strategies for enhancing student engagement and critical thinking · 2018. 6. 1. · strategies to...
TRANSCRIPT
STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCING STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AND CRITICAL THINKING
Shobana Musti-Rao, Coral Di Michele, Nadia Lifrieri, Camilla Sibiga and Rachel Rothchild
Background/ Rationale
There is a positive relationship between students’ active engagement with tasks and academic achievement.
Three types of engagement
Cognitive
Emotional
Physical
Critical thinking – a self-guided and self-disciplined process of skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing knowledge.
As teacher educators, we have the responsibility to model effective instructional strategies – the same strategies we want teacher candidates to acquire and practice in the field.
Fun, Engagement, and Active Student Responding
Fun Activities
Small friendly competitions
Playing music in class
Field trips
Games
Instructor bringing in food
Hands on activities
Fun Delivery
Attention getters
Demonstration of content
Interactive lectures
Instructional storytelling
Using humor
Fun facilitates conditions of engagement and has a positive impact on engagement
(Tews, Jackson, & Ramsay, 2015).
Lecture- or group-instruction format
Advantages:
Efficient use of instructor’s time,
Used to elaborate course content,
Provides instructor with control of course content
Challenges:
Maintain students’ attention
Give each student sufficient opportunities to respond
Provide individualized feedback for students’ responses
Monitor each students’ learning
Prevent and deal with disruptive behavior
Active Student Responding (ASR) – students make an active (observable) response to a teacher-posed question. ASR addresses the five challenges listed above.
Commonly cited
elements of effective
instruction
Activity #1
1. What color is Cerulean?
A) Red
B) Blue
C) Yellow
D) Green
2. It is not possible to cry or shed tears in space. True/False?
3. Which tennis player is known as the “King of Clay” and has won ten French Open titles?
A) John McEnroe
B) Bjorn Borg
C) Roger Federer
D) Rafael Nadal
Steps to Use Response Systems (Twyman & Heward, 2018)
Give clear directions and model the activity
Provide a brief thinking pause
Signal students to respond
Provide feedback
Maintain a lively pace
Some examples
Low-tech response cards, hand gestures
Padlet
Plickers
Padlet.com
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Strategies to promote critical thinking – evaluate and analyze
Journal entries
Topics covered – 1) personal stories about our journey of education, 2) our ideas about intelligence, 3) our Teaching Perspectives Inventory scores, and 4) scores on the implicit bias test.
Private – only between student and instructor
Enabled students to formulate clear thoughts.
Blog entries on contemporary topics in education
Public to other students in the class
Required reading on a topic, evaluating the information against our own background knowledge of the topic and preconceived notions and taking a stance.
Topics: 1) DACA and Immigration Law, and 2) Gun Control
Informed of peers opinions
Able to give peers feedback
Big Paper: Building a Silent Conversation
Select a stimulus for discussion
Stimulus –question, quotation, an excerpts from a novel or an image
Step 1
Prepare students
Step 2 Students
comment on their group’s big paper
Students comment on other groups’ big papers
Students return to their group’s big paper and silence is broken
Step 3
Discuss as a class
Step 4
Some Examples
Picture with Caption Layout
• Everyone is able to freely express their ideas & opinions.
• Respond to peers ideas in a peaceful & organized manner.
• Involves movement around the classroom.
• Written record of everyone's ideas that can be saved.
• Encourages the participation of all students.
• Allows students to formulate ideas on their own & develop them further for class discussion.
Sharing your input
Assessment of Learning vs. Assessment for Learning
How can these strategies be used in teaching courses in your respective discipline?
References
Musti-Rao, S., Kroeger, S. D., & Schumacher-Dyke, K. (2008). Using guided notes and response cards at the postsecondary level. Teacher Education and Special Education, 31(3), 149-163. doi: 10.1177/0888406408330630
Tews, M. J., Jackson, K., & Ramsay, C. (2015). Fun in the college classroom: Examining its nature and relationship with student engagement. College Teaching, 63, 16-26.
Twyman, J. S., & Heward, W L. (2018). How to improve student learning in every classroom now. International Journal of Educational Research, 87, 78-90. doi: 10.106/j.ijer.2016.05.007.