As instructors, it is important to prioritize:

  • Students’ ability to receive new information
  • Students’ engagement with new material
  • Students’ efficiency of transfer of new concepts from working to long term memory

To make this happen…

We need to use a balance of teaching styles that promote visual based learning, rote learning, and the use of real life examples. By using a combination, rather than only one style, students can create meaning better perceive and retrieve new course content

Practice what you’ve learned

Consider scenario 1:

Your algebra I class has just began exponents. A few of your students have previously expressed issues with multiplication and division, and have come to you for help on many occasions. You are teaching in a school in rural North Carolina, with many of the students coming from families who either work on or own farms.

  • Create a multi-style approach to help the entire class ease into exponentiation.
  • Ask yourself: what styles may be the most appropriate and why?

Consider scenario 2:

Timothy has just done very well on his last exam on quadratic equations and graphing. However, when he is asked what the process looks like, he cannot explain without using formulas. Answer the following questions in regard to Timothy’s response:

  • What might have went wrong with instruction to elicit such a response?
  • How can this be addressed?

Consider scenario 3:

Recently, you class participation has decreased drastically. You have noticed that students are more on edge when asked to participate, as questions have evolved from triangles to octagons and trapezoids. Answer the following questions involving increasing class comfortability:

  • Given the theory behind each strategy and the class at hand, which strategy might be useful to engage students more during class discussion?
  • Provide 2 examples of how your strategy of choice would look in addressing the above issue.