EnGauging Students

EnGauging students is the process of engaging students in learning and gauging what they are learning simultaneously. Engaged students are more motivated to learn, and gauging students in the process provides students with feedback so they know what they need to change in their study habits. Some tools to enGauge students include:

• Brainstorming - list as many answers as possible to a question
• Case studies - solve a problem or situation in a real-world context
• "Clicker" questions - answer questions electronically in class
• Decision making - work together to recommend solutions to a problem
• Group exams - work together to discuss exam questions but writes answers individually
• One-minute papers - write a short answer about a topic or question
• Pre / Post questions - answer questions before and after a topic is taught
• Strip sequence - arrange a series of events into the correct order (e.g. Parson's puzzles)
  
• Think-pair-share - think about possible answers to a question individually, and discuss with partners to come to a consensus
• Reading assessment - enlisting groups of students to design the activities and teach each other
• 99 words / seconds - summarize a topic / lecture in 99 words or in 99 seconds (see example here)
• KWL - have students answer 3 questions, individually or in a group, each class: "what we Know", what we Want to know, and "what we Learned".
  

Reference:

Handelsman, J., Miller, S., Pfund, C. (2007) Scientific teaching. W.H. Freeman & Company.