone app or packets of computer data. They are a set of perceptions and actions we use with little thought to respond to a situation or action. These bundles of information are referred to as mental models. Our mental models aren’t working properly when a situation that feels familiar isn’t and requires a different solution.
The good news is, there are tools and habits you can use to calibrate your own judgement to align it with reality:
1. Make frequent use of testing and retrieval practice through low-stakes quizzing and spaced testing.
2. Seek constructive feedback on weak subject areas.
3. Work with someone who has more experience and learn from them.
4. Train and simulate learning in real world settings.
By using these tools, you can avoid some of the pitfalls of distorted reality of information (Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. 2014).
![This is a representation of different learning styles](/uploads/7/0/1/9/70199053/449393.jpg?355)
Chapter Six Summary –
Get Beyond Learning Styles
Everyone has a learning style preference, but do not necessarily learn better when an instructor caters to these personal preferences. Active learners are people who extract rules or underlying principles from new experiences. They are typically more successful learners than those who learn at face value and fail to infer the lessons that can be applied to future situations. What matters most for effective learning is reading ability and language fluency.
Successful intelligence is intelligence one possesses to become successful in life, whether by their own standard or someone else’s, and is not necessarily dependent in IQ. It is used to reach important goals. The idea of successful intelligence is comprised of three parts:
1. Analytical intelligence – the ability to perform problem solving tasks such as those contained in tests and quizzes.
2. Creative intelligence – the ability to apply and synthesize existing knowledge into new situations.
3. Practical knowledge – the ability to adapt to daily life. This is also known as “street smarts”.
Dynamic testing is a way to gauge one’s level of expertise and concentrate on areas of low performance, retest to improve performance, and aim learning towards areas of weakness to raise expertise. This type of testing is more effective than standardized testing because it focuses the learner on weak areas and measures progress from test to test. There are three steps to dynamic testing:
1. The test itself.
2. A personal dedication to becoming more competent by using enduring learning techniques such as reflection, spacing, practice, and other enduring learning techniques.
3. Retesting to focus on what works and identify areas of improvement.
The takeaway for any learner is to take charge of your own learning, mastery of skill, and the ability to grasp complex ideas and processes. This is a journey that requires significant effort. Adapt active learning techniques like spacing, retrieval practice, and interleaving. Sift through underlying principles and build structure. By using these learning tools you will go beyond surface knowledge to genuine knowhow (Brown et al., 2014).
Get Beyond Learning Styles
Everyone has a learning style preference, but do not necessarily learn better when an instructor caters to these personal preferences. Active learners are people who extract rules or underlying principles from new experiences. They are typically more successful learners than those who learn at face value and fail to infer the lessons that can be applied to future situations. What matters most for effective learning is reading ability and language fluency.
Successful intelligence is intelligence one possesses to become successful in life, whether by their own standard or someone else’s, and is not necessarily dependent in IQ. It is used to reach important goals. The idea of successful intelligence is comprised of three parts:
1. Analytical intelligence – the ability to perform problem solving tasks such as those contained in tests and quizzes.
2. Creative intelligence – the ability to apply and synthesize existing knowledge into new situations.
3. Practical knowledge – the ability to adapt to daily life. This is also known as “street smarts”.
Dynamic testing is a way to gauge one’s level of expertise and concentrate on areas of low performance, retest to improve performance, and aim learning towards areas of weakness to raise expertise. This type of testing is more effective than standardized testing because it focuses the learner on weak areas and measures progress from test to test. There are three steps to dynamic testing:
1. The test itself.
2. A personal dedication to becoming more competent by using enduring learning techniques such as reflection, spacing, practice, and other enduring learning techniques.
3. Retesting to focus on what works and identify areas of improvement.
The takeaway for any learner is to take charge of your own learning, mastery of skill, and the ability to grasp complex ideas and processes. This is a journey that requires significant effort. Adapt active learning techniques like spacing, retrieval practice, and interleaving. Sift through underlying principles and build structure. By using these learning tools you will go beyond surface knowledge to genuine knowhow (Brown et al., 2014).
![Students taking a test](/uploads/7/0/1/9/70199053/3861814.jpg?358)
Video Overview and Summary – Student Assessment Part One
In the video Student Assessment Part 1, Jeffrey Karpicke, a cognitive psychologist, gives a new perspective on the role of assessments, retrieval, and learning. He discusses encoding, which is taking knowledge and putting it in our heads and states that the practice of retrieval creates learning and influences the process of learning. Every time you retrieve your knowledge of a subject, your understanding of that information becomes stronger.
A direct effect of retrieval is that knowledge is enhanced for a longer period of time. He introduces two retrieval strategies:
1. Mapping. Create mind maps on paper and turn them into a retrieval activity by reading, creating a map, and have the student recreate the map from memory.
2. Read material, write down clues, and only use the clues to recall the material.
The takeaway for the video is that retrieval practice, not repeated reading, is very important for learning and understanding how learning happens for long term retention (Karpicke, 2013).
To view the video, go to: https://youtu.be/CioabgMyFlA
In the video Student Assessment Part 1, Jeffrey Karpicke, a cognitive psychologist, gives a new perspective on the role of assessments, retrieval, and learning. He discusses encoding, which is taking knowledge and putting it in our heads and states that the practice of retrieval creates learning and influences the process of learning. Every time you retrieve your knowledge of a subject, your understanding of that information becomes stronger.
A direct effect of retrieval is that knowledge is enhanced for a longer period of time. He introduces two retrieval strategies:
1. Mapping. Create mind maps on paper and turn them into a retrieval activity by reading, creating a map, and have the student recreate the map from memory.
2. Read material, write down clues, and only use the clues to recall the material.
The takeaway for the video is that retrieval practice, not repeated reading, is very important for learning and understanding how learning happens for long term retention (Karpicke, 2013).
To view the video, go to: https://youtu.be/CioabgMyFlA
connections to field and/or discipline
![Digital learning thermostat](/uploads/7/0/1/9/70199053/7017793.jpg?1454198026)
The facility management profession is constantly evolving. Technologies integrated into today’s facility systems such as digital environmental controls or complex fire protection systems require constant continuing education to keep pace with change. To prevent falling into the trap of false knowledge and gain a better understanding of these complex systems, employ the learning techniques mentioned above such as frequent testing and quizzing, retrieval practice, working with or mirroring a more experienced facility professional, and simulate learning in real world settings.
suggestions for implementation
![Military members participating in continuing education](/uploads/7/0/1/9/70199053/8294580.jpg?1454197986)
For organizational leaders, make continuing education a part of your organization’s culture. Set aside dedicated training days that focus on organizational weaknesses. These focus areas do not have to be technical in nature. Train on soft skills, such as effective listening, public speaking, how to give corrective feedback, or leadership skills. As an organizational member, make a goal to attend recurring training as part of your professional development. Make a personal dedication to becoming more competent by using enduring learning techniques such as reflection, spacing, and practice. Finally, retest to focus on what works and identify areas of improvement. Then, seek corrective feedback to strengthen areas of weakness (Brown et al., 2014).
formative assessment
![Spelling the word](/uploads/7/0/1/9/70199053/5621498.jpg?1454197928)
Now that you've read the week #3 content and watched the video, test your knowledge by using the Quizlet speller tool. Simply type what you hear in the empty box to reinforce your knowledge of the subject.
references
Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Karpicke, J. (2013, May 15). Conference "student assessment" (part 1) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/CioabgMyFlA.
Karpicke, J. (2013, May 15). Conference "student assessment" (part 1) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/CioabgMyFlA.