Effective ice breaking and discussion activities in the class

[Kron3007]

I have been teaching for several years now and think I am doing a decent job, but feel I am perhaps a bit too "lectury".  I would like to include more activities to engage students, but am at a bit of a loss of what would be best.  As a student, I really didn't like most of these types of activities, likely why I avoid them as a teacher, but I do see value in them and want to try.

So, I thought I would reach out and ask what others find are effective small group activities to engage students and break up the lectures.

For my immediate needs, it is a fairly small group with a very mixed background.  This is not for a regular class, so pre-class preparation is not possible.  any thoughts?

[onthefringe]

You are STEM, right?

I'm in the molecular side of biology, and the most effective engagement activities for me are things that force the students to engage with interpretation/ analysis essentially right after I cover something. So I'll cover some material and the generally give them a short problem that pushes them into the apply/analyze level of Bloom's taxonomy. I usually give them a few minutes on their own, ask if there are questions, have them compare their work with a neighbor, and then debrief. Sometimes I just use questions from old exams (they love that I'm modeling success in exams). The "consultation" part can help in mixed skill level groups because sometimes stronger students can help weaker students.

I have these count towards a small fraction of the grade, and give full credit for any reasonable attempt.

[marshwiggle]

I have collaborative quizzes. Everyone writes a quiz individually, then I collect them.  Then, they get into groups of 3 or 4, and I give out the same quiz again to each group. They do them and hand them in. Each person's grade is 80% of their individual score plus 20% of their group score. The group discussions get pretty animated, and it's course related. It also means I don't need to spend a lot of time going over the quiz, since many/most of the groups will get it correct or close to it.

[Puget]

I've flipped my large lecture course, so a lot of in class assignments and discussion, but I wouldn't describe any of it as ice breaking (except I guess the first day where they form groups and introduce themselves). I do a lot of group-discuss-report back discussion prompts, because students are much more willing to talk and take risks in their small group than with a whole class discussion. For example, last week we went through a series of research results on a particular topic, and they had to work in their groups to answer questions like how different theories would interpret the same results, and how they could test these competing interpretations with a new study. Some activities involve a little online research, others just involve discussion. My overall goal is to get them to start thinking like scientists instead of just memorizing stuff.

[the_geneticist]

Students respond well to polling questions, but you have to set those up in advance.  I'm a fan of the "think-pair-share" where you give students a question/problem to think about quietly first, then talk with folks around them, and then ask for groups to share answers with the class.  It does take some explicit instructions the first few times, but it does get even the quietest students to have their ideas shared.  I also like the "one minute paper" where you ask students to take a few minutes to write down things like: what was the most important thing we discussed today, what are [X] causes of [Y], what are you most confident you understand, what are you most confused about, what is a question you have on [topic], etc.  It can be graded (or not).  Make sure that you refer back to their responses later & adjust your classes.  Students like having some input into what happens in the class.
There is nothing wrong with short amounts of lecture.  Easy things to add in are practice problems for the think-pair-share.  They can test out their knowledge on exam type questions before they take their first exam. 

[mamselle]

Look up Eric Mazur's work.

He started some of the activities now in use more generally.

M. 

[Ruralguy]

I find that showing them a picture of something you are about to discuss, and then asking them to describe can get them thinking seriously even if the answers can be a bit basic. In that way its close to a true ice breaker. Its just getting them to think and talk, not starting with deep analysis.

[Wahoo Redux]

I always start with "the big picture" kind of things that I then ask students to respond to in some way.

[Kron3007]

Thanks for all the feedback. 

The course I am currently working on is a short workshop type of thing, so not all of these ideas would work but I will definitely work on integrating more of them into my regular courses.

I dont intent to drop the lecture, but do want to break it up a bit and get the students more involved. 

[Biologist_]

I like to show a slide with a figure from a journal article, give some necessary background verbally, maybe define a term or translate the label on an axis into more familiar terminology, and then ask, "What does this figure tell you? Think about it and then talk with your neighbor."

