Watershed Restoration

Watershed Restoration
Short Course

Accelerated Learning/Activity Based Education:
Easy Ways to Liven Up a Lecture

Recognizing a Context for Restoration Projects and Watershed Linkages
to Maximize the Potential for Success

Improve Participant Retention and Comprehension
Reduce Instructor “Performance” Stress
Erase Deadpan Blank Stares
Improve Participant Enthusiasm
Leave Them Begging for More!

Easy Ways to Liven Up a Lecture & Turn it into a Learning Opportunity

If you want people to truly learn what you are teaching then you have to create an interactive situation. The person doing the most talking, moving or writing is doing the most learning. If you, the instructor, are doing all the talking then ironically YOU are doing the most learning out of the group. There are a number of simple things you can do increase the participants' opportunities for learning.

Stop Lecturing every 15-20 minutes and,

Have participants turn to a partner and explain main points of what was said the last 15-20 minutes. Do this for 3 minutes and continue with your talk. Hand out partially filled out sentences, instructing participants to complete the sentences. Do for 3-5 minutes and continue with your talk.

Hand out partially filled out pictograms, instructing participants to complete the sentences. Do for 3-5 minutes and continue with your talk.

Have partners, A and B, review main points with each other using some tool (e.g., flash cards, review questions, review sheets with words and/or pictures, etc.)

Complete a short, problem-solving application exercise (let participants make mistakes and work through them with other participants—collaboration. Learn by Wobbling.)

Throughout the lecture,

Give participants "bingo" cards with questions that your lecture will answer. When a participant gets "bingo" they are to yell it out, and stand up. They then give the questions and answers to their "bingo" (thus reviewing the important information and creating a mental image). Reward participants when they correctly complete "bingo". You can also take this to "blackout bingo". Keep rewards simple. Avoid candy as this can chemically downshift learning.
Have participants write down questions related to how lecture material applies to each participants' individual case study or issue. These insights can be used at the pauses in your lecture, every 15-20 minutes. Or you can have participants create a job aid for them to take home to remind them of your key points.
Give each participant a card with a term or concept with its definition. Whenever you use that term or concept the person with the card stands up and gives the definition. If people are slow to do this (it takes a while to retrain folks to be interactive) stop when you use a term and ask for the person with that card to stand up and give the definition.

Build in time for discussion at the end of lecture. Facilitate discussion by,

Having each participant write a question on a card, hand in cards, then redistribute them to the group. Have participants pair up and work through the questions - share answers and thoughts with the group afterwards.
Break into small groups, having them discuss main points of lecture and/or work through questions.
Discuss implications for a group case study or individual case studies.
Hand out overhead at end of lecture to the participants. Instruct participants to work in pairs to represent the material, only do it better (they can redo the overheads, add new ones, diagram it, act it out, anything.)

Knowledge Self-Assessments,
keep in mind to
-“Never do for the Learner What They can do for Themselves.”

Provide activities pre- and post- lecture (lecturette) for participants to assess what they already know and how much they learned. Allow collaboration (cheating). Many of the items previously listed meet this objective, but the possibilities are infinite.

Crossword puzzles (blow them up and put on the wall. Give them the letters on cards to fill in the spaces so you can reuse it).
Quizzes with two columns for pre- & post- assessments.
Give them pieces to a process (poster board, magnetic, etc) and let participants try to figure out how it goes together (Pre-test). Let them build it again after your lecture(tte) (Post-test).

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© 2001
Department of Natural Resource Sciences
Cooperative Extension
Washington State University
PO Box 646410
Pullman, WA 99164-6410
Phone: 509-335-2963
Fax: 509-335-2878