Tara Gray
Office: 575.646.1013
Cell: 575.621.1721
Fax: 575.646.1330

Email: tgray@nmsu.edu

Twenty years of research shows that slightly more interactive techniques can make a class far more effective. For example, in a 6,000 student study of learning physics via traditional and interactive approaches, the traditional approach relied on passive lectures. In contrast, the interactive engagement method included immediate feedback through discussion with peers and/or instructors. Students of teachers who taught with interactive approaches made twice the average gain in learning–more by two standard deviations (Hake 1998).

My challenge to you is this:

Come experiment with these ideas and then try some of them in your classes:

Always

  1. Maintain sustained eye contact.
  2. Ask before you tell.
  3. Create a structure for note-taking.
  4. Let your readings share the lectern.

Sometimes

  1. Use the pause procedure.
  2. Assign one minute papers.
  3. Try Think–Pair–Share.

Never Fail To Hold Students Accountable Daily

  1. Quiz daily.
  2. Use “clickers” or “colored cards.”
  3. Call on a student every 2–3 minutes.

Workshop Format

This workshop is 1.5 hours long.