One of the things we have discussed in class several times and/or have read about is how do you ascertain what your students may already know or don’t know about the subject you are teaching? This is helpful in a number of ways, not the least being that you get some idea of where you need to start, at what level, etc.
I found the following a pretty good idea for doing this. Because it is brief, I am including it below.
I wonder what other ideas you have used along these lines? One thing I did when teaching the Bible is create a fun little quiz that tested what they already knew about the Bible. They didn’t put their names on it but did turn it in (after we went over it). It told me a lot in a very brief time.
Now…for the article: Make a List of What You Know About . . .by Charles William Miller
The context: This technique works well in all of my introductory courses, which usually enroll forty to fifty students. Often these courses are the first religion course a student takes at the University of North Dakota.
The pedagogical purpose: There are three objectives associated with this exercise: (1) determine the level of knowledge and understanding students have of a particular subject, (2) identify the misconceptions and preconceptions students bring to the topic, and (3) make students aware of what they already know and do not know about the issue.
Description of the strategy: I ask students to take out a sheet of paper and make a list of everything they know about (for example) the Hebrew Bible. They have five minutes to make their lists. At the end of five minutes, they are directed to form a group with two people they do not know. As before, they are given only a few minutes to share their lists (one minute each). Next, I ask the groups to compile one longer list of all of the items and then prioritize the list from most important to least important – in terms of what someone should know about the Hebrew Bible. Again, the time they have to complete this task is short, since I am interested in getting to the discussion part of the class and I have found it is better if I stop them while they are still actively involved rather than when they are just sitting quietly (or not so quietly) in their groups. I ask for the first item on each group’s list and write it on the board. Where we go from there depends on the types of items listed. I will usually ask about why a particular item was chosen as most important, what assumptions might have led to the choice, and so forth. I leave enough time at the end of the class period to bring together whatever insights we gained during the exercise, as well as describe how we will address these issues later in the semester.
Why it is effective: It allows both the students and me to obtain a significant amount of information, in a very short time, about what the students understand and do not understand about the topic, as well as about what misconceptions or assumptions they bring to the class. It engages the students in active learning and serves as an example of the sort of involved participation I expect from students throughout the semester.
I like the idea of in-class “what do you already know about….” . One of our readings suggested a sixty second written response to this. I would follow up the writing with asking students to share aloud either with a small group or with the whole class. I was in a large lecture science class a few years ago. The professor gave a weekly four question quiz. This gave him an attendance list as well as a quick take on how much the class had absorbed the previous week.