25 ways for Teaching Without Talking - Presenting Students with New Material
25 ways for Teaching Without Talking:
Presenting Students with New Material in Theory Lessons
Draft 1.0 Feb 2002
Geoff Petty Sutton
Coldfield College
Contets
A.
Introduction
B. Why use Active Learning Strategies?
C. Using the List of Teaching Strategies
D. List of Active
Learning Strategies for presenting students with new material
D
(i) Methods requiring very little
preparation or resources
D
(ii) Methods requiring resources such
as handouts or sets of cards.
D
(iii) Activities that require a bit more
preparation; simplest first
E.
Effective Management of Active Learning Strategies to maximise participation.
A. Introduction
Teaching falls into three phases, each
requiring appropriate methods. (See PAR
paper)
- Present: Methods to present new
material to students, or to encourage them to think it out for
themselves. This might involve
facts, theories, concepts, stories or any other content.
2.
Apply: Methods requiring students to apply the new material
just presented to them. This is the only
way to ensure that students conceptualise the new material so that they can
understand it, recall it, and use it appropriately in the future.
3.
Review:
Methods to encourage
students to recall former learning so as to clarify and focus on key points,
ensure understanding, and to practice and check recall.
This paper concentrates on active methods
to present material to students.
Other papers deal with methods for the apply
and review phases.
Commonly used ‘present’ methods such as
teacher talk can bore students if they go on for too long, so active ‘present’
strategies are particularly useful.
Ideally an active presenting strategy, could include an ‘apply’ activity and be followed by a
brief active reviewing strategy. Then
all the learners needs are met in an active way.
B. Why use Active ‘presenting’ Strategies?
Research shows that it
works:
·
All research shows that we
learn by Doing. That is, by
applying what we have learned, in order to answer questions for example. This makes learners process the information
and make their own sense of it. This is
called ‘constructivism’.
Research emphatically shows that active methods:
·
create deeper learning and
higher achievement (2)
·
create better recall by
students
·
develop high order reasoning
skills in students
·
are more enjoyed by students
·
Active learning makes students
form their own meaning of the material and come to their own understanding of
it. This is what we call learning
It checks
learning:
·
You get feedback on whether
students understand the material and can correct misunderstandings.
·
Students develop their
reasoning skills, as well as the factual knowledge of the subject and practise the skills they will be assessed
by.
It makes your life
easier:
·
It fosters active, constructive
student participation
·
Your lessons have more impact,
and are more interesting
·
It may give you a break, and a
chance to mark the register!
·
C. Using the list of teaching strategies
A list of teaching strategies follows
with references for further reading. You
can use this list in three main ways:
You
can browse:
Use the following list of teaching strategies to find ones that will
suit you and your students. Choose
whichever strategy bests helps you to achieve your goals (fitness for purpose)
You
can create a Teaching Strategy Manual in your team: A subject, unit, or course
team can use the list (available in an editable electronic form) as part of a
strategy to:
- Find methods which work in your subject
- Choose particular strategies for particular topics or lessons
etc
- Pool your team’s best teaching strategies to add to the list
- For given lessons, topics, sections of the syllabus or units
etc, develop a Teaching Strategy Manual to go with the Scheme of
Work. Share out the work to develop
the strategies and their resources in detail. Ideally the Manual has a (suggested or
required) activity for every lesson or at least every topic on the Scheme
of Work.
- Publish your Manual in electronic and/or document form.
Assisting in the development of an ‘Active
Scheme of Work’ or ‘Topic Plan’ which gives a student activity for every topic
or substantial sub-topic so that students process the information given them.
You can create an Active Scheme of Work in your team: You can create a Scheme of
Work or Topic Plan which gives suitable activities for each stage in teaching a
topic. This can be created by your team,
so that your best methods are available to the whole team.
D. List of Active
Learning Strategies
for
presenting students with new material
Methods requiring the least preparation are
given at the beginning of each section of the list:
D
(i) Methods requiring very little
preparation or resources
D
(ii) Methods requiring resources such
as handouts or sets of cards.
