The following techniques represent
a sample of alternatives to the more common pedagogical methods of lecture
and discussion. The titles used here are not in common usage and each method
may be referred to by different names in different settings.
1) Peer Teaching & Learning
Purpose
To involve students more actively
in their own learning. To teach students to learn from each other as well
as from the "teacher." To encourage cooperation and collaboration
in learning rather than competition.
Description
These learning goals depend
upon maximizing student interaction, so the starting point should be breaking
the class up into pairs or small groups. You will probably want to balance
the groups so that they will be able to work well together and collectively
have the necessary skills to accomplish their projects. This may require
some teacher intervention to break up cliques and other pre-formed social
groupings. Each group may be assigned a topic, or they may be allowed
to develop their own projects. Within groups, all the students may work
together without specialization, or work can be divided so that each member
has specific tasks. Ongoing progress reports may be used to help students
stay on schedule and to ensure that work is divided fairly.
Examples
In a survey course on world
cultures, students were divided into groups of five. Each group was assigned
a particular civilization and told to analyze it according to five variables:
political institutions, economic factors, religious institutions, social
structures, and artistic traditions. Within each group, work was divided
so that each person specialized in one of the five areas. All the students
worked together to create the final report.
In a class on the novel, the
class was divided into eight groups, in which they would remain all semester.
Each group was assigned responsibility for a particular aspect of novels.
One group was to become experts on plots, one on characterization, one
on scene and setting, one on the use of rhetorical figures, and so on.
There was no specialization within groups. Each group was assigned to
meet once per week to discuss the aspects of that week's reading which
fell into its area of expertise. Each week in class, one member of each
group had to speak for their group's discussion. The speaking duties rotated
within each group.
In a chemistry lab section,
the instructor prepared by anticipating questions likely to be asked during
the upcoming lab. (Lab prep meetings and experienced GSIs can help with
this.) During the lab the first person to ask a question was given a detailed
answer and designated the expert for that topic during the remainder of
the lab. Students that asked the same question later were then referred
to the "expert" for the answer. The instructor made sure they
overheard the student answering the question the first time, but the instructor
only answered the question when it was asked the first time.
In a biology discussion section
students were assigned to small groups to answer questions generated by
the GSI. The questions required 1-2 page answers and each group of 2-3
students worked on one question together, outside of class. The answers
were presented to the rest of the section orally, using handouts and the
chalkboard. In addition, the full written answers provided by the group
were copied and distributed to all the students. Since they knew that
they would get one or two of these questions (either verbatim or in a
slightly modified form) on the midterm or final exam, the students had
an incentive for doing a thorough job.
2) CLASS DEBATE
Purpose
To increase students' public
speaking and presentation skills, including the ability to think quickly
on one's feet. To develop students' research skills and give them a chance
to become the expert on a particular subject. To encourage students to
organize their thoughts in a critical or argumentative way that takes
the complexity of issues and the existence of alternative and opposed
views into account.
Description
This technique may be used
with either large or small groups. In either case, it is often best to
begin with a brief class discussion of the issues involved. This provides
a context for the debate, a sense of the subissues involved and a gauge
of class feelings on the issues. At this time also, the instructor should
make clear the rules of the debate including time allotted to each side
and rules for speaking. (Formats and rules for several kinds of debates
can be found in debate handbooks in the libraries on campus.) If small
groups are being used, the class should be divided into these groups and
the groups should be given time to choose their topics and resolution.
(Debates are often won or lost in the wording of the resolution, so it
is important that the students have some leeway in deciding upon this
wording.) After the sides and resolution are decided upon, the students
will need time to prepare their arguments and tactics. If the class is
to perform the debate as a whole, the instructor usually serves as moderator.
In this case also, the two sides should be given some time to develop
their positions and their strategies of argument before the debate begins.
In either case, students may be instructed to argue for their own beliefs
or against them depending upon the teacher's objectives. Likewise, the
teacher may choose to have students argue first an affirmative position
and then a negative one. Some instructors prefer to summarize the debate
at the end, to clarify the information presented and to orient students
as to what was to be derived from the exercise. Other instructors prefer
to refrain from this sort of analysis, thereby preserving the variety
of opinions and perspectives that were formed over the course of the debate.
Examples
In an American Political History
course, the class was discussing the relative merits of the Articles of
Confederation and the Constitution. As the discussion began to polarize
and to heat up, the course instructor decided to formalize the process
in a debate. She divided the class roughly in half according to their
stances on the issue. The students on one side of the issue sat together
on one side of the room and the other students sat on the other side.
The students were asked to argue the position opposed to their own beliefs
because the instructor wanted them to become more familiar with the other
side's arguments. They were given one and a half class periods to work
together on their strategies and arguments and the debate lasted one class
period. The debate took place under a simplified version of Robert's Rules
of Order with the teacher serving as the chair.
Similarly, in a statistics
course, the instructor encouraged class debate on competing methods of
solving certain kinds of problems. The class was allowed to polarize and
was then formally separated to give the students time to work together
to prepare their arguments. Then, they were brought together in a semiformal
debate to argue about which method was better.
In a course on oral argumentation,
students were routinely assigned two debates. In the first debate, they
debated one-on-one, in the second, they debated two-on-two. They were
allowed to choose their own topics and resolutions, both of which had
to be approved by the instructor. Topics and resolutions were decided
on in class, but all other work was done out of class. Students were given
two weeks after choosing their resolutions before the debate began. If
a student debated the affirmative side of the issue in the first debate,
he or she was required take the negative side next time to get an understanding
of the different strategies and tactics on the other side.
3) ROLE-PLAYING
Purpose
To make learning more active.
To include affective learning as well as cognitive understanding. To increase
student awareness of the interconnectedness of knowledge and the subtle
complexities of situations. To expand personal experience by simulating
a situation.
