22 Increasing student engagement through interactive lecturing

A 2014 meta-analysis of 225 research studies in STEM disciplines revealed that students in classes that incorporate active learning strategies performed 6% better on final exams than students in lecture courses. This research also demonstrated that students in classes with traditional lecturing were 1.5 times more likely to fail compared to students in classes based on active learning (Freeman et al., 2014). Consider adding components of active learning to your lecture courses to make them more interactive, engaging, and suitable for higher levels of learning. Some strategies to try:

• Share the learning objectives and agenda and provide the context, explaining how this new information relates to other topics covered in your course. Begin your lecture with a reflective question, relevant problem, or recent event.
• If possible, provide concrete and authentic examples. You can also ask students to share examples from their own experiences.
• Navigate the classroom’s physical space as much as possible to foster engagement and create proximity to your students, making eye contact with them.
• Keep in mind that most people actively listen for about 20 minutes (this number isn’t consistent from person to person). Plan your session accordingly with breaks for small group work (like the think-pair-share activity), Q&A, moments for individual reflection, or other active learning techniques (e.g., a minute paper, classroom opinion polls using clickers) before resuming the lecture. Indicate when it is a good time for students to ask questions and make comments.
• Include moments to pause, reflect, and check for understanding. Incorporate frequent summaries and learning pauses for students to process content and reflect on their learning process. For example, the one-sentence summaries activity asks students to summarize key concepts in one sentence at the end of a 15-minute lecture segment. Another helpful exercise is called directed paraphrasing in which an instructor asks students to paraphrase a portion of a lecture for a specific audience and goal.
• For more specific ideas, check our checklist.