D (iii) Activities that require a bit more
preparation; simplest first
D (i)
Methods requiring very little preparation and no resources
1. Teaching by asking
Rather than ‘teaching by telling’, start
the topic by asking students a question which leads to what you want to
teach. For example:
“What methods are used to market food products? Think of as many as you can.”
“Why do you think managers value staff training?”
“Who would have supported Cromwell, who would not, and
why?”
“Here is a maths problem you can’t solve with the
methods we have seen so far - how would you solve it?”
Students work in pairs or small groups
(buzz groups) to answer a question or series of questions using common sense,
experience, and prior learning. Students can all have the same questions, or
they can be given different questions on the same topic. This group discussion can last for literally
a minute or less, or for 20 minutes or longer.
Ensure each group has a scribe, and check
their attention to task, and the quality of their work, by checking what the
scribes have written down. Ask them if
they need more time, and if they have finished, ask each pair or group for one
idea they have had, ensuring that each group offers something. Write the strong ideas on the board saying a
little in support of each idea if you wish.
Allow the class to discuss any points of disagreement until they have
agreed a common answer. (See section E
for more detail on this.)
When the class has its common answer, ‘top
up’ the answer with any additional points the class has missed, and correct any
misunderstandings. If students get half
of the answer, it saves half of the teacher talk, and generates interest and
thinking skills.
See Effective Management of Active
Learning Strategies for more detail on how to manage this activity, and the
activities which follow.
(See also “interrogating the text” below,
where students are given a handout or other material to help them answer the
“Teaching by Asking” question you give them.)
2. Snowball
This is like ‘teaching by asking’ above. Instead of starting by ‘teaching by
telling’, you ask a question that leads
to what you want students to learn.
Then:
(1) each individual writes down their thoughts without reference
to others,
(2) students then share what they have written in pairs or threes
(3) Optionally the pairs or threes combine to create larger groups which
again compares their answers, and then agrees a group answer.
(4) The teacher asks each big group in turn for one idea they
have had, and writes the useful ideas on the board, perhaps saying a little in
support of each idea.
Like ‘Teaching by Asking’, the teacher then
tops up and corrects the class answer.
3. Class Brainstorm
The teacher requests as many ideas as
possible from the whole class asking questions such as:
What are the advantages of prior booking?
What diseases are common in childhood?
Why might Hamlet not have taken revenge straight away?
The teacher or a student compiles the
answers on the board, classifying them if necessary by writing them in
groups. It is usual to be non
judgemental at this stage.
This method involves the whole group and
can enliven a dull session. Optionally
you could ask students to brainstorm in groups and the session then becomes
like ‘teaching by asking’ above.
4. Thought Experiment
(or Empathy)
Students are asked to imagine themselves in
a given situation, and are asked questions about the situation. For example Health Studies students being
asked to imagine they are a child who has just been admitted to hospital. Students learning interviewing skills are
asked what the interviewer would be looking for.
5. Round
This method is useful for small groups if
the experiences of the students are a particularly useful resource. For example Managers on a part time
management course sharing experiences of how new staff are inducted into their
organisation.
Each person has a minute say, to describe
their experiences on a given topic and to express their point of view while
others listen. Students can ‘pass’ if
they wish. Used to mine useful experience and elicit a range of viewpoints and
build a sense of safe participation.
D. (ii)
Methods requiring resources such as handouts or sets of cards.
The strategies below require students to understand text,
videos, CD Roms, Internet sites and other resources, and make their own sense
of it. The explanation often refers to
‘text’ or ‘handouts’, but clearly any appropriate resources will do, and the
more varied the better.
Well designed activities like these will usually produce
better understanding recall and engagement than conventional ‘teacher
talk’. However, it is rarely sufficient
to let students see material and take notes from it. Learning requires an ‘apply’ activity that
goes beyond the information given directly in the resources - for example an
exam style question on the material, to ensure they have processed the material
and developed their own understanding.
The Methods
6. Cooperative
Learning – Learning Teams do questions on resource material
This is the same as ‘teaching by asking’,
except that resources are provided.
Students are given a handout or similar
resources. They are asked to use the
text to answer a question(s) prepared by the teacher.
·
These questions relate to the
key points in the text and to the key lesson objectives. They should be thought provoking. E.g. “Who supported Cromwell and why?”
