$30 off During Our Annual Pro Sale. View Details »

Enhancing Student Engagement and Understanding via IBL

Dana Ernst
January 10, 2018

Enhancing Student Engagement and Understanding via IBL

This talk was given on January 10, 2018, as part of the "Creating Meaningful Classroom Activities to Deepen Student Learning" Project NExT panel discussion at the 2018 Joint Mathematics Meeting in San Diego, CA.

Dana Ernst

January 10, 2018
Tweet

More Decks by Dana Ernst

Other Decks in Education

Transcript

  1. Enhancing Student Engagement and
    Understanding via Inquiry-Based Learning
    Creating Meaningful Classroom Activities to Deepen Student Learning
    Project NExT Panel Discussion
    Dana C. Ernst
    Northern Arizona University
    January 10, 2018

    View Slide

  2. Bad News & Good News
    Bad News
    I can’t tell you everything there is to say about inquiry-based
    learning (IBL) in 20 minutes.
    Good News
    There are lots of resources available and there are lots of people
    that would love to help you get started with IBL.
    1

    View Slide

  3. IBL Resources
    • The Academy of Inquiry-Based Learning (AIBL)
    • Summer IBL Workshops Registration is now open!
    Registration is now open!
    • June 19–22, 2018: DePaul University, Chicago, IL
    • June 26–29, 2018: MAA Carriage House, Washington, DC
    • July 10–13, 2018: Los Angeles, CA
    • Mentoring via AIBL
    • Small grants from AIBL
    • Journal of Inquiry-Based Learning in Mathematics (JIBLM)
    • IBL SIGMAA
    • Inquiry-Based Teaching and Learning session at JMM
    • Mathematics Learning by Inquiry
    • MAA Instructional Practices Guide
    Registration is now open!
    2

    View Slide

  4. What is IBL?
    The Three Pillars
    1. Deep engagement in rich mathematics.
    2. Opportunities to collaborate.
    3. Instructor use of student thinking.
    Laursen et al.
    Rasmussen et al.
    Students should as much as possible be responsible for:
    1. Guiding the acquisition of knowledge,
    2. Validating the ideas presented (instructor not sole authority).
    3

    View Slide

  5. What is IBL?
    Guiding Principle
    Where do I draw the line between content I must impart to my
    students versus content they can produce independently?
    Where do I draw the line between content I must impart to my
    students versus content they can produce independently?
    Common Vehicles to IBL
    1. Student presentations.
    2. Small group work.
    This is not an “either-or” choice. Most IBL instructors implement
    some combination.
    Where do I draw the line between content I must impart to my
    students versus content they can produce independently?
    4

    View Slide

  6. What is IBL?
    Important!
    • IBL is a big tent.
    • IBL is doable.
    • IBL is fun.
    • IBL isn’t all or nothing. You can make incremental changes.
    • IBL assumes a growth mindset.
    • IBL fosters a growth mindset.
    • IBL can be transformative.
    “We’re in the business of changing lives.” — Michael Starbird
    “We’re in the business of changing lives.” — Michael Starbird
    “We’re in the business of changing lives.” — Michael Starbird
    5

    View Slide

  7. What does IBL look like?
    • You need to make design decisions about:
    1. The tasks students will engage in.
    2. How students will engage with those tasks, with each other,
    and with you.
    • Your decisions will be influenced by many obstacles &
    opportunities:
    • Class size?
    • Significant content pressure?
    • Configuration of room?
    • Who are your students?
    • Your implementation may vary from course to course.
    6

    View Slide

  8. The Goldilocks Zone
    Where is struggle the most productive for your students?
    7

    View Slide

  9. One of many possible versions of IBL
    • Students responsible for digesting most new material out of
    class by working on a sequence of problems.
    • Each batch of problems are meant to do some subset of the
    following:
    • Introduce a new topic
    • Develop intuition about a concept
    • Synthesize ideas from a few concepts
    • Prove a theorem
    • Get practice doing routine or non-routine problems
    • Nearly all class time devoted to students presenting proposed
    solutions/proofs.
    • Instructor’s role: guide discussion & nudge students to ask the
    right questions.
    8

    View Slide

  10. One of many possible versions of IBL
    9

    View Slide

  11. One of many possible versions of IBL
    10

    View Slide

  12. One of many possible versions of IBL
    11

    View Slide

  13. One of many possible versions of IBL
    12

    View Slide

  14. One of many possible versions of IBL
    13

    View Slide

  15. One of many possible versions of IBL
    14

    View Slide

  16. Why IBL?
    Laursen et al. 2014
    “Despite variation in how IBL was implemented, student out-
    comes are improved in IBL courses relative to traditionally
    taught courses, as assessed by general measures that apply
    across course types. Particularly striking, the use of IBL elim-
    inates a sizable gender gap that disfavors women students in
    lecture-based courses.”
    “Despite variation in how IBL was implemented, student out-
    comes are improved in IBL courses relative to traditionally
    taught courses, as assessed by general measures that apply
    across course types. Particularly striking, the use of IBL elim-
    inates a sizable gender gap that disfavors women students in
    lecture-based courses.”
    “Despite variation in how IBL was implemented, student out-
    comes are improved in IBL courses relative to traditionally
    taught courses, as assessed by general measures that apply
    across course types. Particularly striking, the use of IBL elim-
    inates a sizable gender gap that disfavors women students in
    lecture-based courses.”
    15

    View Slide

  17. Why IBL?
    Freeman et al. 2014
    “The results raise questions about the continued use of tradi-
    tional lecturing as a control in research studies, and support
    active learning as the preferred, empirically validated teach-
    ing practice in regular classrooms.”
    “The results raise questions about the continued use of tradi-
    tional lecturing as a control in research studies, and support
    active learning as the preferred, empirically validated teach-
    ing practice in regular classrooms.”
    “The results raise questions about the continued use of tradi-
    tional lecturing as a control in research studies, and support
    active learning as the preferred, empirically validated teach-
    ing practice in regular classrooms.”
    16

    View Slide

  18. Why IBL?
    Manifesto of the MAA Instructional Practices Guide
    “We must gather the courage to advocate beyond our own
    classroom for student-centered instructional strategies that
    promote equitable access to mathematics for all students. We
    stand at a crossroads, and we must choose the path of trans-
    formation in order to fulfill our professional responsibility to
    our students.”
    “We must gather the courage to advocate beyond our own
    classroom for student-centered instructional strategies that
    promote equitable access to mathematics for all students. We
    stand at a crossroads, and we must choose the path of trans-
    formation in order to fulfill our professional responsibility to
    our students.”
    “We must gather the courage to advocate beyond our own
    classroom for student-centered instructional strategies that
    promote equitable access to mathematics for all students. We
    stand at a crossroads, and we must choose the path of trans-
    formation in order to fulfill our professional responsibility to
    our students.”
    17

    View Slide

  19. Why IBL?
    Comment on student evaluations
    “Try. Fail. Understand. Win.”
    “Try. Fail. Understand. Win.”
    “Try. Fail. Understand. Win.”
    18

    View Slide

  20. Closing Remarks
    • In an IBL class there are lots of issues that bubble to the surface
    that we blissfully ignore when lecturing. Feature not a bug!
    • When we have access to student thinking we can build on an
    extend their understanding.
    • Student presentations are meant to drive classroom discussion,
    not to prove to you that Sally knows how to do Exercise 15.
    • The perfect presentation is one that is interestingly wrong.
    • One reason IBL works: Mode of engagement is different when
    listening to expert vs novice. “Student as skeptic.”
    19

    View Slide