Enhancing Student Comprehension with UDL - E129

This week, we are chatting about providing options for comprehension in the classroom. Using the UDL (Universal Design for Learning) framework and representation pillar, we're going to share some different strategies on how we can help students make information accessible, but also how to transform that into knowledge they can use.

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Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/129**

• CAST.org - Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework
• Representation pillar - Comprehension guideline
• It's all about teaching learners HOW to transform accessible information into useable knowledge
• Why Don't Student's Like School? by Daniel Willingham
• Checkpoint #1: Activate or supply background knowledge
  • Value prior knowledge
  • Get to know your learners and their background knowledge
  • Consider using visual imagery, concept anchoring and mastery, KWL chart and other organizers, concept maps (whiteboards), pre-teaching with demos/models, analogies and metaphors, cross-curricular connections
  • Learning That Transfers by Julie Stern et al. (ACT model)
• Checkpoint #2: Highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships
  • Difference between experts and novices
  • Use explicit prompts or cues to point to important material
  • Consider using graphic organizers, examples/non-examples (Frayer model), highlight previous skills (conceptual learning can be helpful)
• Checkpoint #3: Guide information processing and visualization
  • Transform information into useable knowledge
  • Consider using explicit prompts for sequential processes, organizational methods (tables), multiple entry points, "chunk" information, progressive release (Modern Classrooms and mastery-based learning), and ditch the distractions!
• Checkpoint #4: Maximize transfer and generalization
  • Generalizing and transferring learning to new contexts
  • Students need multiple representations and differing levels of scaffolding
  • Consider using checklists, organizers, mnemonic devices (decrease cognitive load), explicit review, new ideas in familiar contexts

Transcript

Rachel: 0:41

In this episode, we are looking at providing options for comprehension, which is part of the Universal Design for Learning framework.

Katie: 0:50

Yes, we're going to share some different strategies on how we can help students make information accessible, but also how to transform that into knowledge they can use.

Rachel: 1:01

Let's get started. This week Katie and I are chatting about and returning to Universal Design for Learning. So today we want to look at specifically the pillar for providing options for comprehension, which is under the representation pillar.

Katie: 1:26

Yes, so this will kind of cap off that conversation. Of representation. So it's the last pillar there. So the, but there's a lot of great knowledge here and I'm, I'm actually excited about this one. And I love even just the first explanation for it. And I think that kind of summarizes it really well and kind of helps us get into that mindset. So cast Dot org, Which Is kind of that guideline where we've been following along, it says, the purpose of education is not to make information accessible. But rather to teach learners how to transform accessible information into usable knowledge, that's powerful. That's a statement and it, when I read that, I was just like, yes, it's not enough to just spit something back. They have to be able to use it and know it and understand it.

Rachel: 2:13

They do reference to cognitive science research. And it was funny, when I read that sort of first statement and started diving into this particular area of U D L, it reminded me of the book study we did on why don't students like school? And it was just a immediately, like that connection in that click. It's like, wow, this is exactly what Daniel Willingham was talking about in his book.

Katie: 2:38

Yep. This whole idea of it, it has to be active. It can't just be sitting back and taking it in. That doesn't work. So, yeah, it's, it's amazing. It, it actually is neat how all the dots are connecting and everything we've been learning is so connected to one another.

Rachel: 2:52

so a big sort of focus in this particular area is developing those information processing skills, and they did list a few different information processing skills. So there's things like selective attending, integrating new information with prior knowledge, strategic categorization, and active memorization.

Katie: 3:13

And it all kind of brings it back to this idea of that, you know, we have to make sure our designing our lessons and scaffolding the information so that they can access the knowledge and then be able to work their way through it to then process and use that knowledge. So the first checkpoint is activate or supply background knowledge. To me the, the biggest kind of takeaway here is we need to make sure that what we are presenting is presented in such way that students can take their prior learning in prior knowledge and things they bring with them to make sense of what we are teaching them.

Rachel: 3:47

yeah. This, this is sort of an area and it, it links really nicely to C R R P, right? Where there's a lot of potential barriers and inequities that. It can happen here. In terms of learners who lack that background knowledge, that's critical for that new information. So thinking about what your learners are coming with or really understanding where they are coming from to know how to link that information to then be able to build upon it. But like you can't do that if you don't know where they're starting from.

Katie: 4:22

And so that's kind of that whole idea of get to know your students, figure out what they know, what education experience do they have? If they're newcomers, what does that look like and sound like for them because they may know things and just not realize the context is important and the fact that it does apply to what you're teaching them.

