Audience Participation Patterns
How do you deal with the uneven distribution of audience participation in a classroom setting?
Some seem very eager to participate in class and are always willing to offer an answer while others always try to hang back in the back of the room and coast through the presentation.
How might you engage the guys in the back in answering the questions to guage how they are retaining the information presented? I find that even if you ask them specifically, they often seem too timid or unsure to offer an answer and it's hit-and-miss performance from many of them on the tested material.
Agreed that you don't want to wait until the assessment & also to use q/a & summarizing, but that's assuming you can get those students who aren't participating to participate. Sometimes that's the challenge.
Ryan
I'm in Situation 2 and I'll certainly try to include some miniature research/discussion groups but the issue I have with waiting until the assessment is that I always feel some of the students are both not understanding a concept and not asking questions about the things they don't understand.
That is why I like the process of questions/answers and having students summarize processes because it provides a way to check their understanding during class so I can redistribute time spent on a subject on the fly. I've already passed up the time at which the information would be fresh and in-context if I review it after the test/quiz.
Good question & I'll have to say it depends a little on the situation.
Situation 1: 1 Time Presentation
With this group you might want to consider having them discuss an issue in pairs or triplets. Then they share what "they" discussed in their small group. This provides some safety & also allows those who aren't as comfortable in speaking in front of the large group an outlet.
Situation 2: A Class
In this situation you can try the above strategy. And also you will probably want to consider other assessment strategies beyond testing or answering questions in class. Could you have them do a small group presentation & assess understanding through that means?
Just some thoughts,
Ryan
