what kind of group activities can we use for small groups
are there any good activities that we can use that will engage learners in smaller groups?
I like to put people in pairs or trios in a lecture and pick a leader among them in a fun way, such as the tallest person, or the one who has the most keys on their keyring, etc. I give the group this assignment: the leader has 60 seconds to recap what they have heard so far. At the end of one minute I ring a bell. When the bell sounds, the leader must stop talking and the other person or persons has to say what they learned that the leader did not say. So each must be listening and reviewing with the others in mind.
I have used the activity in class and it energizes the students. Everyone wants to participate. It is very useful in the middle of the afternoon when everyone is feeling a little tired from lunch.
I have done the crossword puzzle creation activity with groups of 3 persons. I then copy the results of all groups, once I have proofed them. I then distribute the copies to all students so they can work with the puzzles of other groups.
This takes at least two days so as not to absorb too much class time. The resulting puzzles are an excellent test review tool.
I like that you distribute the puzzles so that they can work with the puzzles of the other groups. Planning it over two days also reinforces material more than once. I'd agree this is a great test review tool.
the students make and practice flash cards together in pairs.
Veronica, having the students make the cards as well as use them is a great idea. This way they can take ownership of the content, so they are more invested in learning.
I often ask the students to create their own games--they have done bingo, jeopardy, wheel of forturne, pyramid, and others. They quiz eachother and we use these games as final exam reviews.
By having the learners create the activity, they get several visits to content when they create their games, present them and see them come to life. It amazes me how sometimes they make their questions for their peers harder than I would make mine for them.
I have used word searches and crossword puzzles for small group activities. I have found that this reinforces their learning and they associate certain words or phrases to identify the term(s). I have also found that when I do the small group exercises the students are more responsive in the large group activities.
Jacqueline, students feel safer and less "put on the spot" when they can work in small groups with 3 to 5 peers. Reinforcement and repetition are the key to student memory and success.
I teach evening courses. Given that we have roughly 4-4 1/2 hrs per class, I then break the class up into small groups. For a project, or group activity, each group designs a game. Based on the class material, the group develops questions, rules and instructions, and manner of play. As a review tool,the groups play the games created by their classmates. There is fun while learning in the designing of the game, as well in playing the games for review. The students have been quite creative.
I think in smaller groups you can more easily persuade students to speak from personal experience without the intimidation of speaking in front of a larger group.
I like the idea of using TV games with which the students are familiar. Any idesa on using "Family Feud"?
I use it all the time. Break class into 2 sides. % representatives from each side come to front (but can still get input in round 2 from the rest of their side of the audience). In med term class, I ask for the top ten words that end in "ology" (or whatever I want to focus on, what are the top 10 things a MA does when a patient comes into the office). I have my own list of ten. They go back and forth guessing.
I do some projects and role playing activities for my AP class. I assign a specific organ for a system and ask them to develop a skit using such things as the "the dating game, Judge Judy" etc. that will include the function, key terms and abnormalities.
Those are popular shows and a great vehicle for disguising learning by giving it a fun format. Keep up the good work!
I actually created a family feud game in powerpoint. If you use the features in powerpoint you can easily create one question per slide with multiple answers while showing all of the answers as the students answer them. It is a great way to greate a game on the fly.
Family feud and Jepordy work well in small classes.
