Background: With the increased attention on the need to retain students within STEM majors, it is important for STEM instructors to adopt evidence-based instructional practices that are student-centric and employ active learning techniques. However, traditional approaches for increasing student-centric, active learning practices such as workshops,…

An extensive body of empirical data emphasizes the numerous benefits of incorporating discussion into the social studies classroom. Therefore, it is necessary to better understand how educators view discussion and what experiences they have with in throughout their college courses. The authors conducted a single-case study at a large southeastern…

In spite of the ongoing discussion and emphasis on student voice, talk curriculum, and small group discussion (Barnitz 1994; Johnson & Johnson 1994; Barnes & Todd 1995; Johnston & Nicholls 1995; Johnson & Johnson 2000), most classroom language/discourse strategies remain rooted in Socratic premises. That is to say, official classroom discourse…

The importance of incorporating discussion into college lecture classes is discussed, problems in starting and expanding exchange of ideas are examined, and techniques for "raising the intellectual temperature" of a class are offered. Anecdotal examples are drawn from observations of teachers in a variety of discipline contexts. (MSE)

Analysis of transcripts of nine undergraduate lectures in the humanities and social sciences found that professors used asides and local breaks in topicality to increase global semantic and pragmatic unity, introduce various mutually reinforcing interpretive frames, resolve apparent contradictions, highlight contrast, and establish relevance and…

Questioning in the college classroom remains an undeveloped, unrefined skill even though there is abundant evidence that classroom questioning can be improved. Research on classroom questioning techniques at the pre-college level shows that teachers ask questions that are predominantly literal in nature. Questions that require "higher…

This paper describes a college course in the Human Science Approach (HSA) to psychology offered in seminar format. The importance of instructor-student equality and feedback is emphasized and lecture sessions are described in which students are encouraged to interrupt for questions and discussions. The major goal of the course is described as…

Techniques for providing variety and effectiveness within the lecture format are described, including the oral essay, participatory lecture, problem-solving approach, alternating mini-lectures and discussions, modeling analytical skills, debate, simulation and role-playing, and the affective/emotional media lecture. (MSE)

This paper identifies and defines skills associated with the commentary-discussion method of teaching in an effort to improve student learning in precollege psychology courses. First, the author examines the range of teaching methods from formal lecture to open discussion and identifies commentary-discussion as the most widely used technique. In…

Forms and characteristics of small group physics instruction in the Russian university are examined and in some cases, compared to those used in Britain. Topics discussed include the lecture method, classroom communication during lectures, postlecture discussion, specialized small-audience lectures, problem solving, individual research projects,…

College physics teachers describe their experience using a computer-based classroom communication system that facilitates presentation of questions for small-group work, collection of student answers, and display of histograms showing how the class answered, all feeding into classwide discussions. The technique engages students in active learning…

Classroom teachers in high school and college need communication skills beyond precise and dramatic lecturing. They must be willing to plan and ask searching questions meant to transform classrooms into dialogic and interpersonal places. Educators must halt the curricular production of passive stenographers and begin the work of assisting students…