Developing Interactive Lectures
Preparing for an Academic Career Workshop
June 2011
Robyn Wright Dunbar
Stanford University
Katryn Wiese
City College of San Francisco
http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/interactive/index.html
(or http://serc.carleton.edu/ in general)
Why make lectures interactive?
Students taught key concepts using one of four methods.
Student learning assessed by proportion of correct answers
to open ended questions on same concepts on final exam
Teaching method
No demonstration
% correct answers
61
Observation of demonstration w/explanation
70*
Prediction prior to demo with a conceptest
77*
Prediction prior to demonstration using
discussion & a later conceptest
82*
n = 158-297; * = statistically significant result vs. no demonstration
Crouch, C.H., Fagen, A.P., Callan, J.P., & Mazur, E., 2004. American Journal of Physics, v.72 #6, p. 835-838.
Slide from David Steer
Group brainstorm:
What indicators would you observe/measure to
determine if a lecture is successfully interactive?
What is some evidence that a
lecture is “Interactive”?
•
•
•
•
•
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Students are talking with each other and teaching one another
Students are offering up answers and ideas
Students are engaged in thinking through concepts
Students are getting hands-on experiences with concepts
Students are collaborating with each other – brainstorming
Students are engaging with the material in multiple ways and
instructors are assessing understanding in multiple ways at multiple
levels.
Interactive Lecture Toolbox
•
•
•
•
Think-pair-share
Concept Tests
Demonstrations, predictive demonstrations,
interactive demonstrations
One-minute papers
•
•
•
Wall walk
Small group work
•
•
•
Muddiest point, most important point
Discussions, gallery walks, jigsaws
Big group brainstorming
Other
http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/interactive/index.html
Think-Pair-Share
•
•
•
•
•
Instructor asks a question
related to an image, graph,
or prediction
Students think (write,
calculate) a response
In pairs (or small groups),
students discuss their
responses
Solicit pair or group response
Instructor can use to guide
instruction
Satellite measurements of ozone concentration
above Antarctica, 1979-1992
Think-PairShare
EXAMPLE
•
•
•
Individuals think about
a THINK-PAIR-SHARE
question you would
ask a group of
students about this
picture.
Discuss your example
with a partner
Share ideas with larger
group
Concept Tests
Multiple choice questions
embedded in the lecture
•
Focus attention on key
concepts
• Frequently include peer
instruction
• Formative exercises during
class used to assess student
understanding and progress
Frequently used with
an electronic Personal
Response System
(PRS) “clicker”
http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/interactive/conctest.html
McConnell, D.A., Steer, D.N., & Owens, K., 2003, Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 51, #2, p. 174-183.
Slide from David Steer
Which of
these
sedimentary
textures tell
us the rocks
were formed
originally as
sand dunes?
A
E
B
C
D
Concept Tests:
An Example
http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/interactive/conctest.html
Demonstrations
• Ask first: What do you expect? Why?
• RUN DEMONSTRATION / ACTIVTY
• Review: Did it occur as you expected? Why or
why not? Do you want to run any follow-up
experiments?
http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/demonstrations/index.html
Which is denser:
Pepsi or Diet Pepsi?
Why?
Which is denser:
Orange or Peeled Orange?
Why?
Demonstrations
Example
Interactive Demonstration
Example:
Photo by Howard Edin, American Meteor Society
The heat of accretion
that caused early Earth
to melt…
Jigsaw
Small group work
where students
work on related
concepts and teach
one another.
• Each team prepares a different assignment.
• Teach information to others in mixed groups.
• Mixed group addresses a more complex
problem that is best, or only, solvable with input
from each member.
From B. Tewksbury at: http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/coursedesign/tutorial/jigsaw.html
Jigsaw Example – Mineral properties
Everyone gets one of 5 minerals.
Your goal: find all the other people in the room with the same mineral and group
yourselves together.
Once everyone has found each other – review in your group all the things that make your
mineral samples the same (is it color? shape? etc.)
One person from each group takes mineral and joins a mixed group to teach their
mineral – explaining its special traits and answering questions.
Finally, the mixed group solves a challenge only solvable using their combined expertise
(e.g. identify which unknown rocks contain their minerals, etc.)
Wall Walk
•
Focus attention on key concepts
•
Used to stimulate class discussions
On 4 walls of the class, place signs: Agree, Disagree,
Strongly Agree, Strongly Disagree
Do not let students stand in the middle (make them “take a
stand”)
Establish rules (can change where you are standing, be
courteous, raise hand, will be called upon, etc…)
Project a (controversial) statement about a class topic
•
•
•
•
From Steer and Trujillo
Gallery Walk Example
Set up posters around the room with different prompts. Teams circulate to each
poster for review, discussion, and note making.
Every ~5 minutes, teams move to the next poster, engaging the pre-existing
comments and enriching the “discussion,” until back at original location.
Final groups review comments, discuss, and then choose spokesperson to
report out key points to larger group.
SUGGEST
E(A modified Gallery Walk would do this by circulating papers among seated groups
instead of circulating the people.)
EXAMPLE PROMPTS:
Identify and briefly describe some interactive lecture strategies.
What concerns might someone have about making lectures more interactive?
What resources are available to help make interactive lectures?
ON YOUR OWN
YOU HAVE ~5 MINUTES TO WORK ON THIS:
Think about and design an interactive
demonstration, concept test, brainstorm, wall walk,
jigsaw, gallery walk, or think-pair-share for one of
your courses on one topic.
WITH A PARTNER
YOU HAVE ~5 MINUTES TO WORK ON THIS
(each person gets 2-3 minutes):
Discuss your activity with your partner
– ask questions – elicit feedback.
“One-minute” papers
 Paper topics
 The muddiest point of today’s class
 The most important point(s) you learned from today’s class
 A classroom assessment technique
 Involves students in their own learning, promotes
metacognition
 Can show class-wide trends
 Makes a natural starting point for the next class
From Macdonald
For More Information…
Think-Pair-Share:
http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/interactive/tpshare.html
Conceptest:
http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/interactive/conctest.html
Predictive/Interactive Demo:
http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/demonstrations/index.html