Teachers who are great are flexible, observant and responsive. They also keep an open mind on how to engage students and get them excited about learning. This means that they may consider using different interactive teaching methods in the classroom.
Interactive teaching methods are based on a simple principle: students who don’t understand the material can often not apply it. You, the teacher, can also benefit from interactive teaching in many ways.
- Measurable student achievements: Teachers who use interactive teaching methods are better equipped for assessing how well students have grasped a subject matter.
- Flexibility in teaching: Two-way communication will allow you to quickly adjust processes and approaches.
- It takes practice to be perfect: Interactive instruction improves learning.
- Motivation of students: When more students are involved, it’s easier to dispel student passivity.
Interactive education
Interactive teaching styles encourage participation and attention, which can lead to students losing interest in lecture-style teaching. Make it exciting. Make it interesting. Make it exciting. You know that telling is not teaching, and listening is not learning.
To express the importance of interactive education teaching styles, the ARMA International Center for Education provides the following guidelines:
- Encourage student participation.
- Ask questions that encourage discussion and response.
- Make sure to use teaching aids that encourage students to ask questions and keep their attention.
- Establish a workgroup.
- Be involved with the student as well as yourself.
Five interactive teaching methods that make a difference
This is the right time to bring life into your teaching methods. These are the best ways to engage students.
1. Brainstorming — various techniques
Group sessions are a common place to do interactive brainstorming. This process can be used to generate creative ideas and thoughts. Students learn how to brainstorm together. There are many types of interactive brainstorming:
- Structured and unstructured
- Negative or reverse thinking
- Relationships between nominal groups
- Chat, forums and email are all available online for interaction
- Map of team-ideas
- Group passing
- Individual brainstorming
2. Pair up and share!
Pair your students and create a problem. Each pair should be allowed to reach a conclusion. Let each person speak for themselves. Another option is to ask one student to explain a concept and the other student to evaluate what they have learned. You can use different versions of this process to get your students engaged and communicating with each other. They will retain more information than you see.
3. Buzz session
Sessions are organized into groups of participants that each focus on one topic. Each student can contribute their thoughts and ideas to the group. Encourage collaboration and discussion among students in each group. Everyone should benefit from the other’s experiences and input.
4. Incident procedure
Although this teaching style uses a case study format for instruction, it is not as rigid as a full training session. This course focuses on how to solve real problems involving real people. It prepares students for the world beyond their classroom. Give details about actual incidents to small groups of students and ask them for a solution.
5. Q&A sessions
Ask your students to write questions about the topic matter on index cards measuring 3×5 inches. This will be done after each topic introduction. Mix the cards together and then read the questions created by students.
Time’s up!
You want to learn more interactive teaching methods? Kevin Yee, University of Central Florida, presents an overview of interactive teaching techniques. He provides concise descriptions of the 186 different approaches for interactive educational formats. Have fun looking at them.