Interactive Teaching Javed Iqbal University of British Columbia

Copyright [M. Javed Iqbal] [2005]. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

Why Interactive Teaching?

Encourage and develop thinking and problem-solving skills Develop and enhance self-confidence. Nurture problem-solving through reasoning and discussion among peers. Make teaching and learning interactive and fun.

Evaluation of Teaching Presented material in a clear way 4.61 Presented material in an interesting manner 4.70 Was receptive to questions 4.75 Stimulated students to think 3.80 Was considerate of students 4.65 Taught Effectively 4.50

Interactive Teaching – Peer instruction [methods] designed at least in part to promote conceptual understanding through interactive engagement of students in heads- on (always) and hands-on (usually) activities which yield immediate feed back through discussion with peers and/or teachers Dick Hake, IU, 1998

Methods of Interactive Teaching Overview Case Study Physics (Van Heuvelen, Ohio State University) Cooperative Groups (Patricia Heller et. al. University of Minnesota) Socratic Dialog Inducing Labs (Dick Hake, Indiana University) Peer Instruction (Eric Mazur, Harvard)

Technologies for Peer Instruction Flash Cards Personal Response System (PRS) Almost anonymous response Inexpensive and easy to implement Completely anonymous response Ensures near 100% participation Allows recording of marks, confidence levels, and summary of answers

How Peer Instruction works Question posed Students given time to think Students record individual answers Students convince their neighbors Students record revised answers Explanation of correct response Eric Mazur, Peer Instruction: A users manual

PRS Personal Response System and other similar systems facilitate interactive learning through anonymous feedback Provides instructor with student identification for each response, allowing credit to be assigned for responses

Sample Question -1 A container of water rests on a scale. If you dip your hand into the water, without touching the container, what will happen to the reading on the scale? 1. Decreases 2. Remains the same 3. Increases

Sample Response

Sample Question - 2 Two identical glasses are filled to the same level with water. One of the two glasses has ice cubes floating in it. When the ice cubes melt, in which glass is the level of the water higher? 1. The glass without ice cubes 2. The glass with ice cubes 3. It is the same in both

Feedback [PRS] makes the course more interesting. Students can better concentrate on the topic… [PRS] makes it fun to learn.. I enjoyed… the use of transmitters… It was nice to get a good idea of how well I was doing with respect to the class PRS transmitters were awesome….[I was] actually thinking in class, not copying text

..encourages class participation especially through the PRS system. PRS transmitters are great – questions…help understanding and give emphasis to concepts rather than derivations…I learned more in this class than any other in first year

Does it Work? There is an extensive amount of data showing that active engagement improves both the complex reasoning and the problem solving skills. G =

Force Concept Inventory Results

Interactive Teaching Best Practices The main focus of the technology must be to enhance interactive teaching and critical thinking and not to be used just to keep attendance or for on-the-spot quizzes. Make sure that peer-discussion and cooperative learning is an important component of your interactive teaching. So simply voting on a problem is ineffective.

Keep the mark content of the in-class discussion small. A suggested number is 5%. A higher percentage leads to anxiety among students and they become more focused on getting the answer right. Keep an intermediate level of difficulty. Trivial or too complicated questions are not useful. Use the system on a regular basis.

The written part of the examination should test understanding of conceptual concepts.