·
The answer to the question(s)
should not appear baldly and simply stated in one place in the
text. Students should need to read,
understand, and then reformulate (i.e. think about) the text to answer the
question. This requires that students
construct their own understanding and don’t just repeat the text back to you.
·
There should ideally be a range
of materials of differing difficulty which must be shared by the group. Alternatively, different students can be
assigned different resources, and then be required to cooperate to answer the
questions.
·
It helps a great deal to give
students individual roles in their group such as scribe, vocabulary checker etc
as described in the section on Managing Group Work for maximum
participation.
.
Students work in groups, and when they have
finished, feedback can be elicited from the groups one idea at a time, as it is
in ‘teaching by asking’.
It is useful to test learning at the end
with a test, quiz or an exam style question on the subject, on which students
work individually.
7. Key points
- Students are put in groups and given an unfamiliar piece of
text or other resources. They are
asked to read the text alone for a few minutes with an eye on the next
task.
- The group identify, say, five key points made by the text. (It helps if the number of key points is
the same as the number of groups.)
- The teacher then asks each group to give one key point (that
has not already been mentioned by another group) with a full explanation
and justification. The class agrees
or changes that point and the teacher writes it on the board.
Students can of course physically highlight
the important sections in the text.
‘Key points’ can be adapted to become ‘How
does it work?’ as shown below.
8. How does it work?
Students are given an unfamiliar piece of
text, a worked example, a labelled diagram, a set of accounts, a policy,
etc.
They are asked to study this and to
summarise an explanation of ‘how it works’ or ‘how it could be used’ etc in,
say, five key points.
Feedback: The teacher asks each group to
summarise one key point, writing those points the class agrees on the board.
Alternatively students can be asked to
answer questions that require them to explain the material.
9. Interrogating the
text
Students are given an unfamiliar piece of
text. In pairs or small groups they are
asked to:
- Formulate important questions the text should be able to
answer, or they hope the text will answer.
- Read the text, highlighting key points,
- Discuss the key points and agree answers to the questions
formulated in ‘1’.
10. Transformation
Students are given text in one format and
are asked to present it in another. For
example a health leaflet could be turned into a newspaper report., or a set of
instructions could be turned into a statement about how the devise works and
when it would be useful. A chronological
account could be reformulated under given, non-chronological headings etc.
11. Peer explaining
Students in pairs are given two related
texts about topics that have not been explained to them, for example one about
measles and another about mumps. They each study one of these alone for say 5
minutes. Alternatively they could use
the same text/video etc, but look at different aspects of it. For example students could watch a video or
read a text on the marketing policy of a small company, and one student could
look out for strengths in the policy and another for weaknesses.
Each student explains their topic to the
other who asks questions until they understand.
Integrative task: The pair then works together at a task that
requires them to work together on both topics. A useful question for this is to ask students
to “State what is the same, and what is different about measles and mumps.” Or
“Considering both strengths and weaknesses, what do you think of the marketing
policy? How could strengths be built
upon, and weaknesses addressed?”
12. Headings
Students are given a handout with no
headings or subheadings, but with space for these. Students read the handout and decide headings
that summarise what follows in that
section of text in the form of a statement.
This produces headings such as ‘The heart is a blood pump’ ; ‘The heart
has four chambers’; ‘Arteries take blood from the heart’. Etc.
You can of course adapt an existing handout
by removing existing headings, and or by asking students to write a ‘heading’
for each paragraph in the margin.
You can do this activity the other way
round, that is provide the headings and ask students to find out about each
heading and then write a short section on this.
This is a good way of structuring independent learning.
13.
Flowcharts/digrams/drawings
Students are given a text on an unfamiliar
topic. For example the quality system in
a manufacturing company. They are asked
to study the text in pairs and then to produce a flowchart/diagram that
summarises the process described in the text.
14. Summarizing
Students, working in pairs must
summarise the key points in the text, expressing them as briefly and as clearly
as possible. “Headings”, “Peer
Explaining” and other activities above would be useful introductory activity
for this summary activity. This is
similar to ‘Key Points’ above.
D (iii) Activities that require
a bit more preparation; simplest first
15.
