In-Person Activities to Foster Engagement
In-Person Activities
Research has shown that active learning experiences improve student learning (e.g., Freeman et al., 2014; Prince, 2004). Active learning requires students to meaningfully interact with the course content, think about meaning, or investigate connections with their prior knowledge. Meeting with students in small in-person groups helps them engage meaningfully with information and other learners to build knowledge and learn more rather than being expected to sit and listen. Students are encouraged to think critically about the information, interact with others, share their thoughts, and create new ideas.
Below are examples of meaningful engagement activities that can be used during in-person small group meetings with students.
| Activity | Activity Description | Digital Adaptations for Social Distancing |
| Think-Pair-Share | Begin by posing a question to your students. The type of question you ask is important; one that requires considerable thought and reflection is best (as opposed to a simple knowledge question). Give your students sufficient time to THINK about their individual answer. You may want to ask them to write down some of their thoughts. Next, assign students to PAIR up with a fellow student to discuss answers from their notes. Finally, give student pairs a chance to SHARE their answers with the class.. | Ensure that partners are socially distanced. Students could collaborate by posting their ideas using Poll Everywhere. |
| Design Challenge | Students get 30 minutes to choose a goal/topic from the course that is relevant and meaningful to them, then they get into small groups. The group researches the goal/topic quickly, by answering the questions: What does the world need to know about this goal/topic? and What can we do about it? The group then creates a short Public Service Announcement(PSA) and shares it widely with an authentic audience. It is fun, fast, and shows the power of design sprints to teach content and skills. | Students could do their writing using a collaborative document such as Google Docs, so all students can see responses and maintain social distancing. |
| Minute Paper/Exit Slips | Midway through a discussion, ask your students to write (or type) for one minute, summarizing what they’ve learned so far. You can collect the resulting Minute Papers to assess if their learning is on track, or you can ask them to share their answer with their neighbor. It's also appropriate to conduct a Minute Paper exercise at the end of a discussion, either to summarize what they learned or to share with you what’s still unclear. This variation is sometimes called a Muddiest Point. Using this technique allows you to assess the effectiveness of your activity and identify topics which you may need to address. | Students could do their writing using a collaborative document such as Google Docs, so all students can see responses and maintain social distancing. |
| Fish Bowl/Socratic Circle | A fish bowl/Socratic circle allows a small group of students to engage in a discussion about ideas or concepts that have alternative explanations while the rest of the meeting observes and takes notes. An inner circle of students engages in the discussion, while the rest of the group either sits in an outer circle, or and observes. | Students could share their ideas using a poll app such as Poll Everywhere, so all students can see responses and maintain social distancing. |
| Jigsaw | Students work in small groups to read information that has been organized into sections. Each student in the group reads one section of the material and then shares that information with the rest of their group. As they read and share information, they refer to prompts such as: What do you think each idea means? What is the big idea? How can this idea be applied to help understand the concept(s)? What questions do you have about what you read? What do you agree/not agree with? There are various permutations of jigsaws. One such model include expert and cooperative groups: Each group can be assigned a particular aspect/part of the overall information – they read it individually and then discuss in their small “expert” group to make sure they all understand it. Then new “cooperative” groups are formed made up of one-two students from each of the original expert groups. In this way, the new groups have an “expert” representative from each of the original groups so that all of the information is now represented in the new cooperative group. The “expert” has had a chance to practice sharing and hearing other viewpoints about the information in their original group, and therefore likely feels more comfortable sharing in the new groups |
Students could share their questions using a poll app such as Poll Everywhere, so all students can see questions and maintain social distancing. |
| Sorting Strips | Small bits of information are separated into strips of paper, so that students can sort the strips into various categories, or organize them into a sequence depending on the topic. This strategy encourages discussion of competing ideas or organizations or order in which a process would take place. In this case, it is often the discussion and sharing of ideas that is the most important outcome of the activity. | Have students to sort their strips and take a photo. Ask them share on a collaborative document, such as Google Docs so all students can maintain social distancing and all members of the group can view the responses. |
| Case Studies | Case studies are situational stories used to show students how theories or concepts can be applied to real-world situations. Present small teams of students with a complex open-ended problem in your field that may have no clear solution. The situations typically start with “What would you propose if...” or “How would you figure out...” Ask the students to answer the question using the theories or concepts they’ve learned about in class. | Have students write up their solution to the problem. Ask them share on a collaborative document such as Google Docs so all students can maintain social distancing and all members of the group can view the responses. |
| Tests/Quizzes with common preconceptions as distractors | Design assessments to include common preconceptions (or misconceptions) that students often hold. Allow students to answer the question on their own and then discuss their answer and rationale with a partner. Have them answer the question again after the peer discussion. Elicit a whole group discussion about why the correct answer is correct and why the others are not. Common misconceptions students have about STEM topics and concepts can be found at AAAS. | Students could receive their questions using a poll app such as Poll Everywhere, so all students can see questions and vote on answers and maintain social distancing. |
| Four Corners Debate | Four corners is a structure that allows a instructor to use the diversity of perspectives in the classroom to generate heterogeneous groups of students for discussion. This diversity of thinking is a good place from which to develop a classroom climate that supports argumentation. For example, more student-initiated science talk happens when students are connected with peers who have opposing perspectives (Clark Sampson, 2007). Students are considering several claims (responses to a question). For example, an instructor might ask, “Where does most of the mass in a plant come from?” Claims for consideration might include, “soil,” “air,” “water,” and “sunlight.” This could also be done in various disciplines when discussing different perspectives, such as Media Studies. How it works: The instructor displays the question prominently for all to consider. Each corner of the classroom is assigned one claim, also prominently displayed. Students are asked to go to the corner of the classroom that has the claim they agree with most. If they think more than one answer is correct, they should just pick one of the corners they agree with. If they don’t agree with any claims, they should go to the middle of the room. Once in their corners, students should discuss with others why they chose that corner to help clarify their thinking. Have them share and record evidence that supports that claim and why the other claims are not supported. The instructor can then use their positions to form groups of students with differing ideas about the question. |
Students maintain social distancing in the four corners. Ask them share on a collaborative document such as Google Docs so all students can maintain distance. |
| Problem Solving/Coding Brainstorm | Students solve their problem or code in small groups. They then present their solution to the entire group. This is a timed activity where groups are evaluated on the most efficient or effective process. Students participate in the assessment by voting on the effective solution. Students offer a feedback/recommendations that are “useful and meaningful” in their vote. | Have students write up their solution to the problem. Ask them share on a collaborative document such as Google Docs so all students can maintain social distancing and all members of the group can view the solutions. Students vote using a poll app such as Poll Everywhere. |
References
Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410-8415.
Prince, M. (2004). Does active learning work? A review of the research. Journal of Engineering Education, 93(3), 223-231.