Rachel: 4:37

Yeah. And that was one other barrier here that that is mentioned where they might have the necessary background knowledge, but not even know that it's relevant to the new learning

Katie: 4:46

So from there they kind of give some ideas as to how, as educators we can ensure that we're, we're providing that link. And I really love the idea of visual imagery because to me, as a teacher of ELLs, English language learners Visuals can go a long way to kind of help bridge the language gap or perhaps they don't have the right vocabulary, but a lot of times visuals have like a really powerful punch.

Rachel: 5:12

I think visuals help with any area though. And, and I mean, that's the whole premise of U D L right? Is designing for some, but it's accessible to all, and it, it's helpful for all students.

Katie: 5:25

Yeah, and I, and I think, you know why I'm, I'm always very biased because I teach E S L,

Rachel: 5:30

Right.

Katie: 5:31

but I, but I also know that all of the accommodations that are good for E S L students are good for all students in that classroom regardless of their differences. So there's something to be said about, you know, trying some different ways of including images and vocabulary and all of that great stuff just to make it easier for everyone.

Rachel: 5:52

They also mentioned concept anchoring and concept mastery routines, and I really, really like this. So this reminds me of another book that I read that I highly recommend. It's called Learning That Transfers. I have mentioned it a few times on the podcast before, but they sort of go through a teaching strategy where you're anchoring everything in concepts. And that can be really, really helpful to activate that prior knowledge. And what's really neat is the IB curriculum for chemistry, for all the sciences actually is changing starting sort of this year for our year one chemistry kits. And that new curriculum is actually laid out in terms of concepts and it is so cool. So there's. You know, a concept and then it links all the different topics and different sort of areas within the concept. I know a lot of people like really, really hate it, just looking at it, but I saw it and I, I was in love with it Instantly I'm like, this is amazing because it's actually how I've been kind of laying out my courses and my content uh, for a little while now. And so I'm like, yes. They're now thinking like I'm thinking and I don't. Necessarily have to think about it too much when I'm setting up my curriculum Now, I, I just thought it was so cool. Yeah, I love that. So you kind of take a concept like sustainability and then you link all the different things related to sustainability within it.

Katie: 7:21

and even just that showing that to students, it allows them to see how things are connected and to make well those connections to background knowledge and things they already know. Right. Like, that's, that's a powerful tool. It lays it out so clearly.

Rachel: 7:35

They already come to us knowing a little bit about sustainability and have their own sort of thinking around what that term is and what it means, and so being able to activate that and then build upon that with like science concepts is, is really, really helpful for them and their learning and their transfer of their learning.

Katie: 7:54

Uh, So some other examples that they have are the use of organizers like K W L charts, so what, you know, what you wonder or want to know and what you've learned, concept maps, et cetera. So those can be great to get students really thinking about the content, but you also kind of get to know what. They need to know or want to know and you can kind of advance the lessons that way. And I love concept maps and use them all the time because it really gets students thinking and connecting their different ideas and knowledge.

Rachel: 8:24

I always love to start out a unit, and I did this with my grade nines last year where I have them all up at the whiteboards and we just start with the topics. So astronomy, right? We do a unit on astronomy. What do we already know about astronomy? And we, I get them to create concept maps on the whiteboards of what they already know and what they're bringing to them. And I just kind of keep pushing them in terms of like, Okay. You know this, but what else do you know about that? Right? Like they might put asteroids, okay, well what else do you know about asteroids? And can continue to really prompt them to. Add onto their concept maps and then I kind of like to take it a step further, right. And then have them rotate to the next one and add to someone else's concept map and kind of do that for a few rounds as well. It's so helpful. It's, it tells me so much about what they're bringing in on that topic, and then they get to learn a few new things as they're going around and seeing other concept maps.

Katie: 9:24

and I also love that that. kind of opens the door for collaboration and this idea of working together and using each other's knowledge to help support and build one another because that's, that's a great atmosphere in a classroom.

Rachel: 9:38

Yeah. It's so much fun too.

Katie: 9:40

Uh, So the next one they talk about pre-teaching critical concepts, so things they need to know prior to new learning through the use of demonstration or models. This one, I think is particularly maybe important in science, more so than my kind of classroom, but

Rachel: 9:55

Yeah, there's so many things in science that you just can't see, right? You can't, you can't see an atom, you can't see what's inside an atom. So using models is really, really helpful there in order to help your students visualize what that looks like. Uh, Demonstrations, you know, they're fantastic as well.

Katie: 10:15

And, I love that. It's like the concepts that you should already know. And so it's this idea of modeling and demonstrating it to kind of bring it back in their minds to say, oh, I remember this, now I get to see it again.