Decisions-Decisions
Students, working in pairs are given a text
or watch a video etc, along with:
·
‘Summary cards’ which purport to summarise key points from the text, some of which
are true and some of which are false: e.g.
·
The left ventricle feeds the
lung
·
Heart rate is measured in beats
per minute, and if you are very fit your heart rate will probably be lower than
average.
·
‘Consequences cards’
which state consequences of the facts given in the text. These consequences are not actually stated in
the text itself. Again some are true and
some false E.g.
·
If you blocked the left
ventricle no blood would get to the head
·
Furring of the arteries would
usually raise blood pressure.
The pairs of students must decide which
cards are correct, and what is wrong with the incorrect ones. This is a greatly enjoyed activity with the
atmosphere of a game.
16. Student
Presentation
Students prepare a presentation on a topic in groups. It helps if the topic being studied can be
divided up so each group presents a different sub-topic. Don’t tell students what their subtopic is
until after they have studied the topic as a whole, to ensure they do
not overspecialise. Students could study
the material using one of the other strategies described here.
17. Explaining
Exemplars (Carroll 1994) – For skills teaching
An exemplar is a model of good practice
or worked example. This strategy can be
used in almost any subject from mathematics to craft catering. Try it with calculations, written work, exam
question answers, case studies, assignments, essays, craft artefacts etc.
- Give pairs or small groups of students examples of good
practice, and perhaps some examples of bad practice or examples containing
a few common errors. They may have
the same, or different exemplars.
- After examining and discussing it, each group critically
appraises the exemplar to the rest of the class. This might focus on the methods used to
create the exemplar as well as its quality. They could ‘mark’ the work,
either informally or against agreed criteria.
- Get the students to summarise general statements of good
practice.
Exemplars
in pairs:
This strategy will be explained by
example. It could be used with any
subject:
- Each pair of mathematics students is given the same four worked
examples. The examples solve
slightly different problems or use slightly different methods, and are
correct in each case.
- Each individual student takes two of the four worked
examples. They study these, and
prepare to explain and justify the method to their partner.
- Students explain and justify their examples to their partners
- Together the pairs agree ‘How to do it’ advice.
- Class discussion to agree ‘how to do it’.
- Students do some similar questions themselves.
You can of course give students worked
examples including common errors, and ask them to find these. This works well as a follow up activity.
Carroll’s Research into teaching algebra
suggests that showing students a large number of varied worked examples can
work better than the more common strategy of ‘showing them a couple on the
board and then getting them to do lots themselves’. This is true even if the amount of time spent
doing examples is reduced to make time to look at the worked examples. Low achievers make particularly good
achievements.
Examples of work with common errors are
instructive and good fun.
Asking students to examine exemplar essays
or assignments immediately after completing one of their own with the same
tasks is also very instructive.
This strategy is underused, and is
particularly helpful for right brain students because it gives students an
holistic ‘feel’ for the characteristics of good work.
18. Peer Teaching
– For skills teaching
Explaining: Students explain to each other how they did something, for example,
solving a problem. It has been found
that students who explain their method to each other learn mathematics much
faster than those who do not.
By explaining conceptual relationships to
others, tutors define their own understanding.
Question
Pairs:
Learners prepare for the activity by reading an agreed text, and
generating questions and answers focused on the major points or issues raised.
At the next class meeting pairs are randomly assigned. Partners alternately ask
their questions of each other, and provide corrective feedback on the answers.
Learning
Cells:
Each learner reads different selections and then teaches the essence of
the material to his or her randomly assigned partner.
19. Jigsaw.
A Cooperative learning method
Jigsaw is one of many cooperative
learning methods with high effect sizes*.
- Divide a topic up into, say, four sub-topics. For example childhood diseases could be
divided into mumps, measles, whooping cough and German measles. Alternatively students can be given four
different key questions or ‘spectacles’ that require students to analyse
the same materials from a different point of view. For example all students are given the
same information about the beliefs and policies of the Nazi party, and
different groups look at this from the point of view of women, the working
class, the middle class and the church.
- Divide students into four groups. The teacher chooses the
groups and they should be mixed ability, experience, ethnicity gender
etc. Don’t use friendship
groups. Students may complain at
first but will soon accept it if you are insistent.
