Student interaction
What is the best way to get students to answer questions asked during the lecture and not get just a dead silence?
Qiana,
By providing support and encouragement for the students in the way you are you are helping them to build their self confidence and thinking that they can be successful in the course. This is a powerful connector for the students between the course content and their career goals.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Encourage all to participate. Even when they give a wrong answer they should not be made to feel bad. this will discourage them from interacting later. Always if possible try to find a good point in something they have said.
I often find (particularly with morning classes!) that some people are just not mentally engaged. If it's due to distractions (texting, computers, etc.) that's another issue. But I really try to engage students in interactive conversation, before going to specific questions. I sometimes run into a related problem as well -- one student trying to dominate the conversation, show off, etc. The "Hermione Granger" problem! Because of having both extremes, when it comes down to answering specific questions from an assignment or worksheet, I will sometimes go around the room with each person answering one question. It really depends on the number of people in the class and the nature of the material being discussed, though.
-Jennifer
Lawrence,
I assign questions to the students. Another approach is to put the students into groups and then give them questions to discuss and then answer in report form to the rest of the class.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
