I teach a few classes but I find A&P is mostly lecture. They are given a short time to learn a large amount of information. I do active implementation by adding stories and ditties about the organ/body part. For instance, I lectured on bone yesterday. I added in my experience with broken bones when I was a paramedic. How they looked, patients reactions etc. They tend to remember. I also make up visual words to remember bones. For instance I note the humerus is the funny bone and say "isnt that humerous." It works. I ask them to make up a way to remember something as well. A little humor, critical thinking and analyzing.
I have actually borrowed this idea from another instructor:
For the final quiz review in the class I used to go over the topics that were covered in class and ask students to go through their class notes and power points to study for the test.
Instead, now we as a class play a "quiz review jeopardy" a day before the quiz
The class gets divided into two groups and one person from each group gets to pick the topic they want to answer the questions from. The questions are true or false or one word answers which help summarize content learnt.
This has been a great way of refreshing their memory studying in a competitive yet fun environment and I have seen good outcomes especially from students who have fear of quizzes!
Hi Tracey,
Great activity! Students love it when they are actively learning. Active learning is exciting and interesting!
Patricia Scales
In a recent class, I wrote an outline on the board to summarize the major points of the chapter. I stated the points as questions and had the students work with a buddy to answer the questions. Then each group had to come to the board and fill in the answers plus present it to the rest of the class.
The students enjoyed the exercise and learned a great deal of information.
Hi Anjali,
This is certainly an awesome way to review for a test. Students love having fun while learning. One word answers stick well with students.
Patricia Scales
I have actually borrowed this idea from another instructor:
For the final quiz review in the class I used to go over the topics that were covered in class and ask students to go through their class notes and power points to study for the test.
Instead, now we as a class play a "quiz review jeopardy" a day before the quiz
The class gets divided into two groups and one person from each group gets to pick the topic they want to answer the questions from. The questions are true or false or one word answers which help summarize content learnt.
This has been a great way of refreshing their memory studying in a competitive yet fun environment and I have seen good outcomes especially from students who have fear of quizzes!
Hi Erica,
We certainly have to do all we can to keep students engaged. It sounds like you do a nice variety to hold your students attention. Active learning is enjoyed by students and should certainly be used.
Patricia Scales
Hi Paul,
When you let students explore, they tend to enjoy the exploration and effective learning takes place as well.
Patricia Scales
I teach a lot of advanced pastry techniques, most of which are very detailed. I have been trying to come up with ideas to incorporate more active learning to keep the students more interested. I try to be entertaining and humerous while staying on the subject, but I can see that I'm losing a few of them so we have to stop and do something else. Giving them a break is an obvious option, go ahead and let 'em out for a caffeine and/or smoke fix, but we can only take so many breaks a day. Getting the students up and moving even just for a few minutes is just what they need when they start to look a little glazed over. Sometimes when I'm doing something repetitive, like kneading, I'll go into a story relevant to the industry. I think that it helps validate my experience as well as show them that it is actually important.
One topic is salads. I can show them in a standard power point about what salads they will learn about, or I can do active learning by having them research videos of the salads being made, then provide their own critique of the videos based on what they know classically about that salad. They seem to learn more and it's certainly a lot more fun.
Hi Angelia,
Great way to get students involved. Students take more of an interest when they are involved.
Patricia Scales
I try to involve my students in as much of my lecture as possible. For example, in an anatomy class I will start the day with the question, "What do you want to learn about________?", and allow the students to begin the discussion for the day.
Hi Daneen,
When students colloborate with each oher they tend to really learn a lot due to the high use of interaction. Students love it when active learning is involved.
Patricia Scales
During my lecture hours I like to stop every 15 minutes my lecture and get my students involved in discussing about the topic just presented, and also I give them classroom assignments like for example : case studies ,or any other assignments that involve critical thinking.
Definately,I would not enjoy at all just lecturing non-stop for 2 hours without getting constantly my students involved and make them active participants during my lectures.I know that if I would keep on lecturing more than 20 minutes my students would lose their focus on trying to understand and retain the info presented in class.
A topic that would would use a lecture approach would be teaching and modeling reading strategies. Although it is vital for students to understand the strategies before practicing them, I think it would be productive for students' learning processes if they were given opportunities to work on activities in which they can practice the strategies as they learn about them. For example, in colloborative groups students can work together to annotate text, discuss the main idea of the reading selection, and interpret and present examples of figurative language.
Hi Sandra,
Students can make good teachers! Every now and then we do need them to teach us the concept to ensure that they really understand.
Patricia Scales
Hi Michael,
Super idea! Put the responsibility on the students! Students like taking ownership, and you will have a lot of fun doing the lesson this way as well.
Patricia Scales
We start off each term on how to make stocks, and than they make them. As the term goes on they forget in which the order we used to make it. So i started teaching a method in which they had to make stocks themselves and than we recap the next day on how to do it step by step,drawing on there knowledge,I am the student and they are the instructor teaching me for the first time the process step by step how to make a stock.
I teach a class that involves understanding fish and shellfish. I typically use a pure lecture approach while cataloging the many different names of specific fish and shellfish that my students need to memorize. While I do also use a dry erase board to enhance the students' comprehension of the list I'm going through, I could also make the students active learners during this lesson by asking for volunteers to name one or another of their favorite and/or most disliked type of fish or shellfish, and use those answers to compile the comprehensive list on the marker board.
Hi June,
Excellent way to utilize technolgy and make learning fun. Smart phones are students prize possession, and they get excited when they can use them in the classroom.
Patricia Scales
