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RETA Workshops


HOW PEOPLE LEARN: Proceedings from Two MSP Workshops from the National Research Council

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
NATIONAL SCIENCE RESOURCES CENTER

MATH/SCIENCE PARTNERSHIPS WORKSHOP
How People Learn

PLENARY AND BREAK-OUT SESSIONS
March 7-9, 2004
June 27-29, 2004

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Workshop Goals and Objectives
file icon  Front Matter to the Proceedings
file icon  Preface

file icon  Biosketches of members of the workshop steering committee

  Workshop agendas by topic with hyperlinks to workshop resources
 


Chronological Agendas for the
file icon
 March Workshop | file icon June Workshop

  Presenters' Biosketches for the file icon March Workshop | file icon June Workshop

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 Titles of NRC reports distributed to workshop participants on compendium CD-ROMs
file icon Additional resources distributed at the March workshop
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Additional resources that were distributed at the June workshop
 
Additional information about the National Academies' Math/Science Partnership RETA Project
 
Information about the National Science Foundation's Math/Science Partnership Initiative






Artist's visual representation of the discussion threads during the March workshop

file icon Description of this artwork (page 23 in transcript)


COMBINED AGENDA OF THE MARCH AND JUNE WORKSHOPS
ARRANGED BY TOPIC

 Opening Remarks by Workshop Date and Day

Bridging Research and Practice: An Examination of a Teaching and Learning Model

Participants will work in groups to examine a teaching and learning model based on a "floating and sinking" inquiry.
Sally Goetz Shuler, Executive Director, National Science Resources Center
Christos Zahopoulos, Director of Projects SEED & RE-SEED, Northeastern University
 Biosketch

This presentation will provide participants with the opportunity to examine and discuss the characteristics of a research-based model of teaching and learning. The design of the session will be based on a learning cycle that begins with participants sharing their perspectives about the current and desired state of teaching and learning. Following the discussion, participants will be engaged in a hands-on investigation and review two videotapes of classrooms at the middle school level. Participants will be asked to reflection these experiences and to compare the ways in which they are or are not representative of effective teaching and learning.
 Powerpoint Presentation for March Workshop
 Powerpoint Presentation for June Workshop
 Transcript from First Session in March Workshop
 Transcript from Second Session in March Workshop
 Transcript from June Workshop

Keynote Address and Discussion: Research on Human Learning: Understanding and Applications

Jose Mestre, Professor of Physics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
 Biosketch

A committee convened by the National Research Council released a report in 1999 titled How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, which not only synthesizes learning research from the past 25 years, but also presents exemplars of how this research can be applied to teach mathematics, science, and history. In this talk I will begin by summarizing the salient findings from that report as they apply to science learning. I will then, through an audience participation activity focusing on some simple physics concepts, model how learning research can be applied to teach science in a way that actively engages the learner. I will conclude by summarizing the implications of learning research to instruction.
 Powerpoint Presentation for March and June Workshops
 Transcript of Presentation and Discussion from March Workshop
 Transcript of Presentation and Discussion from June Workshop

Discussion of Principles of Learning as Applied to Higher Education

Bonnie Brunkhorst, Professor, Geological Sciences and Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, California State University, San Bernardino
 Biosketch

This session will focus on the need to consider how to help our students develop conceptual understandings for applicability to further connections and usefulness in science and to real-world situations. Using student understandings of photosynthesis, we will discuss ways to identify and build fundamental understandings. One set of experiences in geological sciences and science and technology courses may assist consideration and transfer to each participant's areas of expertise, K-16.
 Powerpoint Presentation |  Transcript of Presentation and Discussion from March Workshop  Transcript of Presentation and Discussion from June Workshop

How Students Reflect on Their Learning - Presentation and Interactive Discussion

Michael Martinez, Associate Professor, Department of Education, University of California, Irvine

The discovery of metacognition, and its theoretical elaboration, is a major breakthrough in recent decades of cognitive research. My goals are, first, to clarify the concept of metacognition and, second, to present some ideas about how metacognition can be taught. In addition to presenting these ideas, I hope to enter into discussion with you to advance our collective understanding of the interesting and important construct of metacognition.
 Biosketch
 Powerpoint Presentation
 Transcript of Presentation and Discussion from March Workshop
 Transcript of Presentation and Discussion from June Workshop

