From Grasping at Straw to Going for Gold

(This blog series is authored by USask denizens Harold Bull, Dawn Giesbrecht and Sheryl Mills) Harold is Assistant Professor Biochemistry, Microbiology & Immunology. Dawn is Laboratory Instructor Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology; Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology. Sheryl is Associate Director, Academic Programs & Interprofessional Education, USask Health Sciences)

As we mentioned in a previous post, often instructors do most of the “spinning”[1] with the course content. This is part of the traditional dance[2] in the academic setting done by students and instructors. In this dance, the unspoken agreement from the instructor’s perspective might be:

• I tell you (the student) stuff[3].
• You (the student) tell me what I have told you.
• I tell you (the student)—in grade language—how well you have told me what I have told you.

The corollary to this, from the student’s perspective, might be:

• The instructor tells me stuff.
• I tell the instructor what they told me.
• I know how well I told the instructor what they told me by the grade I receive. I get a better grade when I am better at telling the instructor what they told me, faster than others do, or at least within the allotted time, and on time.

In the traditional lecture-based setting, this is the expectation—on both sides. This traditional paradigm is hard to shift, but there are ways to integrate spinning opportunities for learning in traditional lecture-based settings. This post explores a range of strategies to include spinning opportunities from those that take just a couple of moments, to fully integrated course-based research experiences, like FYRE[4] and CURE[5].

What we have been calling “spinning” actually has a more formal moniker: “active learning.”😉 Many of the benefits that we have described for “spinning” are in addition to the well-documented benefits attributed to active learning.[6] Before we provide ideas for spinning for learning, take a moment to assess the current state of active learning in your course(s).

Going for Gold

Do ANY activity that has learners thinking, reflecting, and sharing with their neighbour(s) as a way to provide opportunities for learners to WORK with the course materials.

Short: 1, two, 3 minute activities to include in a traditional lecture setting.

In class time, invite learners to:

1. Jot down the most important, interesting, peculiar, provocative, lame, etc. idea from today’s class – share and compare!
2. Write a one-sentence summary of today’s class—share and compare!
3. Write a one-minute paper summarizing today’s class—share and compare!
4. Do an ungraded quiz—share and compare answers!
5. Do a Google-race to find [x]—share and compare!

Slightly longer activities: five to fifteen minutes

In class time, invite learners to:

1. Jot down a question on an index card (or other small piece of paper – work with me people!) that stems from the previous 20 minutes (30 minutes, 10 minutes, two weeks) of the lecture. Hand the index card three to four people down the row and have that person try to answer the question on the back of the card. Hand back to originator.
2. Show a short relevant video clip and ask learners to make notes from that clip. Share and compare!
3. Put a problem (question, discussion topic) up on the screen/on the board/in the chat. Provide five minutes for learners to solve/discuss. Use a classroom response system (or turn to their neighbour) to collect student responses to share and compare.

Ongoing Team Projects 😎: We’ve said enough on that 😉![10]

Previous Post in this series.

All Posts in this series.

All about CURE: Podcast on this CURE class: 

The MightyChondria Team: CURE students

[1] Spinning was defined in the two previous posts “Bailing on Straw” and “Looking at Lectures”

[2] It is typically a very square dance 😉 on the prairies, at least.

[3] And to be innovative I might also tell you to read stuff (i.e. the textbook, my slides from the textbook, etc.). To be “off the charts” innovative, I might also recommend a key online video 😎.

[4] First Year Research Experience, at the University of Saskatchewan.

[5] Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience.

[6] The following resources have even more valuable ideas, information and further links to keep you hopper-linking! 🐇https://www.ctl.ox.ac.uk/large-class-teaching 🐸 https://teaching.cornell.edu/teaching-resources/active-collaborative-learning/active-learning 🦘https://teaching.cornell.edu/getting-started-active-learning-techniques 🦗

[7] Create something shared beyond the course i.e. a pamphlet, a poster, an infographic etc. For more ideas, see Table 1 in our blog post 11 of this series.

[8] How could you collect said data? You could guess/estimate, have an observer record the actual opportunities during a given lecture period, record your lecture and review and do the counting yourself, take the total of opportunities for the year, divide by the number of course gatherings…and do the math! 😉

[9] Or have you assumed that they already have the required skills or that they will acquire these skills on their own. Do you assess if that assumption is true? If not true, do you have a remedial strategy in place? A remedial strategy might include steering learners toward the student help center, counseling services, a library help desk etc. Consider yourself as one member of a larger instructional team.

[10] Check out one of our previous posts for more on how to shift from “Yeah, but I couldn’t possibly do this in MY course.” to “Yes, AND this can be done!” For more on the change process generally, you might find this post helpful when you are going for gold.