Hi Melissa,
Students love providing information to the class. Try this project, your students will enjoy it and benefit from it.
Patricia Scales
most of what I discuss in class the students get to go and do with the training aids in lab
Diesel mechanics education lends itself to active learning. After we talk about it during lecture we then go into a lab and do it for real. The student then realizes the link between the classroom and the actual application.
Dianne, I also use this approach and I find it to be very effective. The hard part for me is the students who still don't participate in the discussion- probably because they didn't complete the reading and/or homework.
Do you have an approach for these students? Do you have any good methods to get them to engage? I'd love to hear any suggestions!
Thanks!
Often when teaching payroll, I have done a bit of lecture regarding minimum wage, the forms to be filled out etc.
Instead of lecturing, I could have the students themselves research the answers to the questions on the internet and then discuss as a class.
Hi Claudia,
This review lets you know if your students are grasping the information or not.
Patricia Scales
Often I find it helpful for student's to present what was covered as a review at the end of class.
Hi Anthony,
When you can defend your answer you have a better understanding of what is going on.
Patricia Scales
Hi Jacqueline,
Hands-on actually help students retain information better.
Patricia Scales
Depending on the subject, I often do a project using the principles of the lecture first letting the students see how and why the informaiton is important. Many times they catch on to the material quicker as they can relate the project to one or more areas they are familiar with in their life expierences.
I believe frequent questions and discussions based on those answers can make the pure lecture a more active environment. I ask a lot of my students to defend their answers whether they are right or wrong. I feel this gives them and myself an opportunity to see where their thought process is coming from.
I personally find that students retain and understand a lot more when they actively participate in the class. Review and hands on allow them to feel as if they are fully involved in the class.
Hi M. Clinger,
We need to encourage as much critical thinking from our students as possible. Case studies really make students think really deep and they bring about situations that will occur in the workplace.
Patricia Scales
I would like to begin to include with my lectures some q & a, asking students for examples of the issues being presented and case studies to encourage critical thinking.
Hi Susan,
Students really do amaze themselves based on how much they know. They really do know a lot more than they give themselves credit for.
Patricia Scales
While teaching accounting concepts and theories, a good deal of lecture is involved. I use a variety of methods to encourage active learning during these lectures. One method I use often is to involve the students in the lecture by use of frequent questioning. Even if I haven't presented the "proper" way of accounting for a certain financial transaction, I ask the students to use the knowledge they already have and consider how they think a certain unfamiliar financial transaction should be recorded and why they feel that way. Even if the student is not on target with their response, this questioning by the instructor directly involves the student in the topic and requires them to apply knowledge they already have to develop an acceptable solution. I find that this questioning technique also improves the level of student confidence in a topic as students often know more than they think they do.
Hi Robert,
Nicely stated! You do a fantastic job to ensure your students are involved. I really like how you make your students understand the relevancy of the course.
Patricia Scales
I used to be more lecture oriented in my Humanities class. Then I developed questions for each chapter that were sequenced with the material in the book. I use this to guide a review of the text while they join in by providing the answers. Sometimes they work in groups first to compare answers. Of course, it often leads to other more broad discussions.
I also started using a short documentary to introduce a particular time period followed by discussion. This is a break from the textbook.
Dear Ms. Scales,
Since most of my hour to one and a half hour lectures are also accompanied with a demonstration in the pastry and baking course all of my students are physically "in the mix" so to speak. I do pause ofren in my lecture for them to analyse my demo, and also provide an outline for them to follow without excessive nore taking by them. My students do personally and physically become "actively envolved" with the subject matter of the day. I try to explain to them that in the future what they are learning today, will be their future job performance tommorrow, and try to instill in them both critical and analytical thinking in the processes of making cakes, pastries, and breads. In the "12 steps of yeast production", I physically and actively, with body motions and arm mimmicry have them go through the motions of scaling ingredients, mixing, kneading,bulk fermentation, rounding, benching, scaling again,forming and make-up, baking, cooling and storing the finished bread they will be producing. Once they understand the sequence of each step in forming a completed bread, they can analytically break down the steps and understand why each step is so important for the final outcome of their product. This choreography of breadmaking and yeast production also sets up an objective for them: (to produce a beautiful loaf of bread), and establishes a guideline in taking their final assessment.
Bobby Falite
Hi Nadh,
PowerPoint is an excellent visual tool. It will certainly help. Use it, and you will love it. Also in terminology instructors have spelling bee's and play games to help the learning stick.
Patricia Scales
