Why All Students Need Facts for Learning Success
Explore the importance of facts in education through the insightful views of Adam Boxer. Discover how a cognitive approach to facts enhances learning, comprehension, problem-solving, and creativity. Uncover the impact of knowing lots about a subject on academic achievement and enriched experiences.
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Presentation Transcript
Knowledge at the core: why all students need facts Adam Boxer @adamboxer1 aboxer@jcoss.barnet.sch.uk
Take-homes 1. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to learn more about that thing 2. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to understand texts about that thing 3. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to solve problems related to that thing 4. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to be creative in areas related to that thing 5. Knowing lots about things means you have enriched experiences of those things
When they are allowed to apply their natural creativity and curiosity, children love learning Then they get to school, and we suppress this instinct by sitting them down, force-feeding them with inert facts and testing the life out of them.
Defining terms Fact: A thing that is known or proved to be true.
Fact or non-fact? The chemical formula for water is H2O In Nietzsche s opinion, God is dead British security services kidnapped the Skripals The capital city of Israel is Jerusalem Superman would beat Batman any day According to Pyrrho, nothing can be proved
A cognitive approach to facts I am going to use fact to refer to any piece of information We will look at: How facts are arranged in the mind How facts help learning How facts help thinking Comprehension Problem solving Creativity Phenomenology
I am going to use fact to refer to any piece of information: Adam is representing researchEd He appears to be Jewish Adam is the presenter of this session
Zooming in He is representing researchEd Evidence based education Metacognition boosts progress Direct Instruction is an excellent way to teach Marking is probably a waste of time
Schema Schema theory was introduced in the 1930s by Sir Fred Bartlett The core idea is that a schema is a sort of mental template that describes the key features of something. For instance, the schema for a typical car includes having four wheels, a chassis, a body, doors, seats and a steering wheel. (Gordon Rugg, 2013)
How do facts help? How facts are arranged in the mind How facts help learning How facts help thinking Comprehension Problem solving Creativity Phenomenology
How do facts help? For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Matthew, 25:29
Which new fact is easiest for you to remember? Harry and Meghan just got divorced Adam s friend David recently got a job in the tax department at Bambridge & Lesser Adam s uncle Yerucham Barkani lives in Silwan and served in Duvdavonim ,
When you learn, new information is placed into the context of old information
Learner with well- developed schema Learner with poorly developed schema New knowledge
Beier and Ackerman, 2005 Research generally shows that prior knowledge is important for new knowledge acquisition... We found, as we expected, that prior knowledge was an important and significant predictor of knowledge acquisition for learning for both topic areas examined.
Take-homes 1. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to learn more about that thing
Comprehension Harry and Meghan just got divorced Adam s friend David recently got a job in the tax department at Bambridge & Lesser Adam s uncle Yerucham Barkani lives in Silwan and served in Duvdavonim ,
The working memory can hold approximately five items. This is universal. Working memory Environment This process is what we call learning it only occurs with practice and thinking Long-term memory
Symbol input Output The rule book Knowledge of language
Symbol input Output
To comprehend something, new information must be tied to old information
This study deals with the nitration of phenol in a multimode MW reaction system operating under continuous microwave (MW) irradiation. Reactions were carried out with two nitric acid (HNO3)/phenol molar ratios: 1.25 and 1.1, under the following conditions: applied (nominal) MW power, Pnom= 600 W, adsorbed power P = 16.0 kW dm 3, reaction temperature, TR= 68 90 C, reaction time, t = 5 9 min, heating rate 0.1 0.25 C s 1. At the end of the synthesis, para/ortho (p/o) isomer distribution of nitrophenol product was determined by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). Furthermore, conventional (CH) experiments were conducted also under the same conditions. Then, MW and CH methods were compared in terms of product yield and isomer distribution. According to results, yield and para-selectivity of MW- assisted synthesis were higher than the CH counterpart although the reaction temperature of the MW method was lower than that of the CH method.
Schmitt et al., 2011 This study focused on the relationship between percentage of vocabulary known in a text and level of comprehension of the same text . The results revealed a relatively linear relationship between the percentage of vocabulary known and the degree of reading comprehension. There was no indication of a vocabulary threshold, where comprehension increased dramatically at a particular percentage of vocabulary knowledge. Results suggest that the 98% estimate is a more reasonable coverage target for readers of academic texts.
Take-homes 1. People who already know lots about something find it easier to learn more about that thing 2. People who already know lots about something find it easier to understand texts about that thing
Take-homes 1. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to learn more about that thing 2. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to understand texts about that thing
Problem solving Everyday problems Vocational problems Academic problems
Everyday problems Problem: I have lost my keys Problem: what is the best way to keep track of my domestic finances?
Vocational problems Palumbo et al 2005 the job knowledge measure was a stronger predictor of performance than cognitive ability.
E.g. 1 surface vs. deep structure Interpreting physics calculation questions 71J of energy are transferred by a device with a potential difference of 12V. How much charge has passed through it? Show all your working
Surface structure: the values in the question Deep structure: relevant equation
Other details from Q 12V potential difference 71J energy Which equation to choose, how to manipulate it
Take-homes 1. People who already know lots about something find it easier to learn more about that thing 2. People who already know lots about something find it easier to understand texts about that thing 3. Domain knowledge improves your problem-solving in that domain
Take-homes 1. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to learn more about that thing 2. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to understand texts about that thing 3. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to solve problems related to that thing
You have to draw on a fair amount of experience in order to be able to put ideas together
At what age do scientists tend to produce great ideas?
Edge of the domain: New knowledge being added to the domain
Take-homes 1. People who already know lots about something find it easier to learn more about that thing 2. People who already know lots about something find it easier to understand texts about that thing 3. Domain knowledge improves your problem-solving in that domain 4. Domain knowledge improves your creativity in that domain
Take-homes 1. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to learn more about that thing 2. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to understand texts about that thing 3. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to solve problems related to that thing 4. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to be creative in areas related to that thing
But what if Mary had a brother?
Take-homes 1. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to learn more about that thing 2. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to understand texts about that thing 3. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to solve problems related to that thing 4. Knowing lots about something makes it easier to be creative in areas related to that thing 5. Knowing lots about things means you have enriched experiences of those things
