Handout

Review, Joy, and Learning with Undergrads

Liam Lachance
Department of English at Dawson College
3D.11 – llachance@dawsoncollege.qc.ca
results from 2022-2024 UDL fellowship

Goal

  • Increase relevance/connection through ‘engaged’ review
  • Explore neuroscience of joy and learning in the classroom
  • Reduce need to accommodate students after-the-fact

Obstacle

  • Global pandemic; precarity of CEGEP teaching 
  • 4/30 = 60%; ‘covering’ vs. teaching material
  • Assumptions that play=treat between serious (actual) learning 

How do we cover material vs. how do we teach the maximum amount to the maximum amount of students?

Research

  • Regular teacher goal audits improve assignment outcomes (Meyer & Rose 2014)
  • Studies reveal that variability is the norm when it comes to how each brain learns and connecting affect ignites more areas of the learning brain: their ‘why?’ (Posey & Novak 2020)
  • ‘Retroactive Interference’ (RI) findings on learning and intentionally planned recall (Cepeda et. al, 2015): undergraduate study reveals an 8-day RI optimal for post-secondary semester recall: control group receives 5% higher average than the ‘next-day recallers’ (Kepler et. al 2016)

Review Experiments: In-Class

a)      Ending class with list of key terms from that class. Students must define before leaving.

b)      Beginning class by reminding students of key terms from last class, paired with same visuals.

c)       Beginning class after students teach me the key terms from last class.

d)  Chapter review game, performed in teams, about information from past week. 

e)      Unit review game, performed in teams, about information from past five weeks. 

f)        Semester review game, performed in teams, about information of entire semester.

Review experiments: at-home

g)  Sharing slideshows as a PDF for students to review on phones on the subway ride home.

h)      Audio recaps every week of class, uploaded online for students.

i)        Student notetaker provides digital notes to entire class, on our class portal, after every class.

j)        Class text threads where key concepts are generally shared 24/7.

k)     Immersive review (visiting libraries, art galleries, grocery stores, dépanneurs) 

Tools used/designed

  • Canva (slides); first and last slides (every class)
  • Survey Monkey; participation audits, pedagogical/course outline audits, fixed participation roles
  • Kahoot, Bingo, Law & Order (jigsaw): expert witness cross-examinations
  • Mock academic conference: visiting ‘scholar’ bios
  • Group scratch cards from Dawson Physics department
  • Taboo, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
  • Jeopardy Labs

Findings

  • Structured play seems to have significantly boosted concept retention and critical thinking skills in my groups (~90% ‘very’ engaged & better outcomes vs. my usual ~20% extroverts)
  • The variance of participation methods seems to establish value in class assignments for students with behavioural issues or who fail to see relevance; establish community for neurodivergent or shy students, and reward individual students when securing a group win with their input
  • Review games more effective when connected to RI (every week > end of unit/term) 
  • ‘Historical’ participation audits may help to underline value of different types of participation and improvement
  • Learning all student names seems necessary if an inclusive class culture (Figure 3) is a goal: helpful if facilitated by in-class activities and test bonuses (for students to know, as well) 
  • Announcing which emotions I hoped to establish with individual assignments and in-class activities seemed to help establish relevance / motivation in students
  • Integrated review challenges established competitive, engaged learning groups

Conclusions

  • 4/30=13.3%
  • If more classes show similar results, weekly RI student recall seems necessary if peak student performance is expected in end-of-term exams or Summative Assessments
  • Because research is increasingly showing the variable ways that emotional neural networks (affective hypothalamus) set priorities and interact with other parts of the brain (Clyne, 2011; Meyer, Rose & Gordon, 2014; Posey, 2019a; Rose & Meyer, 2002), tying emotions to desired assignment outcomes, and especially exploring the productive elements of joy in the classroom, seems to increase relevance / connections for more students 
  • If we agree with growing research on intelligence as a reaction to environment (epigenetic) as much as innate biological coding (genetic), educators (administrators, too) may have a responsibility to intentionally design learning spaces to accommodate the value and variance of human emotions: desires for joy, community, and meaning.

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