Category Archives: you teach

Formula Matching

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Put students into small groups of 4-5 students. Provide each group with ONE worksheet that lists relevant formulas in one column and sample word problems in the other column.

  1. As a group, they work to match the formulas with the correct word problem.
  2. Once the group feels confident, they will ask the SI Leader to come check that their matching is correct.
  3. If it’s correct, the SI will then assign the group one of the word problems from the sheet to complete as a group.
  4. After all groups have completed matching and successfully solved their assigned word problem, a representative from each group will come up to the front and either (a) complete the steps of the problem on the board and explain it to the class or (b) place their worksheet with the solution on the Document Camera and walk through what their group did for the class.

from Baylor University

3 Before Me

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This is an activity, but also a facilitation best practice. This is a good strategy to model at the beginning of the semester and utilize throughout your sessions. It can help with redirecting questions and encourage students to interact and see each other as credible resources for questions.

  1. When a student asks a question during a session, have 3 students contribute to answering the question.
  2. The SI Leader can mediate correct responses and help fill in gaps in understanding once 3 students have contributed.

Example:

  • Student: “I’m confused about the different types of operant conditioning – the positives and negatives get me tripped up?”
  • SI: “Can anyone explain a bit more about operant conditioning?”
    Student 1: “The positives and negatives aren’t about good or bad. Positive means adding something. Negative means taking it away.”
  • Student 2: “Yeah, so just think of positive like a + sign and negative like a – sign.”
  • Student 3: “So negative punishment means taking away something good. For instance, taking away your kid’s Playstation. Positive would be giving him more chores to do.”
  • SI: Good… *can add more information if needed*

*** As the SI Leader, it can be helpful to count on your fingers as each student chimes in. It might be silly at first, but if you make this a habit, your students will know to expect it and be ready to chime in with more information. Also, you don’t have to stop after 3! In this scenario, there is definitely more information that could be shared. Maybe instead, you ask another follow up question to prompt the group. For instance, “Good, what about positive/negative reinforcement?” ***

Incomplete Outline

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The incomplete outline is an excellent way of helping the students recognize the most important or main ideas and the organizational pattern of information given in lecture. It can also be used for the textbook readings/information. Determining the major points can help to sort information and locate the ideas being communicated.

  1. Create a set of incomplete lecture or reading notes in outline format, so some key lines/phrases are missing. What you leave missing from the outline can create a more or less challenging activity, depending on what you need.  For instance, asking students to fill in the word for a definition vs. providing a term and asking them to define it. Or, another example, asking students to label a diagram you provide vs. asking them to draw and label the diagram on their own.
  2. Divide students into pairs or small groups and ask them to fill in the outline together.

Variant: Divide your incomplete outline into sections and assign a different section to each pair or group. Ask the groups to complete their outlines. Once finished, provide each student with their own full blank outline to fill in as groups get up and teach their section’s content to the class. Each group will have a chance to go through and explain their section of the outline. This generates more discussion among the students. Keep in mind, there may be more than one way to fill in missing parts of the outline.