The quest to get students doing assigned reading and engaging with that material is one of those ongoing challenges faced by university and college teachers today. Simply assigning the reading, telling students to do it and making threats about what will happen if they don’t is rarely enough to get most of today’s students interacting [...]
Posts Tagged ‘student engagement’
Simulations Deliver Real Benefits
Posted Thursday, September 30th, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerSimulations can be powerful active learning experiences. In the social sciences and humanities they can provide a kind of “lab-like” experience, often not a part of these courses. Finding good simulation exercises is a challenge in some fields and integrating them into the content and objectives of the course requires careful planning and execution. However, this extra work is justified given what a good simulation can accomplish in class. Check out these benefits listed in an excellent article on simulations.
Five Minutes and Five Techniques
Posted Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerI was traveling again last week and dining by myself in a local restaurant. I had forgotten to bring something to read, but the restaurant, named the The Library, had stacks of old books decorating the short walls between different sections of the dining room. In the stack near my table I found Teacher Education [...]
Good Courses and Good Papers
Posted Monday, April 19th, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerI’m always on the lookout for new teaching metaphors and I found a good one this weekend.
“What magic is it that removes the barrier—that allows teachers to converse with, rather than to talk at, our students? It’s my private theory that the solution is analogous to writing itself: that good classes, like good papers need a thesis, a plan, a problem, and, finally, a sense of larger significance.” (p. 38)
Live Wires
Posted Thursday, March 18th, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerAt a teaching center I visited recently this quote was posted on a bulletin board: “A teacher’s constant task is to take a roomful of live wires and see to it that they’re grounded.” The quote was attributed to E.C. McKenzie.
Student Questions: Quantity and Quality Issues
Posted Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 by Maryellen WeimerIn their review of literature section, the researchers listed below summarize findings from a number of studies regarding student questions. “It is well documented that student questions in the classroom are very infrequent and unsophisticated.” Averages reported in six different studies range from 1.3 questions per hour to 4.0. According to this research, teachers ask [...]
More on Questions and Participation
Posted Thursday, June 25th, 2009 by Maryellen WeimerI’m still thinking about participation … even more convinced of the point in the previous blog … we need to be asking questions that do a better job of engaging students’ interests. I’ve also been thinking about how I don’t often prepare questions.
The Power of a Good Question
Posted Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 by Maryellen WeimerWe need to spend more time thinking about the questions we ask students and how they can do more than just test what students know (or don’t know). They can also hook students and pull them into our fascinating content domains.
