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CREATIVE WAYS TO ENGAGE STUDENTS

INTRODUCTION
An instructor should always strive to foster an environment that encourages students to be creative
while working through problems. These techniques should be employed in an environment that
supports students to discover ways to solve a problem creatively. Studies show that using techniques
that involve the students often improves understanding of concepts and learning in general. There are
many ways that instructors can use to make student sessions more interactive. My focus will be on
ways that I feel are the most effective

Activate learners’ understanding of the concept
Students always have prior knowledge of concepts and topics even before being introduced into them in lecture
halls. Whenever an opportunity presents itself, enquire from the students on what they know about a particular

topic. This can be done, for example by :
•

Asking the students to say anything they know on the topic or,

•

posing true-false questions.

Your aim is to discover students’ prior knowledge so as to tone what you teach at the correct academic level of
challenge while ruling out any misconceptions. This method of engaging learners is beneficial in that;
• It capitalizes on many factors that increase information retention on the brain("7 ways to engage students in
lectures", 2017). It also captures students’ attention on the topic as well as increasing their interest in it.

• You can be able to concentrate on the challenging sections while excluding information that students already
know.

Encourage note-taking

Lecturers should help students take notes since quality notes are essential. However, it is not a good idea to provide
full copies of notes in advance of lessons, instead, skeletal notes help them not to fall back into passivity. (Gray &
Madson, 2007) This enables students to actively participate in class while making individualized notes.

Some of the ways to do this include:
➢ Leaving diagrams unlabeled
➢ Providing incomplete calculations
➢ A structural framework for learners to fill out
➢ Graphs that have not been plotted
➢ Incomplete tables omitting crucial data
➢ questions to be answered at the end of the lesson

Promote active learning
Usually, it is very hard for students to remain fully engaged throughout a long lecture however exciting or inspiring the
topic is or the lecturer is. It can be worse if the mode used to deliver information to them does not vary.
Variation of inputs encourages students to participate actively in class. It is important to note that input used should be
comprehensible to learners. One can vary inputs used in class through:

▪

using video clips

▪ inviting guest lecturers
▪

incorporating images, audios, etc..

Active learning is very effective in improving content absorption in students as well as raising their concentration levels.

Other techniques that one can use to encourage active learning include;
Getting students to go through their notes, identify highlights, or revise them.

Use the technique of think, pair, share. You can also get the students or an individual to ask a question. Start by letting
them think about the question individually, then ask them to compare their answers with a partner. Once they share their
ideas in pairs they become more confident about sharing their answers with the entire class.
Although this procedure takes extra time, it is important since it allows students to think and internalize content(Gray &
Madson, 2007). By teaching and discussing it, students get the chance to hear from someone else other than the instr...