Rachel: 10:27

and I like using demos as well to kind of create that curiosity and wonder as well. So for example, one I like to do is putting alkaline metals in water. You know, you get this big reaction, right? but I'll sneak a little bit of an indicator in the water that. Turns the water pink when a base is present. And so when that reaction happens, it creates a base and so the water turns pink and they're all like, what, what is going on here? So it's really fun to kind of, you know, use that with maybe knowledge. They're coming in about the alkali metals and how they react with water, but then they, they're like, what is the pink? And why is that happening? And it's a nice sort of bridge then into chemical reactions.

Katie: 11:09

Nice. I love it.

Rachel: 11:10

so much fun.

Katie: 11:14

So the idea of bridging concepts with relevant analogies and metaphors.

Rachel: 11:18

You know, I can remember a university prof who was absolutely amazing. I'm sure he's not teaching anymore'cause he was quite old when, when I was in university. But he used metaphors about buses and people getting on and off the bus and just, I think it had to do with enzyme activity. You know, I can't really remember it anymore. But that metaphor, like still, like it still sticks in my mind. And it's been a long time.

Katie: 11:47

That's amazing. But I could see that like making it something that is more real life and day to day to compare it to something they're learning. Love that.

Rachel: 11:55

Well, again, it's, it's relating it to something the students know and taking that prior knowledge. So it might not be related to your course material and that's fine there, you know, buses and people getting on and off, buses like that has nothing to do with science.

Katie: 12:10

No, however.

Rachel: 12:13

However, I'm sure most people have taken a bus at some point in their life, so you know, maybe not everybody has, but it's still an easier thing to visualize than a science concept.

Katie: 12:24

Um, And then making explicit. Cross curricular connections, so literacy strategies across the curriculum. Same with, I guess, numeracy across the curriculum as well.

Rachel: 12:34

Yeah, I think that one's pretty self explicit. So the next checkpoint is all about highlighting patterns, critical features, big ideas, relationships, and kind of goes along with that last checkpoint, right? But is starting to get into this idea of the difference between experts and novices and being able to identify that information that's important and relevant versus the stuff that's not important and not relevant.

Katie: 13:01

Yeah. So it, it's teaching them those skills to, to really be able to take it apart and, and And then, you know, pick up on the most important things to then move on and kind of leave the unimportant things. And I think that's, it's relevant across all curriculums, but, and there's, but there's different ways that we can help our students get there. And I think that can often be, I think some of the most challenging for students to pick up on.

Rachel: 13:25

Yeah, really. Um, It's just about kind of trying to make that a bit more accessible to students by making sure that you're adding in those explicit cues or prompts to really sort of pay attention to the information or the details or the knowledge that's the most important.

Katie: 13:44

Yeah. And graphic organizers are one of my favorite ways of doing that. It, it allows students to see, hey, This is what the teacher thinks is most important, so I need to key on on these areas, and the rest must not be as important. So instead of spitting back everything they're reading, for example, they're now just honing in on the most important sections of that text I,

Rachel: 14:05

Yeah, graphic organizers are great. And uh, sort of another point to kind of go with those graphic organizers is using examples and non-examples to really emphasize critical features. So that makes me think Of the Frayer model. Because you, you add in that example and non-example, right? Like that's an idea. Uh, An example of a really great graphic organizer that already includes those examples of non-examples too.

Katie: 14:29

And then I also enjoy their suggestion of highlighting previously learned skills. It can be used to solve new problems that they're faced with. And so it's showing students that the skill you have is not just in this one isolated situation. Let's see how we can apply it to this new situation and this new learning.

Rachel: 14:49

Yeah, that's why kind of going back to that conceptual learning and organizing things by concept, like it really comes in handy here because then, then you can link some of these. Unfamiliar kind of topics together, but they all use the same skill, and that is, I don't know, it's awesome. And it's something that I really kind of like. I like finding those little connections through the curriculum.

Katie: 15:13

Now on to Checkpoint 3.3, which is Guide Information Processing and Visualization. And this is where we really want to help students transform all of this new information into usable knowledge and how we can do that to help process everything they're learning. So in the previous checkpoint, we were kind of giving them strategies in different ways to process information. And now we want them to use these strategies to then manipulate what they're, what they're learning and what they're reading and processing in such a way that now they can remember it and, and process it in a way that they can. Spit it out in a different way or use that information in a new context?

Rachel: 15:54

there's lots of really great ideas on how to do this. So looking at, for example, really explicit prompts for each step in a sequential process. I can't tell you how many times I do that in my classroom.