Each group studies one disease or
question with the help of texts and worksheets etc. This is usually done in class time, though
you might be able to adapt the method for students to do their learning outside
of class time. (See Independent Learning)
- The students now form new groups. Each new group is a ‘jigsaw’, with one
student from each of the four original groups. Any students left over act as pairs in a
full group. Each group now has one
‘expert’ in each of the four childhood diseases. (They may have two experts in one
disease)
- The new group now completes an activity that requires them to
Peer Teach each other about their disease, and requires them to cooperate
with the rest of the group over a combined task that requires them to
integrate the four topics. For
example they could be asked to:
- Explain your disease to the rest of your new group, using the
same headings as for the earlier tasks.
(incubation time, mode of transmission etc)
- Cooperate to find three things all the diseases have in common
- Cooperate to find, for each of the four diseases, four unique
characteristics.
- Design a leaflet on childhood diseases. In your leaflet:
- Place the four diseases in order of:
i. Severity of potential consequences
ii. Ease of protection
Cooperative learning is very big in the USA
with tons of materials on the internet about it. Some people have used it for years, many more
will soon. Ninety years of research and
600 studies shows that cooperative learning really works. It is related to high attainment high order
reasoning skills, creative thinking, and excellent transfer of learning to
unrelated topics. It is excellent for ‘bonding’ groups, developing social
skills, working with others, and for promoting equal opportunities.
How
to decide groupings with jigsaw
You can do jigsaw with any group size and
with any number of ‘subtopics’ if the following rules are followed:
Help! I have a remainder when I divide N by X.
Doesn’t matter!. Let some subtopic groups
be one student bigger than the others. Then pair students up in these larger
sub-topic groups. For example if the
remainder is two, you will have two subtopic groups that are one bigger than
the others. Pair up two students in each
of these groups and let them share the tasks.
This pairing up strategy will always work,
whatever the remainder.
Alternatively, if the remainder is large,
and you want to avoid pairing up too many students then consider the following:
Again allow some of your sub-topic groups
to be one larger than the others. Number
off and form ‘teaching groups’ in the usual way. You will find that some of the teaching groups
are one ‘expert’ short. You can take the
place of these missing experts by visiting these groups in turn.
If you would like a fuller explanation of
how to group with jigsaw please e-mail me from my website and I will send a
paper on it.
20 Academic Controversy – A Cooperative Learning Method with
a very high effect size see: http://www.clcrc.com/pages/academic.html#what
This method is for a topic where there
are two or more conflicting points of view.
The method is described as for two points of view only, but is easily
adapted for more. The controversy could
be around anything from a major schism, to a minor controversy
e.g.
Do
prisons work?
Is
this marketing policy effective for a small country hotel?
- Students are allocated one of the points of view and given
materials that explain it if necessary. They research and prepare their
point of veiw, and ensure they understand the arguments for their point of
view, preparing a persuasive ‘best case possible’ for their position.
- Students are arranged in pairs with opposing points of view, or
put in groups of four containing two students with each point of
view. Each side presents their
position in as persuasive a manner as possible.
- Students engage in an open discussion in which they argue
forcefully for their position, rebutting attacks, while arguing against
the opposing view.
- Student’s swap positions and present the other position as
accurately, completely, persuasively, and forcefully as they can. Its best to tell students this is coming
so they listen to the opposing view!
However, if you feel mischievous you can spring this on students
and make a teaching point about how badly they listened earlier on!
- (Optional) Students check each other’s arguments for the swapped
positions.
- Integration: Students drop their advocacy roles. They try to reach a consensus on the
issue by synthesising the two positions.
This method works best if used in
conjunction with ‘peacemaking’ approaches.
More on Cooperative Learning: http://www.clcrc.com/
.
21. Snowballing questions
Students are given resources on the topic
to be learned along with past paper questions or multiple choice tests. The questions should require more than just
copying answers from the resources.
Students work on the resources and the
questions individually or in pairs. It
sometimes helps curiosity and focus of the student’s reading if they read the
questions before studying the resources.
