If you haven’t applied behavioral science principles and data for awhile, you might be surprised that you already use them. They account for learning from your lessons. It’s simple to refine your use in order to increase learning by students.
aLEAP (A Learning Efficiency Analysis Paradigm) identifies a finite set of essential options for teachers to use for that result. It’s good to have a shopping plan before starting to use aLEAP. Here are 7 things to do first.
1. Start with a quick 101
To make sure you use your effort to the best use of your students’ time, refresh your use of behavioral science vocabulary and logic for learning. They’re like knowing gas mileage and maintenance costs when you shop for a car.
In short, learning means that someone has changed behavior patterns after an observable event, such as instruction. Observers see, hear, etc. a behavior pattern before and after the event.
That is all anyone can say with replicable confidence about learning. The rest is speculation based on inferences from a pool of assumptions, beliefs, and hopes.
In the end, that’s how others test you and your students, because that’s all anyone else can do, irrespective of whatever you speculate about what learning “really means.”
Of course, you have a lot of options online to get you back up to speed with applications of behavioral science descriptions.
2. Shift conversations from colloquialisms to descriptions
Talk, write, plan and report descriptions of behavior patterns you use to change behavior patterns of others. This takes practice and self restraint. It’s like practicing scales on the piano. That’s how the best teachers and pianists become the best. For teachers, avoid using more common ways of characterizing lessons, learning, and assessment of academic performance.
One of the most difficult shifts for some educators is avoiding references to belief systems about schooling, such as using words authentic, cooperation, collaboration, competition, education, real, students, and true.
Instead, describe what you do to change behavior patterns of learners with whom you work. Leave the rest to theologians, philosophers, and politicians.
3. Count
Count, record, and compare counts to identify changes in your and your students’ behavior patterns. Without this sequence, you are just guessing about the impact of your lesson on learning.
To start, count whatever you choose in your lesson. For example, count the number of seconds your lesson takes for the first and the last student to meet criterion. Count the number of steps you describe during a lesson for students to use in solving a problem.
Then, practice counting. Count the number steps do you make to get from the school office to your classroom; to walk the dog before bed; to do laundry; to fix a lunch. Count the number of seconds you wait at stop lights on the way to school; to brush your teeth in the morning; to fix a cup of coffee; to pour milk into your coffee. Just count until it’s an automatic part of your day, then edit your counting to important things.
Make hash marks to record your counts. Then compare your counts to identify which changes in counts indicate increases in learning. If none appear related, change what you do and count until you find a reliable comparison.
4. Review lessons
Two lessons can seem similar, but one costs learners more clock time and other personal resources to meet criterion. Learners’ clock time and some other learner resources are non-renewable.
Look more closely at your plan and instruction of these lessons to identify differences and how they affect variations in use of learners’ resources. Most lessons appear to use up whatever clock time is assigned.
Check out aLEAP for a quick rundown of essential features learners use to meet criterion for your lessons.
Then, choose how many additional resources you want learners to spend to meet criterion.
5. Upgrade your lessons
Before you decide to continue spending learners’ resources as you have been, check your lesson plans for ways to upgrade your instruction. Make it more efficient.
For example, reduce the clock time for a lesson by 60 seconds. It’s that simple. If you’re up to a challenge, reduce it by 120 seconds today and another 120 seconds tomorrow and decrease the number of steps learners must take to solve a problem.
To start, increase the number of redundant visual and auditory cues you offer during instruction. It’s less expensive for learners when you increase cues than learners failing to meet criterion.
If you’re up for upgrading, make sure learners meet each lesson criterion faster and with fewer trials-and-errors while using fewer personal resources.
6. Know your options
Educators choose options for lessons from a pool of speculation and databased descriptions of content.
They then link these options to speculation and databased descriptions of how people learn.
From a learners’ view, irrespective of options educators choose, lessons do not come with a warranty. Doing what an instructor says to do is a gamble of their personal resources in exchange for vague allusions to promises of possible future benefits.
Review your options from this learners’ view. Changes in the number of learners meeting criterion for each lesson will tell you how relevant your choices are to their view.
7. Return policy and implementation support
Before you buy into your choices for a lesson, review the likely results your students will give you.
Use the number of students meeting criterion from the last time you instructed the lesson as a baseline.
Write down the number of learners you expect to meet criterion this time. Consider what choices you made in the lesson this time make it more likely that more learners will meet criterion than last time.
Consider whether you can increase the number by one more than your first choice for this lesson. Two more?
Consider what about your lesson does not allow all learners to meet criterion and how you will avoid that problem the next time you offer this lesson.
Identify support you will seek to upgrade your lesson further, so that all learners will meet criterion next time.
Got it? Great! Here’s how to continue increasing learning from your lessons
Congratulations for taking steps to apply behavioral science descriptions of what learners do to learn.
Once you’ve developed your perfect lesson and instruction plan, you can use these same steps to upgrade more lessons.
You’ll likely find that your students learn more academic content than previously. You’ll also find that you use more time planning than learners spend meeting criterion for a lesson.
The payoff for you is that you can repeat upgraded lessons with similar or improved results without the same amount of front time.
Watch for more suggestions for increasing learning. Take aLEAP!
Related Resources
New Era School Initiative (NESI)
Also, check the categories of posts on this site for links to more descriptions of how others apply behavioral science descriptions of learning.