Katie: 16:08

Well, you have to.

Rachel: 16:09

Yeah.

Katie: 16:10

Like, even when I'm getting students to brainstorm, I always say we're starting with mind map, for example, as one strategy. And they're like, why? I just wanna go right to the end. And I'm like, no, this is gonna help. We need to do step one. But it's amazing how, much more detailed and how much more well thought out it is when they use the whole process versus just skipping to the end.

Rachel: 16:31

Yeah. Yeah. Like I really, I really emphasize that. I always tell them when uh, you know, especially if they're showing and demonstrating this learning to me and say a, a test question. Like, I want to see those steps as well, and I need to see those steps in order to make sure that they know how they're going through and, and how they're using that strategy to solve that problem. So we do a lot of practice with Using specific sequential pro processes and kind of drilling down on that sometimes in order to really sort of understand how to go about solving some of these problems.

Katie: 17:10

Yeah, and it actually takes me back to math class a lot.'cause I remember you had to show the steps to show that you understand the math to get there. And not just that you can figure it out quickly in your head and write down an answer, like sometimes the steps and knowing those steps and how you got there is almost more important than just getting to an answer right away.

Rachel: 17:28

And that kind of goes along with the, the, another suggestion there, which talks about providing options for organizational methods and approaches. So sometimes tables are really, really helpful to organize your answer and organize your problem solving. So I can think of a few instances where we do that in chemistry, where we lay everything out in a table format and then students know like the steps to go through to fill out that table. And it makes things, you know, kind of really easy and sort of algorithmic in terms of solving that kind of problem.

Katie: 18:02

Yeah, and I think most of these suggestions really are about. Just step by step, smaller elements, breaking things down and just helping guide students to know how to do that.

Rachel: 18:13

Yeah, for sure. Like chunking the information into smaller elements. Progressively releasing information, right? Like all of these things go, especially go so well with modern classrooms and with mastery based learning. Also, I think the last one I kind of wanna touch on is removing unnecessary distractions unless they're essential to the instructional goal. And I have been. Guilty of this before, you know, in, in my classes, you know, adding in silly jokes and stuff like that on my slides when, you know, they are kind of related to the topic, but are they essential? You know, not really. So they're really just a distraction to the learning, and I've learned to kind of step back from that and, and not do as many of those, but, oh, it's so hard.

Katie: 19:02

or even like just making slides too busy. More than even just a joke, but just a really busy slide so that it's distracting. They have no idea where to focus and what it is you want them to know. Like I'm the type of learner where if you put like so many images and memes and texts and fonts and colors and all, I'm just like, where do you want me to begin? Because this is overwhelming.

Rachel: 19:24

Yeah. Yeah, I, I kind of got that drilled into me when I was in grad school because my PhD supervisor, like, he was very adamant about how you lay out your slide decks, and this is probably where my, my uh, font snobbery came from and how I sort of set things up and, set up those slides. But, you know, he was like, you, you do not use backgrounds other than white. And black text. You know, maybe a color here and there to emphasize a point, but don't use blue backgrounds with yellow text. All that used to drive him mental.

Katie: 19:58

I could see that.

Rachel: 19:59

But then also using really clear fonts and, and just making sure that those bullet points are essential information only, and, and you're not just reading from the slide. Like there's, there's so many things that can cause a lot of distraction.

Katie: 20:14

I was about to say the whole, the bullet points on a slide, because I have sat through so many presentations. Where they've just vomited all of the information onto the slides and I'm like, there's too much. Give me the important point. You can expand in your speaking and how you explain it, but just give me that one important idea that you're sharing

Rachel: 20:34

And I understand why people do that. you don't wanna forget something, right? So I understand why it's there. It's almost like it's your, your notes in terms of what you wanna say, but it does cause distractions for learners. So I think there, there's a happy medium between the two. You can put enough information on there that's going to help remind your brain on what you wanna say, but not overwhelming the learner at the same time.

Katie: 21:02

Yeah, and there's something to be like when students are creating slides, for example. I think that's maybe what I'm referring to even more, because I want to teach them how to take what they're learning and summarize it in a way that is just their words and not all of these extras. And so that's this whole idea of taking information and making it into usable knowledge. I don't want you to tell me what I told you. I want you to make this your own and to explain it yourself in this context.

Rachel: 21:28

We did a couple of presentations at the end of our grade nine course last uh, semester and, you know, sort of really emphasizing with the students, you know, it should look like a TED talk. Like you should really be just finding a really good visual to go along with what you wanna say. And maybe having one sort of sentence on your slide with the big visual and, and kind of keep it at that. And I found that really, really helpful.

