By Leah Gulyas, Plant and Microbial Biology
Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2023
All classes have a personality: some are enthusiastic, some are curious, some are talkative. Others…not so much. Sometimes it can seem like a challenge to motivate student interaction. Long classes and odd timeslots present likely candidates for low energy groups, which was the problem I faced with my 5:00-6:30 PM section of Sense and Sensibility and Science, an interdisciplinary course that teaches critical-thinking skills. The GSI-lead sections rely heavily on student participation, but at the beginning of the semester, small group discussions fizzled out far quicker than expected, and large group discussions were painfully quiet, with the same few students reluctantly answering my prompts after long silences. Early on, I asked students for anonymous feedback and was told that the issue wasn’t my teaching; it was the “bad energy” of the group. This was valuable information, but hard to tackle. However, after some trial and error, I finally arrived at a solution: teamwork.
I drew on my own experience in my research lab; I’m able to succeed is my lab group because we enjoy good working relationships–we know each other well, discuss ideas, and collaborate on projects. Yet I realized my students were a crowd of strangers, and they might feel vulnerable or disinterested in others during discussions. How could I replicate my real-life lab experience and help them feel like a team? I implemented two strategies to cultivate better group relationships: cold calling and gamifying.
- Cold calling (with a twist). This isn’t quite standard cold calling. I warned students that I would be cold calling them before setting them to group work. Suddenly everyone in the group had a common enemy: chance. Nobody wanted to be without an answer if called on, so discussion became much livelier as they worked together to find solutions. To select my respondent, I would then either announce fun facts that I’d collected at the beginning of the semester, have another student draw and announce a name from a cup, or have students toss a stuffed toy to select the next person to answer. I chose these methods carefully because, in addition to making it more fun and relaxed, the students learned about the others in the class. They heard who danced with the San Francisco ballet for 12 years and who was allergic to carrots. They also learned each other’s names and had to make eye contact as they tossed the stuffed animal around. As they got more comfortable with each other, they started to become a team.
- Gamify it. Nothing is as team-oriented as playing a game. In addition to my old stand-by of Kahoot!, an interactive, online quiz tool, I branched out into more hands-on activities. I challenged my students to draw diagrams, make skits, and write timed answers on whiteboards, all in an effort to earn points for their team. Aside from being entertaining, these games encouraged peer-to-peer teaching, supported different learning styles, and allowed quieter individuals to interact in a format other than potentially intimidating class discussions. Furthermore, as teammates, they were motivated to learn not just for themselves but for others, and the fear of being incorrect or judged seemed to abate as they focused on helping the group.
The metrics for success were obvious: more and different students answered questions and joined conversations, discussions were more animated, and we actually covered more material since sections moved at a faster pace. My students also engaged with me more to ask questions, ensuring they knew the content in order to support their team. By building student relationships, we made class a positive-sum game with more participation, learning, and fun.
- Cold calling (with a twist). This isn’t quite standard cold-calling. I warned students that
I would be cold calling them before setting them to group work. Suddenly everyone in
the group had a common enemy: chance. Nobody wanted to be without an answer if
called on, so discussion became much livelier as they worked together to find solutions.
To select my respondent, I would then either announce fun facts that I’d collected at the
beginning of the semester, have another student draw and announce a name from a cup,
or have students toss a stuffed toy to select the next person to answer. I chose these
methods carefully because (in addition to making it more fun and relaxed), the students
learned about the others in the class. They heard who danced with the SF ballet for 12
years and who was allergic to carrots. They also learned each other’s names and had to
make eye contact as they tossed the stuffed animal around. As they got more comfortable
with each other, they started to become a team. - Gamify it. Nothing is as team-oriented as playing a game. In addition to my old stand-by
of Kahoot!, an interactive, online quiz tool, I branched out into more hands-on activities.
I challenged my students to draw diagrams, make skits, and write timed answers on
whiteboards, all in an effort to earn points for their team. Aside from being entertaining,
these games encouraged peer-to-peer teaching, supported different learning styles, and
allowed quieter individuals to interact in a format other than potentially intimidating
class discussions. Furthermore, as teammates, they were motivated to learn not just for
themselves but for others, and the fear of being incorrect or judged seemed to abate as
they focused on helping the group.
The metrics for success were obvious: more and different students answered questions
and joined conversations, discussions were more animated, and we actually covered more
material since sections moved at a faster pace. My students also engaged with me more to ask
questions, ensuring they knew the content in order to support their team. By building student
relationships, we made class a positive-sum game with more participation, learning, and fun.