STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCING STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AND CRITICAL THINKING

Shobana Musti-Rao, Coral Di Michele, Nadia Lifrieri, Camilla Sibiga and Rachel Rothchild

Background/ Rationale

There is a positive relationship between students’ active engagement with tasks and academic achievement.

Three types of engagement

Cognitive

Emotional

Physical

Critical thinking – a self-guided and self-disciplined process of skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing knowledge.

As teacher educators, we have the responsibility to model effective instructional strategies – the same strategies we want teacher candidates to acquire and practice in the field.

Fun, Engagement, and Active Student Responding

Fun Activities

Small friendly competitions

Playing music in class

Field trips

Games

Instructor bringing in food

Hands on activities

Fun Delivery

Attention getters

Demonstration of content

Interactive lectures

Instructional storytelling

Using humor

Fun facilitates conditions of engagement and has a positive impact on engagement

(Tews, Jackson, & Ramsay, 2015).

Lecture- or group-instruction format

Advantages:

Efficient use of instructor’s time,

Used to elaborate course content,

Provides instructor with control of course content

Challenges:

Maintain students’ attention

Give each student sufficient opportunities to respond

Provide individualized feedback for students’ responses

Monitor each students’ learning

Prevent and deal with disruptive behavior

Active Student Responding (ASR) – students make an active (observable) response to a teacher-posed question. ASR addresses the five challenges listed above.

Commonly cited

elements of effective

instruction

Activity #1

1. What color is Cerulean?

A) Red

B) Blue

C) Yellow

D) Green

2. It is not possible to cry or shed tears in space. True/False?

3. Which tennis player is known as the “King of Clay” and has won ten French Open titles?

A) John McEnroe

B) Bjorn Borg

C) Roger Federer

D) Rafael Nadal

Steps to Use Response Systems (Twyman & Heward, 2018)

Give clear directions and model the activity

Provide a brief thinking pause

Signal students to respond

Provide feedback

Maintain a lively pace

Some examples

Low-tech response cards, hand gestures

Padlet

Plickers

Padlet.com

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Strategies to promote critical thinking – evaluate and analyze

Journal entries

Topics covered – 1) personal stories about our journey of education, 2) our ideas about intelligence, 3) our Teaching Perspectives Inventory scores, and 4) scores on the implicit bias test.

Private – only between student and instructor

Enabled students to formulate clear thoughts.

Blog entries on contemporary topics in education

Public to other students in the class

Required reading on a topic, evaluating the information against our own background knowledge of the topic and preconceived notions and taking a stance.

Topics: 1) DACA and Immigration Law, and 2) Gun Control

Informed of peers opinions

Able to give peers feedback

Big Paper: Building a Silent Conversation

Select a stimulus for discussion

Stimulus –question, quotation, an excerpts from a novel or an image

Step 1

Prepare students

Step 2 Students

comment on their group’s big paper

Students comment on other groups’ big papers

Students return to their group’s big paper and silence is broken

Step 3

Discuss as a class

Step 4

Some Examples

Picture with Caption Layout

• Everyone is able to freely express their ideas & opinions.

• Respond to peers ideas in a peaceful & organized manner.

• Involves movement around the classroom.

• Written record of everyone's ideas that can be saved.

• Encourages the participation of all students.

• Allows students to formulate ideas on their own & develop them further for class discussion.

Sharing your input

Assessment of Learning vs. Assessment for Learning

How can these strategies be used in teaching courses in your respective discipline?

References

Musti-Rao, S., Kroeger, S. D., & Schumacher-Dyke, K. (2008). Using guided notes and response cards at the postsecondary level. Teacher Education and Special Education, 31(3), 149-163. doi: 10.1177/0888406408330630

Tews, M. J., Jackson, K., & Ramsay, C. (2015). Fun in the college classroom: Examining its nature and relationship with student engagement. College Teaching, 63, 16-26.

Twyman, J. S., & Heward, W L. (2018). How to improve student learning in every classroom now. International Journal of Educational Research, 87, 78-90. doi: 10.106/j.ijer.2016.05.007.