I have to lead a discussion group for 15 weeks. How do I vary learning activities and keep their attention?

Question

I am leading a health policy administration 101 discussion group for the whole semester. I would like to make the discussions interactive, creative, interesting and get the info across. Does anyone have any fun ideas that I could use to teach 20 year olds and keep their interest? Any ideas would be great.

Answer 1

This wasn't my major, but I did take two classes. One thing I liked was having each student (or pairs) take a case study and create a plan of some kind. Then, the students present their ideas to the class and there is a Q & A session.

Answer 2

When introducing a new concept find out what their prior knowledge is by putting them into small groups and having them brainstorm. They can put their thoughts on the board, or you can give them a large piece of paper that you can then tack up for all to see. You could also give them a transparency to write on and just put it on the overhead.

I am not sure exactly what you will be teaching, but sometimes a skit that uses the information you have taught will be helpful. They could practice giving someone bad news, or pretend that they are helping a patient to understand a certain illness? They are interactive and help to get the points across.

I had 1 (and only 1) college class where we would play word scramble games with vocabulary and matching games. It helped us to figure out and review the meanings, made class go fast and I looked forward to it. We never knew what was in store for us but it was sure to be interesting.

Have kids bring in magazines. Ask them to find pictures that show or describe certain aspects of our culture with regards to the subject matter. They could actually do that beforehand. Then come together in small groups and glue them onto a large piece of paper to make a collage. That can definitely make a big impact in their understanding of certain things. It could be about the drugs that are advertised or something like that.

I wish I could help more, but I do not know the exact topics. Hope that you can at least use some of this though! The key is to give them opportunities to be actively involved rather than passivesly listening.

Answer 3

You introduce the subject and let the students determine the direction of the discussion. Only intervene when they veer off subject and only to get them back on subject. Don't lead the direction of the discussion. When the time is 15 minutes until the end have them stop and have the students give each other assignments to research for the next meeting. When the next meeting comes you will not even need to introduce the subject let the students report on their research and once again only intervene when they veer off subject. Continue and let the students own discussion lead the direction of the class.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

First of all, try to gain thier attention by doing something spontanious. You may want to give them a little test too. It's kinda corny, but give them a learning assessment test. That will tell you how they prefer learning and, therefore, will not lose interest.

Hope I could help

Answer 6

Work from what things about the subject would keep you interested. For me, it would be nothing short of a cattleprod.