Students combine individuals into pairs, or
pairs into fours. They compare answers
to the questions and combine their work to produce a ‘best answer’ without
further consultation of the reading unless really necessary. This promotes discussion, requires student to
justify their points of view, which encourages good learning.
Students are shown the answers with any
reasoning or working made clear, and then mark or score themselves.
It helps if students are given roles such
as ‘teacher’ or ‘questioner’ as described below in section E.
22. Independent
Learning
- Any easy section of the syllabus is identified and this is not
taught.
- Instead students are given an assignment which describes in
detail what they must learn. More
experienced independent learners might need less direction.
- Students work on this material in pairs or small groups,
usually outside of class contact time.
The activities set require students to work in pairs or groups, are
thought provoking, and are not entirely ‘book and biro’. At least one task requires students to
go beyond recall of ideas in the materials, and to apply their
learning. This is to encourage deep
learning, otherwise students may simply collect information and write it
down without really thinking about it or understanding it.
- Student’s work is monitored by a designated ‘leader’ in their
group or by the teacher.
- The learning from this work is assessed in a short test. The student’s notes are not usually
marked, instead their learning is assessed by a short test. Optionally students can be required to
retake tests, or do other remedial work if their test result is
unsatisfactory.
- After completing this independent learning assignment, or
indeed before, students use an independent learning competences
questionnaire to identify their weaknesses as an independent learner, and
to set themselves targets for their next independent learning
assignment. See Geoff or Teaching
Today for this questionnaire or devise your own!
This is not an easy teaching method to use
but it is greatly enjoyed by students if it is managed well. For more detail see the chapter on it in
‘Teaching Today’ by Geoffrey Petty.
23. Spectacles
This method is best explained by
examples. Suppose a teacher of accountancy wanted to teach students about
building society accounts, bank accounts, shares, and other ways of saving money. She asks her students to study materials on
these accounts in order to complete an evaluation matrix (i.e. table) like
this:
How should we save?
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||||
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Rate of interest
|
Can the value go down as well as up?
|
Ease of withdrawal
|
etc
|
Building society account
|
|
|
|
|
Bank account
|
|
|
|
|
Shares
|
|
|
|
|
etc
|
|
|
|
|
If the evaluation criteria are well
chosen the students must study and understand the different methods of saving
very well in order to make their judgements.
The judgements the students make show the teacher whether the learner
has understood the method of saving. Groups can compare their judgements by
placing them on a class grid provided on
a flip-chart, board, or OHT. They
enjoy this, and the controversy this creates can help clarify
misunderstandings.
Students could then be given a
scenario, and asked to make a judgement as to the most appropriate method(s) of
saving for a particular person.
Like the other methods described in
this document the aim is to get students to learn content (in this case,
methods of saving) without direct explanation from the teacher. However, using this method, students will
also develop their evaluation skills.
Other examples include:
·
learning about childhood diseases by evaluating
them against criteria like ‘method of immunisation’ ‘ease of immunisation’
‘likelihood of permanent effects’ etc.
·
Learning about computer printers by
evaluating them as three star two star one star or no star against criteria
like cost, speed, etc. This produces a
matrix similar to the ones produced by consumer organisations like ‘Which?’,
and product reviews in magazines.
This method is greatly enjoyed, and is
best done in groups.
24. Skill judging
Not all learning is based on factual
content. Some learning is skill
based. This is a very powerful method to
teach a skill such as writing an essay, lab report, computer programme, menu,
care plan, marketing policy; delivering a presentation, carving a joint etc.
First students work as a class or in groups do devise criteria for good
practice in the skill. Alternatively
they could use exam board grading criteria but work on interpreting and
expanding this. For example they could
add a few examples of how the criteria could be met in practice.
Second: students are given examples of the skill to judge with their
criteria, e.g. example essays. It helps
if these examples include some that appear at first sight to be good practice,
but are actually flawed. For example, an
essay with lots of impressive detail, but that does not address the topic in
the title well.
Third: Students discuss the examples given and write strengths and
weaknesses for them. They could also
give marks or grade the work.
Optionally, they work to improve their evaluation criteria at this
stage.
Fourth: the teacher tells the students the ‘offical’ strengths and
weaknesses, grades or marks for the exemplars.
It helps if this is a shock for the students. For example, the longest essay did not get
the biggest mark!