Implications for MSPs (March 9, 2004)

Nancy Shapiro, Director, K-16 Initiatives, University System of Maryland and PI, Vertically Integrated Partnerships K-16
 Biosketch  Transcript of Presentation and Discussion

Implications for MSPs (June 29, 2004)

Dava Coleman, PRISM P-12 Coordinator, NE Georgia Region
 Biosketch  Transcript of Presentation and Discussion

Breakout Sessions (March 8, June 28)

Human Learning

Jose Mestre, Professor of Physics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

This session provides the opportunity for participants to ask additional questions about How People Learn, specifically, or research issues in science learning in general. Dr. Mestre will be available to expound on his earlier presentation and field questions. He can also discuss additional research findings related to the activity that he will do with you during the keynote address.
Transcript not available

Higher Education Applications

Bonnie Brunkhorst, Professor, Geological Science and Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, California State University, San Bernardino
Herbert Brunkhorst, Professor, Science Education and Biology, California State University, San Bernardino, and Steering Committee Member

Improving Teaching and Learning in Our Own Classrooms. Exploring the attributes of learning environments that need cultivation as outlined in How People Learn (p. 23-27).
Transcript not available
Handouts for breakout session

K-12 Science and Mathematics Applications (March 8)

Mary Colvard, Consultant, New York State Education Department, and Steering Committee Member
 Biosketch
Handouts for breakout session
Laura Maitland, Science Department Chair, W.C. Mepham High School, Bellmore, NY
 Biosketch
Handouts for breakout session
Mary Kosky, retired, Department of Mathematics, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School, Burnt Hills, NY
 Biosketch
Handouts for breakout session

By working through a series of activities focusing on cognition (learning, memory, and thinking), participants will gain a better understanding of metacognitive processes. Take-home activities will model how to engage students in recognizing what it means to "pay attention," how we put information into working memory, move it to long-term memory, and meaningfully connect it to prior knowledge in order to retrieve it later. Examples using science and mathematics concepts will be used to illustrate the importance of schema as they relate to reading and understanding.
Transcript not available

K-12 Science and Mathematics Applications (June 28, 2004)

Laura Maitland, Science Department Chair, W.C. Mepham High School, Bellmore, NY
Robert Walsh, Teacher of Mathematics and Computer Science, W.C. Mepham High School, Bellmore, NY
 Biosketch
Transcript not available

Breakout Sessions (March 9, June 29)

Human Learning
Michael Martinez, Associate Professor, Department of Education, University of California, Irvine
Dr. Martinez will be available to expand on his earlier presentation and field questions.
Transcript not available

K-12 Science and Mathematics Applications (March 9)
Mary Colvard, Consultant, New York State Education Department, and Steering Committee Member
Laura Maitland, Science Instructor, W.C. Mepham High School, Bellmore, NY
Mary Kosky, retired, Department of Mathematics, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School, Burnt Hills, NY

This session will be divided into two segments. During the first, we will share

  • activities that enhance the ability of students to read and conceptualize,
  • student-designed laboratory investigations,
  • formative and summative assessment strategies and why they are critical,
  • methods for uncovering misconceptions,
  • metacognitive strategies that foster thinking about thinking.

The second segment of this session will focus on mathematical applications. It will move from the conceptual to the concrete. By practicing what was learned earlier, participants will discuss how to construct and launch a hot air balloon. Mathematics and physics skills will be used to estimate the height and distance a balloon will actually fly.
Transcript not available

K-12 Science and Mathematics Applications
Laura Maitland, Science Department Chair, W.C. Mepham High School, Bellmore, NY
Robert Walsh, Teacher of Mathematics and Computer Science, W.C. Mepham High School, Bellmore, NY

This session will examine

  • activities that enhance the ability of students to read and conceptualize,
  • formative and summative assessment strategies and why they are critical,
  • methods for uncovering misconceptions,
  • metacognitive strategies that foster thinking about thinking.
Transcript not available

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