Wes Neal Post #4: Cues and Questions

Perhaps the most powerful tools I saw my teacher use during lectures were those of providing cues and asking questions. Lectures in general seem to be boring for students, but I still think it is necessary in science to still do them every once in a while in order to provide the content the students are going to apply in the labs. The way my teacher engaged the students during his lectures was to cue them at certain times to think about how something relates to what they already learned. The students may have been stumped about a new concept, but as soon as he cued them about past knowledge, you could see it in their faces that they just gained a better understanding. This worked almost every time. He would also use cues to make especially important concepts stand out. For example he might say, "make sure you write this down in your notes, because you're going to see it again". Then when the subject reappeared later in the chapter, they seemed to remember it better. He also used questions during the lectures, especially those that applied the new content to things in their everyday life. For example when talking about disorders, he might ask if anyone knew someone who had been afflicted. This provided a jumping off point for a discussion that could last anywhere from 2 minutes to 20. Even though some teachers might think this would derail their lecture and take up precious time, it provided such a deep connection that it was absolutely worth it. This open discussion kept the lectures interesting, as well as meaningful, and kept the students engaged and on task.