This is a very instructive activity that is
greatly valued by students.
25. Compare and
Contrast
Comparing and contrasting has been found to
improve students understanding of the topics compared by much more than one grade. It is a preferred method for helping students
to clarify concepts that are often confused, or poorly understood.
Students are put in pairs or small groups,
and are given a grid like the one below (only much bigger!) on flip
chart or A3 paper. They work in groups
to make a bullet pointed list of important similarities and differences between
the two concepts. They can work from
previously unseen, or from other notes to do this. Clearly this could be used in any subject to
help teach almost any pair of similar concepts.
For example:
Fractions
and Percentages
Charles
I and Charles II relations with Parliament
Osmosis
and diffusion
Shares
and Bonds
Commas
and semicolons
Etc
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Similarities
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Comparing
Kinetic Energy and Momentum
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They both:
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Differences
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Kinetic energy… But Momentum…
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Momentum… But Kinetic energy…
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E. Effective Management of Active Learning
Strategies to maximise participation.
Using
roles to maximise participation.
All the activities above are best done
in pairs, or small groups. However, some
can be adapted for individual students.
It helps to give students in groups specific roles such as those which
follow. It is unlikely that you would
use all these roles at the same time.
Useful combinations of roles are given later.
Role descriptors are given in a manner
suitable for level 3, or adult learners.
Please change these descriptors to suit your students.
Students enjoy these roles and soon get
used to them. But don’t expect them to
use the roles effectively without practice.
Just after the first time you use these roles it would be useful to
reflect with the class on how to make them work well.
Consider ensuring that each student in
a group has at least one role. This
avoids some students becoming ‘passengers’.
Consider rotating the roles during the term.
Role
card descriptors:
Teacher.
“Your
role is to study the aspect or a section of the materials that the teacher
gives you, and to explain this to the other students in your group/pair.
You
will be the only student in your group/pair to study your particular aspect of
the topic, so make sure you understand it well and practice how to explain
it! You can ask the teacher for help if
you get stuck.”
Checker:
“The
teacher will choose students at random from your group to report back on what
your group has learned and decided. The teacher may ask questions of more than
one student from your group. They may
also set a quiz or test on the material.
Your role is to check that all
the students in your group understand your group’s findings, and can report it
to the rest of the class clearly. Do
this by preparing and asking questions of your group. You are allowed a full (five?) minutes to do
this. If one of your group can’t answer
the teacher’s questions - guess whose fault this will be!”
Scribe:
“Your
role is to summarises the key points that your group is making, check that the
whole group agrees with them, and then write them down. You may also be
expected to explain your group’s findings to the rest of the class. There is much more to being a Scribe than
just writing!”
Questioner.
“Your role is to ‘skim’ the resources and then
decide on important questions that the resources should answer. For example “Who supported Cromwell and
why?” The aim is to focus the group’s attention
on the key points. You then give your
questions to the group for it (including you!) to answer.
You
can add to, or change your questions as you get more familiar with the
materials.
You
may also ask supportive and clarifying questions to help the group complete its
task(s)”.
Vocabulary
chief:
“There
is some technical vocabulary in this material.
Your role is to research and explain the meaning of all the technical
terms. You could devise a ‘glossary’ for
your group if you think this would help.
You will need to run a quiz with your group to check everyone can
explain each technical term.”
Leader:
“Your
role is to lead and manage your group in a democratic way, to ensure that the
group completes all its tasks in the time available. You can give other students in your group
specific roles if you think this helps.
You will need to share out the resources in a way that helps the group
to work with maximum effectiveness.”
These roles work best if the teacher
makes sure that s/he will test every student’s learning after the
activity. This can be done during
feedback or with a quiz or test warned of in advance. If they know that any member of their group
might be asked questions on the material, they will work with their Checker to ensure that all members
understand all the points.
You can spice this up (at some risk!)
by saying that any student who gets one question wrong, will automatically get
the next question and so on until they get one right. The risk of course is that you put humiliating
pressure on a weak student, but if you have some easy questions up your sleeve
this can be avoided if you judge it necessary.
