This is very practical for me since this activity will be happening on Thursday! Students in my class (HIST 209 - History of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada) wrote their midterm exam last week, and I will be handing back the graded exams this week.
Context
- The course is structured using the Team-Based Learning model,
so students are in the same teams every week.
- The class meets once per week in a 3-hour block. There are 35 students.
- Very little class time is spent lecturing (about 15-20% usually) and most of the time is spent in guided team activities.
- Most of their discussions happen in their regular teams, though there are always full class discussions and sometimes I have them discuss things outside their teams using Impromptu Networking, 1-2-4-All, or similar strategies.
- Half of the students are multi-lingual learners, primarily from South Asia, many in their first semester in Canada, and the other half are mostly students from the Lower Mainland, many of whom are in teacher-track programs.
Current Version of Activity
Usually after a midterm I have students do a reflection activity that is either a variation on 3-2-1, or something that looks like this:
- First: What was the most important theme or concept that you learned about in the first half of the course? Why?
- (1) Take a minute to write down your response. (2) Share with a partner. (4) Create groups of 4 [variation: go back to your team] and make rationale for a consensus choice. (ALL) Defend your choice to the class and discuss.
- Second: What did you do before the exam that helped you succeed? Share in your teams. Then, choose one new strategy that you will implement in preparing for the final exam. [Teams then discuss and share back their key takeaways to the class.]
I am trying to think of a way to enhance the metacognitive aspect of this activity, or to change it completely if necessary. I've found this does generally work well in other non-TBL courses, but I am curious if there is a way to leverage TBL to make
it even more effective. The reading from Joseph Ball ("Connect-Extend-Challenge") helped to shape my thinking on this question,
and I am building off the "Five Tips" article by John Spencer, specifically the "Integrate Self-Assessment" part.
Revised Version of Activity
- First [no change to this part]: What was the most important theme or concept that you learned about in the first half of the course? Why?
- (1) Take a minute to write down your response. (2) Share with a partner. (4) Create groups of 4 [variation: go back to your team] and make rationale for a consensus choice. (ALL) Defend your choice to the class and discuss.
- Second: Start by answering the following questions [write or type responses]:
- Which parts of the exam did you do well on? Why? (i.e. what study strategies did you use to prepare?)
- Which parts of the exam did you do poorly on? Why? (i.e. what was missing in your study strategy?)
- How much better do you want to do on the final exam? (i.e. make a specific goal, e.g. B+ instead of C+)
- Start, stop, continue: What is one thing you will start doing, one thing you will stop doing, and one thing you will continue doing in order to reach your goal?
- Share in your teams. Then, choose one new strategy that you will implement in preparing for the final exam. [Teams then discuss and share back their key takeaways to the class.]
Is that too many questions? Or is it manageable? I usually give about 30 minutes in class for this whole activity. I am attaching two slides that will be used to provide instructions. All of your feedback is very much appreciated!
Thanks,
Derek