Description
Role-plays may be done as a
whole class or in small groups. The instructor begins by describing a
context and a situation within the context. Students are either given
roles or allowed to choose them. Students are given some time to prepare,
then they enter their roles and act out the situation. Some instructors
add student observers to their situations. These observers do not act
out a role in the situation, but they observe and analyze the performances
of the actors and provide feedback both to the actors, and to the instructor
and class. Role plays may be used even in fields which do not involve
human beings directly; e.g., students may play the roles of cells, molecules,
economic forces and abstract philosophies in addition to historical figures,
characters in a novel, etc.
Examples
In an introductory biology
class, the instructor used role-plays to help students more actively grasp
the formation of protein chains. The class was divided up into groups
and each group was assigned to play the role of a particular type of atom.
Each member of the group would be an atom of that type. They were to study
the behavior of these atoms and then act them out in class. Once the role-play
began, some atoms would bond with others at particular angles to form
simple molecules. Other atoms would repel each other and make certain
formations difficult to achieve. Simple molecules would form into larger
ones and eventually, protein chains would evolve. In a second example,
a small ball becomes an electron. The electron is passed from one student
to another to demonstrate electron transfer and oxidized/reduced states.
Later in the course the students can name the components of an electron
transport chain they build by passing the electron.
In a Shakespeare course, students
studied Shakespeare's plays intensively for a few weeks. Then they chose
scenes and roles from a set of scenes selected by the instructor. They
analyzed their chosen characters, then, acted out the scene for the class.
Finally, they wrote a short essay explaining the motivation they ascribed
to their characters.
4) CASE STUDIES
Purpose
To enliven the material by
making it concrete and "real." Encourages students to integrate
theory with practice. Facilitates intuitive and integrated understanding
of complex, interconnected issues.
Description
Students are given specific
cases to study which illustrate general principles being studied in the
course. Students may be asked to write an analysis of the case, to report
on it orally or be prepared for detailed questions from the instructor.
Examples
In a physics methodology class,
students are given unsigned research reports by famous physicists. They
are divided into groups and asked to critique the research methods used
in the cases they have been given. Each group presents their findings
orally in class. Only at the end of the exercise do the students learn
the names of the researchers.
In a political science class,
after a unit in which the lecturer presented information on ruling styles,
the class was given biographies of a number of rulers. The class was divided
into groups and each group was assigned a biography. Each group was to
determine what kind of ruling style the leader used and whether or not
it was an effective style of leadership according to the criteria laid
out in lecture.
5) CREATIVE SCENARIOS/SIMULATIONS
Purposes
To encourage students to extrapolate
beyond the information they receive in class. To stimulate creative and
original thinking by forcing students to look at their knowledge from
a new perspective. To foster a greater awareness of the interdependence
of theories and facts. To make students more active in their learning
and to increase their research skills.
Description
Creative scenarios and simulations
are connected by the fact that they both depend on counter-factual assumptions.
In addition, both often combine several aspects of role-playing and case
studies. In creative scenarios, students are familiarized with a particular
configuration of knowledge and reality. The instructor then specifies
a hypothetical change to this configuration and asks the students to discuss
the effects of this change on a specific area of interest. In simulations,
students are put in situations which are set up to be analogous to "real"
situations of interest to the course. Students are then asked to act out
the simulation as if it were the real thing.
Examples
Creative Scenarios:
In a public health class on hospitals, the class studies the various factors
influencing the economics of their operation. The class is then asked
to work out what the effects would be on those economics if a cheap vaccination
against AIDS were found tomorrow.
Creative Scenarios:
Students in a geography class are studying the impact of nuclear radiation
on ecosystems. They are asked to predict what the effects would have been
had Chernobyl's reactor melted down into the ground water underneath the
reactor core.
Simulation: Students
in a business class study entrepreneurship. As their final project for
the semester, they are asked to simulate how they would go about starting
their own company. Students are put into groups and told that they have
a set amount of venture capital with which to work. They then take whatever
steps they think wisest to establish their own company and turn it into
a profit-making entity. They must develop a comprehensive plan which includes
what product they will manufacture, who will manufacture it, how much
it will cost, how they will finance production, how they will hire personnel,
how they will market their product, and how they will manage their company.
In one class, the professor arranged with a private venture capital company
to actually provide funding in the specified amount to the group that
came up with the best plan.
Simulation: Students
in an upper division engineering class are asked to write up their final
projects as if they were being submitted to a journal for publication
in order to practice professional writing within the discipline. They
are allowed to choose which journal they would like to submit their results
to, then they must study that journal to discover what kinds of articles
are accepted, what the rules concerning format and submissions are. Finally,
they must write their article following the standards they have themselves
discovered.
Simulation: In a math
course, the students often played Math Jeopardy in lieu of a quiz. The
instructor provided a list of three math topics such as Wacky Integrals,
Simple Proofs, and Limits, as well as one non-math topic such as Bay Area
Trivia or Famous Dead Rock Stars. Math questions were assigned dollar
values of $10, $25, $50, or $100, while the non-math questions were worth
$1, $5, $10, or $15. Students would take turns picking questions, then
everyone would be given five minutes or so to write down an answer. The
game would end after ten questions were picked and answered. The instructor
found this game helpful not only as a fun learning tool for the students,
but as an informational device for his teaching. If all of one topic disappeared
quickly, then he was confident that the students understood that subject.
If another topic remained virtually untouched, then he knew what he needed
to discuss in the next section.
Simulation: In an upper
division biology class, students were assigned journal articles to read
either individually or in small groups. They were then asked to design
the next step of experiments that would further this research topic and
present their work in the form of a mini-grant proposal.
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