(291f) Get in Pairs and Roll the Dice!

One of the most useful ideas I took away from last year’s ASEE summer school was the way to break up lecture so student’s brains could reset and be ready to receive new information. During the plenary sessions, I noted a contrast in how I felt when 1) we periodically broke up into groups to discuss topics during the talk, and 2) the speaker just talked on. For situation 1) I felt energized and interested, while for situation 2) I felt drained and bored. For this reason, I decided to incorporate one to three minute breakout discussion questions into my lectures. I then acquired some 10-sided dice and rolled them to see who would have the opportunity to answer the question. Eventually, I decided to make it more participatory by having a student roll the dice. Although I initially had to encourage students to get in pairs and talk, they got used to the regime and I had no complaints about it. In this presentation, I will discuss student comments and changes in learning outcomes.