After they think and discuss, I ask for a volunteer to explain the result. If the volunteer nails it, I will sometimes just ask them to repeat it so that everyone can hear it and then I don't need to explain it at all. Otherwise, I'll add a bit of my own clarification and reiterate the result.

For some lectures in upper-division undergrad classes, I spend about half of the lecture time that way. In other lectures, I might just include one or two figures for students to analyze.

I also ask students to think about multiple-choice questions and then answer by holding up colored cards. I try to target misconceptions so that the questions serve as good prompts to small-group discussion. The routine is that I show a slide with the question, ask students to think and then ask to see their answers. If the answers are mixed, then I tell them to discuss and ask for their answers again. Then I ask for a volunteer who had the correct answer to explain the reasoning.

The multiple-choice questions get students in the habit of thinking, talking, and answering because they are asked to answer in a very concrete way. Once they are in the habit of participating, I can ask open-ended questions or ask them to analyze figures and they will actually do it. I try to intersperse frequent, brief activities throughout each lecture.

[Aster]

Pop quizzes are pretty darn effective here, if you include a post-quiz oral review where you ask the class "What's the answer to this?"

[mamselle]

1. I always start French classes with a dance. It has words using the terms we're working on that week, or it's a review of one we did the week before. If it's a 3-time-a-week class, two start with a dance and the 3rd starts with either an artwork by a French artist, or a short poem by a French poet, in alternation.

The words to the dance tune, or the poem, end up on the list of potential memorized texts they recite for the pronunciation part of their mid-term or final.

2. I often start art history classes that way as well. It wakes people up, helps them see the artwork in the context of other cultural materials, and can help start a conversation about how the art work itself was generated (in the case of dance masks, of which there are several in various cultures) or images of musicians in various positions, etc. When we do medieval/Renaissance art, we do court dances. When we do African art, we do African dance. Etc.

At some points, in nice weather, I've started art or architecture history classes by telling everyone to take any small personal valuables with them, leave their books on the table, and walk with me around some nearby part of the campus to see buildings, sculptural installations, or just the sky, trees, and sunlight, for a two-minute walkaround, and then back to class.

Sometimes, I've made it the whole class--they're told in advance to bring pen, paper/notebook, or drawing materials: they can replicate something they see, or reflect on it in a journal style, or respond to it in some other way, in a short poem or descriptive prose.

When we get back, people who want to share take turns doing so; if they don't they still get credit--the objects, discussion points, or activities each get a 5-point quiz grade, the same for everyone.

M.

[Kron3007]

1. I always start French classes with a dance. It has words using the terms we're working on that week, or it's a review of one we did the week before. If it's a 3-time-a-week class, two start with a dance and the 3rd starts with either an artwork by a French artist, or a short poem by a French poet, in alternation.

The words to the dance tune, or the poem, end up on the list of potential memorized texts they recite for the pronunciation part of their mid-term or final.

2. I often start art history classes that way as well. It wakes people up, helps them see the artwork in the context of other cultural materials, and can help start a conversation about how the art work itself was generated (in the case of dance masks, of which there are several in various cultures) or images of musicians in various positions, etc. When we do medieval/Renaissance art, we do court dances. When we do African art, we do African dance. Etc.

At some points, in nice weather, I've started art or architecture history classes by telling everyone to take any small personal valuables with them, leave their books on the table, and walk with me around some nearby part of the campus to see buildings, sculptural installations, or just the sky, trees, and sunlight, for a two-minute walkaround, and then back to class.

Sometimes, I've made it the whole class--they're told in advance to bring pen, paper/notebook, or drawing materials: they can replicate something they see, or reflect on it in a journal style, or respond to it in some other way, in a short poem or descriptive prose.

When we get back, people who want to share take turns doing so; if they don't they still get credit--the objects, discussion points, or activities each get a 5-point quiz grade, the same for everyone.

M.

That reminded me of my high school chemistry teacher who would do the molecule dance to demonstrate how they move and respond to hear. 

Probably hard to picture, but it was pretty awesome!  I guess it worked too, since I recall it so well.