Katie: 21:55

That's amazing. Yeah. And and did you do have to teach them how to do that? Like that is a skill and I think a lot of times we assume coming into high school or into our classrooms, that students have been taught how to do that. I. And I think it's important to not make that assumption. And if anything, assume the opposite and go out of your way to teach them how to do that so that even if they know it's good reminders and good review, and if they don't know, you're now showing them how to, so you're not assuming that they have a skill without teaching it yourself.

Rachel: 22:26

All right, let's move on to the final checkpoint. So the, the final one is about maximizing transfer and generalization. So this is all about, you know, taking that information that we're learning generalizing it and transferring it to new contexts. So a couple things they talk about here is, uh, students need multiple representations in order for that transfer to be able to occur. And they also might need differing levels of scaffolding, basically differentiation.

Katie: 22:58

This actually takes me back to one of my undergrad courses. I did a lit theory course and it was the most out there course I had ever taken. And the amount of time and, processing it took for me to be able to explain those, those theoretical concepts it was actually quite hilarious. And I had a study group and so. We all struggled with the information, and so we would pull all-nighters before exams. Not a good idea for those listening. but it was hilarious because as soon as it clicked, We could all sense it and we could all hear it and see it, and then be able to describe these processes back to one another. But it took a long time of us talking it through and, and trying to create visuals for each other and make it accessible based on things we all knew about. And so I, I actually feel like this one speaks to me quite a bit because it's not instantaneous and it's gonna take multiple times and sometimes it's harder than others. But it's this idea of. It's going, you need to provide a lot of options for your students so that they can actually do this.

Rachel: 23:59

And they've got some really great strategies as suggested here. So things like checklists, organizers, sticky notes, reminders, those are all really great using mnemonic strategies and devices as well. So using those sort of things to help remember information so that you can then not have to worry about the remembering part, but then it's the application or the transfer part.

Katie: 24:24

Yeah. And it's this idea of embedding new ideas in familiar ideas and contexts. So like you shared before, like analogy, metaphor, et cetera, as well as drama, music, film. Like there's different ways to do that, but um, tends to help make those nice connections.

Rachel: 24:40

And I think that's where it goes back to, I'm going back to that book again, but learning the transfers, it was such a good book because they use a model and I can't remember what all the um, the steps are just off the top of my head, but Oh, it's acquire, connect, and then transfer. So you acquire the concepts. With some different activities, you connect them to concepts that are familiar to you, and then you start connecting those two more unfamiliar contexts and then you end with a final sort of project or some sort of task where you're then transferring it to a new con context. And I think it's so neat in terms of like leading students through the process and building up to that. Transfer, which is where we want our students to

Katie: 25:27

Mm-hmm. And it also takes me back to Willing's book as well, again, because it's this idea of humans don't wanna have to actually think every single moment. So connecting it to things we already know and that students understand. It's a great way to kind of minimize that load, that cognitive load of trying to work through it, but learn at the same time.

Rachel: 25:46

yeah, so lots of opportunities really just to. Have students connect ideas and connect between different concepts and between familiar and unfamiliar contexts, like that's, that's really, really key and ideal here.

Katie: 26:01

Yeah, and like review days are great, but make sure you scaffold that review day, like provide some notes or an organizer or something to kind of guide what they should be looking at so that it's not just everything in front of them.

Rachel: 26:15

You could even take, like if you do a concept map at the beginning of a unit, if you have a picture or some sort of visual of that, you can give it back to the same groups and get them to add to it now.

Katie: 26:25

Yeah. And, and show their learning.

Rachel: 26:27

That would be so much fun.

Katie: 26:28

That is the final checkpoint for the comprehension pillar.

Rachel: 26:32

Yeah, so I think we'll wrap up our conversation here for today. Hopefully you've learned some really great things about providing options for comprehension, and so what we'll do is we'll include any of the links or resources we talked today about here today in our show notes. You can access our show notes for this episode@edugals.com slash 1 29. That's edu G a l s.com/ 1 29.

Katie: 26:58

And if you like what you heard today, then feel free to share it with a colleague or a friend. And don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast app so that you don't miss out on any future content.

Rachel: 27:07

And as always, we'd love to hear from you. So if you have some ideas related to providing options for comprehension, we'd love to hear them. You could go onto our flip at edu gals.com/flipgrid and leave us a video message there. Or you can go onto our website@edugals.com and leave us a written response.

Katie: 27:27

Thanks for listening and see you next week.