The roles of questioner and checker
etc help to show students good practice in reading text. Do point this out to students. For example, good readers formulate important
questions that the text might answer; ask themselves ‘do I understand this?’
and ‘is this important?’ as they read.
They also check they know the vocabulary and summarise key points
etc. Hence the roles are not arbitary or
purely managerial, but model good study practice.
Students can be given ‘role cards’ with
all the roles described until they get used to it. Roles can rotate from lesson to lesson.
Useful
combinations of roles for your groups:
Try to give every student in the group
a role
1. Two
or more Teachers
2. A Scribe and a Checker
3. Two
or more Teachers and a Checker (who is not also a
teacher)
4. Two
or more Teachers and a Checker and a Leader
5. Two
or more teachers, a Vocabulary chief and a Checker who checks material other than
the vocabulary
6. A
Leader who is also a Questioner, a Scribe and a
Checker.
7. A
Leader a Questioner, a Scribe and a Checker.
8. etc!
(Miss out the Checker at your own peril!)
Task
Design
A useful checklist to ensure your tasks
and supporting materials cover everything:
- Check/review
any necessary prior learning.
- Establish
purposes, tasks, and questions etc.
- Locate
information and resources.
- Plan how
to complete the task successfully delegating if necessary
- Get to
work on the tasks
- Monitor
progress and understanding.
- Make a
record.
- Evaluate
information and task completion
- Check
the groups’ understanding
- Communicate
findings to rest of the group and teacher
- Teacher
tests the understanding of the whole class
Managing Group work, individual
learning, practical etc
Pointers
for success in groupwork:
Prepare: review or confirm any learning required for success at the
task
Task is set
·
The task is
clear and in writing. There may be
different tasks for each group.
·
A ‘Scribe’
is identified by the group or the teacher. There may be a task sheet to fill in
·
Time
allowed for the task is given in advance.
Require all learners to be prepared to feedback for their group and
justify their answer.
·
Tasks
differentiate by being open, graduated and/or there are some stretching tasks
·
At
least some of the tasks are high on Bloom’s Taxonomy, that is, requiring:
analysis (‘why’ questions) synthesis (‘how’ questions)
or evaluation (‘which’ or ‘how good is this’ questions)
·
As
well as scribe consider giving some students roles such as: Teacher, Checker,
Vocabulary checker, Questioner, Summariser, Leader etc..
Students work on task
§
Groups
are formed, preferably random e.g. by numbering round the room.
§
A
group scribe is appointed (by group or teacher) to record ideas in progress.
Avoid students with dyslexia unless they can work verbally as they are slow
writers. Rote such roles from lesson to
lesson.
§
Teacher
checks attention to task by visiting groups and examining the scribe’s material
§
Challenging
time constraints are given, i.e. the task doesn’t go on too long
§
The
Scribe role rotates from time to time
Check and correct
§
Check
Scribe’s notes to determine the group’s progress.
§
Ask
for their ideas and listen. Ask clarifying
questions if necessary. Do not
overhelp. If they are having trouble
leave them with a clarifying question and say you will come back in a couple of
minutes or so.
§
Encourage
and cajole. Feedback is ‘medal and
mission’ at least some of the time: a ‘medal’ for progress made to date,
effort, ideas etc, and a ‘mission’ challenging them to go further.
§
Challenge
with support
Feedback and review
§ Every group is asked for their findings and no single group provides
all the answers (for example, each group is asked to make one point only, one
group at a time.)
§ Consider appointing a ‘Checker’ and then picking anyone in a group
at random to explain their findings.
§
Key
learning points are emphasised and written up on the board/oht
§
‘Assertive
questioning’ style is used where the teacher gets a number of answers just
saying ‘thankyou’. The ‘correct’ answer is not given away. The class are asked to agree a class answer.
“Okay, some groups say..... and others say ...... Who’s right and why?” (see
Teaching Today)
Reveiw
§
Students
are asked to state their key learning points these are improved by discussion.
§
There
is a tangible outcome: Notes, mind-map, summarising handouts given out
etc.
§
Key
points are reviewed by quiz, test or by Q&A at some later time
A plea for help
Please tell Geoff
Petty of any other approaches, or of ways of improving this.
Some
References:
Many of these ideas are from: