Eight Excellent Strategies for Closing the Learning Gap
Presenter Hometown
Richmond, KY
Major
Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Department
Psychology
Degree
Graduate
Mentor
Russell Carpenter
Mentor Department
English and Theatre
Recommended Citation
Biddle, Brittany M.; Carpenter, Russell; Sweet, Charlie; and Blythe, Hal, "Eight Excellent Strategies for Closing the Learning Gap" (2016). University Presentation Showcase Event. 4.
https://encompass.eku.edu/swps/2016/graduate/4
Abstract
On average, undergraduates around the country are reading at an upper sixth grade reading level at best. Most college students are highly underprepared by their K-12 teachers to perform well once they get to college. Not only are their reading levels disturbingly low, but they only know how to read for factual information – what Bloom would call Remembering and Understanding – that can be spat back when prompted. As a result, students do not know how to learn for the long term. To make matters worse, colleges may actually be promoting such surface, or shallow, learning practices. By emphasizing the importance of grades, GPAs, and graduation within four years, teachers encourage students no longer be concerned with learning but with putting in the minimal effort necessary to achieve a respectable GPA and a degree in four years.
Thus, there exists a “Learning Gap.” The gap exists between the lower- and higher- order thinking skills depicted on Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. High school teachers (and colleges, too, by rewarding the wrong behaviors) are emphasizing Bloom’s lower-order skills and thereby surface learning, while the higher-order skills like Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating are essential for deep learning. For some students, the gap between lower- and higher-order thinking is simply too wide to make the leap on their own. They need help.
It Works For Me, Transforming Your Students into Deep Learners offers strategies that teachers can utilize to help students climb the staircase from lower- to higher- order thinking and deep learning.
Presentation format
Poster
Poster Number
015
Eight Excellent Strategies for Closing the Learning Gap
On average, undergraduates around the country are reading at an upper sixth grade reading level at best. Most college students are highly underprepared by their K-12 teachers to perform well once they get to college. Not only are their reading levels disturbingly low, but they only know how to read for factual information – what Bloom would call Remembering and Understanding – that can be spat back when prompted. As a result, students do not know how to learn for the long term. To make matters worse, colleges may actually be promoting such surface, or shallow, learning practices. By emphasizing the importance of grades, GPAs, and graduation within four years, teachers encourage students no longer be concerned with learning but with putting in the minimal effort necessary to achieve a respectable GPA and a degree in four years.
Thus, there exists a “Learning Gap.” The gap exists between the lower- and higher- order thinking skills depicted on Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. High school teachers (and colleges, too, by rewarding the wrong behaviors) are emphasizing Bloom’s lower-order skills and thereby surface learning, while the higher-order skills like Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating are essential for deep learning. For some students, the gap between lower- and higher-order thinking is simply too wide to make the leap on their own. They need help.
It Works For Me, Transforming Your Students into Deep Learners offers strategies that teachers can utilize to help students climb the staircase from lower- to higher- order thinking and deep learning.
