Have student create their own questions
As most good instructors know, creating and asking a "good" question is harder than most people think. One of my methods for reviewing for a test is to have the students ask each other questions. I let the students have their notes and handout in front of them. Then each student has to come up with a question. Each student will state their question verbally. If the question is vauge, I will make them restate the question. Sometimes questions are open to the whole class. Other times the question is to be answered by the next student seated. If that student doesn't know the answer, they can pass, but will have to create their own question on the same topic. Sometimes I let them have a mobile shout out ! I like the TV show Cash Cab !
Thanks for the info Mike, never thought of making a "game" out of questions and quizing each other. I will be using this technique in class this week. I usually have the students try to stump me with a question from our most recent lecture. I have a reward system for my classes and most of the students love to participate in this. For every question I get right they earn "funny money" to purchase classrom supplies like pens, pencils, folders, etc...
i never heard off this show. is this for real?
I've only seen vague remarks about the show Cash Cab but in brief it is a taxi cab in New York which is fitted out to be a mobile audio/video recording studio. When unsuspecting people get into the cab they find they have climbed into a TV show. The driver proceeds to ask them a series of ever more difficult questions until they reach their desired destination, where they exit the cab with whatever money they earned. They make money for each correct answer and after a few (5 I think) wrong answers they lose all the money they have made and are dropped off right where they made the final wrong answer - without being delivered to their desitination.
Now what I think is interesting is they have certain methods of getting help. The "Shout out" is when the cab will pull over and the occupants are allowed to role down the window and shout to the nearest person on the street to see if he or she knows the correct answer.
The way this kind of seeking assistance might help is be stimulating a level of energy in the classroom where even if one student does not know the answer, there is a possibility to have others engage it and still have all students get a chance to learn.
Critical thinking is the disciplined mental activity of evaluating arguments or propositions and making judgments that can guide the development of beliefs and taking action. Students need to look at the evidence they are evaluating. Is it valid? We all know that our students think "if it's on the Internet it must be true!" We need to teach them to evaluate information on their own. What is the source? How reliable is the source? How does this information pertain to our question/problem etc.?
I have never seen "Cash Cab" so have no idea, but here's the website for the show
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/cashcab/about/about.html
What is the show Cash Cab about? What is critical thinking? Are there other types of questions than open-ended?
Hello Mike, I think this is great way to get students to interact with one another and also prepare for the test. It also allows the student to retain more information and reduces the stress level associated with test taking.
Hi Mike,
I also enjoy the show Cash Cab on the Discovery channel and I really like your classroom strategy. I use to have students create questions as a part of their homework and I have used some of the valid ones in my tests. These questions are open ended and involve critical thinking. I may have them question each other during class as time allows.
Looks like you have a very active classroom, Mike!
